President's Cabinet

[Music] this is my factory Factory my sons and I have a good business here we make various novelty items of wood than plastic and we sell to a wide market this is my office today years ago when we started in business we didn't have comfortable officers like this we started small we didn't know much our Factory was one small wing in those days my oldest boy Henry and I worked in the shop every day we made and sold just enough goods to keep going but we had big plans for the future and we knew we had a lot to learn one of the things we learned was the relation between our business and the president's cabinet we learned it this way dick and Mary were just home from and we just called outward all right you mean you did I understand yeah wait a minute what's this - follow that inquiry we got from South America how do we go about setting up a South American market can we get any help from the government we have to write a letter write a letter but you wouldn't let me mail it it's not look at the address the United States government yes what's wrong well the government is big there are lots of different offices we've got to send our letter to the right one how big is the government how many offices well the government is divided into three main branch we're going without work but you explained it to merit so we all understand alright that come up with everybody look this book will help it's the government manuals here the three branches of our federal government are legislative judicial and executive you see yes I see that that's fine thing now which one should vary right - well I can't just get all right look there's a chart back here under the Constitution there are these three branches the legislative branch that's Congress the House of Representatives and the Senate they make our laws we don't want a lot of hair so we went right to that branch of the government there's the judicial branch the Supreme Court and our federal courts they try cases and interpret the law that doesn't sound like the place to write that leaves the executive branch the president is in charge of that I know I know the executive branch would like to the president he's the head of the executive department memory not the department the executive branch smell lots of executive departments under the president let me see that chart we should all study this chart if that sign is down Henry you went to school you tell some of the executive departments let's see there's Department of Agriculture State Treasury post office but quite a few and the heads of the departments make up the president's cabinet the president's cabinet I don't see that on the chart row no the cabinet isn't both real part of the government well how do they do like the members of the cabinet meet never the president calls them and they give them advice and information about what's happening in the country it's sort of like the way we run our business isn't it dance the president and we each have our department we are like the president and his cabinet Hey well let's get back to our ward Henry the members of the cabinet has to run their department he has a big job the executive department two things all over the country look Mary this letter we're talking it'll go through the post office well that's run by the Postmaster General in front of the post office there's a recruiting poster the army is run by another executive department inside you'll see wanted posters that means another department the Justice Department is hunting down criminals down the street you'll see another executive department at work serving people wherever they live and of course whenever we make any sort of financial transaction we're working with the Treasury Department so you see Mary dissolve of president's cabinet we're right here in town doing things cause well the men who wrote the caucus no I don't think the cabinet is in the Constitution at least not directly the Constitution gives Congress the power to set up executive departments and the president George Washington started the customer calling on them for advice and that's how the idea for a cabinet started I was pleased with the way dick was leading Mary to understand it later I had Vic explain it to me too you see the president's cabinet grows and changes to meet the needs of the times at first there were only three departments our foreign affairs were handed by the State Department money and finances with the business of the Treasury Department and our small army was managed by the War Department in a few years the needs of the country had expanded our trade and foreign seized was endangered by pirate attacks there was a need for defense on the Seas so in 1798 the Navy department was established as the new country expanded westward there was a need for postal services in 1829 Andrew Jackson invited the Postmaster General to join his cabinet but the post office Department was not officially established until 1872 all during the ninth the westward expansion brought settlers into contact with Indians with natural resources with Olmstead land to meet these domestic problems the Department of the Interior was set up in 18-49 about the same time there was a growing need for some nationwide federal law enforcement agency so in 1870 the Justice Department was set up so following the needs of the people new departments were set up in 1889 the Department of Agriculture was established in 1903 the Department of Commerce and labor then as labor problems became more acute in 1913 a separate Department of Labor was established and those were the executive departments the at the time dick was explaining them of course there have been changes in the years since then I cabinet changes to meet new needs in the country and I'll bet they'll be other changes in the cabinet Sunday well our letter about something of America we know it should go to one of the executive department now which department well it might be the State Department Foreign Affairs but I think it's the Commerce Department we should write to that sounds right let's work up the Department of Commerce and see what offices there are listed say here we are you'll pull in a domestic calorie that sounds like just the place to write to it yeah we found it you know where to send the letter no yes good you know I think it's learning things like this it's going to help us expand our business and I was right Marjorie's let her open the way for us to do too many instances when knowing something about our government helped our business you'd be surprised how many times since then we've come into contact with agencies of the executive departments customs officials transportation and shipping agencies tax agencies labor agencies Social Security and of course the Armed Forces there's another example of how the president's cabinet adjusts to meet new needs out of the needs of the Second World War through a reorganization of the department's directing our armed forces and very likely there will be more changes in the cabinet and in the functions of the executive departments just as we've done in our business you'll find yourself coming in contact with the executive departments of your government about these departments and about the president [Music]