1. [ 5.1 ] The Presidency—An Overview

2. [ 5.1 ] The Presidency—An Overview
Learning Objectives
Describe the President's many roles.
Understand the formal qualifications necessary to become President.
Explain how the number of terms for which a President may serve has changed over time and the roles played by Presidents George Washington and Franklin D. Roosevelt in that evolution.
Describe the President's pay and benefits and how the role played by Congress in the setting of those compensations contributes to the system of checks and balances.
Understand the structure of presidential succession created by the U.S. Constitution.
Understand the constitutional provisions relating to presidential disability.

3. [ 5.1 ] The Presidency—An Overview
Key Terms
chief of state
William Howard Taft's
chief executive
domestic affairs
foreign affairs
chief administrator
Harry Truman
chief diplomat
chief legislator
commander in chief
chief economist
chief of party
chief citizen
Franklin Roosevelt
Lyndon Johnson
Richard Nixon
John F. Kennedy
Theodore Roosevelt
Bill Clinton
Barack Obama
Ronald Reagan
Herbert Hoover
Dwight Eisenhower
Alexander Hamilton
George Washington
George H.W. Bush
Presidential succession
impeachment
William Henry Harrison
Presidential Succession Act of 1947
president pro tempore
Woodrow Wilson
George W. Bush

4. The President's Many Roles
Do you know who the youngest person ever to be President of the United States was? The oldest? Who held the presidency for the longest time? The shortest? Can a person born abroad become President? You will find the answers to these questions, and much more, in this section, which provides a basic overview of the presidential office.

5. The President's Many Roles
Chief of State
Chief Executive
Chief Administrator
Chief Diplomat
Chief Legislator
Commander in Chief
Chief Economist
Chief of Party
Chief Citizen

6. The President's Many Roles
At a meeting with President-elect Obama and former Presidents George H.W. Bush, Clinton, and Carter in 2009, President George W. Bush noted that 'the office itself transcends the individual.'

7. Qualifications for the Presidency
Whatever else a President must be, the Constitution says that he—and likely one day, she—must meet three formal qualifications for office (Article II, Section 1, Clause 5). These qualifications are related to a candidate's citizenship, age, and residency.

8. Qualifications for the Presidency
Citizenship
Age
Residency

9. Qualifications for the Presidency
Martin Van Buren, born in December 1782, was the first President actually born in the United States. Each of his seven predecessors was born in the colonies before the American Revolution.

10. Qualifications for the Presidency
The Framers set the minimum age requirement for President at 35. Analyze Charts Why do you think the Framers set a minimum age? Do you think there should be a maximum age limit? Why?

11. The Presidential Term of Office
The Framers considered a number of different limits on the length of the presidential term. Most of their debate centered on a four-year term, with the President eligible for reelection, versus a single six-year or seven-year term without being eligible for reelection. They finally settled on a four-year term (Article II, Section 1, Clause 1). They agreed, as Alexander Hamilton wrote in The Federalist No. 71, that four years was a long enough period for a President to have gained experience, demonstrated his abilities, and established stable policies.

12. The Presidential Term of Office
After Franklin Roosevelt was elected President four times, Congress passed the 22nd Amendment to limit the number of presidential terms. Infer What are the pros and cons of term limits?

13. Presidential Succession and Disability
Consider these facts. To this point, 47 people have served as Vice President. Of these, 14 have reached the Oval Office—most recently, George H.W. Bush in Indeed, 5 of the last 12 Presidents were once Vice President.

14. Presidential Succession and Disability
Methods of Filling Vacancies
Order of Succession
Disability of the President
Filling the Disability Gap
Transferring Power

15. Presidential Succession and Disability
Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson is sworn in as President aboard Air Force One, just 38 minutes after the death of President John F. Kennedy.

16. Presidential Succession and Disability
By tradition, one of the people in the line of succession does not attend the President's State of the Union address with the others. Analyze Charts Why do you think this is done?

17. Quiz: The President's Many Roles
How are the presidential roles of chief of state, chief diplomat, and commander in chief related?
A. All three roles encompass the President's responsibility for implementing trade policies.
B. All three roles embrace the President's job of authoring public policy for presentation to Congress.
C. All three roles involve the President's responsibility for overseeing American foreign policy.
D. All three roles involve overseeing American military policies, both domestically and internationally.

18. Quiz: Qualifications for the Presidency
Why did the Framers set a qualification for the presidency related to citizenship?
A. They wanted to ensure that anyone who could vote for President was also eligible to become President.
B. They wanted to ensure that the President would be well-educated.
C. They wanted to be sure that even people born abroad could become President.
D. They wanted to ensure that the President would be a U.S. citizen, without loyalties to any other country.

19. Quiz: The Presidential Term of Office
Who was Franklin D. Roosevelt, and how is he related to the 22nd Amendment?
A. He succeeded President McKinley and was the youngest President ever to hold office.
B. He was elected President four times, resulting in the passage of the 22nd Amendment.
C. He was elected President and championed the ideal of the presidency as 'a place of moral leadership.'
D. He was President from 1913 to 1920 and served as the nation's commander in chief during World War I.

20. Quiz: Presidential Succession and Disability
What basic principles of government are reflected in Congress fixing the order of succession to the presidency?
A. limited government and popular sovereignty
B. checks and balances and separation of powers
C. popular sovereignty and judicial review
D. federalism and judicial review