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University Daily Kansan Monday, Oct. 29, 1956
Presidency All Right, Author Says
In this election year, much thought is being given to the responsibilities the President of the United States has to the people, his party, and himself.
In his book, "The American Presidency," Clinton Rossiter, professor of government at Cornell University, has categorized these responsibilities, presenting some of the lesser-known facts about the highest office of the land.
The book is comprised of a series of lectures given by Mr. Rossiter at the University of Chicago.
First, says Mr. Rossiter, the president is chief of state. He is endowed with the sovereignty of a monarch, and the powers of a prime minister. He is "expected to go through some rather undignified paces by a people who think of him as a combination of scout-master, Delphic oracle, hero of the silver screen, and father of the multitudes."
This role of chief of state may seem trivial, says Mr. Rossiter, but cannot be neglected by the chief executive. It is a necessary evil the president must endure in order to remain in the good graces of the public from whom he draws his power.
For example, the president is empowered to appoint to office, remove from office, prepare and execute the federal budget, establish the rules and regulations governing the selection of civil service workers, and many others. These responsibilities overwhelm the president to the point where he is unable to discharge his duties, and consequently draws criticism for "slacking off."
Second, the president is chief executive. He not only reigns, but rules as well. He "has more trouble playing this role than any of the others." Why? Because his powers do not equal his responsibilities.
It was felt that some of the less important tasks could be delegated to a lesser official, leaving the president free to consider matters of the utmost importance only.
These duties became so prominent, and were recognized as being so overwhelming, that a commission headed by former President Hoover was asked to investigate ways to make the president's job less burdensome.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower, in an unprecedented move, gave Vice President Nixon some of these duties which occupy so much of the president's time. For this he drew criticism. Some went so far as to accuse him of being a "part-time president." The presidency is not a part-time job, even when the more menial duties are delegated to someone else.
John Marshall said the president is "the sole organ of the nation it its external relations, and its sole representative with foreign nations." This points up a third role held by the president—that of chief diplomat.
of policy and the conduct of affairs have evolved through various administrations to rest finally and for the most part on the shoulders of the president.
Constitutionally, foreign relations authority is shared by the president, Congress, and, for special purposes, the Senate. However, formulation
President Eisenhower personifies this assumption of foreign relations responsibility. He gives much of his time to conferring with Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, Dillon Anderson, presidential adviser, and the National Security Council, plus speeches on policy to the nation, and personal correspondence with foreign heads of states.
Despite all these responsibilities and powers, the president is not without restriction. The most stringent of these restrictions is Congress itself. No president may act within constitutional limits on major issues without some degree of control being exercised by the legislative branch of government. Even if the president were able to convince Congress of the urgency or need of a proposed law, and it was passed, it may be contested and subjected to "judicial review" by the Supreme Court.
Other responsibilities of the president include commander in chief of the armed forces (the 1946 Atomic Energy Act says the "consent and direction" of the president must be obtained before production of atomic bombs or other atomic weapons can be carried out); chief legislator (the president must tactfully guide as much as possible wanted legislation through Congress), and head of his party (no longer is it possible to have a bona fide statesman at the head of our government—he must be politician as well).
The Truman administration and President Eisenhower have seen fit to have as their understudies men deemed capable of assuming the land's highest post.
Mr. Rossiter also dwells on what he terms a renaissance" of the vice presidency. Too often in the past, too little thought was given to the fact that the vice president may likely succeed to the presidency.
Finally, Mr. Rossiter discusses what may some day be the undoing of the historical good work thus far accomplished by the chief executive post.
The two major thorns in the side of democracy are the method of selecting presidential candidates—the national convention—and the electoral college.
Unfortunately, despite the proposed Lodge-Gosset amendment, and despite men like Sen. Humphrey who advocate direct popular election of the president, Congress refuses to abolish the system as it now stands. Obviously, the larger states are against such a move, for it would reduce their power to "decide" who is to be president.
Mr. Rossiter, reviewing what he has said, concludes, "Leave your presidency alone." He apparently is satisfied that the quest for constitutional government has, over the years, caused the presidency to evolve into an adequate if not perfect embodiment of democratic ideals.
Jerry Dawson
Just Browsing ...
We were over at the library the other day, and it was really quite an eye-opening experience.
Not that things had changed too much since two years ago, when we were over there trying to check out a comic book.
Our first impression was that hardly anybody ever studies at the library. (A subsequent survey revealed this to be completely accurate. Figures showed that three of four students did not complete their homework while at the library.)
And this year, we were actually over there to study, and consequently we had plenty of time to look around and observe what was going on.
But in that earlier visit inside the halls of learning, we had been in a sort of a hurry, as we just couldn't wait to find out how Mary Worth was doing.
For example, just take the little hallway right outside the door from that desk where you get those Western Civ books. (Someone referred to it as the reserve
But though students at the library may not study much, they make up for it in effort expended in other ways.
Out there in that little five-by-five cubicle, all kinds of intrigues take place. Friends meet friends, duels are fought, dope is pushed, wagers are arranged, people fall in love, blind dates are arranged, cigarettes are smoked, and problems of the world are solved.
desk, which may or may not be right.)
But anyhow, back to the hall.
But the most popular pasttime is the general bull-session, in all shapes and forms.
Boys meet to discuss the sex appeal of the girls at the next table. Girls meet to discuss the financial status of the boys at the next table. Boy meets girl to discuss age-old problems which need no explanation on these pages.
Or they can go to the library to get in out of the rain, get in out of the cold, take advantage of the air conditions, or to hide from hit-and-run drivers.
And next week, or so we hear, they're setting up a bar back in one of the stacks down in the sub-sub-basement.
Of course, students also can go to the library to read newspapers or magazines, which many of them do.
That'll make it perfect.
.. Letters ..
Editor:
—Dick Walt
At the risk of sprinkling leftist venom upon the virgin plains of Kansas Republicanism, I should like to ask whether the following slogan has yet been heard at KU: Give our Democratic Congress a Democratic President. (This is an excerpt from Senator Wispy's current whispering campaign against all Republicans.)
Have You Heard?
Be a Wispy Whisperer. Simply whisper in the ears of five or more friends: Give Our Democratic Congress a Democratic President.
Peter Earle
ex-KU graduate student Princeton, New Jersey
University of Kansas student newspapers
trifweekly 1908, daily. January 16. 1912.
triweekly 1908, daily. January 16. 1912.
Dailu Transan
Telephone VIkting 3-2700 Extension 251, news room Extension 376, business office
Member Inland Dalry Press Association.
Associated College Press. Represented by National Advertising Service, 420 Madison Ave., New York, N.Y. New service: United Press. Mall subscription rates: $3 a semester or $4.50 a year. Published in Lawrences, Kan. Every year except September. University year except Saturday and Sundays. University holidays, and examination periods. Entered as second-class matter Sept. 17, 1910, at Lawrence, Kan. post office under act of March 3, 1879.
LANGUAGE MADE SIMPLE: No. 1
In this day of swift international communications, like radio, television, and the raft, it becomes increasingly important for all of us to have a solid grounding in foreign languages. Accordingly, I have asked the makers of Philip Morris whether I might not occasionally forego levity in this column and instead use it for a short lesson in language.
"Of course, silly!" chuckled the makers, tousling my yellow hair. Oh, grand men they are, the makers of Philip Morris, just as full of natural goodness as the cigarettes they make. "Of course, fond boy, you may occasionally forego levity in this column and instead use it for a short lesson in language!" said the makers and tossed me up and down in a blanket until, rosy with laughing, I bade them desist, and then we all had basins of farina and smoked Philip Morrises and sang songs until the campfire had turned to embers.
For our first lesson in language, let us take up French, which has often been called the lingua franca of France. We will approach French in a new manner, because, to be brutally frank, the way it is taught in our colleges is archaic and obsolete. Why all this emphasis on grammar? After all, when we get to France does it matter if we can parse and conjugate? Of course not!
So for the first exercise, translate the following real, true-to-life dialogue between two real, true-to-life Frenchmen named Claude (pronounced Clohd) and Pierre (also pronounced Clohd):
CLAUDE: Good morning, sir. Can you direct me to the nearest monk?
PIERRE: I have regret, but I am a stranger here myself.
PIERRE: We must defend from smoking until the airplane raises itself.
CLAUDE:Ah,now it has raised itself.Will you have a Philippe Maurice?
CLAUDE: Is it that you come from the France? BPE: You have right.
CLAUDE: I also. Come, let us mount the airplane and return ourselves to the France.
PIERRE: You have right.
PIERRE: What a coincidence. In the garden of *my* auit too!
CLAUDE: Ah, we are landing. Regard how the airplane depresses itself.
CLAUDE: In the garden of my aunt it makes warm in the summer and cold in the winter.
CLAUDE: I shall make a promenade and see various sights of cultural and historical significance. What shall you do?
S
PIERRE: Mercy.
PIERRE: What shall you do in the France?
PIERRE : I think I shall try to pick up the stewardess.
CLAUDE: Long live the France!
$ \textcircled{C} $Max Shulman, 1956
Et vive aussi la Philippe Maurice, la cigarette très bonne, très agréable, très magnifique, et la sponsor de cette column-là.
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