Packet 22 Being the President

To become President: You must be at least 35 years old You must be a natural born citizen of the United States (born here or of American parents). You must have lived in the United States for at least 14 years.

Age: Most Presidents are much older than 35. We’ve only had 42 different presidents Younger Presidents 1.Teddy Roosevelt: 42 (took office when William McKinley died – actually older than Clinton when first elected) 2.John F. Kennedy: 43 3.Bill Clinton: 46 4.Ulysses S. Grant: 46 Older Presidents 1.Ronald Reagan: 69 2.William Henry Harrison: 65 3.James Buchanan: 64 4.George Bush (dad): 64 President Trivia:

Natural born citizen Born in the U.S. Born in a U.S. territory. Foreign born, but born of American parent (no-one’s ever done this and there’s some discussion about it). Arnold Schwarzenegger: Governor of California, but can’t become president

Lived in the U.S. for at least 14 years Would you want a president who had been living in the Middle East for most of his life, or for the past 10 years? Of course, people probably wouldn’t elect most of the people who’d run for president after that, but….

Our Presidents: have all been: White men should be: expert political leaders who can get people to work together a strong, healthy person: running for president and being president can be tough on a person. able to understand the needs of a wide variety of people.

Other things presidents have in common Most have been well educated (especially recently). About two thirds have been lawyers. Most have been married. Most have been protestants. Most started out in small towns or in the country. Most were very active in politics for a long time before they were elected. About 2/3 were Vice- President before they became President (8 of them because the previous President died while in office).