CHAPTER TEn • THE PREsidEnCy 239
Kitchen Cabinet
The informal advisers to
the president.
Executive Office of the
President (EOP)
An organization
established by President
Franklin D. Roosevelt to
assist the president in
carrying out major duties.n The chair of the Council of Economic Advisers
n The administrator of the Small Business AdministrationOften, a president will use a kitchen cabinet to replace the formal cabinet as a major
source of advice. The term kitchen cabinet originated during the presidency of Andrew
Jackson, who relied on the counsel of close friends who allegedly met with him in the
kitchen of the White House. A kitchen cabinet is a very informal group of advisers. Usually,
they are friends with whom the president worked before being elected.Presidential use of Cabinets. Because neither the Constitution nor statutory law
requires the president to consult with the cabinet, its use is purely discretionary. Some pres-
idents have relied on the counsel of their cabinets more than others. Dwight Eisenhower
was used to the team approach to solving problems from his experience as supreme allied
commander during World War II, and therefore he frequently turned to his cabinet for
advice on a wide range of issues. More often, presidents have solicited the opinions of
their cabinets and then have done what they wanted to do. Lincoln supposedly said—after
a cabinet meeting in which a vote was seven nays against his one aye—“Seven nays and
one aye; the ayes have it.” In general, few presidents have relied heavily on the advice of
their cabinet members.
It is not surprising that presidents tend to disregard their cabinet members’ advice.
Often, the departmental heads are more responsive to the wishes of their own staffs or to
their own political ambitions than they are to the president. They may be more concerned
with obtaining resources for their departments than with achieving the president’s goals. So
there is often a strong conflict of interest between presidents and their cabinet members.The Executive office of the President
When President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed a special committee on administrative
management, he knew that the committee would conclude that the president needed
help. Indeed, the committee proposed a major reorganization of the executive branch.
Congress did not approve the entire reorganization, but it did create the executive Office
of the President (eOP) to provide staff assistance for the chief executive and to help
coordinate the executive bureaucracy. Since that time, a number of agencies have been
created within the EOP to supply the president with advice and staff help. Presidents reor-
ganize the EOP and the White House Office constantly, and any table of organization is
therefore temporary. As of 2013, however, the EOP agencies under Barack Obama were
the following:n Council of Economic Advisers
n Council on Environmental Quality
n National Security Staff
n Office of Administration
n Office of Management and Budget
n Office of National Drug Control Policyn Office of Science and Technology Policy
n Office of the United States Trade
Representative
n Office of the Vice President
n White House OfficeMany staff members within the EOP are assigned to specific policy areas, and the
number of such individuals grew noticeably during Obama’s first term. Popularly referred
to as “czars,” they have included a cyber security czar, an urban affairs czar, and even an
Asian carp czar, who coordinates efforts to keep Asian carp out of the Great Lakes. Unlike
cabinet officers and many other top executive officials, czars are not subject to confirma-
tion by the U.S. Senate. This exemption has been a source of controversy.Copyright 2014 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
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