Executive Privilege — Real and Perceived

Develop Vocabulary
Journalism, Reading, U.S. Government
The terms found in In the Know are directly related to Article II of the United States Constitution, presidential duties and privileges, and to aspects of government. Students should be encouraged to learn the definitions. Many of the activities in this curriculum guide present opportunities to use the terms in class discussion and in written responses.

Explore Presidential Power
Journalism, U.S. Government, U.S. History
Textbooks devote chapters to presidential power. Before reviewing your textbook, use a primary document — The Constitution of the United States. Read and discuss Article II.
1. What are the eligibility requirements of someone who will be President?
2. What are the stated powers and responsibilities of the President?

Discuss the significance of the duties of the president and executive branch, the separation of powers, and the responsiblities that provide authority. In what ways have the American public's expectations of the president remained unchanged? Give examples from different administrations.

Evaluate How Well Federal Officials Honor the Public Trust
Journalism, Media Arts, U.S. Government
U.S. federal employees are public servants. As stated by the U.S. Department of Justice Departmental Ethics Office, “This means that each Federal employee has a responsibility to the United States Government and its citizens to place loyalty to the Constitution, laws and ethical principles above private gain. The public deserves and should expect no less."

Review and discuss the “Fourteen Principles of Ethical Conduct for Federal Employees.”

Give students the e-Replica activity, “A Civil Duty | Media and Federal Officials Honoring the Public Trust.” Students will use different sources to answer questions about a selected federal employee. After compiling a background on the individual, students will use the e-Replica edition of The Post to search for current activities of the individual. Through this activity, students will consider principles of ethical conduct and oaths of office, utilize the press as a source of information and evaluate the media’s role as a watch dog of those who are to serve the public. 

Examine Executive Privilege
U.S. Government, U.S. History

Having established the constitutional delineation of responsibilities of each branch of government and the basis for separation of powers, introduce the concept of “executive privilege.” 

President George Washington refused to provide all of the documents related to a disastrous military expedition against Native Americans in 1791, diplomatic correspondence between the U.S. and France in 1794, and negotiations surrounding the Jay Treaty of 1795. This is the precedent for what became known as executive privilege. Scholars believe President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1954 was the first president to use the phrase “executive privilege.” He withheld documents more than 40 times.

Give students "What Is Executive Privilege?" This activity will provide students opportunities to research the historic use of executive privilege. In the last section, students will discuss recent uses of it as found in the pages of The Washington Post.

Review Executive Orders
Journalism, U.S. Government, U.S. History

Executive orders are official documents issued by the president (and governors) to direct actions by the federal bureaucracy. With these “the President of the United States manages the operations of the Federal Government,” according to the National Archives. They are numbered consecutively. After each executive order is signed by the president and received by the Office of the Federal Register, the text is published in the Federal Register, the official newspaper of the U.S. government that is published every business day by the NARA and Government Printing Office (GPO) in three formats — print, microfiche and digital. 

The National Archives maintains a disposition table of executive orders, beginning with those of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Starting with the Clinton administration in 1993 online text can be accessed in PDF format and by subject. Students could go to the National Archives website to determine which presidents issued the most executive orders. Do the years in which the most executive orders were issued reflect significant historic, economic or social events?

Review the Clinton, Bush and Obama administration executive orders by subject. This could include:
• In which year did each administration issue the most executive orders?
• How many executive orders were issued regarding education, environment and health during their terms?
• Select a country for which executive order(s) were issued. On what does the executive order focus? What is the historic context for the order? Do a search of the archives of The Washington Post. Did The Post cover the order, its impact?

Remember Watergate
Journalism, Media Arts, U.S. Government, U.S. History

For students, Watergate is history. For teachers, Watergate is what claimed hours of TV time one summer in the 70s, was a significant moment in U.S. history or is the subject of one of their favorite Robert Redford movies. In 2012 at the 40th anniversary of the arrest of a team of burglars and the beginning of the Watergate story, The Washington Post pulled together a series of articles, videos, timelines, profiles, editorial cartoons and reflections. Teachers might review these to determine what they will use with their students.

The narrative of The Watergate Story will give you the basics. Review the Watergate story by reading “The Post Investigates” and listening to videos.

Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein are the primary reporters to cover the Watergate story for The Washington Post, and for some time the nation. It began with a police beat story, a break-in of the offices of the Democratic National Committee in the Watergate office complex. Read The Watergate Story again, taking time to read The Post’s coverage. As you continue through The Post’s pursuit of the fuller story (Parts 2, 3 and 4), you will find articles written by Alfred E. Lewis, Lawrence Meyer, Laurence Stern, George Lardner Jr, Haynes Johnson, Jules Witcover and Carroll Kilpatrick as well as Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. Discussion might include:
• What beats do the writers cover? What does the variety of beats reflect about the story?
• As coverage is unfolding, how do reporters handle previously reported information?
• Who are the sources that are named? What type of information do they provide?
• Who was Mark Felt? Why was his identity withheld? Why was this confidential source believed by Bob Woodward?
• What is the significance of anonymous sources as reflected in the articles? Does the First Amendment protect the use of anonymous sources?
• Explain the part played by different components of the Federal Government?
• Who do students find to be the most intriguing of Nixon administration officials involved in the Watergate investigation? 
• What insights can be gained from supplemental documents included in each part of The Watergate Story? 

To move through the Watergate story in chronological order, visit Post Coverage. Before the Fall: 1968-1972 begins with the 1968 presidential election. Post Coverage, without the narrative of The Watergate Story, provides links to comprehensive resources, including news articles, commentary, edtiorial cartoons and other related documents.

Teachers are provided “Listen in on Interview.” Six sources of interviews with eyewitnesses and involved parties are given as a starting point for classroom discussion or student research.

Listen to “Watergate Forty Years After the Scandal.” Give students the activity sheet of the same title. After discussing the quotations and students’ responses to the questions, they could be assigned to role play one of the key characters or journalists. They could read All the President’s Men as well as The Washington Post’s Watergate Story material and listen to interviews to gain an understanding of their persona, actions and motivation.

If you want to understand the process of covering the story and meet young Washington Post reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward — read All the President’s Men. Be sure to distinguish details in the book from the movie. 

Take a Virtual Tour
Geography, Journalism, U.S. Government
“All the President’s Men Virtual Tour” takes students to places found in All the President’s Men. Teachers might have students locate them on a map and plan the order of a tour. How have each of these places changed since 1972?

Consider All the President’s Men
Journalism, U.S. Government, U.S. History
After reading All the President’s Men, give students “Who Are All the President’s Men?” This activity considers different aspects of the nonfiction work: the individuals involved in the story, the title, oaths of office, media’s responsibility to be accurate and media as watchdog.

Recall Herblock’s Editorial Cartoons
Art, Journalism, Media Arts, U.S. Government, U.S. History
Herb Block was the official editorial cartoonist of The Washington Post for more than 50 years. Acquaint students with his work through the cartoons included in this curriculum guide.
• Give students “May 27, 1973 | National Security Blanket.”  Wide margins are provided if teachers want students to locate each of the seven details included in the cartoon.
• “Visual Commentary, 1972-1974” provides four editorial cartoons. In addition to the cartoons, teachers are provided with five questions for each cartoon for a closer “reading” of the images. Answers to the questions are included for teachers’ convenience.

Review the sidebar and Additional Resources for more Herblock cartoons.

Find the Relevance of Watergate
Journalism, News Literacy, U.S. Government, U.S. History
Ask students how major news stories are covered today. Do they get their local, national and international news from Twitter, radio, television, online news or another source? Which do they consider the most valid sources of information? To what extent does it depend on the event? The location? The people involved?

Give students the commentary, “The continuing relevance of Watergate.” Washington Post editorial writer Ruth Marcus reflects on the events that lead to the resignation of Richard M. Nixon forty years ago and how the story might be covered today. Discuss the ideas presented by those Marcus quotes and by Marcus.

Investigate Investigative Reporting
Journalism, Media Literacy
In 2012, Washington Post vice president at large Len Downie Jr. reflected on the role of investigative reporting before and after Watergate. Investigation is a collaborative and defining effort as he indicates “several months after the Watergate burglary in 1972, Woodward, Bernstein and their colleagues on the local news staff of The Post were alone on the story. We were ignored and doubted by the rest of the news media and most of the country … We worried over every word of every story before putting it in the paper.”

Give students “Is Investigative Reporting Alive in Today’s Media?” after reading “Forty years after Watergate, investigative journalism is at risk.”