Why do so many presidents invoke the story of Harry Truman when ...

[KimWrice]

Why do so many presidents invoke the story of Harry Truman when they have low approval ratings?
 
  A)He left office more popular than when he entered office.
  B)He was able to achieve major policy successes in spite of his ratings.
  C)He provides an example of how not to behave as president.
  D)He suffered from low approval ratings while in office but was vindicated by history.

Question 2

Describe the presidential toolkit of unilateral directives, and compare and contrast the means by which presidents can exercise their unilateral powers.
 
  Explain why the national security directive is different from other unilateral directives and what effect this has had on the balance of power between the legislative and executive branches.

[jaymee143]

Answer to Question 1

D

Answer to Question 2

The ideal answer should:
a. Describe the presidential toolkit of unilateral directives, defined as mechanisms by which presidents create policies that assume the weight of law, including executive orders, proclamations, national security directives, and executive agreements, noting that there are no hard-and-fast rules about their use by president.
b. Define each of the unilateral directives listed above and their specific powers.
c. Compare and contrast the various tools by, for example,noting that executive orders, which instruct federal agencies to take actions, are possibly the closest substitute for legislative action,while proclamations are largely symbolic in nature and executive agreements allow presidents to bypass the traditional treaty-making process.
d. Discuss the distinctive nature of national security directives over the other mechanisms in the presidential toolkit based on their secrecy, which has served to greatly enhance presidential power over Congress.

[KimWrice]

Excellent

[bdobbins]

TYSM