(9 of 11)
More it says that he is the Commander in Chief of the armed forces, he can make trea ties and otherwise deal with foreign nations, he can appoint fed eral judges and other officials, and in his relations with Congress, he shall "from time to time . . . recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient." Those were the days.
The President today is regarded as leader of the Free World, which means that he is expected not only to outwit the Soviets but to mediate between Arabs and Israelis and to provide shelter for Italian earthquake victims. As U.S. Chief of State, he must ceremoniously stand ready to greet the Queen of England or a visiting delegation of Boy Scouts. As Chief Executive, he must present to Congress and win approval of a complete legislative program, ranging from Wyoming water projects to Har lem hospitals. As national leader, he must formulate and win support of policies in areas he cannot in any sense control. He is expected to hold down prices, for example, and to fight crime in the streets. If the polls reflect a state of public disgruntlement, he is supposed to take charge of regruntling. Almost incidentally, he is also chief of his party, and his coattails are supposed to haul into office Congressmen and Governors he hardly knows. Finally, as a national symbol in a state that has been constitutionally separated from the church, he is a kind of custodian of the national morality; his views on divorce, marijuana or abortion both reflect and influence public behavior.
Part of this burden has accumulated under the eaves of the White House by tradition, some even by accident, but much more derives from a series of presidential requests and congressional assents. It was only in 1939 that the Executive Office was formally established (George Washington had a personal staff of 14; Carter had 437 in an Executive Office total of 1,780).
Not until the Employment Act of 1946 was the President officially made responsible for prosperity and employment. The Bureau of the Budget was born inside the Treasury Department in 1921, moved to the White House in 1939, expanded into the Office of Management and Budget in 1970, and now boasts a payroll of 616. None of these major changes is enshrined in the Constitution or impervious to alteration.
The second discovery the President makes is that the most powerful office in the world has quite limited powers.
Unlike any third-rate dictator, he cannot simply decree a tax increase or have an enemy arrested or even build himself a marble monument. His favorite programs can be talked to death in Congress, ignored by the federal bureaucracy or overturned by the judiciary. "The only power I've got is nuclear," Lyndon Johnson once complained, "and I can't use that!"
Because presidential powers are largely persuasive rather than coercive, because even the long levers of patronage work best when used discreetly, much of a President's effectiveness depends on his staff and his Cabinet. And —theoretically—on the Vice President.