238 PART THREE • insTiTuTions of AmERiCAn GovERnmEnT
Cabinet
An advisory group selected
by the president to aid
in making decisions.
The cabinet includes the
heads of fifteen executive
departments and others
named by the president.on August 9, 1974, before the full House voted on the articles.
Nixon is the only president to have resigned from office.President Bill Clinton. The second president to be impeached
by the House but not convicted by the Senate was President
Bill Clinton. In 1998, the House approved two charges against
Clinton: lying to a grand jury about his affair with White House
intern Monica Lewinsky and obstruction of justice. The articles
of impeachment were then sent to the Senate, which acquit-
ted Clinton. The attempt to remove Clinton was very unpopular,
although the allegations against him did damage his popularity as
well. Part of the problem for Clinton’s Republican opponents was
that the charges against the president essentially boiled down to
his lying about sex. As one pundit put it, “Everyone lies about sex.”
Of course, not everyone lies about sex when under oath.THE ExECuTivE
oRGAnizATion
Gone are the days when presidents answered their own mail,
as George Washington did. It was not until 1857 that Congress
authorized a private secretary for the president, to be paid by
the federal government. Woodrow Wilson typed most of his cor-
respondence, even though he did have several secretaries. At
the beginning of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s long tenure in the White
House, the entire staff consisted of thirty-seven employees. With
the New Deal and World War II, however, the presidential staff
became a sizable organization.The Cabinet
Although the Constitution does not include the word cabinet, it does state that the presi-
dent “may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the execu-
tive Departments.” Since the time of George Washington, these officers have formed an
advisory group, or cabinet, to which the president turns for counsel.members of the Cabinet. Originally, the cabinet consisted of only four officials—the sec-
retaries of State, Treasury, and War and the attorney general. Today, the cabinet numbers
fourteen department secretaries and the attorney general. The cabinet may include others
as well. The president at his or her discretion can, for example, ascribe cabinet rank to the
vice president, the head of the Office of Management and Budget, the national security
adviser, or additional officials. Under President Barack Obama, the additional members of
the cabinet are the following:n The vice president
n The White House chief of staff
n The administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency
n The director of the Office of Management and Budget
n The U.S. trade representative
n The U.S. ambassador to the United NationsPresident Bill Clinton speaks to
Democratic members of Congress after receiving
news of his impeachment in 1998. Standing next
to him is Vice President Al Gore. What has to
happen after an impeachment for a president to be
removed from office? (AP Photo/Doug Mills)LO4: Explain the organization
of the executive branch and, in
particular, the executive office of
the president.
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