Title: Executive Branch - HISTORY
Headings: Executive Branch
Executive Branch
Contents
Branches of Government
What Does the Executive Branch Do?
Who is in Charge of the Executive Branch?
Powers of the President and Executive Branch
Executive Orders
Sources
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Content: The federal government has 15 executive departments (including Defense, State, Justice, Labor, Education, Health and Human Services and so on). Each of these departments is led by a member of the presidential cabinet, who serve as advisors to the president. The heads of numerous executive agencies (the Central Intelligence Agency, Environmental Protection Agency, etc.) are not formally members of the Cabinet, but they do fall under the president’s authority. The executive branch also includes more than 50 independent federal commissions, including the Federal Reserve Board, Securities and Exchange Commission and many others. Another integral part of the executive branch is the Executive Office of the President (EOP), which was created in 1939 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Headed up by the White House chief of staff, the EOP includes the Office of Management and Budget, the Council of Economic Advisers, the National Security Council and the White House Communications and Press Secretary. Who is in Charge of the Executive Branch? Article II of the Constitution specified that a president —who is in charge of the executive branch—should be elected to a term of four years. According to its terms, only natural-born citizens of the United States of at least 35 years of age, who have lived in the United States for at least 14 years, are eligible for the nation’s highest executive office.