Essay on the powers and functions of the us president
Paying tribute to the historic speech, President Obama hand wrote an essay for an exhibit at the . President Obama joins former Presidents Clinton, Carter and H.W. Bush who have submitted their contributions, along with other notable essayists including Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, General Colin Powell, and Martin Luther King III, among hundreds of others.
By the time Hoover became President in early 1929, the agricultural sector was still reeling. The President, nevertheless, still opposed subsidies; along with his congressional allies, Hoover instead supported a bill that created a Federal Farm Board. With a $500 million budget, the Federal Farm Board would loan money to farmers to create and strengthen farm cooperatives in the hope that these entities would control production and bring crops to market more efficiently. Hoover saw the Board as a shining example how voluntarism and cooperation among competitors could produce a more efficient economy without the government intervention that subsidies represented. The farm bloc in Congress, however, still vigorously supported subsidies. A political deadlock ensued, as factions in Congress battled over farm policy and Hoover did little to break the impasse. Finally, in June 1929, Congress passed the Agricultural Marketing Act, replete with a Federal Farm Board and no subsidies for farmers. Hoover got his desired agricultural program but not without significant political costs. By the fall of 1929, the Federal Farm Board was up and running. Hoover's White House staff was, per contemporary custom, quite small. Walter Newton, the President's senior secretary, monitored relations with Congress and the executive departments and offered advice on executive appointments. Lawrence Richey helped manage the President's personal affairs and correspondence. George Akerson handled Hoover's relations with the press, albeit poorly. Hoover's executive clerk French Strother coordinated research projects on issues of social reform, topics that interested the President greatly. Hoover's staff was extremely loyal—Richey, Akerson, and Strother had worked on the 1928 campaign—and generally competent. While Hoover kept in place many of Coolidge's appointees at the lower levels of the federal bureaucracy, he did appoint hundreds of young technocrats and professionals trained in the new social sciences to government positions and special commissions. Tariff policy, the other early challenge facing Hoover, had long been a flashpoint in American politics. Hoover was not a supporter of high tariffs but he did believe that farmers deserved some sort of protection, a position that aligned the President with progressive Republicans from the midwest, such as powerful Idaho senator William Borah. The House of Representatives largely acceded to Hoover's request for high tariffs on agricultural products alone, but senators from eastern states passed a tariff bill that raised rates on industrial and manufacturied products. Borah and his allies were understandably very angry. Hoover, privately and discretely, supported insertion of a codicil into the legislation creating a non-partisan Tariff Commission that could raise or lower rates; he reasoned that the Commission would lower excessive rates after the tariff bill passed. The proposed commission, though, had little support among either protectionists or free-traders in either party and thus was defeated in the fall of 1929. After months of discussion, tariff reform remained at a standstill. In both the tariff and agriculture debates, President Hoover demonstrated questionable political acumen. The "Great Engineer" had proven as ineffective a politician as he was an effective organizer of exploratory commissions and committees. Instead of convincing Congress that his proposals were sound, Hoover chose to limit his involvement and let Congress legislate. The result, though, was policy stalemate and political tension between the President and Republicans, especially progressives like Borah, who might have been among Hoover's stronger supporters. It was a performance that did not bode well for the future, when Hoover's skills would be put to the test as the nation confronted its greatest crisis since the Civil War: the Great Depression. Between December 15 and January 10, 1789, each state cast their ballots for electors, who voted for candidates based on their personal reputations. Sixty-nine votes were cast for president; they were unanimous for George Washington. After the overwhelming victory at Yorktown, Washington returned with his army to New York, where they set up headquarters just out of reach of the British, who were still holed up in the city. Although the fighting in North America had mostly stopped, Washington remained on guard against British trickery. He also worked to keep boredom at bay amongst the troops, as a restless and bored army could prove dangerous.
The winners of the President's Essay Contest are as follows:
Roosevelt's campaign was cautious, largely because he did not want to commit any gaffes which might draw attention away from Hoover's failings or the nation's immense troubles. He repeatedly returned to the phrase "New Deal" throughout the campaign, although he rarely offered details on the programs or policies he might pursue. Indeed, Roosevelt spoke in such generalities and exuded so much optimism that some commentators wondered if he understood the extraordinary challenges facing the nation. Roosevelt departed from this campaign strategy on September 25 in a major address at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco. It was there that he outlined the governing philosophy behind his New Deal. The federal government, Roosevelt charged, must assume responsibility for the welfare of the nation. It must assist business and labor in the development of "an economic constitutional order" based upon a fair distribution of wealth, in which every working person would be guaranteed "the right to make a comfortable living."Hoover delivered nine major addresses during the campaign, defending his record and attacking Roosevelt. The President blamed the Great Depression on the aftermath of World War I, and he argued that his anti-Depression measures had prevented the total collapse of the economy. Roosevelt's New Deal, he warned, would support an activist federal government whose centralized and coercive powers endangered traditional notions of "self-government" and individual liberty. Hoover's speeches, however, were dreary, laden with statistics and delivered as sermons. The President inspired few Americans, in stark contrast to Roosevelt's uplifting oratory. FDR responded by comparing Hoover's record to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: "Destruction, Delay, Despair, and Doubt."More than 40 million voters went to the polls in 1932, a record number. They voted overwhelmingly for Roosevelt, who beat Hoover by 7 million votes and captured forty-two of the forty-eight states. Except for Pennsylvania, all the states Hoover won were in New England—a bedrock of GOP support. The Democrats won both houses of Congress by substantial majorities, as well. In the long term, the election marked the beginning of Democratic dominance in presidential elections and American politics. FDR's Democratic Party would win the next four presidential elections and its philosophy of "New Deal liberalism" would emerge as the nation's guiding political ideology. During this period of dominance, Democrats never shied away from reminding voters of Hoover's and the Republicans' failure to end the Depression. In the short term, though, FDR's victory removed the burden of leadership from Hoover; the Great Depression officially became Roosevelt's problem in March 1933.
Here's the full text of President Obama's essay:
Washington suspected that every choice he made as president would establish precedent for his successors. Because the Confederation had failed, the new federal government was the nation’s second chance, and Washington knew most nations did not get a second chance. He genuinely believed one mistake might cause the country to crumble.