THE EXECUTIVE BRANCHTHE PRESIDENT

What he doesSuccession and limits

Vice PresidentOriginal idea and the rise of Parties

NominationElection

HISTORIC FACTS OF THE PRESIDENTThere have been 44 American Presidents.

They have come from all walks of life, from the North, the South, rich, poor, college educated, non-educated, life-long politicians and soldiers, businessmen and lawyers.

8 presidents have died in office 4 assassinated 4 from other reasons

The curse of Tippecanoe

President elected cause of death date of death

W. H. Harrison 1840 Pneumonia 1841Abe Lincoln 1860 Assassinated 1865James A. Garfield 1880 Assassinated 1881William McKinley 1900 Assassinated 1901Warren G. Harding 1920 Uncertain (poison) 1923Franklin D. Roosevelt 1940 Brain Hemorrhage 1945John F. Kennedy 1960 Assassinated 1963Ronald Reagan 1980 Attempted Assassination

1983

HISTORIC FACTS OF THE PRESIDENT1 president was elected 4 times2 were impeached2 father-son president combos1 president that served non-consecutive terms1 president that was an actor before become

president1 president that did not have a party (2

actually)1 president died only a month into his

presidency

Job DescriptionOur American president is a position that is

sacred to the American people. It is position that encompasses many roles and rules. 8 JOBS!:

1. Chief of State – symbol of American people Must act accordingly

2. Chief Executive – “the most powerful man in the world” But he has checks and balances

Is the last word on most accounts, but cannot act without approval of congress on much of anything

Job Description3. Chief Administrator – director of the Federal

Government. The boss of 2.7 million civilians Manages and spends $2.5 trillion a year

(rising deficit and spending problems) Why? War? Bad economy? Bad decisions?

4. Chief Diplomat – creator of American foreign policy and spokesperson for the rest of the world.

He must talk peace, trading, war, and any other problem or concern that a friendly or enemy country has with America

Job Description continued

5. Commander in Chief – he is the official commander or leader of the entire armed forces

1.4 million soldiers are under the president’s direct control

Congress has some control over foreign affair and the military, but over the years, the President has moved to the sole leader.

6. Chief Legislator – creator and formulator of public policies

An agenda that he believes is best for the country and tries to get Congress to pass most of it while he is in office

Legislation of President Barack Obama? Health care? Economic reform? Auto industry reform? What

else?

Job Description continued7. Chief of Party – this makes him the leader and

head of whatever party he belongs to Democrat or Republican in the past (Federalist or

Whig or Progressive or Bull Moose)

8. Chief Citizen – This makes the President the moral citizen of America. He is expected to be near perfect

If the President is scared, then America is scared The President leads us morally and politically in the

world If the president messes up, he is expected to confess and

not do it again Presidential mess – ups?

Clinton Herbert Hoover James Buchanan Andrew Johnson Richard Nixon

Qualifications Presidents have a list of qualifications that

they must adhere to in order to become president.

1. Must be a natural born citizen Not a naturalized citizen

2. Must be at least 35 years old Youngest president – Teddy Roosevelt, oldest –

Ronald Reagan

3. Have been a resident of the U.S. for 14 years.

Cannot move to a different country for your whole life then move back and run for president.

Term limitsThe president is to serve up to 2 terms of 4

years.The original framers of the Constitution when

coming up with a proper time limit for the president, had to consider the fact that they were breaking away from a King (King George) who ruled for life. So in order to keep their Republic democratic, they made it 4 years. When President George Washington stepped down

after 2 terms (8 years), it was an unofficial rule to serve only 2 terms to show the people that the President wasn’t turning into a dictator

Term limits con’t

Franklin D. Roosevelt – was elected to 4 terms (but died only a few months into his 4th term), although he was elected by the people, most believed that their should be a limit on serving.22nd Amendment was passed in 1951 (6 years

after FDR died) It is possible to serve more than 8 years! If a president doesn’t finish his term, the new

president may finish that term and be elected to his 2 terms (8 years) in office

Presidential SuccessionThis is the succession by which the office of the president is

filled in the event of the president leaving office (by death, removal…)

1. Vice president2. Speaker of the house3. President pro tempore of the senate4. Secretary of state5. Secretary of treasury6. Secretary of defense7. Attorney general8. Secretary of the interior9. Secretary of Agriculture10. Secretary of Commerce

So, in the event any body ahead of you is removed or dies, you get the role as president. So, if the President, VP, Speaker and pro tempore all get removed in the middle of a term, then the Secretary of State becomes Pres.

VICE PRESIDENT“ I am vice president. In this I am nothing, but

I may be everything.” - John Adams (our first vice president)

What does he mean by this?

History of the Vice President position (first 3 elections) Election of 1800

The office of Vice President has 2 functions:1. To preside over the Senate2. To help decide the question of presidential

disability

Vice President con’t Other than these, the vice president simply is

known as the “president-in-waiting” Likely, in the formation of the job, the writers of the

Constitution wanted the VP to be the helper of the President and to be there to advise the president. But now, the President has many other ‘czars’ and ‘special advisors’ that the VP is merely a position.

To Balance the ticket is the main reason for picking VP’s. A person who can strengthen the President’s standing

with the American people Lincoln, with Andrew Johnson J.F. Kennedy with Lyndon Johnson John McCain with Sarah Palin

ELECTORAL COLLEGEThe electoral college is the group of people

(electors) chosen from each State and Washington D.C., to formally select the President and V.P.

Now, because of the crazy election of 1800 (Jefferson became president… finally!), there arose a need to change this process.

The 12th amendment – this makes electors name a president and a V.P., instead of who they wanted to be president and who they liked 2nd. Also, this basically created the system of political parties.

Because electors voted for whoever they liked, the system got messed up, now the electors pledged to vote for their party’s Presidential Choice!

Electoral College TodayThe Electoral College has changed since the

beginningEach state has a number of Electors equal to

the number of Representatives and Senators together.

So, if California has 55 Electors, then it has 53 U.S. Representatives and 2 Senators.

Electoral CollegeThe Electoral College works like this :

Although whoever wins the popular vote doesn’t automatically win the presidency, if the candidate wins the popular vote in that state, then the Electors customarily vote automatically for that candidate as well.

So, if Obama wins 52% of California, and Romney wins 48%, then Obama gets all 55 of the Electors. It is called a “Winner Take All” format

Flaws with the Electoral College3 main problems:1. The winner of the popular vote isn’t guaranteed the

presidency. 4 presidents have become president without winning the

popular vote. 1.John Quincy Adams 2. Rutherford B. Hayes 3. Benjamin Harrison 4. George W. Bush

2. Electors are not required to vote for the candidate who won the popular vote.

A few times, electors decide to vote for someone different, usually just someone different from their party, with no affect

3. If there is a tie, then it is decided by a vote in the House of Representatives.

Doesn’t make much sense, since States have huge differences in U.S. Representatives, thus swaying the vote

Happened twice, 1800 and 1824

ELECTORAL COLLEGE FACTSThere are 538 total electors

Q: How many electoral votes are needed to win the election? How many are there total?

http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2012/ecalculator#?battleground

“Swing states” – States that vote either Republican or Democrat; they change every election

Election results from 2000

ELECTORAL COLLEGE CONT.What do you think about the Electoral

College?It was officially created because the country

had no way of educating everyone about the candidates. “The extent of the Country renders it impossible

that the people can have the requisite capacity to judge of the respective pretensions of the Candidates.” – George Mason Now, with TV and Radio and Internet, do you believe

that our president should be elected purely by popular vote??

Nominating a President

Conventions are the first step in trying to find a good delegate for President.Political parties hold conventions to try in get

the number of delegates down to a very small number

Then a presidential primary is held to allow voters to choose which Party and delegates they like. Name recognition and MONEY have a lot to do

with being the delegate to get the most votes.

Nominating a President Con’tCaucus is a system similar to a Primary, but

held in different states, to weed out delegates to get down to 1 major candidate for each party

National Conventions are held by each major political party (Dem. And Rep.) they try to achieve 3 things:

1. Naming party presidential and VP candidates2. Bring in everyone popular within the party for

a common purpose3. To adopt a party Platform – the basic

principles and agenda of the party