Presidents Day - Things Americans Ought to Know

President’s Day

Things American’s Ought to Know

The Powers of the President of the United States are vast and quite comprehensive.  Today we observe the men who have transformed this nation from its inception and even the world with exercising unparalleled extra-national authority in times of war and peace.

Let us take a look at the Powers of the President and consider what this means to us as American’s, the Citizen, the Veteran and the Immigrant who is achieving American Citizenship.

Where does the President get his power?  Let us take a look:

The Constitution of the United States, Article II - Section 1.

1)   The executive power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his office during the term of four years, and, together with the Vice President, chosen for the same term, be elected, as follows:

“Each state shall appoint, in such manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a number of electors, equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or person holding an office of trust or profit under the United States, shall be appointed an elector.”

“The President shall, at stated times, receive for his services, a compensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within that period any other emolument from the United States, or any of them.”

Before he enter on the execution of his office, he shall take the following oath or affirmation:--"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

2)   Section 2. The President shall be commander in chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the militia of the several states, when called into the actual service of the United States; he may require the opinion, in writing, of the principal officer in each of the executive departments, upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices, and he shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment.

3)   He shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall appoint ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, judges of the Supreme Court, and all other officers of the United States, whose appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by law: but the Congress may by law vest the appointment of such inferior officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the courts of law, or in the heads of departments.

4)   The President shall have power to fill up all vacancies that may happen during the recess of the Senate, by granting commissions which shall expire at the end of their next session.

After World War II, it was realized that the responsibilities that fell on the President were so immense the President needed more powers to delegate certain responsibilities ranging from Command to the branches of the Armed Service so to assure the protection of the United States and our Allies.

The National Security Act of 1947

The National Security Act of 1947 mandated a major reorganization of the foreign policy and military establishments of the U.S. Government. The act created many of the institutions that Presidents found useful when formulating and implementing foreign policy, including the National Security Council (NSC).

The Council itself included the President, Vice President, Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, and other members (such as the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency), who met at the White House to discuss both long-term problems and more immediate national security crises. A small NSC staff was hired to coordinate foreign policy materials from other agencies for the President. 

Beginning in 1953 the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs directed this staff. Each President has accorded the NSC with different degrees of importance and has given the NSC staff varying levels of autonomy and influence over other agencies such as the Departments of State and Defense. 

President Dwight D. Eisenhower, for example, used the NSC meetings to make key foreign policy decisions, while John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson preferred to work more informally through trusted associates. 

Under President Richard M. Nixon, the NSC staff, then headed by Henry A. Kissinger, was transformed from a coordinating body into an organization that actively engaged in negotiations with foreign leaders and implementing the President’s decisions. 

The NSC meetings themselves, however, were infrequent and merely confirmed decisions already agreed upon by Nixon and Kissinger.

The act also established the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which grew out of World War II era Office of Strategic Services and small post-war intelligence organizations. The CIA served as the primary civilian intelligence-gathering organization in the government. Later, the Defense Intelligence Agency became the main military intelligence body. The 1947 law also caused far-reaching changes in the military establishment. The War Department and Navy Department merged into a single Department of Defense under the Secretary of Defense, who also directed the newly created Department of the Air Force. However, each of the three branches maintained their own service secretaries. In 1949 the act was amended to give the Secretary of Defense more power over the individual services and their secretaries.

UNITING AND STRENGTHENING AMERICA BY

PROVIDING APPROPRIATE TOOLS REQUIRED

TO INTERCEPT AND OBSTRUCT TERRORISM

(USA PATRIOT ACT) ACT OF 2001

After the attack of September 11, 2001, many in Congress argued that the President needed even broader powers to defend the United States from its enemies, particularly terrorists. 

After the 2001 anthrax attacks, Congress rushed to pass legislation to strengthen American security.   On October 23, 2001, Republican Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner introduced H.R. 3162 incorporating several provisions from a previously sponsored House bill and a Senate bill also introduced earlier in the month.  The next day on October 24, 2001, the Act passed the House 357 to 66, with Democrats comprising the overwhelming portion of dissent. The following day, on October 25, 2001, the Act passed the Senate by 98 to 1

Some who opposed the law have criticized its authorization of indefinite detentions of immigrants; the permission given law enforcement officers to search a home or business without the owner's or the occupant's consent or knowledge; the expanded use of National Security Letters, which allows the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to search telephone, e-mail, and financial records without a court order; and the expanded access of law enforcement agencies to business records, including library and financial records. Since its passage, several legal challenges have been brought against the act, and Federal courts have ruled that a number of provisions are unconstitutional.

Many provisions of the act were to end beginning December 31, 2005, approximately 4 years after its passage. Several fights in Congress were fought over this bill

In July 2005, the U.S. Senate passed a re-authorization bill with substantial changes to several sections of the act, while the House re-authorization bill kept most of the act's original language. The two bills were then reconciled in a conference committee that was criticized by Senators from both the Republican and Democratic parties for ignoring civil liberty concerns.

The bill, which passed Congress on March 2, 2006, and was signed into law by President George W. Bush on March 9 and 10, 2006.

On May 26, 2011, President Barack Obama signed the PATRIOT Sunsets Extension Act of 2011, a four-year extension of three key provisions in the USA PATRIOT Act: roving wiretaps, searches of business records (the "library records provision"), and conducting surveillance of "lone wolves"—individuals suspected of terrorist-related activities not linked to terrorist groups.

Sources: Chicago Sun Times, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriot_Act, http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-107publ56/pdf/PLAW-107publ56.pdf

https://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/national-security-act

http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/articleii

Some Fun Facts About the President's

John Tyler fathered the Most Children - 15 kids

Richard Nixon played the most musical instruments 6. Piano, Clarinet,

Accordion, Violin, Cello and Saxophone

Calvin Coolidge kept the most pets, including a pygmy hippo

(6 dogs, a bobcat, a goose, a donkey, a cat, 2 lion cubs,

an antelope and a wallaby)

William Taft gained the most weight in office: 50 lbs in one term

he lost 75 lbs in one year after leaving office.

James Madison was the first President to wear long pants.

John Quincy Adams was the first President to be Photographed.

Rutheford B. Hayes was the first President to use a phone.

Barack Obama the first President to write his own e-mail.

James Buchanan is the only President to be a bachelor.

Ronald Reagan is the only President that was divorced.

Martin Van Buren did not speak english at home, he spoke Dutch.

Andrew Jackson survived a duel and lived with a bullet in his chest

for 40 years.

Chester A. Arthur wore sideburns down to his lapels.


Happy President's Day


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