Deck 2: An Institutional Presidency

Question 1

The __________ was a period in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries marked by an expansion of presidential power.

A) Partisan Era
B) Populist Era
C) Progressive Era
D) Proactive Era

Answer 1

Progressive Era

Question 2

Which of the following was a characteristic associated with the Progressive Era?

A) laissez-faire capitalist policies
B) interventionist governmental policies
C) global isolationist policies
D) pro-business policies

Answer 2

interventionist governmental policies

Question 3

If you were a progressive, which idea would you advance in a speech made to fellow citizens?

A) Restricting the power of labor unions will strengthen the common good.
B) Devolving governing power to the states will enhance the common good.
C) The interest of business will always advance the common good.
D) Stronger state institutions are needed to protect the common good.

Answer 3

Stronger state institutions are needed to protect the common good.

Question 4

The passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 illustrated the core belief of Progressive Era reformers that government __________.

A) should not regulate business
B) could improve the lives of its citizens
C) should be insulated from corporate lobbyists
D) could force citizens to join labor unions

Question 5

With which of the following is Theodore Roosevelt closely associated?

A) stewardship theory
B) the New Deal
C) industrial deregulation
D) laissez-faire capitalism

Question 6

Who is considered to be America's first progressive president?

A) Franklin Roosevelt
B) William McKinley
C) Theodore Roosevelt
D) Woodrow Wilson

Question 7

The bully pulpit is valuable to the presidency because it allows the president to command the attention of __________.

A) the public
B) foreign leaders
C) the cabinet
D) Congress

Question 8

How did stewardship theory affect the way in which the powers of the presidency were understood?

A) It recast the relationship between the president and the Constitution by maintaining that where the Constitution was silent, the president was free to do as he chose.
B) It recast the relationship between Congress and the president by maintaining that it was the president's responsibility to protect the political interests of Congress.
C) It recast the relationship between Congress and the Constitution by maintaining that it was Congress's responsibility to act as the sole guardian of the national interest.
D) It recast the relationship between the Constitution and the president by maintaining that the Constitution specifically empowered the president to act in the public interest.

Question 9

Which statement would Theodore Roosevelt have been most likely to have made?

A) It is the job of the president to execute the laws passed by Congress and to defer on all other matters of leadership.
B) The president should yield to Congress on domestic issues except in times of crisis.
C) The president is merely a clerk, and it is the responsibility of Congress to lead the people.
D) It is the job of the president to break through the constitutional form and do the work of the people.

Question 10

Theodore Roosevelt's extensive public relations campaign to drum up support for rate regulation among voters is an example of which presidential ability?

A) the bully pulpit
B) executive orders
C) the vesting clause
D) executive privilege

Question 11

Woodrow Wilson was the first president to __________.

A) veto legislation
B) hold press conferences
C) use executive orders
D) declare war

Question 12

The presidency was transformed during the Progressive Era as popular ideas and expectations about how presidents should use the power granted by the Constitution changed, but at the same time, __________.

A) Congress sought to limit the formal constitutional powers of the president
B) the president's formal constitutional powers remained unchanged even though presidents sought to expand them
C) there were no concurrent changes to the president's formal constitutional powers
D) the president's formal constitutional powers expanded in spite of Congress's opposition

Question 13

If as president you believed that Congress was sidestepping important issues, what could you do to try to make Congress to address those issues?

A) Raise those issues during the weekly cabinet meeting and initiate bureaucratic action without congressional authority.
B) Challenge Congress to deal with the issues by activating the take-care clause of the Constitution.
C) Invoke executive privilege to bypass congressional inaction on these critical issues.
D) Raise those issues during a State of the Union address to focus the public's attention on them.

Question 14

Which candidate ran as a third-party candidate under the banner of the Progressives?

A) Woodrow Wilson
B) Theodore Roosevelt
C) William H. Taft
D) Eugene V. Debs

Question 15

An effect of the stewardship model of the presidency was that presidents __________.

A) were expected to defer to Congress in the area of foreign affairs
B) sought to expand their formal constitutional powers through the amendment process
C) relied solely on their formal constitutional powers
D) were expected by citizens to steer national policy

Question 16

In what way did the politics of the 1920s differ from the early decades of the twentieth century?

A) The 1920s emphasized expanding the role of government into both the economy and the lives of citizens.
B) The 1920s witnessed a dramatic expansion of formal presidential powers at the expense of congressional authority.
C) The 1920s ushered in a period of conservative retrenchment that sought to resist the progressive reforms of the early twentieth century.
D) The 1920s gave rise to a broad liberal coalition that sought to expand the powers of the presidency.

Question 17

What institutional achievement expanded the power of the presidency in the 1920s?

A) Clayton Anti-Trust Act
B) Underwood Tariff Act
C) Keating-Owen Act
D) Budgeting and Accounting Act

Question 18

Which policy preferences demonstrate the core beliefs about government held by the three presidents that held office in the 1920s?

A) decreased economic regulation and increased taxes on the wealthy
B) minimum government intervention overseas and increased regulation of industry
C) increased regulation of industry and increased taxes on the middle class
D) scaled-back governmental intrusions into the domestic economy and lower taxes

Question 19

Which of the following is a hallmark of the modern presidency?

A) decentralization of the institutional powers of the president
B) weakening of the institutional powers of the president
C) increase of the institutional powers of the president
D) subordination of the institutional powers of the president

Question 20

What was the purpose of the Brownlow committee?

A) to propose constitutional changes to increase the power of the presidency
B) to offer suggestions for empowering the presidency through institutional reorganization
C) to recommend budget cuts to reduce the size of the executive branch and federal bureaucracy
D) to develop a plan for Congress to aid the United Kingdom during the early period of World War II

Question 21

If you wanted to follow the recommendations of the Brownlow Committee and expand congressional oversight over executive agencies, you might choose to allow __________.

A) the president to appropriate and spend federal monies as he or she sees fit
B) the president to appropriate money, but give Congress sole authority over expenditures
C) Congress to appropriate and spend all monies used by the federal agencies
D) the president sole authority over expenditures, but only after Congress has appropriated the money

Question 22

Which of the following best illustrates the core principles of scientific management?

A) providing incentives to federal employees to develop programs to increase the efficiency of their agency
B) changing the structure of government to eliminate hierarchy in favor of one with less clear lines of administrative responsibility
C) using political loyalty as a basis for employment in the executive bureaucracy
D) removing the federal agencies from the direct control of the president

Question 23

The recommendations of the Brownlow Commission were put into practice with the passage of the __________.

A) Budgeting and Accounting Act
B) Underwood Tariff Act
C) Clayton Anti-Trust Act
D) Executive Reorganization Act

Question 24

The New Deal in American politics was a collection of policy reforms that __________.

A) established the template for the modern welfare state
B) were meant to limit the power of the president in domestic politics
C) established the template for the modern national security state
D) were meant to enhance the power of the presidency in international affairs

Question 25

According to Franklin Roosevelt, which of the following was one of the biggest obstacles to the implementation of his progressive policy proposals?

A) public apathy
B) organizational inefficiency
C) partisan loyalty
D) regulatory efficiency

Question 26

What type of conflict requires the support and mobilization of an entire citizenry?

A) regime change
B) asymmetric conflict
C) police action
D) total war

Question 27

What was the purpose of the Selective Service Act?

A) to authorize the president to enforce a new military draft
B) to empower the president to exercise executive control over coal and steel production
C) to restrict the ability of Congress to interfere with the president's commander-in-chief function
D) to allow the president to exercise newly enacted emergency powers

Question 28

Which of the following best illustrates the effects of Woodrow Wilson's assertion of presidential authority to wage total war?

A) a reduction in the ability of the executive branch to exercise unilateral power
B) a diffusion of power throughout the federal and state levels of government
C) an increase in the power of the Congress to dictate policy to the states
D) a centralization of power within a strong federal state

Question 29

Which of the following is an example of an emergency power seized by President Roosevelt during World War II?

A) imposition of martial law on the territory of Alaska
B) forced internment of citizens of Japanese descent
C) suspension of the constitutional guarantee of habeas corpus
D) abolishment of the system of progressive taxation

Question 30

Which of the following was an effect of the Japanese attacks on Pearl Harbor?

A) universal adoption of closed-shop policies
B) the dissolution of the National War Labor Board
C) a silencing of business?labor quarrels
D) an end to political opposition to the New Deal

Question 31

By the mid-twentieth century, which of the following was in place as part of the essential architecture of the modern presidency?

A) Office of the First Spouse
B) Congressional Budget Office
C) USA PATRIOT Act
D) Executive Office of the President

Question 32

The biggest spike in the total number of federal employees occurred during which decade?

A) 1920s
B) 1940s
C) 1960s
D) 1980s

Question 33

Which office has the primary responsibility of organizing the president's schedule in addition to managing press relations and developing political strategy?

A) White House Office
B) Executive Office of the President
C) Office of Management and Budget
D) National Security Council

Question 34

The __________ is the most important advisory body to the president on all matters of public policy and government action.

A) Executive Office of the President
B) White House Office
C) cabinet
D) Office of Management and Budget

Question 35

What cabinet department was established in the wake of the 2001 terrorist attacks?

A) Department of Homeland Security
B) Federal Emergency Management Agency
C) White House Office
D) Department of Veterans Affairs

Question 36

Which statement best characterizes the Department of Homeland Security when compared to other cabinet departments?

A) It has an expansive mandate.
B) It is relatively weak.
C) It has low staffing levels.
D) Its creation was nonpolitical.

Question 37

Heads of independent agencies and government corporations are different from cabinet secretaries because they __________, while cabinet secretaries __________.

A) are appointed for life terms; serve for a limited amount of time
B) are appointed based on well-defined qualifications; are nominated primarily based on political considerations
C) have few protections from arbitrary removal by the president; are insulated from politically motivated actions
D) are vulnerable to the meddling actions of the president and Congress; enjoy a great deal of political independence

Question 38

What is the primary purpose of government corporations?

A) to ensure equality of service provision for citizens
B) to stimulate competition between private market service providers
C) to provide public services not provided by the private market
D) to guarantee equality of opportunity in historically exclusionary market sectors

Question 39

Which of the following would be considered an example of a government corporation?

A) Amtrak
B) NASA
C) US Postal Service
D) Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Question 40

Who is considered to be the brainchild behind the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau?

A) Barney Frank
B) Chris Dodd
C) Barack Obama
D) Elizabeth Warren

Question 41

The modern institution of the vice presidency differs from the early institution of the vice presidency because occupants of the modern institution __________ than occupants of the early institution.

A) exercise far more power
B) are less successful politically
C) have much less power
D) are less likely to have previous political experience

Question 42

__________ is widely regarded as the most powerful and influential vice president in history.

A) Al Gore
B) John Adams
C) John Nance Garner
D) Dick Cheney

Question 43

Which of the following best illustrates the growth in the power of the vice presidency?

A) John Nance Garner's establishment of an office in the West Wing for the vice president
B) the direct policy negotiations with Congress while vice president undertaken by Theodore Roosevelt
C) the increase in staff under Dick Cheney and his ability to control information and access to the president
D) the institutionalization of the vice president as president of the Senate under John Adams

Question 44

The expansion of vice presidential power illustrates what key institutional fact of American political life?

A) The Framers of the Constitution clearly believed that the president and the vice president were to be equal.
B) The vagueness of the language in the Constitution created opportunities for vice presidents to expand their power.
C) The language of the Constitution is decidedly unambiguous with respect to executive branch authority.
D) The Framers of the Constitution had a precise understanding of how the office of the vice presidency would evolve over time.

Question 45

__________ was the first spouse to acquire her own staff.

A) Edith Roosevelt
B) Edith Wilson
C) Eleanor Roosevelt
D) Jacqueline Kennedy

Question 46

What differentiated the tenure of Jacqueline Kennedy as first spouse from that of Eleanor Roosevelt?

A) Kennedy focused on foreign policy matters while Roosevelt focused on domestic policy.
B) Kennedy was concerned with domestic issues while Roosevelt was active in international politics.
C) Kennedy was far less focused on policy issues than Roosevelt.
D) Kennedy had little interest in the ceremonial role of first spouse while Roosevelt embraced it.

Question 47

The ability of the first spouse to directly affect a legislative initiative is best illustrated by __________.

A) Edith Wilson's assumption of chief of staff responsibilities
B) Jacqueline Kennedy's efforts to restore the White House
C) Nancy Reagan's clashes with the White House chief of staff
D) Lady Bird Johnson's highway beautification activities

Question 48

Which statement best characterizes the institutional nature of the presidency?

A) Its character is derived from the rich institutional context in which it is embedded.
B) Its character stems from the personalities of the presidents who occupy it.
C) Its character is the product of institutional bargains between the legislative and executive branch.
D) Its character reflects the social conditions that are emerging at any given time in history.

Question 49

Which statement best illustrates the complexity of institutional life for the president?

A) The Climate Change Adaption Task force is co-chaired by three different offices and includes representatives from twenty additional federal agencies.
B) The Department of Homeland Security exercises vast authority over a range of policy issues in addition to having the highest staffing levels in the federal bureaucracy.
C) The office of the vice president has equal authority with the EOP over policy decisions under consideration by the Executive Office of the President.
D) The Securities and Exchange Commission is exempt from the Administrative Procedures Act, allowing it to institute policy changes without executive approval.

Question 50

How did the ideas of the Progressive Era affect the early development of the institutional presidency? Provide specific examples.

Question 51

What was scientific management? In what ways did presidents attempt to apply its principles? Provide specific examples.

Question 52

Explain the origins of the expression "war makes states" and evaluate the concept in the context of World War I and World War II. In your analysis, distinguish between the ways in which Wilson and Roosevelt used war to expand presidential power.

Question 53

Discuss the essential architecture of the modern institutional presidency and how it differs in both function and scope from the early institutional structure. Provide examples to demonstrate the differences and to show how each architectural component contributes to the functioning of the executive branch.

Question 54

What has been the long-term trend with respect to the growth, power, and structure of the institutional office of the presidency, and what predictions could you make about the future of the institutional presidency? Include examples in your answer to support your claims.