The Executive Power

The President, as chief executive, is the most important government figure. The president negotiates foreign treaties and appoints government heads. He commands the armed forces and sends and receives diplomatic officials. In effect, he makes foreign policy. As head of the executive branch he sees, to it that laws enacted by the legislature are carried out. He is also the leader of his political party. The president and the vice-president are the only officials chosen in a nation-wide election.

According to the Constitution a president’s office is limited to two terms of 4 years each. It also describes how a president can be removed from office (impeachment procedure).

The executive branch consists of 14 departments and many independent agencies. The department heads (most of them called secretaries, except the Attorney General) form the president’s cabinet. The president has many sources of advice and assistance – both private and public, including representatives of the departments and agencies. He also relies very much on members of his own White House staff.

Almost three million civilians work in the departments and agencies of the executive branch. This number exceeds the total employed by America’s seven largest corporations. These government employees make up the federal bureaucracy. These are civil servants who are hired under a system in which merit and training are supposed to be the basis of employment and promotion. There are approximately ten thousand civil service job classifications which range from a bridge engineer to a clerk. 10% of these federal employees work in Washington D.C.; 6% work outside the U.S.; the rest are located throughout the states.