Office of the President: Who is he and what does he do?

Characteristics So FAR, all have been male All but one have been Protestant Christians (to our knowledge) Most have had a college education Many were lawyers Many came from States w/ large pop. Since 1960, a wider group of Americans have had the chance at the Presidency ▫JFK: First Roman-Catholic elected ▫Barack Obama: First African-American elected ▫Two women have rune for VP (Geraldine Ferrao and Sarah Palin) ▫Joseph Lieberman: First Jewish VP candidate

Electing Every four years; take place in years that are divisible by four Not chosen directly by electors ▫Elected by Electoral College ▫Each State and D.C. have a certain number of electors (equals total number of Senators and Reps a State has) Total Members of Electoral College: 538

Electing Method of electing varies ▫Most States: Political parties hold conventions or go by committee ▫Voters in each State choose electors ▫A vote for candidate = vote for electors Most States do the “winner takes all” method ▫Candidate who wins the most popular votes gets all its electoral votes ▫To win, a candidate must win the majority of votes (270) It is possible for candidates to NOT win a majority of electoral votes ▫In that case, House of Reps chooses President ▫Happened twice in history (1800 and 1824) ▫If House votes each State only has one vote

Term of Office Serve four year terms At first, Constitution didn’t limit number of terms ▫George Washington set the standard with two ▫Followed his example until 1940 w/ FDR (won four consecutive terms Some feared this was dangerously close to getting too much power ▫Led to the passage of the twenty-second amendment in 1951 ▫Limits President to two elected terms in office ▫However, can serve almost 10 years if he/she becomes president with less than half a term in power

Salary and Benefits Paid $400,000 a year Also receives money for personal costs and for travel Lives and works in the White House Has a staff of more than 80 people Has use of Camp David (estate in Catocin Mountains of Maryland and is about 60 miles NW of D.C.) Usually travel in fleets of special cars, helicopters, and airplanes (gets to use Air Force One for long trips)

The VP Elected with the President Also chosen by Electoral College vote Rules for becoming a VP are the same as that of the President’s Constitution gives little power to the VP ▫Article I: VP shall preside over the Senate and can vote in a tie ▫VP becomes President if the current President dies, is removed from Office, fall seriously ill, or resigns

Presidential Succession 1841: William Henry Harrison became first President to die in office His death raised any q’s– Who should become President if something happens? ▫Eight other VP’s since then have taken the Oath of Office b/c of something that happened to the President Presidential Succession Act of 1947: Lists line of succession after the VP

Presidential Succession 2 nd – Speaker of the House 3 rd – President pro tempore of the Senate 4 th – Secretary of State 5 th – Secretary of the Treasury 6 th – Secretary of Defense 7 th – Attorney General 8 th – Secretary of the Interior 9 th – secretary of Agriculture And so on…

Presidential Succession Twenty-fifth Amendment (1967) ▫Makes it clear that if a President leaves office or dies, thee VP becomes President ▫Amendment changed how to fill an empty VP spot ▫Said that new President can choose a new one, but Congress has to approve ▫Has been used twice: When Spiro Agnew resigned as Nixon’s VP, and when Nixon resigned and his VP Ford chose Rockefeller as his new VP ▫Gave new role to VP: Let him decide if President is disabled and cannot do his job  Used once (1985) when Reagan underwent surgery and George H.W. Bush was President for 8 hours.