Deck 12: The Presidency

Question 1

The framers of the Constitution created a comparatively strong executive because​

A)​they wanted to emulate the strength of the monarch, which was the only example of government they had lived under.
B)​state governors provided a good example of the effectiveness of a strong executive.
C)​executive power as it existed under the Articles of Confederation had failed to bind the states into a unified nation.
D)​they admired the chief executives of governments in European nations.
E)​they believed that only a strong executive could provide the influence needed to end the evils of slavery.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

A major reason Congress has not declared war against terrorism is because

A)the United Nations opposed it.
B)NATO opposed it.
C)Congress did not have the votes for a declaration of war.
D)there is no Taliban nation.
E)None of these choices is true.

Answer 2

D

Question 3

One controversial action by President Bush following the September 11,2001 attacks was

A)to secretly authorize the National Security Agency (NSA) to wiretap telephone calls into and out of the United States.
B)to authorize the use of electroshock torture on suspected al Qaeda terrorists.
C)to research plans to cancel the 2004 presidential elections in light of another terrorist attack.
D)to detain U.S. citizens without trial at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
E)to unilaterally go to war with Iraq without receiving any kind of congressional approval.

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Which of the following wars was fought without a formal congressional declaration of war?

A)The War of 1812
B)The Spanish-American War
C)World War I
D)World War II
E)The Vietnam War

Question 5

Powers inferred from statements written in the Constitution are called __________ powers.

A)inherent
B)enumerated
C)implicit
D)delegated
E)assumed

Question 6

When President Lincoln instituted a blockade of southern ports,thereby committing an act of war,he did so

A)under his constitutional power as commander in chief.
B)under emergency powers granted by the Constitution.
C)under his constitutional power to tax and spend for the general welfare.
D)by claiming inherent powers to preserve the Union.
E)constitutionally with the authority of Congress.

Question 7

It takes a _________ vote of Congress to overturn a presidential veto.

A)one-third
B)majority
C)three-fifths
D)two-thirds
E)three-fourths

Question 8

The most controversial expansion of the president's power,in attempting to set the nation's policy agenda,has come through the

A)veto power.
B)appointment power.
C)pardon power.
D)commander in chief power.
E)legislative power

Question 9

Which president asked,after being challenged on his aggressive expansion of presidential power,"Was it possible to lose the nation and yet preserve the Constitution?"

A)Andrew Jackson
B)Abraham Lincoln
C)Theodore Roosevelt
D)Lyndon Johnson
E)George W. Bush

Question 10

Which of the following statements concerning executive orders is incorrect?

A)They are rarely issued by presidents.
B)They carry the force of law.
C)They can create or modify laws without the direct approval of Congress.
D)The Constitution does not explicitly grant the president the power to issue such orders.
E)They are issued for a wide variety of purposes.

Question 11

The president has the power to appoint all but which of the following?

A)Federal district and circuit court judges
B)Ambassadors
C)Cabinet members
D)The Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives
E)Supreme Court justices

Question 12

Prior to the Constitution,the Articles of Confederation

A)had created a three-person executive.
B)required a one-year executive that rotated between the different states.
C)provided for no independent executive.
D)maintained an even stronger executive than the Constitution ultimately created.
E)created a single executive who served for six years and was ineligible for reelection.

Question 13

The powers of the president as outlined in the Constitution are

A)briefly stated and comparatively vague.
B)extensively and specifically described.
C)more elaborately described than the powers of Congress.
D)specific enough to avoid disagreement over their extent.
E)very similar to the powers of a parliamentary executive.

Question 14

_______ instituted the secret NSA surveillance program​ revealed when Edward Snowden leaked stolen documents.

A)The Congress
B)​President George W. Bush
C)​The Department of Defense
D)​President Barack Obama
E)​The President's National Security Advisor

Question 15

The initial concept for the presidency at the Constitutional Convention was an executive

A)selected by Congress for a seven-year term and ineligible for reelection.
B)voted for directly by the people every three years.
C)selected by the Supreme Court for a four-year term and ineligible for reelection.
D)selected by a vote of the nation's governors every four years.
E)None of these choices is true.

Question 16

Through 2013,Barack Obama

A)never used the veto.
B)vetoed two bills.
C)issued a total of thirty one vetoes.
D)issued a total of 114 vetoes.
E)issued five pocket vetoes only.

Question 17

The phrases "the executive Power shall be vested in a President" and "he shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed" are the constitutional foundations for the president's

A)pardon power.
B)power as commander in chief.
C)administrative power.
D)enumerated powers.
E)diplomatic power.

Question 18

The Constitution does not give the president power to

A)veto legislation.
B)declare war.
C)serve as administrative head of the nation.
D)serve as commander in chief of the military.
E)convene sessions of Congress.

Question 19

Presidential vetoes tend to increase when

A)it is the president's second term.
B)the Supreme Court exercises judicial review with some frequency.
C)members of the House and Senate are facing an election.
D)the legislation involves civil rights.
E)the opposite party controls Congress.

Question 20

In 2006,the U.S.Supreme Court ruled that President Bush's unilaterally established military commissions to try alleged enemy combatants captured in Afghanistan and Iraq were

A)illegal.
B)based on a congressional delegation of power.
C)based on an explicit constitutional grant of power.
D)quickly repudiated by Congress and thus illegal.
E)legal because Congress issued a declaration of war.

Question 21

In both a recent Gallup survey of the American public,and in a recent C-SPAN survey of fifty-eight professional observers of the presidency,President _________ was ranked as the greatest.

A)George Washington
B)Abraham Lincoln
C)Theodore Roosevelt
D)Franklin D. Roosevelt
E)Ronald Reagan

Question 22

​Typically,when Congress believes the executive branch has accumulated too much power,their response is to

A)​enact legislation to reassert congressional authority.
B)​impeach the president.
C)​file a lawsuit.
D)​request that the Supreme Court take action to declare the president's actions unconstitutional.
E)​mount a campaign to have the president recalled by citizens.

Question 23

Recent scholarly research demonstrates that energetic and well-planned efforts by presidents to influence public opinion

A)can move public responses to opinion polls by about ten percentage points.
B)are likely to have little effect.
C)are far more effective when they concern foreign policy than domestic policy.
D)are far more effective when they concern domestic policy than foreign policy.
E)only occurs during a president's first year in office.

Question 24

​An important issue on which Vice President Joe Biden influenced President Obama in a positive direction was

A)​eliminating use of drones in covert warfare.
B)​ending the war in Viet Nam.
C)​planning the "Bay of Pigs" invasion.
D)​embracing marriage equality.
E)​severely scaling back the NSA's secret electronic surveillance program.

Question 25

The authors suggest that the most influential vice president has been

A)Walter Mondale.
B)Al Gore.
C)Richard Nixon.
D)Dick Cheney.
E)Joseph Biden.

Question 26

President Obama's attempts to improve the public's opinion about his health-care bill shows

A)presidents can move the public about six percentage points toward policies they favor.
B)presidents have more success influencing the public when the economy is bad.
C)presidential efforts to influence public opinion are likely to fail.
D)presidents' own job approval ratings can decline even as their public outreach succeeds.
E)the public is more likely to defer to the president's opinion when the legislation in question is extremely complex.

Question 27

Perhaps the most difficult obstacle presidents face when attempting to influence public opinion

A)is the unwillingness of the media to cover the president's statements.
B)is the high level of partisanship in the electorate.
C)is the complexity of modern domestic policymaking.
D)is the lack of serious attention by the public.
E)is the cultural tendency of Americans to resist centralized authority.

Question 28

President Nixon's imposition of wage and price controls was an example of

A)the constitutional provision that the president "shall regulate the economy."
B)an inherent power.
C)unconstitutional powers.
D)commander in chief powers.
E)a congressional delegation of power to the president.

Question 29

In the modern presidency,the Cabinet

A)has assumed greater importance over the last twenty years.
B)is a minor contributor to presidential decisions.
C)fails to provide significant decision-making input or support for the president.
D)makes major domestic policy decisions but does not make foreign or defense policy decisions.
E)is the central advisory and decision-making group on which the president depends.

Question 30

The phrase "divided government" refers to

A)Democrats and Republicans agreeing on a coalition government.
B)the separation of powers among the three branches.
C)specialization in Congress based on committees.
D)one party controlling the presidency and another controlling Congress.
E)Congress and the president being opposed by the Supreme Court.

Question 31

The text suggests that ___________ may be one important reason personal persuasion is frequently not ​effective in advancing the president's agenda.

A)​the opposition party may be focused on making the president look bad, rather than working to accomplish legislative goals,
B)the fact that ​presidents generally don't have adequate political skills
C)​historical mistrust of the president's character
D)​constitutional separation of powers preventing the president from making adequate appeals to the Congress
E)​most issues are not amenable to resolution by compromise

Question 32

Today,there are _________ cabinet departments.

A)four
B)eight
C)twelve
D)fifteen
E)twenty-six

Question 33

Which of the following is a key factor in the increased size of the Cabinet over the years?

A)The president's inability to get legislative initiatives passed by Congress
B)Growth in the responsibilities of government
C)A new congressional requirement that Cabinet departments have an equal relationship with a particular congressional committee
D)The feeling that the Cabinet should remain proportional in size to the bureaucracy
E)The President's need to be seen as a consensus builder

Question 34

The Executive Office of the President employs around _________ individuals and has an annual budget of $500 million.

A)4,500
B)14,000
C)9,000
D)500
E)2,000

Question 35

Of the following,which influences a president the most?

A)The Cabinet
B)Congress
C)The White House staff
D)The National Security Council
E)U.S. Supreme Court rulings

Question 36

In his effort to respond to the high incidence of sexual assault on college campuses,President Obama​

A)​relied on the "bully pulpit" to create public interest in the issue and pressure on campuses.
B)​filed a lawsuit in a legal action attempting to force colleges to combat sexual assault.
C)​created a plan to enforce civil rights law, under the theory that sexual assault is a civil rights issue.
D)​initiated a program that then was not followed up effectively and ultimately accomplished nothing.
E)​attempted to coax Congress into taking action through appropriate legislation.

Question 37

According to the text,an important contributor to gridlock these days is ​

A)​the fact that it is not clear that President Obama is willing to be a legislative partner.
B)competition between liberal and conservative ​Republicans takes attention away from passing legislation.
C)​a desire to avoid creation of divided government.
D)​that constant vitriol on cable TV, talk radio and in the blogosphere has poisoned the atmosphere to the point that members of Congress are unwilling to work with the White House.
E)​Gridlock in government is actually not a problem.

Question 38

​________ describes a situation in which government is incapable of acting on important issues.

A)​Partisanship
B)Gridlock
C)​Honeymoon period
D)Polarization
E)​Fundamentalism

Question 39

According to the authors,a major dispute arose within the Obama White House that

A)Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel was too timid as a bureaucratic leader.
B)Obama regularly ignored the advice of his Council of Economic Advisers.
C)Obama overly relied on the competitive management style.
D)top female staffers felt marginalized by more influential male staffers.
E)Obama was temperamental and hostile toward aides who brought him bad news.

Question 40

Which of the following is not a reason the text gives as a reason the president's Cabinet doesn't  serve as an effective advisory body?

A)The Cabinet is quite large and unwieldy.
B)Cabinet members have limited areas of expertise and cannot contribute much to deliberations on policy outside their areas of expertise.
C)Cabinet members may not be easy for the president to work with.
D)The president has his personal staff to depend on.
E)The cabinet is made up of politicians who see themselves in competition with the president.

Question 41

​A president's reelection to a second term 

A)always gives the president a mandate to implement his preferred program.
B)generally causes the president's popularity to rise in the new term.
C)​is primarily successful or not based on campaign promises and tactics.
D)​allows the president to ignore the priorities of his political opponents.
E)is typically due to ​fundamentals, such as state of the economy and whether the country is at war.

Question 42

One important reason the president needs to work hard to unify his party is the ____________,which has become much more pronounced recently.​

A)​growth of social media
B)​increased influence of third parties
C)​falling population
D)​sophistication of citizen involvement in the legislative process
E)​loss of the moderate middle in Congress

Question 43

With respect to presidential leadership in the legislative arena,the presidency of ​Franklin Roosevelt 

A)​set the philosophical stage for growing presidential involvement, though President Roosevelt did not actually pursue an aggressive legislative agenda.
B)ushered in the era of significant presidential legislative action.
C)​"put the brakes on" the historical active presidential legislative agenda.
D)​continued the traditional passive legislative stance of presidents.
E)​was less successful in implementing his legislative agenda than most other presidents before and since.

Question 44

The ___________ was the name given to President Lyndon Johnson's liberal agenda for America.​

A)​New Deal
B)​New America
C)​Great Society
D)​Great Deal
E)​Renewal Agenda

Question 45

After the presidential election is over,the winning candidate wants to claim that he has been given __________ by the voters to carry out the policy platform on which he campaigned.

A)unlimited power
B)veto power over Congress
C)executive orders
D)an electoral mandate
E)None of these choices is true.

Question 46

Lyndon Johnson used the term justice rhetorically to refer to

A)fair court procedures.
B)economic and social equality.
C)halting communism in Southeast Asia.
D)ensuring a minimal level of government involvement in day-to-day life.
E)a hard-line criminal law stance.

Question 47

From the end of World War II until the late 1980s,the primary item on the foreign ​policy agenda of American presidents was 

A)​the Arab-Israeli and the broader Middle East conflict.
B)​containment of communism.
C)​Islamist extremism.
D)​cooperating with European powers to halt the spread of far right-wing hate groups.
E)working toward trade arrangements with "the East."

Question 48

The _____________ is a group of advisers who help the president mold a coherent approach to foreign policy.

A)​National Security Council
B)​Department of Defense
C)​intelligence community
D)​Foreign Affairs Committee
E)​National Security Agency

Question 49

__________ made important strides in foreign relations,completing an important arms control agreement with the Soviet Union and beginning negotiations with China,a country with which the United States had no formal prior diplomatic relations.

A)John F. Kennedy
B)Gerald Ford
C)Jimmy Carter
D)Richard Nixon
E)Harry Truman

Question 50

Obama chose to distance the United States from the dictatorship of __________ once a democracy movement erupted there challenging his right to rule.

A)Tunisia
B)Morocco
C)Saudi Arabia
D)Egypt
E)Jordan

Question 51

Which of the following is considered a model of effective crisis management?

A)Kennedy and the Cuban missile crisis
B)Reagan and the TWA hijacking
C)Reagan and the Grenada invasion
D)Carter and the Iranian hostage crisis
E)Bush and the Iraqi War

Question 52

A pact between the heads of two countries is a (an)

A)​treaty.
B)​legislative act.
C)​executive agreement.
D)​resolution.
E)​None of these choices is a pact between the heads of two countries.

Question 53

​Ronald Reagan's declaration that "Government __________." foreshadowed his administration's policies in the area of social service programs such as the Job Corps.

A)is the answer
B)​has failed needy Americans
C)​should be the leader
D)​is the problem
E)​has a moral duty to provide for everyone

Question 54

The claiming of a presidential mandate after an election

A)is consistent with a pluralist theory of democracy.
B)is rarely done.
C)is consistent with a majoritarian theory of democracy.
D)is more common among presidents who win by small electoral margins.
E)is consistent with a majoritarian theory of democracy, and is more common among presidents who win by small electoral margins.

Question 55

The White House is willing to work with interest groups because they are

A)able to mobilize their constituents to contact members of Congress.
B)a resource Congress tends to ignore.
C)able to access financial resources that could be helpful to the president.
D)numerous.
E)too powerful to be ignored.

Question 56

The "fundraiser in chief" for each party is typically the

A)Senate majority leader.
B)House majority leader.
C)vice president.
D)president.
E)None of these choices is true.

Question 57

President Ronald Reagan used the term freedom rhetorically to refer to

A)fair court procedures.
B)economic and social equality.
C)halting Communism in Southeast Asia.
D)ensuring a minimal level of government involvement in day-to-day life.
E)equality.

Question 58

The main conduit for communication between the President and Congress is(are)​

A)​the legislative liaison staff.
B)​friendly lobbyists.
C)​journalists trading information in their attempt to find out what is likely to happen on legislation.
D)​the president's chief of staff.
E)​staff from the offices of the Speaker of the House and the Majority Leader of the Senate.

Question 59

​The ______________ was intended to force Congress to decide whether committing troops to a war zone is permissible.

A)​American War Limitation Act
B)​Presidential War Act
C)​Congressional War Act
D)​War Powers Act
E)War Zone Permission Act​

Question 60

During the Cuban missile crisis,President Kennedy privately signaled to Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev that if the Soviet Union withdrew its missiles from Cuba,the United States would

A)leave Cuba.
B)leave NATO.
C)remove missiles from Europe.
D)remove missiles from Alaska.
E)remove missiles from Turkey.

Question 61

What are the three fundamental objectives of the president with regard to international relations?

Question 62

List and discuss the various executive branch resources available to the president​ in carrying out his official duties.

Question 63

What are Inherent Powers? Give some examples of how have they been implemented by presidents in the years since the terrorist attacks of September 11,2001.

Question 64

The text suggests President Kennedy backed a CIA plan for a rebel invasion of Cuba because

A)the CIA provided him with misleading information regarding the logistics of the assault.
B)he had such contempt for the Castro regime.
C)members of his Cabinet withheld critical intelligence on the training of the rebels.
D)members of Congress were unanimously behind the plan.
E)he was unaware of the fact that the success of the plan depended on immediate uprisings by the Cuban population.

Question 65

​Discuss the way President Johnson and Reagan used the words justice and freedom,and how this signaled the philosophies through which they would govern.

Question 66

Discuss the expansion of presidential power that took place during the Lincoln administration and the Civil War.

Question 67

Explain some of the reasons why presidential speeches often fail to influence public opinion.

Question 68

Describe four major duties and/or powers the Constitution conveys on the president.

Question 69

Describe the Cuban missile crisis of 1962,and why this is a good example of a president exercising sound judgment and remaining cool when faced with difficult choices.

Question 70

How do political polarization in Congress and divided government ​affect the success with which the president pursues his agenda?

Question 71

Provide four reasons why presidential cabinets are advisory bodies in theory,but not in reality.