The Executive Branch – The Presidency Chapter 13

Qualifications for President Must be at least 35 years old – Theodore Roosevelt was the youngest to ever hold the office after ascending to the Presidency on the death of President McKinley Theodore Roosevelt – John F. Kennedy was the youngest to ever be elected to the office John F. Kennedy Must be a natural-born citizen of the U.S. Must have lived in the U.S. for at least 14 years

Selecting the President People in the states choose their favorite candidates in the primaries or caucuses – Caucuses are held at the local level. – Then they send the results to a District Convention. – Finally, Districts will send results to the State Convention – States that hold primaries do not utilize district or state conventions.

Each state then sends delegates to the National Convention – This convention is held during the summer of presidential election years. – The votes are counted from each state to determine who the most popular candidate for that party would be. – The candidate is then formally nominated to run for the President.

At the National Convention, the delegates do three things: – Nominate their most popular candidate Nominate their most popular candidate He/she then announces who will run with them as their vice presidential candidate – They put together a platform which outlines the party’s stand on various issues – They try to unite the whole party behind the newly chosen candidate

Presidential Election The candidates for each party campaign up until the election in November. Once the popular vote is counted, it is time for the Electoral College to get into gear. The Electoral College has electors from each state who are sent to vote by their political party – The number of electoral votes a state has is determined by adding the number of representatives for that state to the number of senators.

– In all but two states (ME and NE) the winning political party sends all of their electors to the capitol building in their state to cast their votes – That is because the Electoral College is a winner-take-all system – Once the Electoral votes are cast in the month of December after the election, these votes are sealed and sent to the U.S. Congress in Washington, D.C. where they will be opened and counted on January 6 th. U.S. Congress

Our Founding Fathers set up the Electoral college because most people in the late 1700s were illiterate With the winner-take-all system, it is possible for the winner of the popular vote to lose the election in the Electoral College. Therefore, some reforms of the Electoral College have been suggested – Direct Popular Election – would totally abolish the Electoral College – Proportional Plan – gives each candidate the proportion of electoral votes they earned in each state – District Plan – would allow the candidate to obtain electoral votes based on each district he/she wins. The overall winning candidate would receive the two votes representing the senate. – National Bonus Plan – gives the popular vote winner 100 bonus points just for winning the popular vote.

– District Plan – would allow the candidate to obtain electoral votes based on each district he/she wins. The overall winning candidate would receive the two votes representing the senate. – National Bonus Plan – gives the popular vote winner 100 bonus points just for winning the popular vote.

Roles of the President Commander in Chief – leader of the U.S. Armed Forces Chief of State – sets and negotiates U.S. foreign policy Chief Executive – sees that all laws are enforced Chief Administrator – is the head of the Federal Employees

Chief Diplomat – negotiates peace or agreements between other countries Chief Legislator – signs or vetoes bills and can introduce legislation Chief of Party – the leader of his political party Chief Citizen – the representative of all the citizens in the U.S.

What happens if the President dies or is disabled? The 25 th Amendment lists the order of succession as follows: – Vice President – Speaker of the House – President Pro Tempore of the Senate – Secretary of State – The rest of the Cabinet members in the order that their position was created by Congress – Last one in line is Secretary of Homeland Security