Deck 7: The Presidency As an Institution

Question 1

How can a presidential veto be overridden?

A)by a two-thirds majority vote in either the House or the Senate
B)by a simple majority vote in both the House and Senate
C)by a two-thirds majority vote in both the House and Senate
D)by majority vote in three-fourths of state legislatures
E)It cannot be overridden.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Which of the following statements best explains the framers' intent regarding presidential power?

A)They expected Congress to increasingly delegate their own powers to the president, thereby empowering executive supremacy over time.
B)They sought to dampen the power of the president by denying him a political base of support independent of Congress and the state legislatures.
C)They expected the president to use his role as commander in chief to remain in office for life.
D)The framers were strong proponents of the theory of the unitary executive.
E)They intended for the president to court public opinion when congressional opposition stood in the way of the president's policy initiatives.

Answer 2

B

Question 3

The American presidency was established by

A)Congress.
B)the Declaration of Independence.
C)Article I of the Articles of Confederation.
D)Article II of the Constitution.
E)Article III of the Constitution.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

The framers hoped to achieve a republican solution to presidential selection through an indirect election in which electors would be selected by state legislators to participate in the

A)state caucus.
B)popular vote.
C)Electoral College.
D)national primary.
E)presidential referendum.

Question 5

Which presidential powers are not expressed in the Constitution but are claimed to stem from the "rights, duties, and obligations" of the presidency, especially during wartime or national emergencies?

A)de facto powers
B)inherent powers
C)necessary and proper powers
D)cataclysmic powers
E)autocratic powers

Question 6

President George W.Bush argued that congressional efforts to block warrantless wiretapping were inappropriate because they involved too much congressional involvement with executive agencies.This argument was grounded in what novel conception of presidential power?

A)executive privilege
B)new leadership paradigm
C)original intent
D)don't ask, don't tell
E)theory of the unitary executive

Question 7

When President George W.Bush refused to release information about warrantless wiretaps in the CIA leak case, he did so by invoking

A)a signing statement.
B)executive privilege.
C)veto threats.
D)an executive order.
E)unitary executive power.

Question 8

If the president vetoes a bill,

A)the bill dies for at least 10 years.
B)it can be reintroduced in the next session but cannot pass in the session during which it was vetoed.
C)the veto can be overridden by a simple majority vote in both the House and Senate.
D)the veto can be overridden by a two-thirds vote in both the House and Senate.
E)the veto can be overridden by a two-thirds vote in either the House or Senate.

Question 9

How are appointments to the federal judiciary made?

A)by the president, with the advice and consent of Congress
B)by the president, with the advice and consent of the Senate
C)by the president, with the advice and consent of the House
D)by the president, with the advice and consent of the chief justice
E)by the president only

Question 10

How was the presidency strengthened in the 1830s?

A)with the introduction of the line-item veto power
B)with the introduction of the kitchen cabinet system
C)with the introduction of the railroad system
D)with the introduction of the national convention system for nominating presidential candidates
E)with the introduction of the caucus system

Question 11

The scope of executive privilege was clarified in the court case

A)United States v.Nixon.
B)Bush v.Gore.
C)Hamdan v.Rumsfeld.
D)Clinton v.Jones.
E)New York Times v.United States.

Question 12

When President Jimmy Carter declared official legal forgiveness for all the draft evaders of the Vietnam War, he was said to have granted

A)paroles.
B)probation.
C)reprieves.
D)amnesty.
E)forgiveness.

Question 13

Congress does not even have the option of overriding and must reintroduce the bill in the next session when the president exercises a(n) __________ veto.

A)pocket
B)line-item
C)executive
D)legislative
E)hard-line

Question 14

The American president exercises a measure of judicial authority through the power to

A)offer paroles and probations.
B)give atonements and expiations.
C)grant reprieves, pardons, and amnesties.
D)mandate subpoenas, writs of habeas corpus, and warrants of indemnity.
E)veto Supreme Court rulings.

Question 15

Who has the highest military authority in the United States?

A)the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
B)the secretary of state
C)the secretary of defense
D)the president
E)the Speaker of the House

Question 16

Which of the following is a reason presidential power has grown since the nineteenth century?

A)The presidency is characterized by unitary rather than collective decision-making processes.
B)Several constitutional amendments have granted additional expressed powers to the presidency.
C)The powers of the U.S.president were increased when the Senate consented to the United Nations charter in 1945.
D)The growth of Internet-based news increased the role of the president because the White House has a large public relations staff.
E)Congress has tended to delegate increasing power to the president in times of divided government.

Question 17

What are the powers specifically granted to the president in the text of the Constitution called?

A)manifest prose
B)delegated powers
C)expressed powers
D)articulated authorities
E)direct investitures

Question 18

When President George Washington received Edmond Genet as the formal emissary of the revolutionary government of France in 1793 and had his Cabinet officers and Congress back his decision, Washington established the presidential power to

A)recognize other countries.
B)conduct diplomatic relations.
C)establish alliances.
D)undertake covert operations against foreign governments.
E)plan and participate in assassination plots.

Question 19

Which term describes an understanding between the president and another country that has the force of a treaty but does not require Senate authorization?

A)bilateral accord
B)international pact
C)presidential treaty
D)executive agreement
E)organizational edict

Question 20

Which of the following is one of the president's expressed powers?

A)suspend writ of free press
B)select candidates for Congress in his or her political party
C)nominate federal judges
D)declare war
E)raise taxes

Question 21

What is the term for a rule or regulation issued by the president that has the effect of legislation?

A)executive order
B)presidential mandate
C)fiat regulation
D)presidential law
E)executive law

Question 22

Though the veto is regarded as one of the president's most formidable powers, it is used relatively rarely.This use is likely because

A)most legislation passed by Congress is very important and presidents dare not veto it.
B)legislators will alter the content of a bill to make it more to a president's liking in order to preempt a veto.
C)legislators have a great deal of certainty about the president's policy preferences.
D)one party almost always controls both chambers of Congress and the presidency, so vetoes are rarely necessary.
E)presidents are limited in the number of times they can veto in a session of Congress.

Question 23

Which of the following is true of the line-item veto power for the president?

A)The Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution does not authorize the line-item veto.
B)The president may currently use the line-item veto but chooses to do so only rarely because veto bargaining makes it unnecessary.
C)Presidents since Bill Clinton have made judicious use of the line-item veto to reduce pork-barrel spending in budgetary bills.
D)The line-item veto can only be used in the last 10 days that Congress is in session.
E)The line-item veto is only allowed after Supreme Court review of the legislation.

Question 24

The president's inherent power to bring a legislative agenda before Congress is known as the power of

A)legislative orders.
B)legislative agenda-setting.
C)legislative initiative.
D)executive privilege.
E)executive orders.

Question 25

Defining the mission of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) as being "to assure so far as is possible every working man and woman in the nation safe and healthful working conditions" exemplifies the tendency of Congress to

A)specify a narrow, specific goal for all executive agencies.
B)direct agency administrators as to how they should accomplish their mission.
C)define broad goals for agencies and allow administrators to decide how to achieve them.
D)reluctantly delegate powers to the executive branch.
E)allow agencies to choose their own missions.

Question 26

Under this congressional act, the president can send troops into action abroad only by authorization of Congress or if U.S.troops are already under attack or seriously threatened.

A)War Powers Resolution
B)Operation Iraqi Freedom Act
C)War Power-Sharing Agreement
D)Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
E)USA Patriot Act

Question 27

The clear intent of the framers of the Constitution was for

A)judicial dominance.
B)military dominance.
C)executive supremacy.
D)legislative supremacy.
E)bureaucratic autonomy.

Question 28

The framers envisioned a system of government dominated by Congress.The increasing power of the president and the increasing tendency of Congress to delegate power to the executive branch is an example of which principle of politics?

A)history principle
B)policy principle
C)rationality principle
D)institution principle
E)collective action principle

Question 29

The key to veto bargaining is the

A)leadership of the minority party.
B)current polling of public opinion.
C)hidden power of interest groups.
D)uncertainty of presidential preferences.
E)Speaker of the House's agenda power.

Question 30

Occasionally the president weighs the advantages of using a veto to gain policy concessions from Congress against the potential costs of losing popularity in public opinion polls.This scenario is an example of which principle of politics?

A)history principle
B)collective action principle
C)policy principle
D)rationality principle
E)institution principle

Question 31

If a president claims the power to take an action not enumerated in the Constitution, like suspending the writ of habeas corpus, he probably does so by claiming that his action is justified by the president's __________ powers.

A)latent
B)delegated
C)inherent
D)concealed
E)expressed

Question 32

The era of presidential government was launched by the

A)Civil War.
B)New Deal.
C)Great Society.
D)Watergate scandal.
E)Economic Panic of 1896.

Question 33

The Constitution grants the power to declare war to

A)the president.
B)Congress.
C)the secretary of defense.
D)the director of Homeland Security.
E)the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Question 34

The New Deal shifted the national structure from a Congress-centered government to a president-centered government.This historical shift and the inability of any modern government to return to a Congress-centered government is an example of

A)instrumental behavior.
B)principal-agent problem.
C)path dependency.
D)executive privilege.
E)the institution principle.

Question 35

When President Barack Obama called on Congress to consider major national health care reform within his first year as president, he was exercising the power of

A)an executive order.
B)a mandate.
C)legislative initiative.
D)presidential persuasion.
E)gatekeeping.

Question 36

Which of the following is one reason Congress has delegated more authority to the executive branch?

A)The expansion of governmental activity since the New Deal has made it difficult for Congress to execute and administer the programs it passes.
B)The Congressional Enforcement Act of 1953 reduced the costs of delegation by ensuring that committees can quickly veto proposed regulations.
C)The World Trade Organization Act of 1994 required that the executive branch have the ability to suspend any law or regulation that violates the terms of the treaty.
D)The congressional agenda is so small that members of Congress prefer to specify long, detailed statutes that instruct agencies in the specific implementation of the law.
E)The Supreme Court has imposed a standard of strict scrutiny on congressional laws that are too detailed.

Question 37

The case in which the Supreme Court affirmed a federal role in the regulation of the national economy was

A)National Labor Relations Board v.Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation.
B)United States v.Nixon.
C)Marbury v.Madison.
D)McCulloch v.Maryland.
E)the Slaughter House Cases.

Question 38

Which of the following is a reason the presidency was relatively weak during the legislative epoch (1800-1933)?

A)The individuals elected to presidential office were unskilled and not capable of attaining greatness.
B)There were few important national, political, or social forces to which presidents could have linked themselves.
C)The national government had very expansive powers.
D)Presidents were so busy managing the federal bureaucracy that they had no time to invest in legislative policy making or party politics.
E)Nationalized media outlets and rapid communication made it difficult for presidents to form a supportive coalition.

Question 39

The powers given to the president by Congress are called

A)manifest prose.
B)delegated powers.
C)expressed powers.
D)transferred authorities.
E)invested powers.

Question 40

Prior to the New Deal, and consistent with the intent of the Constitution's framers, what was the strongest branch of the government?

A)legislative
B)executive
C)judicial
D)bureaucratic
E)county governments

Question 41

The landmark Supreme Court case National Labor Relations Board v.Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation was significant because it

A)freed the slaves.
B)affirmed a federal role in regulating the national economy.
C)clarified the president's role as a mediator in major labor disputes.
D)established the bounds of executive privilege.
E)delegated unprecedented amounts of discretionary authority to executive agencies.

Question 42

On February 24, 2015, President Obama sided with environmental groups when he issued a high-profile veto against which bill?

A)Keystone XL pipeline authorization
B)St.Lawrence Seaway expansion
C)Fallen Timbers Removal Act
D)Continental Shelf Utilization Act
E)General Mining Reauthorization Act

Question 43

The Office of Management and Budget does which of the following?

A)It helps the president develop a budget proposal and oversees federal spending.
B)It coordinates executive-judicial relations.
C)It hires private contractors for all other executive agencies.
D)It coordinates with governors who share the president's party to ensure fiscally healthy state governments.
E)It enforces the constitutional mandate for a balanced federal budget.

Question 44

Who is in the president's Cabinet?

A)top White House staff
B)top agency leaders and White House staff
C)heads of all the major executive departments
D)congressional leaders and the heads of national party organizations from the president's party
E)White House staff, top agency leaders, and leaders of the president's party

Question 45

Which of the following is required by law to be part of the president's National Security Council?

A)the vice president
B)White House press secretary
C)the Speaker of the House
D)the secretary of labor
E)chair of the Federal Reserve

Question 46

Presidential power is based on a combination of party strength, mobilization of popular opinion, and

A)personal charisma.
B)campaign fundraising.
C)covert surveillance.
D)administrative strategies.
E)a cult of personality.

Question 47

Since it was established by law in 1947, some presidents have relied on an inner cabinet composed of the president; vice president; secretaries of state, defense, and treasury; and attorney general for foreign policy decisions.What is this inner cabinet known as?

A)the kitchen cabinet
B)the Executive Office of the President
C)the Office of Management and Budget
D)the National Security Council
E)the Office of Legislative Affairs

Question 48

Franklin Roosevelt's fireside chats explaining his policies over the radio are an example of what presidential tactic?

A)backdoor passing
B)rolling Congress
C)whistle-stopping
D)bully pulpit
E)going public

Question 49

When George W.Bush relied too heavily on his staff for information about weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) in Iraq, which led him to erroneous conclusions, his reliance exemplified the trade-off between

A)reliance on the in-house expertise of White House staff and the need to access independent outside opinion.
B)believing intelligence reports and discounting them.
C)protecting national security and protecting human rights.
D)the pressures of public opinion and the president's personal opinion.
E)taking issue positions versus keeping options open.

Question 50

While the president remains in office, which of the following is the primary constitutional role of the vice presidency?

A)break tie votes on the Supreme Court
B)bestow titles of nobility granted by Congress
C)preside over the Senate
D)chair meetings of the National Security Council
E)serve as first ambassador of the diplomatic corps

Question 51

The set of permanent agencies (such as the Office of Management and Budget) that perform defined management tasks for the president and comprise a major part of the so-called institutional presidency is known as the

A)Cabinet.
B)kitchen cabinet.
C)White House staff.
D)Executive Office of the President.
E)National Security Council.

Question 52

In addition to holding committee hearings and revising laws that delegate authority, what is one of the tactics Congress uses to oversee the exercise of delegated power to the executive branch?

A)reduce the salaries of employees from deviant agencies
B)direct Congress's Inspector General to subpoena the records of suspicious agencies
C)hold national referendums on proposed regulations
D)control the budget of executive branch agencies
E)fire leaders of executive branch agencies who had been appointed by the president

Question 53

When Barack Obama chose Joe Biden as his vice-presidential running mate to offset his meager background in foreign policy, he exemplified using the vice-presidential pick as a(n)

A)personal friend.
B)electoral asset.
C)legislative workhorse.
D)administrative taskmaster.
E)attack dog.

Question 54

What is the largest and most important agency in the Executive Office of the President?

A)the National Security Council
B)the Council of Economic Advisers
C)the Office of Management and Budget
D)the Government Accountability Office
E)the Office of Legislative Affairs

Question 55

Most major acts of Congress during the New Deal expanded presidential power because they

A)created independent regulatory agencies to oversee implementation.
B)specified exactly what the president was to do to improve the economy.
C)authorized the president or new executive agencies to exercise control over the economy but did not specify what the controls had to be.
D)expanded the War Powers Act to include times of economic crisis as well as times of conflict.
E)specifically prohibited most forms of congressional oversight.

Question 56

What is the main value of the vice presidency as a political resource for the president?

A)personal
B)electoral
C)legislative
D)administrative
E)ambassadorial

Question 57

When Mitt Romney chose Paul Ryan as his running mate in the 2012 election, he made a decision consistent with the traditional rule that says that vice-presidential candidates

A)are chosen for electoral reasons, such as winning a battleground state and/or providing ideological balance on the ticket.
B)are chosen on the basis of their policy expertise, especially foreign policy expertise.
C)are chosen because of their skills as campaigners.
D)are chosen on the basis of their stance on abortion rights.
E)make it easy to balance gender on a presidential ticket.

Question 58

What is the primary difference between White House staff and other advisers from cabinet departments or the Executive Office of the President?

A)They tend to be much older.
B)They are composed of elected officials from local, state, and federal offices.
C)They must be approved by the Senate.
D)They are often citizens of other countries.
E)They are much more focused on the president's electoral and partisan interests.

Question 59

Why may a president with a large majority in the House and a good working majority in the Senate still struggle to get bills through Congress?

A)It takes a two-thirds majority in both chambers to override a presidential veto.
B)It takes 60 votes to break a possible filibuster in the Senate.
C)It takes 80 votes to break a possible filibuster in the Senate.
D)The House Rules Committee assigns an equal number of majority and minority party members.
E)A single member of the House can put a hold on legislation by request.

Question 60

The traditional but informal designation for the heads of all the major departments of the federal government in the United States is the

A)Cabinet.
B)executive office.
C)White House staff.
D)executive service.
E)National Security Council.

Question 61

Which of the following is the best explanation why presidents usually become quite unpopular over the course of their terms?

A)Presidents generate popular support by promising to undertake important programs, but presidential performance often falls short of those promises.
B)At some point in their terms, most presidents have been impeached by Congress with a resulting drop in the polls.
C)Reporters typically turn against second-term presidents, providing a steady stream of negative coverage.
D)Once reelected, presidents often lose interest in their duties and begin planning for their post-office career and setting up a presidential library.
E)Top White House aides tend to leave presidents and become lobbyists, leaving unskilled staffers to replace them.

Question 62

How did Franklin D.Roosevelt circumvent the editors and publishers who were unsympathetic to his goals?

A)by avoiding news interviews
B)by eschewing radio broadcasts
C)by cultivating reporters through press conferences
D)by eliminating the position of White House press secretary
E)by refusing to meet with reporters from hostile newspapers

Question 63

An announcement made by the president at the time of signing a congressional enactment into law is called

A)a signing statement.
B)a memorandum of understanding.
C)a memorandum of executive interpretation.
D)an authorization directive.
E)an implementation endorsement.

Question 64

Which presidential prerogative is one of the checks on the judicial branch?

A)to grant pardons and reprieves
B)to reorganize federal appeals courts by relocating judges and shifting jurisdictions
C)to fire judges appointed by preceding presidents
D)to submit articles of impeachment against federal judges in either chamber of the U.S.Congress
E)to suspend the Constitution during periods of martial law

Question 65

When President George W.Bush's approval ratings dropped from over 70 percent down to the high 30s, it

A)illustrated the effect of the sharp stock market drop of September 2008.
B)conformed to the expectation that approval surges after a change in party control of the presidency.
C)followed the nearly inevitable pattern of declines in popular approval during a president's term in office.
D)showed popular disapproval of Bush's response to the Arab Spring.
E)ran against the normal rise in presidential popularity over the course of a president's term.

Question 66

Which of the following is an example of an administrative strategy for presidential influence?

A)signing statements
B)vetoing legislation
C)televising addresses
D)raising salaries of allied legislators
E)submitting a budget proposal to Congress

Question 67

When President Bill Clinton ordered the Food and Drug Administration to craft rules to restrict the marketing of tobacco products to children, he used the power of

A)regulatory review.
B)executive privilege.
C)presidential purview.
D)commander in chief.
E)bully pulpit.

Question 68

Although proponents of presidential power argue that executive power is needed to deal with emergencies, the problem is that

A)emergencies are very rare, so emergency powers do not go far enough.
B)presidents can be too anxious to act forcefully in response to what they perceive as security threats.
C)presidents are typically too cautious in identifying an event as an emergency.
D)presidents try to avoid acting to avoid blame for causing the emergency.
E)presidents all too often rush into a declaration of war when it is unnecessary.

Question 69

How was President Harry Truman able to desegregate the U.S.military without having to put a measure before Congress?

A)executive order
B)executive agreement
C)executive decree
D)executive prerogative
E)executive privilege

Question 70

The voice of Franklin D.Roosevelt came into almost every living room in the country to discuss programs and policies and generally assure Americans that the president was aware of their difficulties and was working diligently toward solutions in his famous

A)fireside chats.
B)kitchen table talks.
C)backyard conversations.
D)over-the-fence confabs.
E)hope meets.

Question 71

How has social media changed presidential public appeals?

A)It has increased the likelihood that citizens will be exposed to presidential messages.
B)It has decreased their effectiveness because no one is sure whether the White House's social media messages are coming from the president or from low-level staff.
C)It contributes to the fragmentation of the general public into small subgroups, so it is more difficult for a president to reach all citizens.
D)With the exception of Snapchat, there is now a permanent record of presidential messaging, which makes the president more cautious.
E)Presidential appeals are now much more visual, with White House staff taking care to create interesting visual images of the president.

Question 72

President Franklin Roosevelt's speaking trips around the nation and radio broadcasts designed to promote his programs are an example of the presidential tactic often referred to as

A)getting dirty.
B)going negative.
C)going public.
D)going native.
E)going vocal.

Question 73

Which choice best describes the practice of going public?

A)introducing new legislative ideas to the president's Cabinet
B)revealing a newly proposed policy to the legislature
C)appealing to the citizenry to support a policy
D)revealing truths about a candidate's sexual orientation
E)leaking information about a potential policy to gauge public support

Question 74

Which of the following is an argument advanced by advocates of presidential power?

A)The Electoral College is a better election mechanism than single-member districts.
B)Presidents tend to be much smarter than the average member of Congress or federal judge.
C)The presidency is a more democratic institution than the Congress because the president is the only elected official with a national constituency.
D)A very strong executive is central to a successful separation of powers system.
E)The federal courts are too heavily influenced by public opinion because judges are subject to impeachment.

Question 75

__________ have replaced treaties as the primary form for deals between the United States and other countries.

A)Constitutional bargains
B)United Nations contracts
C)Unilateral pacts
D)Executive agreements
E)Presidential promises

Question 76

The process through which presidents have sought to control rule making by the agencies of the executive branch is known as

A)an executive order.
B)regulatory review.
C)an OMB directive.
D)presidential purview.
E)the referendum process.

Question 77

When President George W.Bush claimed the prerogative of not enforcing those portions of a bill that he deemed unconstitutional, he did so using a technique for extending executive power known as the

A)line-item veto.
B)signing statement.
C)strike-out declaration.
D)declaratory exclusion.
E)unitary executive authority.

Question 78

Though Congress created the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Congress has delegated much of its rule-making power regarding the FDA's function to the executive branch.Occasionally, the president orders the FDA to create new rules to regulate a particular product, such as tobacco, over the objections of Congress.This scenario is an example of which principal-agent problem?

A)perfect agency
B)asymmetric information
C)instrumental behavior
D)transaction cost
E)agency loss

Question 79

Even though the Democrats had a good working majority in both chambers of Congress when Barack Obama was elected president, Senate Republicans pointed out that they could still block some of his appointments using a

A)filibuster.
B)signing statement.
C)legislative order.
D)minority prerogative.
E)blue slip.

Question 80

Which of the following is a reason a president might choose to pursue his or her goals using an administrative strategy?

A)The president's approval ratings are low.
B)The president's approval ratings are high.
C)The president's party has a majority in both chambers of Congress.
D)The president's party in Congress is large in size and is unified and cohesive.
E)The president is an excellent communicator.