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George bush vice president to1/20/2024 ![]() ![]() 9 After becoming president, Truman attempted to partially remedy the situation by appointing his own Vice President to a position on the new National Security Council (NSC) in 1949. Truman, on becoming president after Roosevelt’s death in April 1945, admitted to having little knowledge regarding the U.S.’s military strategy in World War II, and had not been informed about the Manhattan Project. 11 This would seem to have been Truman’s initiative (or irritation at having been kept out of the loop (.)ĥA common starting point to discuss the rise of vice presidential power, especially in national security, is with Harry Truman.9 Kengor, Paul, “The Vice President, Secretary of State, and Foreign Policy,” Political Science Quart (.).Finally, the paper will consider what we know about Cheney’s influence in the Bush administration after 2006. The paper will then examine the issue areas where Cheney appears to have had decisive impact, most notably the war in Iraq and counter-terrorism policy, and his relationship with Rumsfeld. When Rumsfeld left office in 2006, Cheney’s influence appears to have declined to a certain degree, which indicates that the Secretary of Defense was at least in part important for vice-presidential power.ĤThis paper will first briefly address the well-known changes in the vice-presidency that led to increased power in the position since 1945, which provided a precedent for Cheney’s influence in the Bush administration. 8 The duo Cheney-Rumsfeld were able to put considerable pressure on the rest of the Bush’s decision-making team to impose their particular worldview, especially regarding the decision to go to war in Iraq and on issues of counter-terrorism. I also put forth the proposition that a relatively unexplored reason for Cheney’s power in national security was his close relationship with Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. First, how did Cheney become such a powerful leader in foreign and defense policy? Second, how did his power in this issue area evolve during his vice-presidency? This paper argues that Cheney’s leadership in foreign and defense policy was not at odds with President Bush, who indeed likely facilitated Cheney’s rise. 8 See also the documentary film The Unknown Known: The Life and Times of Donald Rumsfeld, 2013, which (.)ģThis paper will focus in on the first policy area, national security, and examine two related questions.In an influential article in the New York Times in 2003, Elisabeth Bumiller and Eric Schmitt argued that Cheney’s extraordinary power was concentrated in three policy areas: national security, homeland defense, and the economy. 6 This was clearly an order that fell outside vice-presidential authority. A key example, albeit in particular circumstances, was Cheney’s order to the military to shoot down civilian airliners heading for Washington on 11 September 2001. 5 It is clear that Cheney was the most powerful Vice President to date, and that he wielded considerable influence in the Bush administration. 4 An entire literature exists that claims that Richard Cheney was in fact the real president during the George W. Bush administration. 7 Bumiller, Elisabeth and Schmitt, Eric, “Cheney, Little Seen By Public, Plays a Visible Role for Bus (.)ĢIt was a surprise, therefore, to read headlines such as “Is this the real president of the United States?,” with a photo of the Vice President in the Guardian in July 2007.6 Cheney, Dick and Cheney, Liz, In My Time: A Personal and Political Memoir (New York: Threshold Edit (.).5 See for example: Nichols, John, Dick: The Man Who Is President (New York: The New Press, 2004), Gol (.).4 Pilkington, Ed, “Is this the real president of the United States?,” Guardian 23 Jul.2 Vice Presidents were not allowed even to sit in on cabinet meetings until 1921. The Vice President was not considered as part of the executive branch until the twentieth century, as the position as the President of the Senate was considered to be a legislative branch responsibility. John Adams, the first Vice President, called it “the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived,” 1 and it was initially a sort of consolation prize for the runner-up in presidential elections. The position has always been much further down the chain of command. The Vice President was never intended to be the closest advisor to the president. Vice President as the “sidekick” of the President, as that was never the purpose of the position. 3 Albert, Richard, “The Evolving Vice Presidency,” Temple Law Review 78 (2005): p. 832.ġIt is somewhat misleading to refer to the U.S.2 Relyea, Harold C., “The Law: The Executive Office of the Vice President: Constitutional and Legal C (.).1 Cited in Goldstein, Joel K., “The Rising Power of the Modern Vice Presidency,” Presidential Studies (.). ![]()
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