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Presidents also fulfill the role of leader of their political party. Although this power is not mentioned in the Constitution, presidents represent the best interests of their party and work to make sure that members of their political party get elected to positions within the government.
The role of the president has changed greatly since its inception. Some of these changes have been because of the personality of the president involved. Tenacious presidents like Abraham Lincoln greatly increased the war powers of the presidency during the Civil War. Franklin D. Roosevelt took charge of the nation's finances during the Great Depression and launched the New Deal. The Vietnam Era brought a change as people reacted negatively to the powers of the president in running a war that Congress had not declared. Subsequent scandals like Watergate also had the effect of decreasing the powers of the presidency. The power spectrum bounced back with Ronald Reagan and it is a continual balancing act for the chief executive between being a strong president and a steward of the Constitution. The modern president's...
"After two hundred years of experience, it seems undeniable that the locus of the foreign policy decision-making process in the United States is the White House. In foreign affairs, the president has become what one commentator has called the 'ultimate decider' and the 'decision-maker of last resort'" (Crabb & Holt, 1989, p. 5).
The formal powers delineated in Article II of the Constitution in addition to the informal powers that the role of the president has gradually acquired are flexible enough to allow a president to function in the 21st century international world. Some of the intentionally vague language of the framers has allowed the expansion of formal and informal powers to suit the needs and personalities of the presidents involved.
References
Crabb, C., Holt, P. (1989). Invitation to Struggle: Congress, the President, and Foreign Policy. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly.
Turner, M., Switzer, K., Redden, C., (1996). American Government: Principles and Practices. Columbus, OH: Glencoe/McGraw-Hill.
Typically, applications for pardons are referred for review and non-binding recommendation by the Office of the Pardon Attorney, an official of the Department of Justice (Pardons and clemency in the United States http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pardon)." Those who oppose the pardon power of the president point to the royal misuse of days gone by when the U.S. was still under English rule and pardoning power was abused by members of the royal family
It was soon after the September 11 terrorist attacks on the U.S.A. carried out by an Islamic militant outfit, Al-Qaeda that the impetus to the Bush administration to strengthen the existing Presidential powers came into being, and this has been taken by some persons as meaning that the President of the United States now enjoys much more powers than other post-Watergate Presidents, and by others that the President Bush today
Constitution gave Congress the power of legislation. In fact, its major function is to make laws. Essentially, Congress converts public will into public policy by way of law. The Constitution provides some rules to which Congress must adhere throughout the legislative process however; over the years there have been additions and modifications to the procedure. Currently, there is debate over how to reform the legislative process. The general legislative process is
American Presidency How Presidents can influence the policymaking process to suit their needs constitution has created the executive branch and the executive power vested in the hands of the president. In fact, the president cannot act in isolation in running the executive branch. The president depends on the executive office staff and agencies like office of management and council of economic advisors and the policy development offices like the National Security Council.
These words, 'necessary and proper,' in such an instrument, are probably to be considered as synonymous. Necessarily, powers must here intend such powers as are suitable and fitted to the object; such as are best and most useful in relation to the end proposed. If this be not so, and if congress could use no means but such as were absolutely indispensable to the existence of a granted power,
War Powers Act of 1973 was an important piece of legislation during the Vietnam War. The intention, per the wording of the act itself, was "to fulfill the intent of the framers of the Constitution of the United States and insure that the collective judgment of both the Congress and the President will apply to the introduction of United States Armed Forces into hostilities, or into situations where imminent involvement