University of Houston, Downtown

GOV 2405

CHAPTER 11: The President

MULTIPLE CHOICE

1)Which of the following statements is true?

1. 1. The founders created the electoral college to allow voters to directly elect the U.S. president.
   2. In a parliamentary system, the voters directly elect a prime minister, premier, or chancellor as the chief executive.
   3. In a parliamentary system, the executive and the majority in the legislature must be of the same party or a coalition of parties.
   4. Much of the time, the majority in the U.S. Congress and the president have been from the same party.
   5. Most European nations have electoral college systems similar to the United States.
2. Which of the following is true?
   1. A person that is born in another country but becomes a U.S. citizen may run for president.
   2. A person born in U.S. territories is not considered a natural born citizen.
   3. A person born in the United States but has lived abroad for fourteen years may not become president.
   4. A person who is born on U.S. soil or is born to American parents may become president.
   5. All of the above are tru

3. The Constitution states that the required minimum age for the presidency is
   1. twenty-five years.
   2. thirty years.
   3. thirty-five years.
   4. forty years.
   5. forty-five years.

4. Who was the youngest person to be elected president of the United States?
   1. Jimmy Carter
   2. John F. Kennedy
   3. Harry Truman
   4. William Clinton
   5. Barack Obama

5. Which of the following best describes the people who have been elected president?
   1. Older and from western states
   2. Primarily Catholics and Jews
   3. Military commanders from the South
   4. White, male Protestants
   5. California natives

6. Which of the following is true?
   1. The religious faith of most all presidents have been of the Protestant tradition.
   2. Five presidents have been Roman Catholics.
   3. No presidents have been Roman Catholics.
   4. One president has been an avowed atheist.
   5. Options A and C are tru

7. When no presidential candidate receives a majority of the electoral vote, the
   1. current president serves two more years and another general election is held.
   2. candidate who receives a plurality of the popular vote is elected.
   3. electors cast a second ballot to determine who will be elected.
   4. election is decided in the House of Representatives.
   5. Options B and D are tru

8. A constitutional amendment to clarify the way votes are cast in the electoral college was necessary because
   1. there was no way to tell which votes were for president and which were for vice president.
   2. there was a tie in the electoral votes in the election of 1800.
   3. large states did not have fair representation in the electoral college.
   4. in three elections no candidate received a majority of votes for the president.
   5. Options A and B are tru

9. Which of the following statements about presidential elections is true?
   1. One can become president without winning the popular vote.
   2. The Twelfth Amendment requires that the president and the vice president be chosen separately.
   3. Twenty-one presidents have served only one term in office.
   4. The electoral college has twice failed to give any candidate a majority and the election was decided in the House of Representatives.
   5. All of the above are tru

10. The president, in the capacity as head of state, is responsible for
    1. determining the countries for which the United States will have diplomatic relations.
    2. engaging in activities that are largely symbolic or ceremonial in nature.
    3. conducting the foreign policy of the country.
    4. leading the legislative process by submitting legislation.
    5. administering the laws.

11. In most democratic governments, the head of state is
    1. the chief executive officer of the nation.
    2. an office without any significant duties.
    3. the prime minister.
    4. someone other than the chief executive.
    5. the chief justice or other top judicial official.

12. Which of the following is an example of the president acting as head of state?
    1. Sending new legislation on healthcare to Congress for consideration
    2. Appointing a new person to be Secretary of State
    3. Hosting the Queen of Great Britain and Northern Ireland at a special dinner in her honor
    4. Sending troops and a hospital ship into an international disaster zone
    5. Receiving a new ambassador from Russia

13. As chief executive, the president is constitutionally bound to
    1. enforce laws, treaties, and court orders.
    2. submit a balanced budget to Congress.
    3. inform Congress prior to any military action.
    4. oversee actions of state governments.
    5. honor pronouncements of previous presidents.

14. The number of political appointments available to the president
    1. is constrained by the civil service system.
    2. puts the president in charge of deciding which individuals will occupy more than fifty thousand jobs in government.
    3. allows the president to appoint a majority of the civilian appointments in the bureaucracy.
    4. is confined mainly to the military.
    5. has been dramatically limited by the use of the constitutional amendment process.

15. All of the following are true of the president as chief executive except
    1. the president uses the appointment power to fill cabinet and subcabinet positions.
    2. the president may remove from office those who are not doing a good jo
    3. the president may remove members of congressional committee that are against his/her policies.
    4. the president must “faithfully execute the laws.”
    5. the president has the federal bureaucracy to assist in carrying out various tasks.

16. The granting of release from punishment for a crime is called a(n)
    1. reprieve.
    2. congressional sanction.
    3. pardon.
    4. executive privilege.
    5. impeachment.

17. With regard to presidential pardons, all of the following statements are true except
    1. the Supreme Court has ruled that presidents can grant pardons or reprieves for all offenses.
    2. presidents may grant a pardon only if the person to be pardoned has been convicted of a crime.
    3. President Ford pardoned President Richard Nixon for his role in the Watergate affair.
    4. President Carter issued a blanket pardon for Vietnam War-era military draft resisters.

17. 5. the Constitution gives the president the power to grant reprieves and pardons.       
18. As commander-in-chief, the president is
    1. only a symbolic leader of the military.
    2. the ultimate decision maker in military matters.
    3. allowed to make military decisions, but only with the approval of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
    4. not responsible for military decisions.
    5. obligated to sit on the Board of Regents for the military, naval, and air force academies.         
19. Which action(s) is (are) part of the president’s role as commander in chief?
    1. President Clinton meeting with heads of other countries
    2. President Reagan signing a law allowing the United States to give aid to Egypt
    3. President Ford pardoning President Nixon for his involvement in Watergate
    4. President Bush ordering the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan
    5. All are part of the president’s role as commander in chief.    
20. The requirement that the president must report to Congress within forty-eight hours of sending troops into hostilities and then obtain the approval of Congress within sixty days is established by
    1. the Supreme Court’s decision in United States v. Curtiss-Wright Export Corp.
    2. the War Powers Resolution.
    3. the National Security Act.
    4. the Nixon Protocol.
    5. Article II of the Constitution.

21. As chief diplomat, the president
    1. is responsible for selecting judges to federal courts.
    2. is responsible for all actions within the executive branch.
    3. selects leaders of his or her party in Congress.
    4. negotiates treaties, recognizes foreign governments, and makes executive agreements.
    5. ratifies treaties.

22. With regard to President Obama’s policies against terrorism,
    1. his policies on terrorism are as tough as those employed during the Bush Administration.
    2. he is concerned with how anti-terrorism policy is presented at home and abroad.
    3. he initiated a major campaign to assassinate Taliban and al Qaeda leaders in Pakistan.
    4. he continued the policy of indefinite detention without charges for prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay during the Bush Administration.
    5. All the above are tru

23. Before a treaty can become legally binding, the treaty must be
    1. signed by the justices of the World Court.
    2. approved by three-fourths of the state governments.
    3. ratified by the Supreme Court.
    4. approved by a two-thirds vote in the Senate.

23. 5. approved by a majority vote in both chambers of Congress.
24. Executive agreements are
    1. not valid in foreign policy matters unless approved by the Senate.
    2. agreements between the president and a head of foreign government that do not have to be approved by the Senate.
    3. an unconstitutional expansion of the power of the president.
    4. binding upon future presidents.
    5. used to achieve trivial matters, since the most significant issues must be addressed by the Senat

25. All of the following are true except
    1. President Carter was successful in securing passage of a treaty to return the Panama Canal to Panam
    2. President Clinton persuaded Congress to ratify the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1993.
    3. At the close of World War I, President Wilson withdrew the Treaty of Versailles from the Senate because of extensive revisions demanded by senators.
    4. President George W. Bush signed a unilateral foreign policy treaty after September 11, 2001.
    5. President George W. Bush signed a nuclear arms reduction treaty with Russia in 2002.

26. The State of the Union message
    1. helps the President transmit his legislative agenda to Congress and the American people.
    2. is as much a message to the American people and the world as it is to Congress.
    3. is required by the Constitution and is usually delivered in January.
    4. has spawned many customs including the tradition that one cabinet member, a “designated survivor,” not attend the ceremony in case of national emergency.
    5. All of the above are tru

27. If the president uses a veto, he or she
    1. must submit legislation that would accomplish the same goal through a different means.
    2. cannot use another veto for ten working days.
    3. must have the approval of the Senate majority leader and the Speaker of the House.
    4. must return the bill to Congress with a veto message.
    5. cannot be overridden by Congress.

28. Which of the following statements about the president’s veto power is most accurate?
    1. The president’s veto is final and gives him/her complete control over legislation.
    2. Because vetoes are usually overridden, the power has become unimportant.
    3. The threat of a veto gives the president significant influence over Congress and legislation.
    4. The veto has been used by Congress to stop the president from signing legislation.
    5. Because vetoes are rarely overridden, the power has become unimportant.

29. When the president receives a bill,
    1. he/she can do nothing and in ten days the bill becomes a law without his/her signature.
    2. it automatically becomes a law.
    3. the bill goes back to Congress to make sure it is good enough to become a law.
    4. he/she can sign it and it will become law.
    5. Options A and D are tru

30. A veto is
    1. usually employed to punish members of the president’s party who disagree with him.
    2. more likely when the president’s party controls Congress.
    3. a clear-cut indication of the president’s dissatisfaction with legislation.
    4. likely to be overridden about half the time.
    5. required to be used at least once during each president’s term.       
31. The line-item veto
    1. allows the veto of specific spending provisions in legislation.
    2. was found to be an unconstitutional delegation of legislative powers to the executive branch by the U.S. Supreme Court.
    3. was used by President Bill Clinton from 1996 to 1998.
    4. Options A and B are true.
    5. Options A, B, and C are tru

32. A pocket veto
    1. can be used by a president only once during a term in office, although the veto can be used twice if the president serves two terms.
    2. can only be used when Congress adjourns for the session within ten days of the bill being submitted to the president.
    3. means that the legislation cannot be reintroduced in the next Congress.
    4. was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1936.
    5. is a veto in which the president does not send a veto message back to Congress.      
33. Rewarding faithful party workers with government employment is called
    1. nepotism.
    2. pork barrel employment.
    3. executive perks.
    4. patronage.
    5. civil servic

34. Which of the following about presidential fund-raising is true?
    1. The president of the United States is prohibited from engaging in fundraising activities by Article II of the Constitution.
    2. By the 1990s and early twenty-first century, presidents were no longer willing to lower themselves to “begging for money” and limited their fundraising.
    3. Most presidents rely on others to raise money for them because it is not part of the role of

the president to raise money.

1. 4. President Obama has had spectacular success in raising funds.
   5. Congress has enacted legislation prohibiting a sitting president from engaging in fundraising activities.

35. Presidential popularity
    1. is irrelevant to bureaucrats.
    2. has stayed within a small range since Gallup began measuring it.
    3. is of little concern to second-term presidents.
    4. is required before a president may claim executive privilege.
    5. is an important resource for presidents to use to persuade Congress to pass legislation.       
36. Researchers have found that the
    1. state of the economy is important when incumbent presidents run for reelection.
    2. state of the economy is not as important as social issues when presidents run for reelection.
    3. unemployment rate is a good predictor of electoral outcomes.
    4. perception among voters that the economy is getting better or worse may have an impact on voter behavior.
    5. Options A and D are tru

37. “Going public”
    1. means that presidents take their case to the public to persuade members of Congress to support their agend
    2. was rarely used by presidents in the 1800s.
    3. allows a president to explain complicated or controversial topics to voters directly.
    4. forces Congress to support presidential priorities.
    5. Options A, B and C are tru

38. Inherent presidential powers
    1. depend on the statement in the Constitution that “the executive Power shall be vested in a President” and that the president should “take care that laws be faithfully executed.”
    2. are sometimes called expressed powers.
    3. are powers that come from statues or laws passed by Congress.
    4. include the power to veto legislation.
    5. Options A and C are tru

39. All of the following are true of emergency powers except
    1. they have allowed presidents to exercise their powers during times of crisis, particularly in foreign affairs.
    2. they were used by President Truman when he authorized the seizure of steel plants during the Korean War.
    3. the Supreme Court ruled against President Truman’s use of the emergency powers when he seized the steel plants during the Korean War.
    4. the Supreme Court upheld Truman’s seizing of the steel plants in the Korean War.

39. 5. emergency powers were used by Lincoln during the Civil War.               
40. Executive orders
    1. issued by the President have the force of law.
    2. are used to enforce legislative statutes.
    3. represent the president’s legislative power.
    4. have been used to establish rules for executive administrative agencies.
    5. All of the above are tru

41. An executive order
    1. must be published in the Federal Register.
    2. is not valid unless both chambers of Congress approve it.
    3. must be approved by a majority of the cabinet.
    4. can only be issued when Congress is not in session.
    5. cannot be overturned by Congress.

42. Executive privilege
    1. involves the ability of the president and executive branch officials to withhold certain information from Congress and the courts.
    2. means that members of the executive branch cannot be prosecuted for official acts.
    3. is the concept that has been applied to the president’s use of the pocket veto.
    4. allows the president discretion in making political appointments.
    5. was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1974.     
43. In United States v. Nixon, the Supreme Court ruled that
    1. the practice of making secret recordings in the White House violated citizens’ right to privacy.
    2. all White House communications must be made public.
    3. Richard Nixon could not use executive privilege to withhold secret Oval Office tapes.
    4. Executive agreements signed by Richard Nixon with White House staff could be used to withhold secret recordings made in his office.
    5. Evidence that was obtained by the FBI through secret recordings must be made public.         
44. According to the Constitution, impeachment
    1. cannot be used against an incumbent president.
    2. can only be applied to a president who has committed treason.
    3. can only be used against a president who has committed a violation of the criminal law.
    4. charges are voted on by the House of Representatives and, if approved, go to the Senate for a trial.
    5. has been used against four presidents.

45. In the history of the United States, no president has ever
    1. been impeached and acquitted.
    2. died while in office.

1. 3. been impeached and convicted.
   4. resigne
   5. been impeached.

46. A signing statement
    1. is a written declaration that a president may make when signing a bill into law.
    2. usually points to sections of a law that the president thinks may be unconstitutional.
    3. must accompany treaties submitted to the Senate by the president when seeking advice and consent.
    4. Options A and B are true.
    5. All of the above are tru

47. The following two presidents are the only ones in American history to have actually been impeached.
    1. Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton
    2. Richard Nixon and Franklin Roosevelt
    3. Andrew Jackson and William McKinley
    4. Thomas Jefferson and Martin Van Buren
    5. Andrew Jackson and Jimmy Carter

48. Informal advisors to the president are called
    1. FOP, or Friends of the President.
    2. the kitchen cabinet.
    3. the Executive Counsel.
    4. the cabinet.
    5. the brain trust.

49. All of the following are true of the president’s cabinet except
    1. they are usually members of the president’s political party.
    2. they usually have some experience in the area of the cabinet position.
    3. they are heads of executive departments.
    4. it is thoroughly detailed in the Constitution as to what the cabinet should do.
    5. the cabinet is an advisory group selected by the president to aid in making decisions.       
50. The members of the cabinet
    1. are friends of the president that he invites to conferences on specific issues.
    2. are expressly identified in the Constitution.
    3. are all department secretaries who oversee administrative functions for the president.
    4. may include the vice president and other advisors if the president chooses to include them.
    5. are limited to one presidential term and then leave government servic
51. The White House Office, the National Security Council, and the Office of Management and Budget are all part of
    1. the kitchen cabinet.
    2. the cabinet.

1. 3. the Executive Office of the President.
   4. the Council of Presidential Advisors.
   5. the system of checks on executive power.

52. The office that includes most of the key personal and political advisers to the president is the
    1. Council of Economic Advisers.
    2. cabinet.
    3. Executive Presidential Office.
    4. White House Office.
    5. Domestic Policy Council.

53. The Office of Management and Budget
    1. is a nonpartisan department.
    2. clearly affects the greater scope of the federal budget.
    3. publishes the budgets prepared by Congress.
    4. helps the president prepare the annual budget.
    5. is currently in the Department of the Treasury.

54. The National Security Council is a link between
    1. Congress and the president.
    2. leaders of foreign governments and the president.
    3. the Security and Exchange Commission and the president.
    4. key foreign and military advisors and the president.
    5. state governments and the president.

55. Presidential candidates have asked individuals to join the ticket as vice presidential candidates for all of the following reasons except
    1. to balance the ticket by region or political philosophy.
    2. to attract groups of voters or appease party factions.
    3. to reinforce one of the presidential candidate’s strong points.
    4. to shore up the presidential candidate’s perceived weaknesses.
    5. to serve as a co-president.

56. The Constitution gives the vice president
    1. the job of presiding over the Senate and voting in case of a tie.
    2. many responsibilities independent of presidential authority.
    3. the job of chief of staff to the president.
    4. the right to use the veto if he has the approval of the president.
    5. Options A and D are tru

57. According to the Twenty-fifth Amendment, if a president’s ability to discharge his normal functions is in question and he is unable to communicate,
    1. the Supreme Court is empowered to select a physician to certify whether or not the president is able to perform the functions of his office.