Question 1

President Clinton relied significantly on his cabinet to guide his decision making and policy actions.

Accepted Answer

In Clinton's first year, the president only assembled the entire cabinet seven times and, according to his Labor secretary, Robert Reich, meetings were meaningless and awkward affairs. Cabinet meetings were not the places where policy decisions were made or political influence was exerted.

Question 2

The size of the institution of the presidency has generally remained constant over the past 100 years.

Accepted Answer

When Woodrow Wilson became president, the White House staff consisted of only a dozen or so people. Today, the ""presidential branch"" has some 2000 employees and a budget of $400 million.

Question 3

The creation of the Domestic Council during the Nixon administration helped to centralize policy making power in the White House.

Accepted Answer

Similar to what the creation of the National Security Council did for foreign policy, Nixon's utilization of the Domestic Council, which was under the control of his powerful aide John Ehrlichman, enabled his administration to develop policy from within the EOP.

Question 4

The creation of the Office of Management and Budget improved neutral competence in the way presidents managed the budgetary process.

Accepted Answer

The shift from the Bureau of the Budget to the Office of Management and Budget made the budgetary process more responsive to the president's political interests and diluted the influence of nonpartisan professional bureaucrats.

Question 5

Every president since Lincoln has utilized a chief of staff to manage the policy and political affairs of the president.

Accepted Answer

Dwight Eisenhower was the first president to use a chief of staff. Since Richard Nixon, every president has used a chief of staff to manage the White House.

Question 6

The body largely credited with helping to advance the notion that the presidency needed to expand is known to historians as:

Accepted Answer

The Brownlow Committee was a panel of scholars appointed by FDR to publicize the administrative challenges confronting the nation's chief executive. Their subsequent report ultimately helped lead to the creation of the Executive Office of the Presidency and what is commonly referred to as the ""presidential branch.""

Question 7

Which nineteenth-century event lead to a more serious focus on how the institution of the presidency was organized?

Accepted Answer

As the demands on the president's time increased during the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln expanded the number of individuals working for the president.

Question 8

Which of the following individuals was not an important administrative assistant to President Lincoln?

Accepted Answer

John Hay, John Nicolay, and William O. Stoddard were each important assistants to President Lincoln. Horace Greeley, however, was an influential journalist during the Civil War.

Question 9

Who was the first president to rely heavily on White House staff for policy and personnel advice?

Accepted Answer

Grant's experience provides a valuable cautionary tale about the perils of seeking "salvation by staff," but is often not included in conventional histories about the evolution of the White House staff.

Question 10

Which of the following is not a component of the Office of Policy Development today?

Accepted Answer

The Domestic Council, as it was known under the Nixon administration, is now known as the Office of Policy Development. Since 1993, it has been comprised of two councils, the National Economic Council and the Domestic Policy Council.

Quiz 6: Organizing the Presidency Introductory Puzzle: Why Does a Kid Get to Tell Bill