Nearly all men can stand adversity but
if you want to test
a man's character, give him power. - Abraham Lincoln
I. Title: The Executive Process
II. Course description: A survey of executive powers at the national, state, and local levels with special emphasis on the office of the Presidency.
III. Instructor: Dr. Winfield H. Rose
Office location: 5A-10 Faculty Hall
Phone numbers: (270) 809-2662 (office); 753-0126 (home); 556-6342
(cell); 809-2688
(fax)
E-mail: winfield.rose@murraystate.edu
URL: http://campus.murraystate.edu/academic/faculty/winfield.rose/main.htm
Office hours: 9:30 - 10:30 a.m. MWF; 11:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
TTh
IV. Class location, meeting time and language of
instruction: 507
Faculty
Hall, 2:00 - 3:15 p.m. TTh, August 19 - December 2, 2010;
English (it is not necessary to press 1).
V. Content outline: see Course Outline and Topics of Study.
VI. Required texts: (1) Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay, The Federalist Papers (any edition); (2) Raymond Tatalovich and Thomas Engeman, The Presidency and Political Science: Two Hundred Years of Constitutional Debate, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003; (3) Eliot A. Cohen, Supreme Command: Soldiers, Statesmen, and Leadership in Wartime, Fress Press, 2002. Supreme Court opinions may be accessed via Findlaw.
VII. Instructional activities: Classes will be a combination of discussion and lecture. Students should come to class with their assignment read and they should be prepared to answer as well as ask questions. Class attendance is important and expected; roll be will taken every day. Use will be made of the Electronic Reserve at the Waterfield Library and of the internet for some class reading materials. When your reading mentions court cases, use Findlaw to access them for further study. You are also encouraged to watch appropriate programming on the A & E, Discovery, PBS, TLC, and History channels. We might possibly take a voluntary day trip to Nashville some Saturday to see the Hermitage, the home of President Andrew Jackson.
VIII. Academic honesty: The policy statement on academic honesty adopted by the Board of Regents on February 14, 1975 and reprinted in the Undergraduate Bulletin is hereby incorporated into this syllabus.
IX. Course requirements: There will be two tests (September 30 and October 28) and a final exam at the officially designated time (December 8); these together will constitute 60% of your grade (20%@). Your outside writing requirement, as prescribed below, will count as 20% of your grade. Attendance (15%) and class participation (5%) will form the basis of the final 20% of your course grade.
X. Other class policies: You are asked not to: (1) have a cell phone or pager go off in class, or text message; (2) talk to one another when it is time for class to begin or after it has begun; (3) use a Walkman, iPod or similar apparatus; (4) wear caps in class; (5) eat in class; (6) be late habitually; (7) read or study other material or do homework for another class; or (8) leave or prepare to leave before class is dismissed. Such activities will not be well received. Drinking Cokes, Pepsis, coffee, etc., and laptops for taking notes are acceptable, but please turn off all cell phones and pagers when class begins. The first time your cell phone disrupts class you will be asked to gather your things and leave for the day; the second time it disrupts class your departure will be permanent.
XI. Students with Disabilities: The
Office of Student Disability Services (OSDS) is designed to coordinate
and administer services and accommodations for students with documented
disabilities. In doing so, OSDS will review disability documentation,
meet with students to determine appropriate reasonable accommodations,
and work with other areas on campus to implement services. Their
goal is to provide individuals with disabilities access to programs,
services, and activities at Murray State University. Contact
Information: Velvet Wilson, Director, 423 Wells Hall, (270)
809-5737,
velvet.wilson@murraystate.edu
XII. Equal Opportunity: Murray State University endorses the intent of all federal and state laws created to prohibit discrimination. Murray State University does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, religion, age, veteran status, or disability in employment, admissions, or the provision of services and provides, upon request, reasonable accommodation including auxiliary aids and services necessary to afford individuals with disabilities equal access to participate in all programs and activities. For more information, contact the Director of Equal Opportunity, 103 Wells Hall, (270) 809-3155 (voice), (270) 809-3361 (TDD), sabrina.dial@murraystate.edu.
XIII. Prerequisites: Junior standing, an inquiring mind, a desire to learn, and a willingness to work.
XIV. Purpose and Objective: To understand
the
origin, development, and current status of the executive process with
primary
emphasis on the American Presidency.
The White House
Presidency Research Group
Center for the Study of the
Presidency
American
Memory: Historical Collections for the National Digital Library
American Presidents: Life
Portraits
The Inaugural
Classroom
The American
Presidency
A Chronology of U. S.
Historical
Documents
Townhall's Congressional
Resource Center
Presidential
Libraries
Presidents of the United States
THOMAS: Legislative Information on
the Internet
National Archives and Records
Administration
Findlaw: U.
S. Supreme Court Opinions
Character Above All:
An Exploration of Presidential Leadership
Federal Law Pertaining to
Presidential
Elections and Controversies:
Title 3, United States Code,
Chapter
1
Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002
Public Law 107-243 - October 16, 2002
I pray Heaven to bestow the best of blessings on this house and
on
all that shall hereafter
inhabit it. May none but honest and wise men ever rule
under this roof.
John Adams, Second President of the United States
Letter to his wife, Abigail, November 2, 1800
On moving into the White House
Course Outline and Topics of Study
I. Introduction:
The
United
States Constitution, Articles I & II. Amendments XII, XX,
XXII,
& XXV.
Examine Internet Public Library: POTUS/Presidents
of the United States.
Bookmark this website for frequent use.
Read and study
the chapters on the Presidency and Executive Branch in
your text
from
POL 140, American National Government.
Go to Court
TV
Law Links: Government Sites. and familiarize yourself with the
agencies
of the federal government via their websites. Also familiarize
yourself
with the Office of
the Federal
Register and the official White
House website.
II. The Theoretical Basis of Executive Power
A. M. Henderson and Talcott Parsons, From Max Weber: The Theory of Social and Economic Organization, Free Press 1964: "The Three Pure Types of Legitimate Authority" et seq., pp. 324-373, including "The Routinization of Charisma." On electronic reserve at the Waterfield Library.III. The American Presidency:
(1) Ancestry
"The Magna Carta and Its American Legacy" and the English Bill of Rights (find on internet).
Review Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan, John Locke's Second Treatise, chs. 8-15, and Montesquieu's Spirit of the Laws, book XI.
Sir William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, volume 1, book 1, chapter 6, "Of the King's Duties," and chapter 7, "Of the King's Perogative."
(2) Creation
Options:
Decisions to be made (lecture); review Article II, United States Constitution.
Alexander
Hamilton, Federalist #’s 65-77.
Tatalovich &
Engeman, Introduction & chapter 1.
(3) Establishment: Washington, the indispensable man
Forrest McDonald, "Presidential Character: the Example of George Washington." Perspectives on Political Science Summer 1997, v. 26 # 2, pp. 134-139. On Ereserve.(4) Jefferson and the Jeffersonians
See Thomas Jefferson on Politics & Government.(5) Jackson to Buchanan
See POTUS . . . . . . , especially Jackson's inaugural addresses, the nullification controversy, Trail of Tears.(7) Age of the Lilliputians: Johnson to McKinley
Tatalovich & Engeman, chapter 3.(13) The Presidency of Bill Clinton
Final examination Tuesday, December 9, 1:30 p.m., 507 FH.
Outside Writing Assignment:
Your outside writing assignment for POL 443 is to research and write
a scholarly political science
paper (not a history paper) on an
appropriate topic pertaining to the executive
process. This paper should be at least 20 pages in length with
text in #12 font, and should be done in a highly competent,
professional manner. It should be written according to the
American Political Science Association style manual and in comformity
with my handout "Tips on Good Writing" which can be accessed via my
homepage. Excessive errors in grammar, spelling, and punctuation
cannot be accepted. The cornerstone concept here is the word scholarly; your assignment is not
to write a lengthy op-ed piece or what is commonly called a "screed,"
but a scholarly paper that is worthy of presentation during Scholars'
Week next spring, that is worthy of submission in the annual Pi
Sigma Alpha outstanding paper in political science competition,
and that is worthy of submission to Chrysalis.
While there is not much flexibility in the level of scholarship
expected, there is considerable flexibility in the selection of
topic. Here you should select something that really interests you
and that you will enjoy working on. Some possible topics are
listed below; narrow the list down to three or four and then come talk
with me.
This list is not exhaustive, but if you wish to
select another topic you definitely should discuss it with me
beforehand. The paper will be due November 11 (Veterans'
Day).
Are all the laws, but one, to go unexecuted, and the government
itself go to pieces, lest that one be violated?
Abraham Lincoln
Aggressive fighting for the right is the noblest sport the world
affords.
Theodore Roosevelt
The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do
for your country.
John F. Kennedy
If history teaches anything, it teaches that self delusion in the
face of unpleasant facts is folly.
Ronald Reagan
If we learned anything from World War II, we
learned that appeasement doesn't work.
George Bush
I believe we are on an irreversible trend toward more
freedom and democracy - but that could change.
Al Gore