Revision & Exam Practice for the “legacy” A Level qualifications including:

• Edexcel (Unit 3C – Representative Processes in the USA, Unit 4C – Governing the USA)
• AQA (Unit 3A – The Politics of the USA, Unit 4A – The Government of the USA)
• OCR (F855 – US Government & Politics)

REVISE THE US PRESIDENCY

How to use these questions for revision and exam practice:

1. For long-answer or essay questions, plan a 4 paragraph response using the PEEACH paragraph structure (P=point, E=evidence, E=explain, A=argument, C=counter argument, H=how does this answer the question?)
2. Once you have completed your question, read the indicative content.
3. Using the essay criteria, colour code each criteria to show how successful you were at including this in your essay (red, amber or green)
4. There is also a space for you to add additional notes and/or examples that don’t appear in the indicative content, or add better explanations, or include additional, points from the indicative content.

To what extent is ‘the power to persuade’ the president’s most important power? (45)

Indicative Content

Factors that suggest the power to persuade is the president’s most significant power include:

• the president is dependent on Congress for all legislation, money, nominations, declarations of war and treaties
• Congress is elected separately and even members of the president’s own party have a separate mandate to the president
• members of Congress need therefore to be persuaded that the president’s proposals are in their interests if they are to support them
• as the only nationally elected politician, the president commands a ‘bully pulpit’ from which they can do this
• failure to exercise this power effectively – Presidents Carter and Obama? – may lead to failure to advance the presidential agenda and even political defeat.

Factors that suggest the power to persuade is not the president’s most significant power include:

• the president has a variety of means – e.g. executive orders, signing statements and recess appointments – by which they can circumvent Congress on domestic policy matters
• there is a long history of presidents as commander-in-chief deploying military force abroad without reference to Congress
• in a highly partisan era, if the president seeks to stake out a position, it may reduce the possibility of opposition support and their best tactic may be to stay silent.