The Presidency of the United States of America

1. The Presidency of the United States of America

2. Presidential Facts • http://www.infoplease.com/spot/prestrivia1.html

3. Portraits and Designs of U.S. Paper Currency 1. Denominations of $500 and higher were discontinued in 1969. 2. Discontinued in 1966. 3. New issue, April 1976. 4. New issue, May 2000. 5. New issue, fall 2003. 6. New issue, spring 2004. 7. New issue, March 1996. 8. For use only in transactions between Federal Reserve System and Treasury Department.

9. The Roles of the President • Chief Ceremonial Head of State • Chief Executive • Chief Administrator • Chief Diplomat • Commander in Chief • Chief Legislator • Chief of party • Chief Citizen

10. Chief Ceremonial Head of State • Ceremonial Head of the USA • The symbol of the nation • He reigns and rules • In Britain Queen Elizabeth II and in Japan the emperor reign, but do not rule • In some Parliamentary Democracies this is also true

11. Chief Executive • The American presidency is described as the most powerful office in the world • He executes the executive power of the USA

12. Chief Administrator • Directs the Executive branch-he is the boss of 2.7 million federal workers under a budget spent over $3 trillion a year

13. Chief Diplomat • Main architect of the US foreign policy • Nation’s chief spokesman to the rest of the world • “I make foreign policy” (Harry Truman) • Bush’s “Axis of Evil” speech

14. Commander in Chief • Commander of the nation’s armed forces • Commands 1.4 million men and women • Though Congress has powers to declare war, much power is given to the president in military decision-making

15. Chief Legislator • Main architect of public policies • Sets the overall shape of the congressional agenda • Sometimes he clashes w/ Congress and other times he works w/ them • Can sign or veto laws

16. Chief of Party • Acknowledged leader of his political party • Not mentioned in the Constitution, but is a vital role

17. Chief Citizen • He is the representative of all the nation’s people • Expected to work for and represent the public interest • “It is preeminently a place of moral leadership” (FDR)

18. Qualifications to be President • Be a natural born citizen (what does this mean?) • Be at least 35 years of age • Have lived 14 years in the USA (any 14 years total)

19. The Term • 4 year term • Until 1951, there was no limit to the amount of terms a prez could serve (FDR served almost 4 full terms) • 22ndamendment (1951)- limited it to being elected no more than 2X • No president may serve more than 10 years in office

20. Pay and Benefits • $ 25,000 a year (1789) • $400,000 a year as of 2001 • Also a $50,000 a year spending allowance • 132 room mansion called the White House • A large staff • A fleet of cars • Air Force One • Camp David Resort (Maryland) • Best health care anyone could have

21. Presidential Succession • Vice President would become Pres- 9 times this has happened • Speaker of the House is third in line to become president (25th amendment)- Gerald R Ford (1973) was the last to move up this way after Nixon scandal • Last time a Pres has ceded power to the VP was in 2007 when Bush had a 2-hour operation

23. How does the President get Elected?

24. Constitutional Arguments by the Framers (1787) • Should the Prez be chosen by popular vote of the people or elected by Congress? • The Solution: The Pres and VP would be chosen by a special body of electors called the Electoral College • Today, the national popular vote is not the basis for electing a President or Vice President, it’s the electoral college

25. The Electoral College • technically, its not really the majority of the popular vote that gives a candidate victory as president, but its winning a majority of the electoral votes that gives he or she the victory • Since 1964, there have been 538 electors in each presidential • The Electoral College is an example of an indirect election.

26. The Electoral College • Federal law sets the Tuesday following the first Monday in November as the day for holding federal elections • Rather than directly voting for the President and Vice President, United States citizens vote for electors. • Electors are technically free to vote for anyone eligible to be President • in practice they pledge to vote for specific candidates and voters cast ballots for favored presidential and vice presidential candidates by voting for correspondingly pledged electors.

27. How do you win? • A candidate must receive an absolute majority of electoral votes (currently 270) to win the Presidency. • If no candidate receives a majority in the election for President, or Vice President, that election is determined via a contingency procedure in the Twelfth Amendment

28. What happens after the election day? (mostly ceremonial) • Early December, each state’s electors meet in each of the state capitals and cast their electoral votes (certified by Sec of State of each state) • Early January, the incoming US Congress meets for the votes to be counted, they are certified and the winner is officially declared by the President of the US Senate (The Vice President) • The President and Vice President are officially inaugurated and sworn into office on January 20th (20th amendment)

29. How many electors are there? • The size of the Electoral College is equal to the total membership of both Houses of Congress (435 Representatives and 100 Senators) plus the three electors allocated to Washington, D.C., totaling 538 electors. • Each state is given as many electors as it has Representatives and Senators in the United States Congress. • Since the most populous states have the most seats in the House of Representatives, they also have the most electors.

32. Why select a President this way? • Almost Parliamentary in its method-The constitutional theory behind the indirect election of both the President and Vice President of the United States is that while the Congress is popularly elected by the people, the President and Vice President are elected to be executives of a federation of independent states. • In the Federalist No. 39, James Madison argued that the Constitution was designed to be a mixture of state-based and population-based government. The Congress would have two houses: the state-based Senate and the population-based House of Representatives. Meanwhile, the President would be elected by a mixture of the two modes.

33. The Criticisms of the Electoral College 1. the Electoral College is undemocratic 2. gives certain swing states (states that can go Democrat or Republican) an unfair influence in selecting the President and Vice President. 3. Discourages voter turnout/participation 4. Favors less populated states 5. Third-Parties are at a disadvantage • As a result, numerous constitutional amendments have been introduced in the Congress seeking a replacement of the Electoral College with a direct popular vote; however, no proposal has ever passed the Congress.

34. The Supporters of Keeping the Electoral College • Prevents an urban-centric victory • Forces candidates to pay attention to less populated states • Minority Groups can give a candidate the edge to win the state • Encourages stability of the 2-party system

35. 4 Examples of Presidents winning despite losing the popular vote • John Quincy Adams who lost by 44,804 votes to Andrew Jackson in 1824 • Rutherford B. Hayes who lost by 264,292 votes to Samuel J. Tilden in 1876 • Benjamin Harrison who lost by 95,713 votes to Grover Cleveland in 1888 • George W. Bush who lost by 543,816 votes to Al Gore in the 2000 election.