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Wikipedia

President of the United States

January 05, 2023

"POTUS" redirects here. For the political talk radio channel, see P.O.T.U.S. (Sirius XM). For other uses, see President of the United States (disambiguation).

The president of the United States (POTUS)[A] is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces.

President of the
United States of America
Incumbent
Joe Biden
since January 20, 2021
Style
Type
AbbreviationPOTUS
Member of
ResidenceWhite House
SeatWashington, D.C.
AppointerElectoral College or via succession from vice presidency
Term lengthFour years, renewable once
Constituting instrumentConstitution of the United States
FormationMarch 4, 1789
(233 years ago) (1789-03-04)[6][7][8]
First holderGeorge Washington[9]
Salary400,000 United States dollars per year
Websitewww.whitehouse.gov

The power of the presidency has grown substantially[11] since the first president, George Washington, took office in 1789.[6] While presidential power has ebbed and flowed over time, the presidency has played an increasingly strong role in American political life since the beginning of the 20th century, with a notable expansion during the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt. In contemporary times, the president is also looked upon as one of the world's most powerful political figures as the leader of the only remaining global superpower.[12][13][14][15] As the leader of the nation with the largest economy by nominal GDP, the president possesses significant domestic and international hard and soft power.

Article II of the Constitution establishes the executive branch of the federal government and vests the executive power in the president. The power includes the execution and enforcement of federal law and the responsibility to appoint federal executive, diplomatic, regulatory, and judicial officers. Based on constitutional provisions empowering the president to appoint and receive ambassadors and conclude treaties with foreign powers, and on subsequent laws enacted by Congress, the modern presidency has primary responsibility for conducting U.S. foreign policy. The role includes responsibility for directing the world's most expensive military, which has the second largest nuclear arsenal.

The president also plays a leading role in federal legislation and domestic policymaking. As part of the system of checks and balances, Article I, Section 7 of the Constitution gives the president the power to sign or veto federal legislation. Since modern presidents are also typically viewed as the leaders of their political parties, major policymaking is significantly shaped by the outcome of presidential elections, with presidents taking an active role in promoting their policy priorities to members of Congress who are often electorally dependent on the president.[16] In recent decades, presidents have also made increasing use of executive orders, agency regulations, and judicial appointments to shape domestic policy.

The president is elected indirectly through the Electoral College to a four-year term, along with the vice president. Under the Twenty-second Amendment, ratified in 1951, no person who has been elected to two presidential terms may be elected to a third. In addition, nine vice presidents have become president by virtue of a president's intra-term death or resignation.[B] In all, 45 individuals have served 46 presidencies spanning 58 full four-year terms.[C]

Joe Biden is the 46th and current president of the United States, having assumed office on January 20, 2021.

History and development

Origins

In July 1776, during the American Revolutionary War, the Thirteen Colonies, acting jointly through the Second Continental Congress, declared themselves to be 13 independent sovereign states, no longer under British rule.[18] Recognizing the necessity of closely coordinating their efforts against the British,[19] the Continental Congress simultaneously began the process of drafting a constitution that would bind the states together. There were long debates on a number of issues, including representation and voting, and the exact powers to be given the central government.[20] Congress finished work on the Articles of Confederation to establish a perpetual union between the states in November 1777 and sent it to the states for ratification.[18]

Under the Articles, which took effect on March 1, 1781, the Congress of the Confederation was a central political authority without any legislative power. It could make its own resolutions, determinations, and regulations, but not any laws, and could not impose any taxes or enforce local commercial regulations upon its citizens.[19] This institutional design reflected how Americans believed the deposed British system of Crown and Parliament ought to have functioned with respect to the royal dominion: a superintending body for matters that concerned the entire empire.[19] The states were out from under any monarchy and assigned some formerly royal prerogatives (e.g., making war, receiving ambassadors, etc.) to Congress; the remaining prerogatives were lodged within their own respective state governments. The members of Congress elected a president of the United States in Congress Assembled to preside over its deliberation as a neutral discussion moderator. Unrelated to and quite dissimilar from the later office of president of the United States, it was a largely ceremonial position without much influence.[21]

In 1783, the Treaty of Paris secured independence for each of the former colonies. With peace at hand, the states each turned toward their own internal affairs.[18] By 1786, Americans found their continental borders besieged and weak and their respective economies in crises as neighboring states agitated trade rivalries with one another. They witnessed their hard currency pouring into foreign markets to pay for imports, their Mediterranean commerce preyed upon by North African pirates, and their foreign-financed Revolutionary War debts unpaid and accruing interest.[18] Civil and political unrest loomed. Events such as the Newburgh Conspiracy and Shays' Rebellion demonstrated that the Articles of Confederation were not working.

Following the successful resolution of commercial and fishing disputes between Virginia and Maryland at the Mount Vernon Conference in 1785, Virginia called for a trade conference between all the states, set for September 1786 in Annapolis, Maryland, with an aim toward resolving further-reaching interstate commercial antagonisms. When the convention failed for lack of attendance due to suspicions among most of the other states, Alexander Hamilton led the Annapolis delegates in a call for a convention to offer revisions to the Articles, to be held the next spring in Philadelphia. Prospects for the next convention appeared bleak until James Madison and Edmund Randolph succeeded in securing George Washington's attendance to Philadelphia as a delegate for Virginia.[18][22]

When the Constitutional Convention convened in May 1787, the 12 state delegations in attendance (Rhode Island did not send delegates) brought with them an accumulated experience over a diverse set of institutional arrangements between legislative and executive branches from within their respective state governments. Most states maintained a weak executive without veto or appointment powers, elected annually by the legislature to a single term only, sharing power with an executive council, and countered by a strong legislature.[18] New York offered the greatest exception, having a strong, unitary governor with veto and appointment power elected to a three-year term, and eligible for reelection to an indefinite number of terms thereafter.[18] It was through the closed-door negotiations at Philadelphia that the presidency framed in the U.S. Constitution emerged.

1789–1933

 
George Washington, the first president of the United States

As the nation's first president, George Washington established many norms that would come to define the office.[23][24] His decision to retire after two terms helped address fears that the nation would devolve into monarchy,[25] and established a precedent that would not be broken until 1940 and would eventually be made permanent by the Twenty-Second Amendment. By the end of his presidency, political parties had developed,[26] with John Adams defeating Thomas Jefferson in 1796, the first truly contested presidential election.[27] After Jefferson defeated Adams in 1800, he and his fellow Virginians James Madison and James Monroe would each serve two terms, eventually dominating the nation's politics during the Era of Good Feelings until Adams' son John Quincy Adams won election in 1824 after the Democratic-Republican Party split.

The election of Andrew Jackson in 1828 was a significant milestone, as Jackson was not part of the Virginia and Massachusetts elite that had held the presidency for its first 40 years.[28] Jacksonian democracy sought to strengthen the presidency at the expense of Congress, while broadening public participation as the nation rapidly expanded westward. However, his successor, Martin Van Buren, became unpopular after the Panic of 1837,[29] and the death of William Henry Harrison and subsequent poor relations between John Tyler and Congress led to further weakening of the office.[30] Including Van Buren, in the 24 years between 1837 and 1861, six presidential terms would be filled by eight different men, with none serving two terms.[31] The Senate played an important role during this period, with the Great Triumvirate of Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and John C. Calhoun playing key roles in shaping national policy in the 1830s and 1840s until debates over slavery began pulling the nation apart in the 1850s.[32][33]

Abraham Lincoln's leadership during the Civil War has led historians to regard him as one of the nation's greatest presidents.[D] The circumstances of the war and Republican domination of Congress made the office very powerful,[34][35] and Lincoln's re-election in 1864 was the first time a president had been re-elected since Jackson in 1832. After Lincoln's assassination, his successor Andrew Johnson lost all political support[36] and was nearly removed from office,[37] with Congress remaining powerful during the two-term presidency of Civil War general Ulysses S. Grant. After the end of Reconstruction, Grover Cleveland would eventually become the first Democratic president elected since before the war, running in three consecutive elections (1884, 1888, 1892) and winning twice. In 1900, William McKinley became the first incumbent to win re-election since Grant in 1872.

After McKinley's assassination, Theodore Roosevelt became a dominant figure in American politics.[38] Historians believe Roosevelt permanently changed the political system by strengthening the presidency,[39] with some key accomplishments including breaking up trusts, conservationism, labor reforms, making personal character as important as the issues, and hand-picking his successor, William Howard Taft. The following decade, Woodrow Wilson led the nation to victory during World War I, although Wilson's proposal for the League of Nations was rejected by the Senate.[40] Warren Harding, while popular in office, would see his legacy tarnished by scandals, especially Teapot Dome,[41] and Herbert Hoover quickly became very unpopular after failing to alleviate the Great Depression.[42]

Imperial Presidency

Main article: Imperial Presidency
 
President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivers a radio address, 1933.

The ascendancy of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933 led further toward what historians now describe as the Imperial Presidency.[43] Backed by enormous Democratic majorities in Congress and public support for major change, Roosevelt's New Deal dramatically increased the size and scope of the federal government, including more executive agencies.[44]: 211–12  The traditionally small presidential staff was greatly expanded, with the Executive Office of the President being created in 1939, none of whom require Senate confirmation.[44]: 229–231  Roosevelt's unprecedented re-election to a third and fourth term, the victory of the United States in World War II, and the nation's growing economy all helped established the office as a position of global leadership.[44]: 269  His successors, Harry Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower, each served two terms as the Cold War led the presidency to be viewed as the "leader of the free world,"[45] while John F. Kennedy was a youthful and popular leader who benefitted from the rise of television in the 1960s.[46][47]

After Lyndon B. Johnson lost popular support due to the Vietnam War and Richard Nixon's presidency collapsed in the Watergate scandal, Congress enacted a series of reforms intended to reassert itself.[48][49] These included the War Powers Resolution, enacted over Nixon's veto in 1973,[50][51] and the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 that sought to strengthen congressional fiscal powers.[52] By 1976, Gerald Ford conceded that "the historic pendulum" had swung toward Congress, raising the possibility of a "disruptive" erosion of his ability to govern.[53] Ford failed to win election to a full term and his successor, Jimmy Carter, failed to win re-election. Ronald Reagan, who had been an actor before beginning his political career, used his talent as a communicator to help re-shape the American agenda away from New Deal policies toward more conservative ideology.[54][55]

With the Cold War ending and the United States becoming the world's undisputed leading power,[56] Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama each served two terms as president. Meanwhile, Congress and the nation gradually became more politically polarized, especially following the 1994 mid-term elections that saw Republicans control the House for the first time in 40 years, and the rise of routine filibusters in the Senate in recent decades.[57] Recent presidents have thus increasingly focused on executive orders, agency regulations, and judicial appointments to implement major policies, at the expense of legislation and congressional power.[58] Presidential elections in the 21st century have reflected this continuing polarization, with no candidate except Obama in 2008 winning by more than five percent of the popular vote and two — George W. Bush and Donald Trump — winning in the Electoral College while losing the popular vote.[E] Both Clinton and Trump were impeached by a House controlled by the opposition party, but the impeachments did not appear to have long-term effects on their political standing.[59][60]

Critics of presidency's evolution

The nation's Founding Fathers expected the Congress—which was the first branch of government described in the Constitution—to be the dominant branch of government; they did not expect a strong executive department.[61] However, presidential power has shifted over time, which has resulted in claims that the modern presidency has become too powerful,[62][63] unchecked, unbalanced,[64] and "monarchist" in nature.[65] In 2008 Professor Dana D. Nelson expressed belief that presidents over the previous thirty years worked towards "undivided presidential control of the executive branch and its agencies".[66] She criticized proponents of the Unitary executive theory for expanding "the many existing uncheckable executive powers—such as executive orders, decrees, memorandums, proclamations, national security directives and legislative signing statements—that already allow presidents to enact a good deal of foreign and domestic policy without aid, interference or consent from Congress".[66] Bill Wilson, board member of Americans for Limited Government, opined that the expanded presidency was "the greatest threat ever to individual freedom and democratic rule".[67]

Legislative powers

Article I, Section 1 of the Constitution vests all lawmaking power in Congress's hands, and Article 1, Section 6, Clause 2 prevents the president (and all other executive branch officers) from simultaneously being a member of Congress. Nevertheless, the modern presidency exerts significant power over legislation, both due to constitutional provisions and historical developments over time.

Signing and vetoing bills

 
President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the 1964 Civil Rights Act as Martin Luther King Jr. and others look on.

The president's most significant legislative power derives from the Presentment Clause, which gives the president the power to veto any bill passed by Congress. While Congress can override a presidential veto, it requires a two-thirds vote of both houses, which is usually very difficult to achieve except for widely supported bipartisan legislation. The framers of the Constitution feared that Congress would seek to increase its power and enable a "tyranny of the majority," so giving the indirectly elected president a veto was viewed as an important check on the legislative power. While George Washington believed the veto should only be used in cases where a bill was unconstitutional, it is now routinely used in cases where presidents have policy disagreements with a bill. The veto – or threat of a veto – has thus evolved to make the modern presidency a central part of the American legislative process.

Specifically, under the Presentment Clause, once a bill has been presented by Congress, the president has three options:

  1. Sign the legislation within ten days, excluding Sundays—the bill becomes law.
  2. Veto the legislation within the above timeframe and return it to the house of Congress from which it originated, expressing any objections—the bill does not become law, unless both houses of Congress vote to override the veto by a two-thirds vote.
  3. Take no action on the legislation within the above timeframe—the bill becomes law, as if the president had signed it, unless Congress is adjourned at the time, in which case it does not become law (a pocket veto).

In 1996, Congress attempted to enhance the president's veto power with the Line Item Veto Act. The legislation empowered the president to sign any spending bill into law while simultaneously striking certain spending items within the bill, particularly any new spending, any amount of discretionary spending, or any new limited tax benefit. Congress could then repass that particular item. If the president then vetoed the new legislation, Congress could override the veto by its ordinary means, a two-thirds vote in both houses. In Clinton v. City of New York, 524 U.S. 417 (1998), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled such a legislative alteration of the veto power to be unconstitutional.

Setting the agenda

 
President Barack Obama delivers his 2015 State of the Union Address, with Vice President Joe Biden and Speaker of the House John Boehner.

For most of American history, candidates for president have sought election on the basis of a promised legislative agenda. Formally, Article II, Section 3, Clause 2 requires the president to recommend such measures to Congress which the president deems "necessary and expedient". This is done through the constitutionally-based State of the Union address, which usually outlines the president's legislative proposals for the coming year, and through other formal and informal communications with Congress.

The president can be involved in crafting legislation by suggesting, requesting, or even insisting that Congress enact laws he believes are needed. Additionally, he can attempt to shape legislation during the legislative process by exerting influence on individual members of Congress.[68] Presidents possess this power because the Constitution is silent about who can write legislation, but the power is limited because only members of Congress can introduce legislation.[69]

The president or other officials of the executive branch may draft legislation and then ask senators or representatives to introduce these drafts into Congress. Additionally, the president may attempt to have Congress alter proposed legislation by threatening to veto that legislation unless requested changes are made.[70]

Promulgating regulations

Many laws enacted by Congress do not address every possible detail, and either explicitly or implicitly delegate powers of implementation to an appropriate federal agency. As the head of the executive branch, presidents control a vast array of agencies that can issue regulations with little oversight from Congress.

In the 20th century, critics charged that too many legislative and budgetary powers that should have belonged to Congress had slid into the hands of presidents. One critic charged that presidents could appoint a "virtual army of 'czars'—each wholly unaccountable to Congress yet tasked with spearheading major policy efforts for the White House".[71] Presidents have been criticized for making signing statements when signing congressional legislation about how they understand a bill or plan to execute it.[72] This practice has been criticized by the American Bar Association as unconstitutional.[73] Conservative commentator George Will wrote of an "increasingly swollen executive branch" and "the eclipse of Congress".[74]

Convening and adjourning Congress

To allow the government to act quickly in case of a major domestic or international crisis arising when Congress is not in session, the president is empowered by Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution to call a special session of one or both houses of Congress. Since John Adams first did so in 1797, the president has called the full Congress to convene for a special session on 27 occasions. Harry S. Truman was the most recent to do so in July 1948 (the so-called "Turnip Day Session"). In addition, prior to ratification of the Twentieth Amendment in 1933, which brought forward the date on which Congress convenes from December to January, newly inaugurated presidents would routinely call the Senate to meet to confirm nominations or ratify treaties. In practice, the power has fallen into disuse in the modern era as Congress now formally remains in session year-round, convening pro forma sessions every three days even when ostensibly in recess. Correspondingly, the president is authorized to adjourn Congress if the House and Senate cannot agree on the time of adjournment; no president has ever had to exercise this power.[75][76]

Executive powers

Main article: Powers of the president of the United States

Suffice it to say that the President is made the sole repository of the executive powers of the United States, and the powers entrusted to him as well as the duties imposed upon him are awesome indeed.

Nixon v. General Services Administration, 433 U.S. 425 (1977) (Rehnquist, J., dissenting)

The president is head of the executive branch of the federal government and is constitutionally obligated to "take care that the laws be faithfully executed".[77] The executive branch has over four million employees, including the military.[78]

Administrative powers

Presidents make numerous federal appointments. An incoming president may make up to 6,000 upon taking office and 8,000 more while serving. Ambassadors, members of the Cabinet, and other officers, are all appointed by a president with the "advice and consent" of a majority of the Senate. When the Senate is in recess for at least ten days, the president may make recess appointments.[79] Recess appointments are temporary and expire at the end of the next session of the Senate.

The power of a president to fire executive officials has long been a contentious political issue. Generally, a president may remove executive officials purely at will.[80] However, Congress can curtail and constrain a president's authority to fire commissioners of independent regulatory agencies and certain inferior executive officers by statute.[81]

To manage the growing federal bureaucracy, presidents have gradually surrounded themselves with many layers of staff, who were eventually organized into the Executive Office of the President of the United States. Within the Executive Office, the president's innermost layer of aides (and their assistants) are located in the White House Office.

The president also possesses the power to manage operations of the federal government by issuing various types of directives, such as presidential proclamation and executive orders. When the president is lawfully exercising one of the constitutionally conferred presidential responsibilities, the scope of this power is broad.[82] Even so, these directives are subject to judicial review by U.S. federal courts, which can find them to be unconstitutional. Moreover, Congress can overturn an executive order via legislation (e.g., Congressional Review Act).

Foreign affairs

 
President George H. W. Bush and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev sign the 1990 Chemical Weapons Accord in the White House.

Article II, Section 3, Clause 4 requires the president to "receive Ambassadors." This clause, known as the Reception Clause, has been interpreted to imply that the president possesses broad power over matters of foreign policy,[83] and to provide support for the president's exclusive authority to grant recognition to a foreign government.[84] The Constitution also empowers the president to appoint United States ambassadors, and to propose and chiefly negotiate agreements between the United States and other countries. Such agreements, upon receiving the advice and consent of the U.S. Senate (by a two-thirds majority vote), become binding with the force of federal law.

While foreign affairs has always been a significant element of presidential responsibilities, advances in technology since the Constitution's adoption have increased presidential power. Where formerly ambassadors were vested with significant power to independently negotiate on behalf of the United States, presidents now routinely meet directly with leaders of foreign countries.

Commander-in-chief

 
Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, successfully preserved the Union during the American Civil War.

One of the most important of executive powers is the president's role as commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces. The power to declare war is constitutionally vested in Congress, but the president has ultimate responsibility for the direction and disposition of the military. The exact degree of authority that the Constitution grants to the president as commander-in-chief has been the subject of much debate throughout history, with Congress at various times granting the president wide authority and at others attempting to restrict that authority.[85] The framers of the Constitution took care to limit the president's powers regarding the military; Alexander Hamilton explained this in Federalist No. 69:

The President is to be commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the United States. ... It would amount to nothing more than the supreme command and direction of the military and naval forces ... while that [the power] of the British king extends to the DECLARING of war and to the RAISING and REGULATING of fleets and armies, all [of] which ... would appertain to the legislature.[86] [Emphasis in the original.]

In the modern era, pursuant to the War Powers Resolution, Congress must authorize any troop deployments longer than 60 days, although that process relies on triggering mechanisms that have never been employed, rendering it ineffectual.[87] Additionally, Congress provides a check to presidential military power through its control over military spending and regulation. Presidents have historically initiated the process for going to war,[88][89] but critics have charged that there have been several conflicts in which presidents did not get official declarations, including Theodore Roosevelt's military move into Panama in 1903,[88] the Korean War,[88] the Vietnam War,[88] and the invasions of Grenada in 1983[90] and Panama in 1989.[91]

The amount of military detail handled personally by the president in wartime has varied greatly.[92] George Washington, the first U.S. president, firmly established military subordination under civilian authority. In 1794, Washington used his constitutional powers to assemble 12,000 militia to quell the Whiskey Rebellion—a conflict in western Pennsylvania involving armed farmers and distillers who refused to pay an excise tax on spirits. According to historian Joseph Ellis, this was the "first and only time a sitting American president led troops in the field", though James Madison briefly took control of artillery units in defense of Washington, D.C., during the War of 1812.[93] Abraham Lincoln was deeply involved in overall strategy and in day-to-day operations during the American Civil War, 1861–1865; historians have given Lincoln high praise for his strategic sense and his ability to select and encourage commanders such as Ulysses S. Grant.[94] The present-day operational command of the Armed Forces is delegated to the Department of Defense and is normally exercised through the secretary of defense. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Combatant Commands assist with the operation as outlined in the presidentially approved Unified Command Plan (UCP).[95][96][97]

Juridical powers and privileges

Further information: List of people pardoned or granted clemency by the president of the United States
 
President Joe Biden with his Supreme Court appointee Justice Brown Jackson, Vice President Harris in background, 2022

The president has the power to nominate federal judges, including members of the United States courts of appeals and the Supreme Court of the United States. However, these nominations require Senate confirmation before they may take office. Securing Senate approval can provide a major obstacle for presidents who wish to orient the federal judiciary toward a particular ideological stance. When nominating judges to U.S. district courts, presidents often respect the long-standing tradition of senatorial courtesy. Presidents may also grant pardons and reprieves. Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon a month after taking office. Presidents often grant pardons shortly before leaving office, like when Bill Clinton pardoned Patty Hearst on his last day in office; this is often controversial.[98][99][100]

Two doctrines concerning executive power have developed that enable the president to exercise executive power with a degree of autonomy. The first is executive privilege, which allows the president to withhold from disclosure any communications made directly to the president in the performance of executive duties. George Washington first claimed the privilege when Congress requested to see Chief Justice John Jay's notes from an unpopular treaty negotiation with Great Britain. While not enshrined in the Constitution or any other law, Washington's action created the precedent for the privilege. When Nixon tried to use executive privilege as a reason for not turning over subpoenaed evidence to Congress during the Watergate scandal, the Supreme Court ruled in United States v. Nixon, 418 U.S. 683 (1974), that executive privilege did not apply in cases where a president was attempting to avoid criminal prosecution. When Bill Clinton attempted to use executive privilege regarding the Lewinsky scandal, the Supreme Court ruled in Clinton v. Jones, 520 U.S. 681 (1997), that the privilege also could not be used in civil suits. These cases established the legal precedent that executive privilege is valid, although the exact extent of the privilege has yet to be clearly defined. Additionally, federal courts have allowed this privilege to radiate outward and protect other executive branch employees, but have weakened that protection for those executive branch communications that do not involve the president.[101]

The state secrets privilege allows the president and the executive branch to withhold information or documents from discovery in legal proceedings if such release would harm national security. Precedent for the privilege arose early in the 19th century when Thomas Jefferson refused to release military documents in the treason trial of Aaron Burr and again in Totten v. United States 92 U.S. 105 (1876), when the Supreme Court dismissed a case brought by a former Union spy.[102] However, the privilege was not formally recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court until United States v. Reynolds 345 U.S. 1 (1953), where it was held to be a common law evidentiary privilege.[103] Before the September 11 attacks, use of the privilege had been rare, but increasing in frequency.[104] Since 2001, the government has asserted the privilege in more cases and at earlier stages of the litigation, thus in some instances causing dismissal of the suits before reaching the merits of the claims, as in the Ninth Circuit's ruling in Mohamed v. Jeppesen Dataplan, Inc.[103][105][106] Critics of the privilege claim its use has become a tool for the government to cover up illegal or embarrassing government actions.[107][108]

The degree to which the president personally has absolute immunity from court cases is contested and has been the subject of several Supreme Court decisions. Nixon v. Fitzgerald (1982) dismissed a civil lawsuit against by-then former president Richard Nixon based on his official actions. Clinton v. Jones (1997) decided that a president has no immunity against civil suits for actions taken before becoming president, and ruled that a sexual harassment suit could proceed without delay, even against a sitting president. The 2019 Mueller report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election detailed evidence of possible obstruction of justice, but investigators declined to refer Donald Trump for prosecution based on a United States Department of Justice policy against indicting an incumbent president. The report noted that impeachment by Congress was available as a remedy. As of October 2019, a case was pending in the federal courts regarding access to personal tax returns in a criminal case brought against Donald Trump by the New York County District Attorney alleging violations of New York state law.[109]

Leadership roles

Head of state

 
Four ruffles and flourishes and 'Hail to the Chief' (long version)
Problems playing this file? See media help.

As head of state, the president represents the United States government to its own people, and represents the nation to the rest of the world. For example, during a state visit by a foreign head of state, the president typically hosts a State Arrival Ceremony held on the South Lawn, a custom was begun by John F. Kennedy in 1961.[110] This is followed by a state dinner given by the president which is held in the State Dining Room later in the evening.[111]

 
President Ronald Reagan reviews honor guards during a state visit to China, 1984.
 
President Woodrow Wilson throws out the ceremonial first ball on Opening Day, 1916.

As a national leader, the president also fulfills many less formal ceremonial duties. For example, William Howard Taft started the tradition of throwing out the ceremonial first pitch in 1910 at Griffith Stadium, Washington, D.C., on the Washington Senators's Opening Day. Every president since Taft, except for Jimmy Carter, threw out at least one ceremonial first ball or pitch for Opening Day, the All-Star Game, or the World Series, usually with much fanfare.[112] Every president since Theodore Roosevelt has served as honorary president of the Boy Scouts of America.[113]

Other presidential traditions are associated with American holidays. Rutherford B. Hayes began in 1878 the first White House egg rolling for local children.[114] Beginning in 1947, during the Harry S. Truman administration, every Thanksgiving the president is presented with a live domestic turkey during the annual National Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation held at the White House. Since 1989, when the custom of "pardoning" the turkey was formalized by George H. W. Bush, the turkey has been taken to a farm where it will live out the rest of its natural life.[115]

Presidential traditions also involve the president's role as head of government. Many outgoing presidents since James Buchanan traditionally give advice to their successor during the presidential transition.[116] Ronald Reagan and his successors have also left a private message on the desk of the Oval Office on Inauguration Day for the incoming president.[117]

The modern presidency holds the president as one of the nation's premier celebrities. Some argue that images of the presidency have a tendency to be manipulated by administration public relations officials as well as by presidents themselves. One critic described the presidency as "propagandized leadership" which has a "mesmerizing power surrounding the office".[118] Administration public relations managers staged carefully crafted photo-ops of smiling presidents with smiling crowds for television cameras.[119] One critic wrote the image of John F. Kennedy was described as carefully framed "in rich detail" which "drew on the power of myth" regarding the incident of PT 109[120] and wrote that Kennedy understood how to use images to further his presidential ambitions.[121] As a result, some political commentators have opined that American voters have unrealistic expectations of presidents: voters expect a president to "drive the economy, vanquish enemies, lead the free world, comfort tornado victims, heal the national soul and protect borrowers from hidden credit-card fees".[122]

Head of party

The president is typically considered to be the head of their political party. Since the entire House of Representatives and at least one-third of the Senate is elected simultaneously with the president, candidates from a political party inevitably have their electoral success intertwined with the performance of the party's presidential candidate. The coattail effect, or lack thereof, will also often impact a party's candidates at state and local levels of government as well. However, there are often tensions between a president and others in the party, with presidents who lose significant support from their party's caucus in Congress generally viewed to be weaker and less effective.

Global leader

With the rise of the United States as a superpower in the 20th century, and the United States having the world's largest economy into the 21st century, the president is typically viewed as a global leader, and at times the world's most powerful political figure. The position of the United States as the leading member of NATO, and the country's strong relationships with other wealthy or democratic nations like those comprising the European Union, have led to the moniker that the president is the "leader of the free world."

Selection process

Eligibility

Article II, Section 1, Clause 5 of the Constitution sets three qualifications for holding the presidency. To serve as president, one must:

A person who meets the above qualifications would, however, still be disqualified from holding the office of president under any of the following conditions:

  • Under Article I, Section 3, Clause 7, having been impeached, convicted and disqualified from holding further public office, although there is some legal debate as to whether the disqualification clause also includes the presidential office: the only previous persons so punished were three federal judges.[124][125]
  • Under Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment, no person who swore an oath to support the Constitution, and later rebelled against the United States, is eligible to hold any office. However, this disqualification can be lifted by a two-thirds vote of each house of Congress.[126] There is, again, some debate as to whether the clause as written allows disqualification from the presidential position, or whether it would first require litigation outside of Congress, although there is precedent for use of this amendment outside of the original intended purpose of excluding Confederates from public office after the Civil War.[127]
  • Under the Twenty-second Amendment, no person can be elected president more than twice. The amendment also specifies that if any eligible person serves as president or acting president for more than two years of a term for which some other eligible person was elected president, the former can only be elected president once.[128][129]

Campaigns and nomination

 
President Jimmy Carter (left) debates Republican nominee Ronald Reagan on October 28, 1980.
Main articles: United States presidential primary and United States presidential nominating convention
See also: United States presidential debates

The modern presidential campaign begins before the primary elections, which the two major political parties use to clear the field of candidates before their national nominating conventions, where the most successful candidate is made the party's presidential nominee. Typically, the party's presidential candidate chooses a vice presidential nominee, and this choice is rubber-stamped by the convention. The most common previous profession of presidents is lawyer.[130]

Nominees participate in nationally televised debates, and while the debates are usually restricted to the Democratic and Republican nominees, third party candidates may be invited, such as Ross Perot in the 1992 debates. Nominees campaign across the country to explain their views, convince voters and solicit contributions. Much of the modern electoral process is concerned with winning swing states through frequent visits and mass media advertising drives.

Election

 
Map of the United States showing the number of electoral votes allocated following the 2010 census to each state and the District of Columbia for the 2012, 2016 and 2020 presidential elections; it also notes that Maine and Nebraska distribute electors by way of the congressional district method. 270 electoral votes are required for a majority out of 538 votes possible.
Main article: United States presidential election
See also: United States Electoral College

The president is elected indirectly by the voters of each state and the District of Columbia through the Electoral College, a body of electors formed every four years for the sole purpose of electing the president and vice president to concurrent four-year terms. As prescribed by Article II, Section 1, Clause 2, each state is entitled to a number of electors equal to the size of its total delegation in both houses of Congress. Additionally, the Twenty-third Amendment provides that the District of Columbia is entitled to the number it would have if it were a state, but in no case more than that of the least populous state.[131] Currently, all states and the District of Columbia select their electors based on a popular election.[132] In all but two states, the party whose presidential–vice presidential ticket receives a plurality of popular votes in the state has its entire slate of elector nominees chosen as the state's electors.[133] Maine and Nebraska deviate from this winner-take-all practice, awarding two electors to the statewide winner and one to the winner in each congressional district.[134][135]

On the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December, about six weeks after the election, the electors convene in their respective state capitals (and in Washington, D.C.) to vote for president and, on a separate ballot, for vice president. They typically vote for the candidates of the party that nominated them. While there is no constitutional mandate or federal law requiring them to do so, the District of Columbia and 32 states have laws requiring that their electors vote for the candidates to whom they are pledged.[136][137] The constitutionality of these laws was upheld in Chiafalo v. Washington (2020).[138] Following the vote, each state then sends a certified record of their electoral votes to Congress. The votes of the electors are opened and counted during a joint session of Congress, held in the first week of January. If a candidate has received an absolute majority of electoral votes for president (currently 270 of 538), that person is declared the winner. Otherwise, the House of Representatives must meet to elect a president using a contingent election procedure in which representatives, voting by state delegation, with each state casting a single vote, choose between the top three electoral vote-getters for president. To win the presidency, a Candidate must receive the votes of an absolute majority of states (currently 26 of 50).[132]

There have been two contingent presidential elections in the nation's history. A 73–73 electoral vote tie between Thomas Jefferson and fellow Democratic-Republican Aaron Burr in the election of 1800 necessitated the first. Conducted under the original procedure established by Article II, Section 1, Clause 3 of the Constitution, which stipulates that if two or three persons received a majority vote and an equal vote, the House of Representatives would choose one of them for president; the runner-up would become vice president.[139] On February 17, 1801, Jefferson was elected president on the 36th ballot, and Burr elected vice president. Afterward, the system was overhauled through the Twelfth Amendment in time to be used in the 1804 election.[140] A quarter-century later, the choice for president again devolved to the House when no candidate won an absolute majority of electoral votes (131 of 261) in the election of 1824. Under the Twelfth Amendment, the House was required to choose a president from among the top three electoral vote recipients: Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams, and William H. Crawford. Held February 9, 1825, this second and most recent contingent election resulted in John Quincy Adams being elected president on the first ballot.[141]

Inauguration

Main article: United States presidential inauguration

Pursuant to the Twentieth Amendment, the four-year term of office for both the president and the vice president begins at noon on January 20.[142] The first presidential and vice presidential terms to begin on this date, known as Inauguration Day, were the second terms of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Vice President John Nance Garner in 1937.[143] Previously, Inauguration Day was on March 4. As a result of the date change, the first term (1933–37) of both men had been shortened by 43 days.[144]

Before executing the powers of the office, a president is required to recite the presidential Oath of Office, found in Article II, Section 1, Clause 8 of the Constitution. This is the only component in the inauguration ceremony mandated by the Constitution:

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.[145]

Presidents have traditionally placed one hand upon a Bible while taking the oath, and have added "So help me God" to the end of the oath.[146][147] Although the oath may be administered by any person authorized by law to administer oaths, presidents are traditionally sworn in by the chief justice of the United States.[145]

Incumbency

Term limit

 
Franklin D. Roosevelt won a record four presidential elections (1932, 1936, 1940 and 1944), leading to the adoption of a two-term limit.

When the first president, George Washington, announced in his Farewell Address that he was not running for a third term, he established a "two terms then out" precedent. Precedent became tradition after Thomas Jefferson publicly embraced the principle a decade later during his second term, as did his two immediate successors, James Madison and James Monroe.[148] In spite of the strong two-term tradition, Ulysses S. Grant sought nomination at the 1880 Republican National Convention for a non-consecutive third term, but was unsuccessful.[149]

In 1940, after leading the nation through the Great Depression and focused on supporting U.S. allied nations at war with the Axis powers, Franklin Roosevelt was elected to a third term, breaking the long-standing precedent. Four years later, with the U.S. engaged in World War II, he was re-elected again despite his declining physical health; he died 82 days into his fourth term on April 12, 1945.[150]

In response to the unprecedented length of Roosevelt's presidency, the Twenty-second Amendment was adopted in 1951. The amendment bars anyone from being elected president more than twice, or once if that person served more than two years (24 months) of another president's four-year term. Harry S. Truman, president when this term limit came into force, was exempted from its limitations, and briefly sought a second full term—to which he would have otherwise been ineligible for election, as he had been president for more than two years of Roosevelt's fourth term—before he withdrew from the 1952 election.[150]

Since the amendment's adoption, five presidents have served two full terms: Dwight D. Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama. Jimmy Carter, George H. W. Bush, and Donald Trump each sought a second term but were defeated. Richard Nixon was elected to a second term, but resigned before completing it. Lyndon B. Johnson, having held the presidency for one full term in addition to only 14 months of John F. Kennedy's unexpired term, was eligible for a second full term in 1968, but he withdrew from the Democratic primary. Additionally, Gerald Ford, who served out the last two years and five months of Nixon's second term, sought a full term but was defeated by Jimmy Carter in the 1976 election.

Vacancies and succession

 
President William McKinley and his successor, Theodore Roosevelt

Under Section 1 of the Twenty-fifth Amendment, ratified in 1967, the vice president becomes president upon the removal from office, death, or resignation of the president. Deaths have occurred a number of times, resignation has occurred only once, and removal from office has never occurred.

The original Constitution, in Article II, Section 1, Clause 6, stated only that the vice president assumes the "powers and duties" of the presidency in the event of a president's removal, death, resignation, or inability.[151] Under this clause, there was ambiguity about whether the vice president would actually become president in the event of a vacancy, or simply act as president,[152] potentially resulting in a special election. Upon the death of William Henry Harrison in 1841, Vice President John Tyler declared that he had succeeded to the office itself, refusing to accept any papers addressed to the "Acting President," and Congress ultimately accepted it. This established a precedent for future successions, although it was not formally clarified until the Twenty-fifth Amendment was ratified.

In the event of a double vacancy, Article II, Section 1, Clause 6 also authorizes Congress to declare who shall become acting president in the "Case of Removal, Death, Resignation or Inability, both of the president and vice president".[152] The Presidential Succession Act of 1947 (codified as 3 U.S.C. § 19) provides that if both the president and vice president have left office or are both otherwise unavailable to serve during their terms of office, the presidential line of succession follows the order of: speaker of the House, then, if necessary, the president pro tempore of the Senate, and then if necessary, the eligible heads of federal executive departments who form the president's cabinet. The cabinet currently has 15 members, of which the secretary of state is first in line; the other Cabinet secretaries follow in the order in which their department (or the department of which their department is the successor) was created. Those individuals who are constitutionally ineligible to be elected to the presidency are also disqualified from assuming the powers and duties of the presidency through succession. No statutory successor has yet been called upon to act as president.[153]

Declarations of inability

Main article: Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution

Under the Twenty-fifth Amendment, the president may temporarily transfer the presidential powers and duties to the vice president, who then becomes acting president, by transmitting to the speaker of the House and the president pro tempore of the Senate a statement that he is unable to discharge his duties. The president resumes his or her powers upon transmitting a second declaration stating that he is again able. The mechanism has been used by Ronald Reagan (once), George W. Bush (twice), and Joe Biden (once), each in anticipation of surgery.[154][155]

The Twenty-fifth Amendment also provides that the vice president, together with a majority of certain members of the Cabinet, may transfer the presidential powers and duties to the vice president by transmitting a written declaration, to the speaker of the House and the president pro tempore of the Senate, to the effect that the president is unable to discharge his or her powers and duties. If the president then declares that no such inability exist, he or she resumes the presidential powers unless the vice president and Cabinet make a second declaration of presidential inability, in which case Congress decides the question.

Removal

Main articles: United States presidential impeachment, Federal impeachment in the United States, and Federal impeachment trial in the United States

Article II, Section 4 of the Constitution allows for the removal of high federal officials, including the president, from office for "treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors". Article I, Section 2, Clause 5 authorizes the House of Representatives to serve as a "grand jury" with the power to impeach said officials by a majority vote.[156] Article I, Section 3, Clause 6 authorizes the Senate to serve as a court with the power to remove impeached officials from office, by a two-thirds vote to convict.[157]

Three presidents have been impeached by the House of Representatives: Andrew Johnson in 1868, Bill Clinton in 1998, and Donald Trump in 2019 and 2021; none have been convicted by the Senate. Additionally, the House Judiciary Committee conducted an impeachment inquiry against Richard Nixon in 1973–74 and reported three articles of impeachment to the House of Representatives for final action; however, he resigned from office before the House voted on them.[156]

Circumvention of authority

Controversial measures have sometimes been taken short of removal to deal with perceived recklessness on the part of the President, or with a long-term disability. In some cases, staff have intentionally failed to deliver messages to or from the President, typically to avoid executing or promoting the President to write certain orders. This has ranged from Richard Nixon's Chief of Staff not transmitting orders to the Cabinet due to the President's heavy drinking, to staff removing memos from Donald Trump's desk.[158] Decades before the Twenty-fifth Amendment, in 1919, President Woodrow Wilson had a stroke that left him partly incapacitated. First lady Edith Wilson kept this condition a secret from the public for a while, and controversially became the sole gatekeeper for access to the President (aside from his doctor), assisting him with paperwork and deciding which information was "important" enough to share with him.

Compensation

Presidential pay history
Year
established		 Salary Salary in
2021 USD
1789 $25,000 $568,625
1873 $50,000 $1,130,972
1909 $75,000 $2,261,944
1949 $100,000 $1,138,881
1969 $200,000 $1,477,858
2001 $400,000 $612,141
Sources:[159][160]

Since 2001, the president's annual salary has been $400,000, along with a: $50,000 expense allowance; $100,000 nontaxable travel account, and $19,000 entertainment[clarification needed] account. The president's salary is set by Congress, and under Article II, Section 1, Clause 7 of the Constitution, any increase or reduction in presidential salary cannot take effect before the next presidential term of office.[161][162]

Residence

For the official residences in which President Washington resided, see Presidency of George Washington § Residences. For the private residences of the various U.S. presidents, see List of residences of presidents of the United States.

The White House in Washington, D.C. is the official residence of the president. The site was selected by George Washington, and the cornerstone was laid in 1792. Every president since John Adams (in 1800) has lived there. At various times in U.S. history, it has been known as the "President's Palace", the "President's House", and the "Executive Mansion". Theodore Roosevelt officially gave the White House its current name in 1901.[163] The federal government pays for state dinners and other official functions, but the president pays for personal, family, and guest dry cleaning and food.[164]

Camp David, officially titled Naval Support Facility Thurmont, a mountain-based military camp in Frederick County, Maryland, is the president's country residence. A place of solitude and tranquility, the site has been used extensively to host foreign dignitaries since the 1940s.[165]

President's Guest House, located next to the Eisenhower Executive Office Building at the White House Complex and Lafayette Park, serves as the president's official guest house and as a secondary residence for the president if needed. Four interconnected, 19th-century houses—Blair House, Lee House, and 700 and 704 Jackson Place—with a combined floor space exceeding 70,000 square feet (6,500 m2) comprise the property.[166]

Travel

Main article: Transportation of the president of the United States

The primary means of long-distance air travel for the president is one of two identical Boeing VC-25 aircraft, which are extensively modified Boeing 747 airliners and are referred to as Air Force One while the president is on board (although any U.S. Air Force aircraft the president is aboard is designated as "Air Force One" for the duration of the flight). In-country trips are typically handled with just one of the two planes, while overseas trips are handled with both, one primary and one backup. The president also has access to smaller Air Force aircraft, most notably the Boeing C-32, which are used when the president must travel to airports that cannot support a jumbo jet. Any civilian aircraft the president is aboard is designated Executive One for the flight.[167][168]

For short-distance air travel, the president has access to a fleet of U.S. Marine Corps helicopters of varying models, designated Marine One when the president is aboard any particular one in the fleet. Flights are typically handled with as many as five helicopters all flying together and frequently swapping positions as to disguise which helicopter the president is actually aboard to any would-be threats.

For ground travel, the president uses the presidential state car, which is an armored limousine designed to look like a Cadillac sedan, but built on a truck chassis.[169][170] The U.S. Secret Service operates and maintains the fleet of several limousines. The president also has access to two armored motorcoaches, which are primarily used for touring trips.[171]

Protection

Main article: United States Secret Service
 
President Reagan surrounded by Secret Service

The U.S. Secret Service is charged with protecting the president and the first family. As part of their protection, presidents, first ladies, their children and other immediate family members, and other prominent persons and locations are assigned Secret Service codenames.[172] The use of such names was originally for security purposes and dates to a time when sensitive electronic communications were not routinely encrypted; today, the names simply serve for purposes of brevity, clarity, and tradition.[173]

Post-presidency

 
From left: George H. W. Bush, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Jimmy Carter. Photo taken in the Oval Office on January 7, 2009; Obama formally took office thirteen days later.

Activities

Some former presidents have had significant careers after leaving office. Prominent examples include William Howard Taft's tenure as chief justice of the United States and Herbert Hoover's work on government reorganization after World War II. Grover Cleveland, whose bid for reelection failed in 1888, was elected president again four years later in 1892. Two former presidents served in Congress after leaving the White House: John Quincy Adams was elected to the House of Representatives, serving there for 17 years, and Andrew Johnson returned to the Senate in 1875, though he died soon after. Some ex-presidents were very active, especially in international affairs, most notably Theodore Roosevelt;[174] Herbert Hoover;[175] Richard Nixon;[176] and Jimmy Carter.[177][178]

Presidents may use their predecessors as emissaries to deliver private messages to other nations or as official representatives of the United States to state funerals and other important foreign events.[179][180] Richard Nixon made multiple foreign trips to countries including China and Russia and was lauded as an elder statesman.[181] Jimmy Carter has become a global human rights campaigner, international arbiter, and election monitor, as well as a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. Bill Clinton has also worked as an informal ambassador, most recently in the negotiations that led to the release of two American journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, from North Korea. During his presidency, George W. Bush called on former Presidents Bush and Clinton to assist with humanitarian efforts after the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. President Obama followed suit by asking Presidents Clinton and Bush to lead efforts to aid Haiti after an earthquake devastated that country in 2010.

Clinton was active politically since his presidential term ended, working with his wife Hillary on her 2008 and 2016 presidential bids and President Obama on his 2012 reelection campaign. Obama was also active politically since his presidential term ended, having worked with his former vice president Joe Biden on his 2020 election campaign. Trump has continued to make appearances in the media and at conventions and rallies since leaving office.

Pension and other benefits

The Former Presidents Act (FPA), enacted in 1958, grants lifetime benefits to former presidents and their widows, including a monthly pension, medical care in military facilities, health insurance, and Secret Service protection; also provided is funding for a certain number of staff and for office expenses. The act has been amended several times to provide increases in presidential pensions and in the allowances for office staff. The FPA excludes any president who was removed from office by impeachment.[182]

According to a 2008 report by the Congressional Research service:[182]

Chief executives leaving office prior to 1958 often entered retirement pursuing various occupations and received no federal assistance. When industrialist Andrew Carnegie announced a plan in 1912 to offer $25,000 annual pensions to former Presidents, many Members of Congress deemed it inappropriate that such a pension would be provided by a private corporation executive. That same year, legislation was first introduced to create presidential pensions, but it was not enacted. In 1955, such legislation was considered by Congress because of former President Harry S. Truman’s financial limitations in hiring an office staff

The pension has increased numerous times with congressional approval. Retired presidents receive a pension based on the salary of the current administration's cabinet secretaries, which was $199,700 per year in 2012.[183] Former presidents who served in Congress may also collect congressional pensions.[184] The act also provides former presidents with travel funds and franking privileges.

Prior to 1997, all former presidents, their spouses, and their children until age 16 were protected by the Secret Service until the president's death.[185][186] In 1997, Congress passed legislation limiting Secret Service protection to no more than 10 years from the date a president leaves office.[187] On January 10, 2013, President Obama signed legislation reinstating lifetime Secret Service protection for him, George W. Bush, and all subsequent presidents.[188] A first spouse who remarries is no longer eligible for Secret Service protection.[187]

Presidential libraries

Main article: Presidential library system
 
Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush, and Jimmy Carter at the dedication of the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum in Dallas, 2013

Every president since Herbert Hoover has created a repository known as a presidential library for preserving and making available his papers, records, and other documents and materials. Completed libraries are deeded to and maintained by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); the initial funding for building and equipping each library must come from private, non-federal sources.[189] There are currently thirteen presidential libraries in the NARA system. There are also presidential libraries maintained by state governments and private foundations and Universities of Higher Education, such as:

Several former presidents have overseen the building and opening of their own presidential libraries. Some have even made arrangements for their own burial at the site. Several presidential libraries contain the graves of the president they document:

These gravesites are open to the general public.

Political affiliation

Political parties have dominated American politics for most of the nation's history. Though the Founding Fathers generally spurned political parties as divisive and disruptive, and their rise had not been anticipated when the U.S. Constitution was drafted in 1787, organized political parties developed in the U.S. in the mid-1790s nonetheless. They evolved from political factions, which began to appear almost immediately after the Federal government came into existence. Those who supported the Washington administration were referred to as "pro-administration" and would eventually form the Federalist Party, while those in opposition joined the emerging Democratic-Republican Party.[190]

Greatly concerned about the very real capacity of political parties to destroy the fragile unity holding the nation together, Washington remained unaffiliated with any political faction or party throughout his eight-year presidency. He was, and remains, the only U.S. president never to be affiliated with a political party.[191][192] Since Washington, every U.S. president has been affiliated with a political party at the time of assuming office.[193][194]

The number of presidents per political party at the time they were sworn into office (arranged in alphabetical order by last name) are:

Party # Name(s)
Republican 19 Chester A. Arthur, George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, Calvin Coolidge, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Gerald Ford, James A. Garfield, Ulysses S. Grant, Warren G. Harding, Benjamin Harrison, Rutherford B. Hayes, Herbert Hoover, Abraham Lincoln,[F] William McKinley, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and Donald Trump
Democratic 15 Joe Biden (incumbent), James Buchanan, Jimmy Carter, Grover Cleveland, Bill Clinton, Andrew Jackson, Lyndon B. Johnson, John F. Kennedy, Barack Obama, Franklin Pierce, James K. Polk, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Martin Van Buren, and Woodrow Wilson
Democratic-Republican 4 John Quincy Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe
Whig 4 Millard Fillmore, William Henry Harrison, Zachary Taylor, and John Tyler[G]
Federalist 1 John Adams
National Union 1 Andrew Johnson[H]
None 1 George Washington

Timeline of presidents

See also: List of presidents of the United States

The following timeline depicts the progression of the presidents and their political affiliation at the time of assuming office.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ The informal term POTUS originated in the Phillips Code, a shorthand method created in 1879 by Walter P. Phillips for the rapid transmission of press reports by telegraph.[10]
  2. ^ The nine vice presidents who succeeded to the presidency upon their predecessor's death or resignation and served for the remainder of his term are: John Tyler (1841); Millard Fillmore (1850); Andrew Johnson (1865); Chester A. Arthur (1881); Theodore Roosevelt (1901); Calvin Coolidge (1923); Harry S. Truman (1945); Lyndon B. Johnson (1963); and Gerald Ford (1974).
  3. ^ Grover Cleveland served two non-consecutive terms, so he is counted twice, as both the 22nd and 24th president.[17]
  4. ^ Nearly all scholars rank Lincoln among the nation's top three presidents, with many placing him first. See Historical rankings of presidents of the United States for a collection of survey results.
  5. ^ See List of United States presidential elections by popular vote margin.
  6. ^ Republican Abraham Lincoln was elected for a second term as part of the National Union Party ticket with Democrat Andrew Johnson in 1864.
  7. ^ Former Democrat John Tyler was elected vice president on the Whig Party ticket with Harrison in 1840. Tyler's policy priorities as president soon proved to be opposed to most of the Whig agenda, and he was expelled from the party in September 1841.
  8. ^ Democrat Andrew Johnson was elected vice president on the National Union Party ticket with Republican Abraham Lincoln in 1864. Later, while president, Johnson tried and failed to build a party of loyalists under the National Union banner. Near the end of his presidency, Johnson rejoined the Democratic Party.

References

  1. ^ "How to Address the President; He Is Not Your Excellency or Your Honor, But Mr. President". The New York Times. The Washington Star. August 2, 1891.
  2. ^ . Usgs.gov. July 18, 2007. Archived from the original on September 26, 2012. Retrieved November 15, 2012.
  3. ^ . Ita.doc.gov. Archived from the original on July 20, 2010. Retrieved September 4, 2010.
  4. ^ , Protocol and Liaison Service, United Nations. Retrieved November 1, 2012.
  5. ^ The White House Office of the Press Secretary (September 1, 2010). "Remarks by President Obama, President Mubarak, His Majesty King Abdullah, Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Abbas Before Working Dinner". whitehouse.gov. Retrieved July 19, 2011 – via National Archives.
  6. ^ a b "The conventions of nine states having adopted the Constitution, Congress, in September or October, 1788, passed a resolution in conformity with the opinions expressed by the Convention and appointed the first Wednesday in March of the ensuing year as the day, and the then seat of Congress as the place, 'for commencing proceedings under the Constitution.'

    "Both governments could not be understood to exist at the same time. The new government did not commence until the old government expired. It is apparent that the government did not commence on the Constitution's being ratified by the ninth state, for these ratifications were to be reported to Congress, whose continuing existence was recognized by the Convention, and who were requested to continue to exercise their powers for the purpose of bringing the new government into operation. In fact, Congress did continue to act as a government until it dissolved on the first of November by the successive disappearance of its members. It existed potentially until March 2, the day preceding that on which the members of the new Congress were directed to assemble." Owings v. Speed, 18 U.S. (5 Wheat) 420, 422 (1820)
  7. ^ Maier, Pauline (2010). Ratification: The People Debate the Constitution, 1787–1788. New York, New York: Simon & Schuster. p. 433. ISBN 978-0-684-86854-7.
  8. ^ . Philadelphia: National Constitution Center. March 4, 2013. Archived from the original on February 24, 2018. Retrieved July 29, 2018.
  9. ^ "Presidential Election of 1789". Digital Encyclopedia. Mount Vernon, Virginia: Mount Vernon Ladies' Association, George Washington's Mount Vernon. Retrieved July 29, 2018.
  10. ^ Safire, William (2008). Safire's Political Dictionary. Oxford University Press. p. 564. ISBN 978-0-19-534061-7.
  11. ^ Ford, Henry Jones (1908). "The Influence of State Politics in Expanding Federal Power". Proceedings of the American Political Science Association. 5: 53–63. doi:10.2307/3038511. JSTOR 3038511.
  12. ^ Von Drehle, David (February 2, 2017). "Is Steve Bannon the Second Most Powerful Man in the World?". Time.
  13. ^ "Who should be the world's most powerful person?". The Guardian. London. January 3, 2008.
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  15. ^ Zakaria, Fareed (December 20, 2008). "The Newsweek 50: Barack Obama". Newsweek. Retrieved September 4, 2010.
  16. ^ Pfiffner, J. P. (1988). "The President's Legislative Agenda". Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. 499: 22–35. doi:10.1177/0002716288499001002. S2CID 143985489.
  17. ^ "Grover Cleveland—24". White House..
  18. ^ a b c d e f g Milkis, Sidney M.; Nelson, Michael (2008). The American Presidency: Origins and Development (5th ed.). Washington, D.C.: CQ Press. pp. 1–25. ISBN 978-0-87289-336-8.
  19. ^ a b c Kelly, Alfred H.; Harbison, Winfred A.; Belz, Herman (1991). The American Constitution: Its Origins and Development. Vol. I (7th ed.). New York: W.W. Norton & Co. pp. 76–81. ISBN 978-0-393-96056-3.
  20. ^ "Articles of Confederation, 1777–1781". Washington, D.C.: Office of the Historian, Bureau of Public Affairs, United States Department of State. Retrieved January 20, 2019.[dead link]
  21. ^ Ellis, Richard J. (1999). Founding the American Presidency. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 1. ISBN 0-8476-9499-2.
  22. ^ Beeman, Richard (2009). Plain, Honest Men: The Making of the American Constitution. New York: Random House. ISBN 978-0-8129-7684-7.
  23. ^ Steven, Knott (October 4, 2016). "George Washington: Life in Brief". Miller Center. from the original on February 5, 2018. Retrieved September 14, 2020.
  24. ^ Stockwell, Mary. "Presidential Precedents". Mount Vernon, Washington Library, Center for Digital History. Retrieved September 14, 2020.
  25. ^ Spalding, Matthew (February 5, 2007). "The Man Who Would Not Be King". The Heritage Foundation. Retrieved September 14, 2020.
  26. ^ Feeling, John (February 15, 2016). "How the Rivalry Between Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton Changed History". Time. Retrieved September 14, 2020.
  27. ^ NCC staff (November 4, 2019). "On This Day: The first bitter, contested presidential election takes place". National Constitution Center. Retrieved September 14, 2020.
  28. ^ Walsh, Kenneth (August 20, 2008). "The Most Consequential Elections in History: Andrew Jackson and the Election of 1828". U.S. News & World Report. Retrieved September 14, 2020.
  29. ^ Bomboy, Scott (December 5, 2017). "Martin Van Buren's legacy: Expert politician, mediocre president". National Constitution Center. Retrieved September 14, 2020.
  30. ^ Freehling, William (October 4, 2016). "John Tyler: Impact and Legacy". University of Virginia, Miller Center. Retrieved September 14, 2020.
  31. ^ McNamara, Robert (July 3, 2019). "Seven Presidents Served in the 20 Years Before the Civil War". ThoughtCo. Retrieved September 14, 2020.
  32. ^ Heidler, David; Heidler, Jeanne. "The Great Triumvirate". Essential Civil War Curriculum. Retrieved September 14, 2020.
  33. ^ Winters, Michael Sean (August 4, 2017). "'Do not trust in princes': the limits of politics". National Catholic Reporter. Retrieved September 14, 2020.
  34. ^ Williams, Frank (April 1, 2011). "Lincoln's War Powers: Part Constitution, Part Trust". American Bar Association. Retrieved September 14, 2020.
  35. ^ Weber, Jennifer (March 25, 2013). "Was Lincoln a Tyrant?". New York Times Opinionator. Retrieved September 14, 2020.
  36. ^ Varon, Elizabeth (October 4, 2016). "Andrew Johnson: Campaigns and Elections". University of Virginia, Miller Center. Retrieved September 14, 2020.
  37. ^ NCC Staff (May 16, 2020). "The man whose impeachment vote saved Andrew Johnson". National Constitution Center. Retrieved September 14, 2020.
  38. ^ Boissoneault, Lorraine (April 17, 2017). "The Debate Over Executive Orders Began With Teddy Roosevelt's Mad Passion for Conservation". Smithsonian Magazine (website). Retrieved September 14, 2020.
  39. ^ Posner, Eric (April 22, 2011). "The inevitability of the imperial presidency". The Washington Post. Retrieved September 12, 2020.
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Further reading

  • Ayton, Mel Plotting to Kill the President: Assassination Attempts from Washington to Hoover (Potomac Books, 2017), United States
  • Balogh, Brian and Bruce J. Schulman, eds. Recapturing the Oval Office: New Historical Approaches to the American Presidency (Cornell University Press, 2015), 311 pp.
  • Kernell, Samuel; Jacobson, Gary C. (1987). "Congress and the Presidency as News in the Nineteenth Century" (PDF). Journal of Politics. 49 (4): 1016–1035. doi:10.2307/2130782. JSTOR 2130782. S2CID 154834781.
  • Lang, J. Stephen. The Complete Book of Presidential Trivia. Pelican Publishing. 2001. ISBN 1-56554-877-9
  • Graff, Henry F., ed. The Presidents: A Reference History (3rd ed. 2002) online, short scholarly biographies from George Washington to William Clinton.
  • Greenberg, David. Republic of Spin: An Inside History of the American Presidency (W. W. Norton & Company, 2015). xx, 540 pp. bibliography
  • Han, Lori Cox. The Presidency (ABC-CLIO, 2021). wide-ranging reference book.
  • Han, Lori Cox, ed. Hatred of America's Presidents: Personal Attacks on the White House from Washington to Trump (ABC-CLIO, 2018).
  • Hopper, Jennifer Rose. "Reexamining the Nineteenth-Century Presidency and Partisan Press: The Case of President Grant and the Whiskey Ring Scandal." Social Science History 42.1 (2018): 109–133.
  • Leo, Leonard—Taranto, James—Bennett, William J. Presidential Leadership: Rating the Best and the Worst in the White House. Simon and Schuster. 2004. ISBN 0-7432-5433-3
  • Marshall, Jon. Clash: Presidents and the Press in Times of Crisis (U of Nebraska Press, 2022).
  • Shade, William G. and Ballard Campbell, eds. American Presidential Campaigns and Elections (2003)
  • Sigelman, Lee; Bullock, David (1991). "Candidates, issues, horse races, and hoopla: Presidential campaign coverage, 1888–1988" (PDF). American Politics Quarterly. 19 (1): 5–32. doi:10.1177/1532673x9101900101. S2CID 154283367.
  • Tebbel, John William, and Sarah Miles Watts. The Press and the Presidency: From George Washington to Ronald Reagan (Oxford University Press, 1985). online review
  • Waterman, Richard W., and Robert Wright. The image-is-everything presidency: Dilemmas in American leadership (Routledge, 2018).
  • Presidential Studies Quarterly, published by Wiley, is a quarterly academic journal on the presidency.

Historiography and memory

  • Greenstein, Fred I. et al. Evolution of the Modern President: A Bibliographical Survey (1977) annotated bibliography of 2500 scholarly articles and books covering each president. online

Primary sources

  • Waldman, Michael—Stephanopoulos, George. My Fellow Americans: The Most Important Speeches of America's Presidents, from George Washington to George W. Bush. Sourcebooks Trade. 2003. ISBN 1-4022-0027-7.

External links

January 05, 2023
president, united, states, potus, redirects, here, political, talk, radio, channel, sirius, other, uses, disambiguation, president, united, states, potus, head, state, head, government, united, states, america, president, directs, executive, branch, federal, g. POTUS redirects here For the political talk radio channel see P O T U S Sirius XM For other uses see President of the United States disambiguation The president of the United States POTUS A is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander in chief of the United States Armed Forces President of theUnited States of AmericaPresidential sealPresidential flagIncumbentJoe Bidensince January 20 2021Executive branch of the U S government Executive Office of the PresidentStyleMr President 1 2 informal The Honorable 3 formal His Excellency 4 5 diplomatic TypeHead of state Head of governmentAbbreviationPOTUSMember ofCabinet Domestic Policy Council National Economic Council National Security CouncilResidenceWhite HouseSeatWashington D C AppointerElectoral College or via succession from vice presidencyTerm lengthFour years renewable onceConstituting instrumentConstitution of the United StatesFormationMarch 4 1789 233 years ago 1789 03 04 6 7 8 First holderGeorge Washington 9 Salary400 000 United States dollars per yearWebsitewww wbr whitehouse wbr govThe power of the presidency has grown substantially 11 since the first president George Washington took office in 1789 6 While presidential power has ebbed and flowed over time the presidency has played an increasingly strong role in American political life since the beginning of the 20th century with a notable expansion during the presidency of Franklin D Roosevelt In contemporary times the president is also looked upon as one of the world s most powerful political figures as the leader of the only remaining global superpower 12 13 14 15 As the leader of the nation with the largest economy by nominal GDP the president possesses significant domestic and international hard and soft power Article II of the Constitution establishes the executive branch of the federal government and vests the executive power in the president The power includes the execution and enforcement of federal law and the responsibility to appoint federal executive diplomatic regulatory and judicial officers Based on constitutional provisions empowering the president to appoint and receive ambassadors and conclude treaties with foreign powers and on subsequent laws enacted by Congress the modern presidency has primary responsibility for conducting U S foreign policy The role includes responsibility for directing the world s most expensive military which has the second largest nuclear arsenal The president also plays a leading role in federal legislation and domestic policymaking As part of the system of checks and balances Article I Section 7 of the Constitution gives the president the power to sign or veto federal legislation Since modern presidents are also typically viewed as the leaders of their political parties major policymaking is significantly shaped by the outcome of presidential elections with presidents taking an active role in promoting their policy priorities to members of Congress who are often electorally dependent on the president 16 In recent decades presidents have also made increasing use of executive orders agency regulations and judicial appointments to shape domestic policy The president is elected indirectly through the Electoral College to a four year term along with the vice president Under the Twenty second Amendment ratified in 1951 no person who has been elected to two presidential terms may be elected to a third In addition nine vice presidents have become president by virtue of a president s intra term death or resignation B In all 45 individuals have served 46 presidencies spanning 58 full four year terms C Joe Biden is the 46th and current president of the United States having assumed office on January 20 2021 Contents 1 History and development 1 1 Origins 1 2 1789 1933 1 3 Imperial Presidency 1 4 Critics of presidency s evolution 2 Legislative powers 2 1 Signing and vetoing bills 2 2 Setting the agenda 2 3 Promulgating regulations 2 4 Convening and adjourning Congress 3 Executive powers 3 1 Administrative powers 3 2 Foreign affairs 3 3 Commander in chief 3 4 Juridical powers and privileges 4 Leadership roles 4 1 Head of state 4 2 Head of party 4 3 Global leader 5 Selection process 5 1 Eligibility 5 2 Campaigns and nomination 5 3 Election 5 4 Inauguration 6 Incumbency 6 1 Term limit 6 2 Vacancies and succession 6 3 Declarations of inability 6 4 Removal 6 5 Circumvention of authority 6 6 Compensation 6 7 Residence 6 8 Travel 6 9 Protection 7 Post presidency 7 1 Activities 7 2 Pension and other benefits 7 3 Presidential libraries 8 Political affiliation 9 Timeline of presidents 10 See also 11 Notes 12 References 13 Further reading 13 1 Historiography and memory 13 2 Primary sources 14 External linksHistory and developmentOrigins In July 1776 during the American Revolutionary War the Thirteen Colonies acting jointly through the Second Continental Congress declared themselves to be 13 independent sovereign states no longer under British rule 18 Recognizing the necessity of closely coordinating their efforts against the British 19 the Continental Congress simultaneously began the process of drafting a constitution that would bind the states together There were long debates on a number of issues including representation and voting and the exact powers to be given the central government 20 Congress finished work on the Articles of Confederation to establish a perpetual union between the states in November 1777 and sent it to the states for ratification 18 Under the Articles which took effect on March 1 1781 the Congress of the Confederation was a central political authority without any legislative power It could make its own resolutions determinations and regulations but not any laws and could not impose any taxes or enforce local commercial regulations upon its citizens 19 This institutional design reflected how Americans believed the deposed British system of Crown and Parliament ought to have functioned with respect to the royal dominion a superintending body for matters that concerned the entire empire 19 The states were out from under any monarchy and assigned some formerly royal prerogatives e g making war receiving ambassadors etc to Congress the remaining prerogatives were lodged within their own respective state governments The members of Congress elected a president of the United States in Congress Assembled to preside over its deliberation as a neutral discussion moderator Unrelated to and quite dissimilar from the later office of president of the United States it was a largely ceremonial position without much influence 21 In 1783 the Treaty of Paris secured independence for each of the former colonies With peace at hand the states each turned toward their own internal affairs 18 By 1786 Americans found their continental borders besieged and weak and their respective economies in crises as neighboring states agitated trade rivalries with one another They witnessed their hard currency pouring into foreign markets to pay for imports their Mediterranean commerce preyed upon by North African pirates and their foreign financed Revolutionary War debts unpaid and accruing interest 18 Civil and political unrest loomed Events such as the Newburgh Conspiracy and Shays Rebellion demonstrated that the Articles of Confederation were not working Following the successful resolution of commercial and fishing disputes between Virginia and Maryland at the Mount Vernon Conference in 1785 Virginia called for a trade conference between all the states set for September 1786 in Annapolis Maryland with an aim toward resolving further reaching interstate commercial antagonisms When the convention failed for lack of attendance due to suspicions among most of the other states Alexander Hamilton led the Annapolis delegates in a call for a convention to offer revisions to the Articles to be held the next spring in Philadelphia Prospects for the next convention appeared bleak until James Madison and Edmund Randolph succeeded in securing George Washington s attendance to Philadelphia as a delegate for Virginia 18 22 When the Constitutional Convention convened in May 1787 the 12 state delegations in attendance Rhode Island did not send delegates brought with them an accumulated experience over a diverse set of institutional arrangements between legislative and executive branches from within their respective state governments Most states maintained a weak executive without veto or appointment powers elected annually by the legislature to a single term only sharing power with an executive council and countered by a strong legislature 18 New York offered the greatest exception having a strong unitary governor with veto and appointment power elected to a three year term and eligible for reelection to an indefinite number of terms thereafter 18 It was through the closed door negotiations at Philadelphia that the presidency framed in the U S Constitution emerged 1789 1933 George Washington the first president of the United States As the nation s first president George Washington established many norms that would come to define the office 23 24 His decision to retire after two terms helped address fears that the nation would devolve into monarchy 25 and established a precedent that would not be broken until 1940 and would eventually be made permanent by the Twenty Second Amendment By the end of his presidency political parties had developed 26 with John Adams defeating Thomas Jefferson in 1796 the first truly contested presidential election 27 After Jefferson defeated Adams in 1800 he and his fellow Virginians James Madison and James Monroe would each serve two terms eventually dominating the nation s politics during the Era of Good Feelings until Adams son John Quincy Adams won election in 1824 after the Democratic Republican Party split The election of Andrew Jackson in 1828 was a significant milestone as Jackson was not part of the Virginia and Massachusetts elite that had held the presidency for its first 40 years 28 Jacksonian democracy sought to strengthen the presidency at the expense of Congress while broadening public participation as the nation rapidly expanded westward However his successor Martin Van Buren became unpopular after the Panic of 1837 29 and the death of William Henry Harrison and subsequent poor relations between John Tyler and Congress led to further weakening of the office 30 Including Van Buren in the 24 years between 1837 and 1861 six presidential terms would be filled by eight different men with none serving two terms 31 The Senate played an important role during this period with the Great Triumvirate of Henry Clay Daniel Webster and John C Calhoun playing key roles in shaping national policy in the 1830s and 1840s until debates over slavery began pulling the nation apart in the 1850s 32 33 Abraham Lincoln s leadership during the Civil War has led historians to regard him as one of the nation s greatest presidents D The circumstances of the war and Republican domination of Congress made the office very powerful 34 35 and Lincoln s re election in 1864 was the first time a president had been re elected since Jackson in 1832 After Lincoln s assassination his successor Andrew Johnson lost all political support 36 and was nearly removed from office 37 with Congress remaining powerful during the two term presidency of Civil War general Ulysses S Grant After the end of Reconstruction Grover Cleveland would eventually become the first Democratic president elected since before the war running in three consecutive elections 1884 1888 1892 and winning twice In 1900 William McKinley became the first incumbent to win re election since Grant in 1872 After McKinley s assassination Theodore Roosevelt became a dominant figure in American politics 38 Historians believe Roosevelt permanently changed the political system by strengthening the presidency 39 with some key accomplishments including breaking up trusts conservationism labor reforms making personal character as important as the issues and hand picking his successor William Howard Taft The following decade Woodrow Wilson led the nation to victory during World War I although Wilson s proposal for the League of Nations was rejected by the Senate 40 Warren Harding while popular in office would see his legacy tarnished by scandals especially Teapot Dome 41 and Herbert Hoover quickly became very unpopular after failing to alleviate the Great Depression 42 Imperial Presidency Main article Imperial Presidency President Franklin D Roosevelt delivers a radio address 1933 The ascendancy of Franklin D Roosevelt in 1933 led further toward what historians now describe as the Imperial Presidency 43 Backed by enormous Democratic majorities in Congress and public support for major change Roosevelt s New Deal dramatically increased the size and scope of the federal government including more executive agencies 44 211 12 The traditionally small presidential staff was greatly expanded with the Executive Office of the President being created in 1939 none of whom require Senate confirmation 44 229 231 Roosevelt s unprecedented re election to a third and fourth term the victory of the United States in World War II and the nation s growing economy all helped established the office as a position of global leadership 44 269 His successors Harry Truman and Dwight D Eisenhower each served two terms as the Cold War led the presidency to be viewed as the leader of the free world 45 while John F Kennedy was a youthful and popular leader who benefitted from the rise of television in the 1960s 46 47 After Lyndon B Johnson lost popular support due to the Vietnam War and Richard Nixon s presidency collapsed in the Watergate scandal Congress enacted a series of reforms intended to reassert itself 48 49 These included the War Powers Resolution enacted over Nixon s veto in 1973 50 51 and the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 that sought to strengthen congressional fiscal powers 52 By 1976 Gerald Ford conceded that the historic pendulum had swung toward Congress raising the possibility of a disruptive erosion of his ability to govern 53 Ford failed to win election to a full term and his successor Jimmy Carter failed to win re election Ronald Reagan who had been an actor before beginning his political career used his talent as a communicator to help re shape the American agenda away from New Deal policies toward more conservative ideology 54 55 With the Cold War ending and the United States becoming the world s undisputed leading power 56 Bill Clinton George W Bush and Barack Obama each served two terms as president Meanwhile Congress and the nation gradually became more politically polarized especially following the 1994 mid term elections that saw Republicans control the House for the first time in 40 years and the rise of routine filibusters in the Senate in recent decades 57 Recent presidents have thus increasingly focused on executive orders agency regulations and judicial appointments to implement major policies at the expense of legislation and congressional power 58 Presidential elections in the 21st century have reflected this continuing polarization with no candidate except Obama in 2008 winning by more than five percent of the popular vote and two George W Bush and Donald Trump winning in the Electoral College while losing the popular vote E Both Clinton and Trump were impeached by a House controlled by the opposition party but the impeachments did not appear to have long term effects on their political standing 59 60 Critics of presidency s evolution The nation s Founding Fathers expected the Congress which was the first branch of government described in the Constitution to be the dominant branch of government they did not expect a strong executive department 61 However presidential power has shifted over time which has resulted in claims that the modern presidency has become too powerful 62 63 unchecked unbalanced 64 and monarchist in nature 65 In 2008 Professor Dana D Nelson expressed belief that presidents over the previous thirty years worked towards undivided presidential control of the executive branch and its agencies 66 She criticized proponents of the Unitary executive theory for expanding the many existing uncheckable executive powers such as executive orders decrees memorandums proclamations national security directives and legislative signing statements that already allow presidents to enact a good deal of foreign and domestic policy without aid interference or consent from Congress 66 Bill Wilson board member of Americans for Limited Government opined that the expanded presidency was the greatest threat ever to individual freedom and democratic rule 67 Legislative powersArticle I Section 1 of the Constitution vests all lawmaking power in Congress s hands and Article 1 Section 6 Clause 2 prevents the president and all other executive branch officers from simultaneously being a member of Congress Nevertheless the modern presidency exerts significant power over legislation both due to constitutional provisions and historical developments over time Signing and vetoing bills President Lyndon B Johnson signs the 1964 Civil Rights Act as Martin Luther King Jr and others look on The president s most significant legislative power derives from the Presentment Clause which gives the president the power to veto any bill passed by Congress While Congress can override a presidential veto it requires a two thirds vote of both houses which is usually very difficult to achieve except for widely supported bipartisan legislation The framers of the Constitution feared that Congress would seek to increase its power and enable a tyranny of the majority so giving the indirectly elected president a veto was viewed as an important check on the legislative power While George Washington believed the veto should only be used in cases where a bill was unconstitutional it is now routinely used in cases where presidents have policy disagreements with a bill The veto or threat of a veto has thus evolved to make the modern presidency a central part of the American legislative process Specifically under the Presentment Clause once a bill has been presented by Congress the president has three options Sign the legislation within ten days excluding Sundays the bill becomes law Veto the legislation within the above timeframe and return it to the house of Congress from which it originated expressing any objections the bill does not become law unless both houses of Congress vote to override the veto by a two thirds vote Take no action on the legislation within the above timeframe the bill becomes law as if the president had signed it unless Congress is adjourned at the time in which case it does not become law a pocket veto In 1996 Congress attempted to enhance the president s veto power with the Line Item Veto Act The legislation empowered the president to sign any spending bill into law while simultaneously striking certain spending items within the bill particularly any new spending any amount of discretionary spending or any new limited tax benefit Congress could then repass that particular item If the president then vetoed the new legislation Congress could override the veto by its ordinary means a two thirds vote in both houses In Clinton v City of New York 524 U S 417 1998 the U S Supreme Court ruled such a legislative alteration of the veto power to be unconstitutional Setting the agenda President Barack Obama delivers his 2015 State of the Union Address with Vice President Joe Biden and Speaker of the House John Boehner For most of American history candidates for president have sought election on the basis of a promised legislative agenda Formally Article II Section 3 Clause 2 requires the president to recommend such measures to Congress which the president deems necessary and expedient This is done through the constitutionally based State of the Union address which usually outlines the president s legislative proposals for the coming year and through other formal and informal communications with Congress The president can be involved in crafting legislation by suggesting requesting or even insisting that Congress enact laws he believes are needed Additionally he can attempt to shape legislation during the legislative process by exerting influence on individual members of Congress 68 Presidents possess this power because the Constitution is silent about who can write legislation but the power is limited because only members of Congress can introduce legislation 69 The president or other officials of the executive branch may draft legislation and then ask senators or representatives to introduce these drafts into Congress Additionally the president may attempt to have Congress alter proposed legislation by threatening to veto that legislation unless requested changes are made 70 Promulgating regulations Many laws enacted by Congress do not address every possible detail and either explicitly or implicitly delegate powers of implementation to an appropriate federal agency As the head of the executive branch presidents control a vast array of agencies that can issue regulations with little oversight from Congress In the 20th century critics charged that too many legislative and budgetary powers that should have belonged to Congress had slid into the hands of presidents One critic charged that presidents could appoint a virtual army of czars each wholly unaccountable to Congress yet tasked with spearheading major policy efforts for the White House 71 Presidents have been criticized for making signing statements when signing congressional legislation about how they understand a bill or plan to execute it 72 This practice has been criticized by the American Bar Association as unconstitutional 73 Conservative commentator George Will wrote of an increasingly swollen executive branch and the eclipse of Congress 74 Convening and adjourning Congress To allow the government to act quickly in case of a major domestic or international crisis arising when Congress is not in session the president is empowered by Article II Section 3 of the Constitution to call a special session of one or both houses of Congress Since John Adams first did so in 1797 the president has called the full Congress to convene for a special session on 27 occasions Harry S Truman was the most recent to do so in July 1948 the so called Turnip Day Session In addition prior to ratification of the Twentieth Amendment in 1933 which brought forward the date on which Congress convenes from December to January newly inaugurated presidents would routinely call the Senate to meet to confirm nominations or ratify treaties In practice the power has fallen into disuse in the modern era as Congress now formally remains in session year round convening pro forma sessions every three days even when ostensibly in recess Correspondingly the president is authorized to adjourn Congress if the House and Senate cannot agree on the time of adjournment no president has ever had to exercise this power 75 76 Executive powersMain article Powers of the president of the United States Suffice it to say that the President is made the sole repository of the executive powers of the United States and the powers entrusted to him as well as the duties imposed upon him are awesome indeed Nixon v General Services Administration 433 U S 425 1977 Rehnquist J dissenting The president is head of the executive branch of the federal government and is constitutionally obligated to take care that the laws be faithfully executed 77 The executive branch has over four million employees including the military 78 Administrative powers Presidents make numerous federal appointments An incoming president may make up to 6 000 upon taking office and 8 000 more while serving Ambassadors members of the Cabinet and other officers are all appointed by a president with the advice and consent of a majority of the Senate When the Senate is in recess for at least ten days the president may make recess appointments 79 Recess appointments are temporary and expire at the end of the next session of the Senate The power of a president to fire executive officials has long been a contentious political issue Generally a president may remove executive officials purely at will 80 However Congress can curtail and constrain a president s authority to fire commissioners of independent regulatory agencies and certain inferior executive officers by statute 81 To manage the growing federal bureaucracy presidents have gradually surrounded themselves with many layers of staff who were eventually organized into the Executive Office of the President of the United States Within the Executive Office the president s innermost layer of aides and their assistants are located in the White House Office The president also possesses the power to manage operations of the federal government by issuing various types of directives such as presidential proclamation and executive orders When the president is lawfully exercising one of the constitutionally conferred presidential responsibilities the scope of this power is broad 82 Even so these directives are subject to judicial review by U S federal courts which can find them to be unconstitutional Moreover Congress can overturn an executive order via legislation e g Congressional Review Act Foreign affairs President George H W Bush and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev sign the 1990 Chemical Weapons Accord in the White House Article II Section 3 Clause 4 requires the president to receive Ambassadors This clause known as the Reception Clause has been interpreted to imply that the president possesses broad power over matters of foreign policy 83 and to provide support for the president s exclusive authority to grant recognition to a foreign government 84 The Constitution also empowers the president to appoint United States ambassadors and to propose and chiefly negotiate agreements between the United States and other countries Such agreements upon receiving the advice and consent of the U S Senate by a two thirds majority vote become binding with the force of federal law While foreign affairs has always been a significant element of presidential responsibilities advances in technology since the Constitution s adoption have increased presidential power Where formerly ambassadors were vested with significant power to independently negotiate on behalf of the United States presidents now routinely meet directly with leaders of foreign countries Commander in chief Abraham Lincoln the 16th president of the United States successfully preserved the Union during the American Civil War One of the most important of executive powers is the president s role as commander in chief of the United States Armed Forces The power to declare war is constitutionally vested in Congress but the president has ultimate responsibility for the direction and disposition of the military The exact degree of authority that the Constitution grants to the president as commander in chief has been the subject of much debate throughout history with Congress at various times granting the president wide authority and at others attempting to restrict that authority 85 The framers of the Constitution took care to limit the president s powers regarding the military Alexander Hamilton explained this in Federalist No 69 The President is to be commander in chief of the army and navy of the United States It would amount to nothing more than the supreme command and direction of the military and naval forces while that the power of the British king extends to the DECLARING of war and to the RAISING and REGULATING of fleets and armies all of which would appertain to the legislature 86 Emphasis in the original In the modern era pursuant to the War Powers Resolution Congress must authorize any troop deployments longer than 60 days although that process relies on triggering mechanisms that have never been employed rendering it ineffectual 87 Additionally Congress provides a check to presidential military power through its control over military spending and regulation Presidents have historically initiated the process for going to war 88 89 but critics have charged that there have been several conflicts in which presidents did not get official declarations including Theodore Roosevelt s military move into Panama in 1903 88 the Korean War 88 the Vietnam War 88 and the invasions of Grenada in 1983 90 and Panama in 1989 91 The amount of military detail handled personally by the president in wartime has varied greatly 92 George Washington the first U S president firmly established military subordination under civilian authority In 1794 Washington used his constitutional powers to assemble 12 000 militia to quell the Whiskey Rebellion a conflict in western Pennsylvania involving armed farmers and distillers who refused to pay an excise tax on spirits According to historian Joseph Ellis this was the first and only time a sitting American president led troops in the field though James Madison briefly took control of artillery units in defense of Washington D C during the War of 1812 93 Abraham Lincoln was deeply involved in overall strategy and in day to day operations during the American Civil War 1861 1865 historians have given Lincoln high praise for his strategic sense and his ability to select and encourage commanders such as Ulysses S Grant 94 The present day operational command of the Armed Forces is delegated to the Department of Defense and is normally exercised through the secretary of defense The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Combatant Commands assist with the operation as outlined in the presidentially approved Unified Command Plan UCP 95 96 97 Juridical powers and privileges Further information List of people pardoned or granted clemency by the president of the United States President Joe Biden with his Supreme Court appointee Justice Brown Jackson Vice President Harris in background 2022 The president has the power to nominate federal judges including members of the United States courts of appeals and the Supreme Court of the United States However these nominations require Senate confirmation before they may take office Securing Senate approval can provide a major obstacle for presidents who wish to orient the federal judiciary toward a particular ideological stance When nominating judges to U S district courts presidents often respect the long standing tradition of senatorial courtesy Presidents may also grant pardons and reprieves Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon a month after taking office Presidents often grant pardons shortly before leaving office like when Bill Clinton pardoned Patty Hearst on his last day in office this is often controversial 98 99 100 Two doctrines concerning executive power have developed that enable the president to exercise executive power with a degree of autonomy The first is executive privilege which allows the president to withhold from disclosure any communications made directly to the president in the performance of executive duties George Washington first claimed the privilege when Congress requested to see Chief Justice John Jay s notes from an unpopular treaty negotiation with Great Britain While not enshrined in the Constitution or any other law Washington s action created the precedent for the privilege When Nixon tried to use executive privilege as a reason for not turning over subpoenaed evidence to Congress during the Watergate scandal the Supreme Court ruled in United States v Nixon 418 U S 683 1974 that executive privilege did not apply in cases where a president was attempting to avoid criminal prosecution When Bill Clinton attempted to use executive privilege regarding the Lewinsky scandal the Supreme Court ruled in Clinton v Jones 520 U S 681 1997 that the privilege also could not be used in civil suits These cases established the legal precedent that executive privilege is valid although the exact extent of the privilege has yet to be clearly defined Additionally federal courts have allowed this privilege to radiate outward and protect other executive branch employees but have weakened that protection for those executive branch communications that do not involve the president 101 The state secrets privilege allows the president and the executive branch to withhold information or documents from discovery in legal proceedings if such release would harm national security Precedent for the privilege arose early in the 19th century when Thomas Jefferson refused to release military documents in the treason trial of Aaron Burr and again in Totten v United States 92 U S 105 1876 when the Supreme Court dismissed a case brought by a former Union spy 102 However the privilege was not formally recognized by the U S Supreme Court until United States v Reynolds 345 U S 1 1953 where it was held to be a common law evidentiary privilege 103 Before the September 11 attacks use of the privilege had been rare but increasing in frequency 104 Since 2001 the government has asserted the privilege in more cases and at earlier stages of the litigation thus in some instances causing dismissal of the suits before reaching the merits of the claims as in the Ninth Circuit s ruling in Mohamed v Jeppesen Dataplan Inc 103 105 106 Critics of the privilege claim its use has become a tool for the government to cover up illegal or embarrassing government actions 107 108 The degree to which the president personally has absolute immunity from court cases is contested and has been the subject of several Supreme Court decisions Nixon v Fitzgerald 1982 dismissed a civil lawsuit against by then former president Richard Nixon based on his official actions Clinton v Jones 1997 decided that a president has no immunity against civil suits for actions taken before becoming president and ruled that a sexual harassment suit could proceed without delay even against a sitting president The 2019 Mueller report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election detailed evidence of possible obstruction of justice but investigators declined to refer Donald Trump for prosecution based on a United States Department of Justice policy against indicting an incumbent president The report noted that impeachment by Congress was available as a remedy As of October 2019 a case was pending in the federal courts regarding access to personal tax returns in a criminal case brought against Donald Trump by the New York County District Attorney alleging violations of New York state law 109 Leadership rolesHead of state Four ruffles and flourishes and Hail to the Chief long version source source track Problems playing this file See media help As head of state the president represents the United States government to its own people and represents the nation to the rest of the world For example during a state visit by a foreign head of state the president typically hosts a State Arrival Ceremony held on the South Lawn a custom was begun by John F Kennedy in 1961 110 This is followed by a state dinner given by the president which is held in the State Dining Room later in the evening 111 President Ronald Reagan reviews honor guards during a state visit to China 1984 President Woodrow Wilson throws out the ceremonial first ball on Opening Day 1916 As a national leader the president also fulfills many less formal ceremonial duties For example William Howard Taft started the tradition of throwing out the ceremonial first pitch in 1910 at Griffith Stadium Washington D C on the Washington Senators s Opening Day Every president since Taft except for Jimmy Carter threw out at least one ceremonial first ball or pitch for Opening Day the All Star Game or the World Series usually with much fanfare 112 Every president since Theodore Roosevelt has served as honorary president of the Boy Scouts of America 113 Other presidential traditions are associated with American holidays Rutherford B Hayes began in 1878 the first White House egg rolling for local children 114 Beginning in 1947 during the Harry S Truman administration every Thanksgiving the president is presented with a live domestic turkey during the annual National Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation held at the White House Since 1989 when the custom of pardoning the turkey was formalized by George H W Bush the turkey has been taken to a farm where it will live out the rest of its natural life 115 Presidential traditions also involve the president s role as head of government Many outgoing presidents since James Buchanan traditionally give advice to their successor during the presidential transition 116 Ronald Reagan and his successors have also left a private message on the desk of the Oval Office on Inauguration Day for the incoming president 117 The modern presidency holds the president as one of the nation s premier celebrities Some argue that images of the presidency have a tendency to be manipulated by administration public relations officials as well as by presidents themselves One critic described the presidency as propagandized leadership which has a mesmerizing power surrounding the office 118 Administration public relations managers staged carefully crafted photo ops of smiling presidents with smiling crowds for television cameras 119 One critic wrote the image of John F Kennedy was described as carefully framed in rich detail which drew on the power of myth regarding the incident of PT 109 120 and wrote that Kennedy understood how to use images to further his presidential ambitions 121 As a result some political commentators have opined that American voters have unrealistic expectations of presidents voters expect a president to drive the economy vanquish enemies lead the free world comfort tornado victims heal the national soul and protect borrowers from hidden credit card fees 122 Head of party The president is typically considered to be the head of their political party Since the entire House of Representatives and at least one third of the Senate is elected simultaneously with the president candidates from a political party inevitably have their electoral success intertwined with the performance of the party s presidential candidate The coattail effect or lack thereof will also often impact a party s candidates at state and local levels of government as well However there are often tensions between a president and others in the party with presidents who lose significant support from their party s caucus in Congress generally viewed to be weaker and less effective Global leader With the rise of the United States as a superpower in the 20th century and the United States having the world s largest economy into the 21st century the president is typically viewed as a global leader and at times the world s most powerful political figure The position of the United States as the leading member of NATO and the country s strong relationships with other wealthy or democratic nations like those comprising the European Union have led to the moniker that the president is the leader of the free world Selection processEligibility Article II Section 1 Clause 5 of the Constitution sets three qualifications for holding the presidency To serve as president one must be a natural born citizen of the United States be at least 35 years old be a resident in the United States for at least 14 years 123 A person who meets the above qualifications would however still be disqualified from holding the office of president under any of the following conditions Under Article I Section 3 Clause 7 having been impeached convicted and disqualified from holding further public office although there is some legal debate as to whether the disqualification clause also includes the presidential office the only previous persons so punished were three federal judges 124 125 Under Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment no person who swore an oath to support the Constitution and later rebelled against the United States is eligible to hold any office However this disqualification can be lifted by a two thirds vote of each house of Congress 126 There is again some debate as to whether the clause as written allows disqualification from the presidential position or whether it would first require litigation outside of Congress although there is precedent for use of this amendment outside of the original intended purpose of excluding Confederates from public office after the Civil War 127 Under the Twenty second Amendment no person can be elected president more than twice The amendment also specifies that if any eligible person serves as president or acting president for more than two years of a term for which some other eligible person was elected president the former can only be elected president once 128 129 Campaigns and nomination President Jimmy Carter left debates Republican nominee Ronald Reagan on October 28 1980 Main articles United States presidential primary and United States presidential nominating convention See also United States presidential debates The modern presidential campaign begins before the primary elections which the two major political parties use to clear the field of candidates before their national nominating conventions where the most successful candidate is made the party s presidential nominee Typically the party s presidential candidate chooses a vice presidential nominee and this choice is rubber stamped by the convention The most common previous profession of presidents is lawyer 130 Nominees participate in nationally televised debates and while the debates are usually restricted to the Democratic and Republican nominees third party candidates may be invited such as Ross Perot in the 1992 debates Nominees campaign across the country to explain their views convince voters and solicit contributions Much of the modern electoral process is concerned with winning swing states through frequent visits and mass media advertising drives Election Map of the United States showing the number of electoral votes allocated following the 2010 census to each state and the District of Columbia for the 2012 2016 and 2020 presidential elections it also notes that Maine and Nebraska distribute electors by way of the congressional district method 270 electoral votes are required for a majority out of 538 votes possible Main article United States presidential election See also United States Electoral College The president is elected indirectly by the voters of each state and the District of Columbia through the Electoral College a body of electors formed every four years for the sole purpose of electing the president and vice president to concurrent four year terms As prescribed by Article II Section 1 Clause 2 each state is entitled to a number of electors equal to the size of its total delegation in both houses of Congress Additionally the Twenty third Amendment provides that the District of Columbia is entitled to the number it would have if it were a state but in no case more than that of the least populous state 131 Currently all states and the District of Columbia select their electors based on a popular election 132 In all but two states the party whose presidential vice presidential ticket receives a plurality of popular votes in the state has its entire slate of elector nominees chosen as the state s electors 133 Maine and Nebraska deviate from this winner take all practice awarding two electors to the statewide winner and one to the winner in each congressional district 134 135 On the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December about six weeks after the election the electors convene in their respective state capitals and in Washington D C to vote for president and on a separate ballot for vice president They typically vote for the candidates of the party that nominated them While there is no constitutional mandate or federal law requiring them to do so the District of Columbia and 32 states have laws requiring that their electors vote for the candidates to whom they are pledged 136 137 The constitutionality of these laws was upheld in Chiafalo v Washington 2020 138 Following the vote each state then sends a certified record of their electoral votes to Congress The votes of the electors are opened and counted during a joint session of Congress held in the first week of January If a candidate has received an absolute majority of electoral votes for president currently 270 of 538 that person is declared the winner Otherwise the House of Representatives must meet to elect a president using a contingent election procedure in which representatives voting by state delegation with each state casting a single vote choose between the top three electoral vote getters for president To win the presidency a Candidate must receive the votes of an absolute majority of states currently 26 of 50 132 There have been two contingent presidential elections in the nation s history A 73 73 electoral vote tie between Thomas Jefferson and fellow Democratic Republican Aaron Burr in the election of 1800 necessitated the first Conducted under the original procedure established by Article II Section 1 Clause 3 of the Constitution which stipulates that if two or three persons received a majority vote and an equal vote the House of Representatives would choose one of them for president the runner up would become vice president 139 On February 17 1801 Jefferson was elected president on the 36th ballot and Burr elected vice president Afterward the system was overhauled through the Twelfth Amendment in time to be used in the 1804 election 140 A quarter century later the choice for president again devolved to the House when no candidate won an absolute majority of electoral votes 131 of 261 in the election of 1824 Under the Twelfth Amendment the House was required to choose a president from among the top three electoral vote recipients Andrew Jackson John Quincy Adams and William H Crawford Held February 9 1825 this second and most recent contingent election resulted in John Quincy Adams being elected president on the first ballot 141 Inauguration Main article United States presidential inauguration Pursuant to the Twentieth Amendment the four year term of office for both the president and the vice president begins at noon on January 20 142 The first presidential and vice presidential terms to begin on this date known as Inauguration Day were the second terms of President Franklin D Roosevelt and Vice President John Nance Garner in 1937 143 Previously Inauguration Day was on March 4 As a result of the date change the first term 1933 37 of both men had been shortened by 43 days 144 Before executing the powers of the office a president is required to recite the presidential Oath of Office found in Article II Section 1 Clause 8 of the Constitution This is the only component in the inauguration ceremony mandated by the Constitution I do solemnly swear or affirm that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States and will to the best of my ability preserve protect and defend the Constitution of the United States 145 Presidents have traditionally placed one hand upon a Bible while taking the oath and have added So help me God to the end of the oath 146 147 Although the oath may be administered by any person authorized by law to administer oaths presidents are traditionally sworn in by the chief justice of the United States 145 IncumbencyTerm limit Franklin D Roosevelt won a record four presidential elections 1932 1936 1940 and 1944 leading to the adoption of a two term limit When the first president George Washington announced in his Farewell Address that he was not running for a third term he established a two terms then out precedent Precedent became tradition after Thomas Jefferson publicly embraced the principle a decade later during his second term as did his two immediate successors James Madison and James Monroe 148 In spite of the strong two term tradition Ulysses S Grant sought nomination at the 1880 Republican National Convention for a non consecutive third term but was unsuccessful 149 In 1940 after leading the nation through the Great Depression and focused on supporting U S allied nations at war with the Axis powers Franklin Roosevelt was elected to a third term breaking the long standing precedent Four years later with the U S engaged in World War II he was re elected again despite his declining physical health he died 82 days into his fourth term on April 12 1945 150 In response to the unprecedented length of Roosevelt s presidency the Twenty second Amendment was adopted in 1951 The amendment bars anyone from being elected president more than twice or once if that person served more than two years 24 months of another president s four year term Harry S Truman president when this term limit came into force was exempted from its limitations and briefly sought a second full term to which he would have otherwise been ineligible for election as he had been president for more than two years of Roosevelt s fourth term before he withdrew from the 1952 election 150 Since the amendment s adoption five presidents have served two full terms Dwight D Eisenhower Ronald Reagan Bill Clinton George W Bush and Barack Obama Jimmy Carter George H W Bush and Donald Trump each sought a second term but were defeated Richard Nixon was elected to a second term but resigned before completing it Lyndon B Johnson having held the presidency for one full term in addition to only 14 months of John F Kennedy s unexpired term was eligible for a second full term in 1968 but he withdrew from the Democratic primary Additionally Gerald Ford who served out the last two years and five months of Nixon s second term sought a full term but was defeated by Jimmy Carter in the 1976 election Vacancies and succession President William McKinley and his successor Theodore Roosevelt Under Section 1 of the Twenty fifth Amendment ratified in 1967 the vice president becomes president upon the removal from office death or resignation of the president Deaths have occurred a number of times resignation has occurred only once and removal from office has never occurred The original Constitution in Article II Section 1 Clause 6 stated only that the vice president assumes the powers and duties of the presidency in the event of a president s removal death resignation or inability 151 Under this clause there was ambiguity about whether the vice president would actually become president in the event of a vacancy or simply act as president 152 potentially resulting in a special election Upon the death of William Henry Harrison in 1841 Vice President John Tyler declared that he had succeeded to the office itself refusing to accept any papers addressed to the Acting President and Congress ultimately accepted it This established a precedent for future successions although it was not formally clarified until the Twenty fifth Amendment was ratified In the event of a double vacancy Article II Section 1 Clause 6 also authorizes Congress to declare who shall become acting president in the Case of Removal Death Resignation or Inability both of the president and vice president 152 The Presidential Succession Act of 1947 codified as 3 U S C 19 provides that if both the president and vice president have left office or are both otherwise unavailable to serve during their terms of office the presidential line of succession follows the order of speaker of the House then if necessary the president pro tempore of the Senate and then if necessary the eligible heads of federal executive departments who form the president s cabinet The cabinet currently has 15 members of which the secretary of state is first in line the other Cabinet secretaries follow in the order in which their department or the department of which their department is the successor was created Those individuals who are constitutionally ineligible to be elected to the presidency are also disqualified from assuming the powers and duties of the presidency through succession No statutory successor has yet been called upon to act as president 153 Declarations of inability Main article Twenty fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution Under the Twenty fifth Amendment the president may temporarily transfer the presidential powers and duties to the vice president who then becomes acting president by transmitting to the speaker of the House and the president pro tempore of the Senate a statement that he is unable to discharge his duties The president resumes his or her powers upon transmitting a second declaration stating that he is again able The mechanism has been used by Ronald Reagan once George W Bush twice and Joe Biden once each in anticipation of surgery 154 155 The Twenty fifth Amendment also provides that the vice president together with a majority of certain members of the Cabinet may transfer the presidential powers and duties to the vice president by transmitting a written declaration to the speaker of the House and the president pro tempore of the Senate to the effect that the president is unable to discharge his or her powers and duties If the president then declares that no such inability exist he or she resumes the presidential powers unless the vice president and Cabinet make a second declaration of presidential inability in which case Congress decides the question Removal Main articles United States presidential impeachment Federal impeachment in the United States and Federal impeachment trial in the United States Article II Section 4 of the Constitution allows for the removal of high federal officials including the president from office for treason bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors Article I Section 2 Clause 5 authorizes the House of Representatives to serve as a grand jury with the power to impeach said officials by a majority vote 156 Article I Section 3 Clause 6 authorizes the Senate to serve as a court with the power to remove impeached officials from office by a two thirds vote to convict 157 Three presidents have been impeached by the House of Representatives Andrew Johnson in 1868 Bill Clinton in 1998 and Donald Trump in 2019 and 2021 none have been convicted by the Senate Additionally the House Judiciary Committee conducted an impeachment inquiry against Richard Nixon in 1973 74 and reported three articles of impeachment to the House of Representatives for final action however he resigned from office before the House voted on them 156 Circumvention of authority Controversial measures have sometimes been taken short of removal to deal with perceived recklessness on the part of the President or with a long term disability In some cases staff have intentionally failed to deliver messages to or from the President typically to avoid executing or promoting the President to write certain orders This has ranged from Richard Nixon s Chief of Staff not transmitting orders to the Cabinet due to the President s heavy drinking to staff removing memos from Donald Trump s desk 158 Decades before the Twenty fifth Amendment in 1919 President Woodrow Wilson had a stroke that left him partly incapacitated First lady Edith Wilson kept this condition a secret from the public for a while and controversially became the sole gatekeeper for access to the President aside from his doctor assisting him with paperwork and deciding which information was important enough to share with him Compensation Presidential pay historyYearestablished Salary Salary in2021 USD1789 25 000 568 6251873 50 000 1 130 9721909 75 000 2 261 9441949 100 000 1 138 8811969 200 000 1 477 8582001 400 000 612 141Sources 159 160 Since 2001 the president s annual salary has been 400 000 along with a 50 000 expense allowance 100 000 nontaxable travel account and 19 000 entertainment clarification needed account The president s salary is set by Congress and under Article II Section 1 Clause 7 of the Constitution any increase or reduction in presidential salary cannot take effect before the next presidential term of office 161 162 Residence For the official residences in which President Washington resided see Presidency of George Washington Residences For the private residences of the various U S presidents see List of residences of presidents of the United States The White House in Washington D C is the official residence of the president The site was selected by George Washington and the cornerstone was laid in 1792 Every president since John Adams in 1800 has lived there At various times in U S history it has been known as the President s Palace the President s House and the Executive Mansion Theodore Roosevelt officially gave the White House its current name in 1901 163 The federal government pays for state dinners and other official functions but the president pays for personal family and guest dry cleaning and food 164 Camp David officially titled Naval Support Facility Thurmont a mountain based military camp in Frederick County Maryland is the president s country residence A place of solitude and tranquility the site has been used extensively to host foreign dignitaries since the 1940s 165 President s Guest House located next to the Eisenhower Executive Office Building at the White House Complex and Lafayette Park serves as the president s official guest house and as a secondary residence for the president if needed Four interconnected 19th century houses Blair House Lee House and 700 and 704 Jackson Place with a combined floor space exceeding 70 000 square feet 6 500 m2 comprise the property 166 Presidential residences White House the official residence Camp David the official retreat Blair House the official guest houseTravel Main article Transportation of the president of the United States The primary means of long distance air travel for the president is one of two identical Boeing VC 25 aircraft which are extensively modified Boeing 747 airliners and are referred to as Air Force One while the president is on board although any U S Air Force aircraft the president is aboard is designated as Air Force One for the duration of the flight In country trips are typically handled with just one of the two planes while overseas trips are handled with both one primary and one backup The president also has access to smaller Air Force aircraft most notably the Boeing C 32 which are used when the president must travel to airports that cannot support a jumbo jet Any civilian aircraft the president is aboard is designated Executive One for the flight 167 168 For short distance air travel the president has access to a fleet of U S Marine Corps helicopters of varying models designated Marine One when the president is aboard any particular one in the fleet Flights are typically handled with as many as five helicopters all flying together and frequently swapping positions as to disguise which helicopter the president is actually aboard to any would be threats For ground travel the president uses the presidential state car which is an armored limousine designed to look like a Cadillac sedan but built on a truck chassis 169 170 The U S Secret Service operates and maintains the fleet of several limousines The president also has access to two armored motorcoaches which are primarily used for touring trips 171 Presidential transportation The presidential limousine dubbed The Beast The presidential plane called Air Force One when the president is on board Marine One helicopter when the president is aboardProtection Main article United States Secret Service President Reagan surrounded by Secret Service The U S Secret Service is charged with protecting the president and the first family As part of their protection presidents first ladies their children and other immediate family members and other prominent persons and locations are assigned Secret Service codenames 172 The use of such names was originally for security purposes and dates to a time when sensitive electronic communications were not routinely encrypted today the names simply serve for purposes of brevity clarity and tradition 173 Post presidency From left George H W Bush Barack Obama George W Bush Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter Photo taken in the Oval Office on January 7 2009 Obama formally took office thirteen days later Activities Some former presidents have had significant careers after leaving office Prominent examples include William Howard Taft s tenure as chief justice of the United States and Herbert Hoover s work on government reorganization after World War II Grover Cleveland whose bid for reelection failed in 1888 was elected president again four years later in 1892 Two former presidents served in Congress after leaving the White House John Quincy Adams was elected to the House of Representatives serving there for 17 years and Andrew Johnson returned to the Senate in 1875 though he died soon after Some ex presidents were very active especially in international affairs most notably Theodore Roosevelt 174 Herbert Hoover 175 Richard Nixon 176 and Jimmy Carter 177 178 Presidents may use their predecessors as emissaries to deliver private messages to other nations or as official representatives of the United States to state funerals and other important foreign events 179 180 Richard Nixon made multiple foreign trips to countries including China and Russia and was lauded as an elder statesman 181 Jimmy Carter has become a global human rights campaigner international arbiter and election monitor as well as a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize Bill Clinton has also worked as an informal ambassador most recently in the negotiations that led to the release of two American journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee from North Korea During his presidency George W Bush called on former Presidents Bush and Clinton to assist with humanitarian efforts after the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami President Obama followed suit by asking Presidents Clinton and Bush to lead efforts to aid Haiti after an earthquake devastated that country in 2010 Clinton was active politically since his presidential term ended working with his wife Hillary on her 2008 and 2016 presidential bids and President Obama on his 2012 reelection campaign Obama was also active politically since his presidential term ended having worked with his former vice president Joe Biden on his 2020 election campaign Trump has continued to make appearances in the media and at conventions and rallies since leaving office Pension and other benefits The Former Presidents Act FPA enacted in 1958 grants lifetime benefits to former presidents and their widows including a monthly pension medical care in military facilities health insurance and Secret Service protection also provided is funding for a certain number of staff and for office expenses The act has been amended several times to provide increases in presidential pensions and in the allowances for office staff The FPA excludes any president who was removed from office by impeachment 182 According to a 2008 report by the Congressional Research service 182 Chief executives leaving office prior to 1958 often entered retirement pursuing various occupations and received no federal assistance When industrialist Andrew Carnegie announced a plan in 1912 to offer 25 000 annual pensions to former Presidents many Members of Congress deemed it inappropriate that such a pension would be provided by a private corporation executive That same year legislation was first introduced to create presidential pensions but it was not enacted In 1955 such legislation was considered by Congress because of former President Harry S Truman s financial limitations in hiring an office staff The pension has increased numerous times with congressional approval Retired presidents receive a pension based on the salary of the current administration s cabinet secretaries which was 199 700 per year in 2012 183 Former presidents who served in Congress may also collect congressional pensions 184 The act also provides former presidents with travel funds and franking privileges Prior to 1997 all former presidents their spouses and their children until age 16 were protected by the Secret Service until the president s death 185 186 In 1997 Congress passed legislation limiting Secret Service protection to no more than 10 years from the date a president leaves office 187 On January 10 2013 President Obama signed legislation reinstating lifetime Secret Service protection for him George W Bush and all subsequent presidents 188 A first spouse who remarries is no longer eligible for Secret Service protection 187 Presidential libraries Main article Presidential library system Presidents Barack Obama George W Bush Bill Clinton George H W Bush and Jimmy Carter at the dedication of the George W Bush Presidential Library and Museum in Dallas 2013 Every president since Herbert Hoover has created a repository known as a presidential library for preserving and making available his papers records and other documents and materials Completed libraries are deeded to and maintained by the National Archives and Records Administration NARA the initial funding for building and equipping each library must come from private non federal sources 189 There are currently thirteen presidential libraries in the NARA system There are also presidential libraries maintained by state governments and private foundations and Universities of Higher Education such as the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum which is run by the State of Illinois the George W Bush Presidential Library and Museum which is run by Southern Methodist University the George H W Bush Presidential Library and Museum which is run by Texas A amp M University and the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library and Museum which is run by the University of Texas at Austin Several former presidents have overseen the building and opening of their own presidential libraries Some have even made arrangements for their own burial at the site Several presidential libraries contain the graves of the president they document the Harry S Truman Presidential Library and Museum in Independence Missouri the Dwight D Eisenhower Presidential Library Museum and Boyhood Home in Abilene Kansas the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda California and the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley California These gravesites are open to the general public Political affiliationPolitical parties have dominated American politics for most of the nation s history Though the Founding Fathers generally spurned political parties as divisive and disruptive and their rise had not been anticipated when the U S Constitution was drafted in 1787 organized political parties developed in the U S in the mid 1790s nonetheless They evolved from political factions which began to appear almost immediately after the Federal government came into existence Those who supported the Washington administration were referred to as pro administration and would eventually form the Federalist Party while those in opposition joined the emerging Democratic Republican Party 190 Greatly concerned about the very real capacity of political parties to destroy the fragile unity holding the nation together Washington remained unaffiliated with any political faction or party throughout his eight year presidency He was and remains the only U S president never to be affiliated with a political party 191 192 Since Washington every U S president has been affiliated with a political party at the time of assuming office 193 194 The number of presidents per political party at the time they were sworn into office arranged in alphabetical order by last name are Party Name s Republican 19 Chester A Arthur George H W Bush George W Bush Calvin Coolidge Dwight D Eisenhower Gerald Ford James A Garfield Ulysses S Grant Warren G Harding Benjamin Harrison Rutherford B Hayes Herbert Hoover Abraham Lincoln F William McKinley Richard Nixon Ronald Reagan Theodore Roosevelt William Howard Taft and Donald TrumpDemocratic 15 Joe Biden incumbent James Buchanan Jimmy Carter Grover Cleveland Bill Clinton Andrew Jackson Lyndon B Johnson John F Kennedy Barack Obama Franklin Pierce James K Polk Franklin D Roosevelt Harry S Truman Martin Van Buren and Woodrow WilsonDemocratic Republican 4 John Quincy Adams Thomas Jefferson James Madison and James MonroeWhig 4 Millard Fillmore William Henry Harrison Zachary Taylor and John Tyler G Federalist 1 John AdamsNational Union 1 Andrew Johnson H None 1 George WashingtonTimeline of presidentsSee also List of presidents of the United States The following timeline depicts the progression of the presidents and their political affiliation at the time of assuming office See also United States portal Politics portalOutline of American politicsNotes The informal term POTUS originated in the Phillips Code a shorthand method created in 1879 by Walter P Phillips for the rapid transmission of press reports by telegraph 10 The nine vice presidents who succeeded to the presidency upon their predecessor s death or resignation and served for the remainder of his term are John Tyler 1841 Millard Fillmore 1850 Andrew Johnson 1865 Chester A Arthur 1881 Theodore Roosevelt 1901 Calvin Coolidge 1923 Harry S Truman 1945 Lyndon B Johnson 1963 and Gerald Ford 1974 Grover Cleveland served two non consecutive terms so he is counted twice as both the 22nd and 24th president 17 Nearly all scholars rank Lincoln among the nation s top three presidents with many placing him first See Historical rankings of presidents of the United States for a collection of survey results See List of United States presidential elections by popular vote margin Republican Abraham Lincoln was elected for a second term as part of the National Union Party ticket with Democrat Andrew Johnson in 1864 Former Democrat John Tyler was elected vice president on the Whig Party ticket with Harrison in 1840 Tyler s policy priorities as president soon proved to be opposed to most of the Whig agenda and he was expelled from the party in September 1841 Democrat Andrew Johnson was elected vice president on the National Union Party ticket with Republican Abraham Lincoln in 1864 Later while president Johnson tried and failed to build a party of loyalists under the National Union banner Near the end of his presidency Johnson rejoined the Democratic Party References How to Address the President He Is Not Your Excellency or Your Honor But Mr President The New York Times The Washington Star August 2 1891 USGS Correspondence Handbook Chapter 4 Usgs gov July 18 2007 Archived from the original on September 26 2012 Retrieved November 15 2012 Models of Address and Salutation Ita doc gov Archived from the original on July 20 2010 Retrieved September 4 2010 Heads of State Heads of Government Ministers for Foreign Affairs Protocol and Liaison Service United Nations Retrieved November 1 2012 The White House Office of the Press Secretary September 1 2010 Remarks by President Obama President Mubarak His Majesty King Abdullah Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Abbas Before Working Dinner whitehouse gov Retrieved July 19 2011 via National Archives a b The conventions of nine states having adopted the Constitution Congress in September or October 1788 passed a resolution in conformity with the opinions expressed by the Convention and appointed the first Wednesday in March of the ensuing year as the day and the then seat of Congress as the place for commencing proceedings under the Constitution Both governments could not be understood to exist at the same time The new government did not commence until the old government expired It is apparent that the government did not commence on the Constitution s being ratified by the ninth state for these ratifications were to be reported to Congress whose continuing existence was recognized by the Convention and who were requested to continue to exercise their powers for the purpose of bringing the new government into operation In fact Congress did continue to act as a government until it dissolved on the first of November by the successive disappearance of its members It existed potentially until March 2 the day preceding that on which the members of the new Congress were directed to assemble Owings v Speed 18 U S 5 Wheat 420 422 1820 Maier Pauline 2010 Ratification The People Debate the Constitution 1787 1788 New York New York Simon amp Schuster p 433 ISBN 978 0 684 86854 7 March 4 A forgotten huge day in American history Philadelphia National Constitution Center March 4 2013 Archived from the original on February 24 2018 Retrieved July 29 2018 Presidential Election of 1789 Digital Encyclopedia Mount Vernon Virginia Mount Vernon Ladies Association George Washington s Mount Vernon Retrieved July 29 2018 Safire William 2008 Safire s Political Dictionary Oxford University Press p 564 ISBN 978 0 19 534061 7 Ford Henry Jones 1908 The Influence of State Politics in Expanding Federal Power Proceedings of the American Political Science Association 5 53 63 doi 10 2307 3038511 JSTOR 3038511 Von Drehle David February 2 2017 Is Steve Bannon the Second Most Powerful Man in the World Time Who should be the world s most powerful person The Guardian London January 3 2008 Meacham Jon December 20 2008 Meacham The History of Power Newsweek Retrieved September 4 2010 Zakaria Fareed December 20 2008 The Newsweek 50 Barack Obama Newsweek Retrieved September 4 2010 Pfiffner J P 1988 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Legacy University of Virginia Miller Center Retrieved September 14 2020 McNamara Robert July 3 2019 Seven Presidents Served in the 20 Years Before the Civil War ThoughtCo Retrieved September 14 2020 Heidler David Heidler Jeanne The Great Triumvirate Essential Civil War Curriculum Retrieved September 14 2020 Winters Michael Sean August 4 2017 Do not trust in princes the limits of politics National Catholic Reporter Retrieved September 14 2020 Williams Frank April 1 2011 Lincoln s War Powers Part Constitution Part Trust American Bar Association Retrieved September 14 2020 Weber Jennifer March 25 2013 Was Lincoln a Tyrant New York Times Opinionator Retrieved September 14 2020 Varon Elizabeth October 4 2016 Andrew Johnson Campaigns and Elections University of Virginia Miller Center Retrieved September 14 2020 NCC Staff May 16 2020 The man whose impeachment vote saved Andrew Johnson National Constitution Center Retrieved September 14 2020 Boissoneault Lorraine April 17 2017 The Debate Over 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January 24 2017 What Does It Mean That Trump Is Leader of the Free World The Atlantic Eschner Kat November 14 2017 A Year Before His Presidential Debate JFK Foresaw How TV Would Change Politics Smithsonian Magazine Retrieved September 12 2020 Simon Ron May 29 2017 See How JFK Created a Presidency for the Television Age Time Retrieved September 12 2020 Wallach Philip April 26 2018 When Congress won the American people s respect Watergate LegBranch org Retrieved September 12 2020 Berger Sam Tausanovitch Alex July 30 2018 Lessons From Watergate Center for American Progress Retrieved September 12 2020 87 Stat 555 559 560 Madden Richard November 8 1973 House and Senate Override Veto by Nixon on Curb of War Powers Backers of Bill Win 3 Year Fight The New York Times Retrieved September 12 2020 Glass Andrew July 12 2017 Budget and Impoundment Control Act becomes law July 12 1974 Politico Retrieved September 12 2020 Shabecoff Philip March 28 1976 Presidency Is Found Weaker Under Ford The New 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recovered from its impeachment slump The Washington Post Retrieved September 12 2020 Kakutani Michiko July 6 2007 Unchecked and Unbalanced The New York Times Retrieved November 9 2009 the founding fathers had scant affection for strong executives like England s king and Bush White House s claims are rooted in ideas about the divine right of kings and that certainly did not find their way into our founding documents the 1776 Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of 1787 Sirota David August 22 2008 The Conquest of Presidentialism HuffPost Retrieved September 20 2009 Schimke David September October 2008 Presidential Power to the People Author Dana D Nelson on why democracy demands that the next President be taken down a notch Utne Reader Retrieved September 20 2009 Linker Ross September 27 2007 Critical of Presidency Prof Ginsberg and Crenson unite The Johns Hopkins Newsletter Retrieved November 9 2017 Presidents slowly but surely gain more and more power with both the public at large and other political institutions doing nothing to prevent it Kakutani Michiko July 6 2007 Unchecked and Unbalanced The New York Times Retrieved November 9 2009 Unchecked and Unbalanced Presidential Power in a Time of Terror By Frederick A O Schwarz Jr and Aziz Z Huq authors a b Nelson Dana D October 11 2008 Opinion The unitary executive question What do McCain and Obama think of the concept Los Angeles Times Retrieved September 21 2009 Shane Scott September 25 2009 A Critic Finds Obama Policies a Perfect Target The New York Times Retrieved November 8 2009 There is the small minority owned firm with deep ties to President Obama s Chicago backers made eligible by the Federal Reserve to handle potentially lucrative credit deals I want to know how these firms are picked and who picked them Mr Wilson the group s president tells his eager researchers Pfiffner James Essays on Article II Recommendations Clause The Heritage Guide to the Constitution Heritage Foundation Retrieved April 14 2019 Our Government The Legislative Branch www whitehouse gov Washington D C The White House Retrieved April 14 2019 Heitshusen Valerie November 15 2018 Introduction to the Legislative Process in the U S Congress PDF R42843 Version 14 updated Washington D C Congressional Research Service Retrieved April 14 2019 Cantor Eric July 30 2009 Obama s 32 Czars The Washington Post Retrieved September 28 2009 Nelson Dana D October 11 2008 The unitary executive question Los Angeles Times Retrieved October 4 2009 Suarez Ray et al July 24 2006 President s Use of Signing Statements Raises Constitutional Concerns PBS Online NewsHour Archived from the original on March 21 2007 Retrieved November 11 2009 The American Bar Association said President Bush s use of signing statements which allow him to sign a bill into law but not enforce certain provisions disregards the rule of law and the separation of powers Legal experts discuss the implications Will George F December 21 2008 Making Congress Moot The Washington Post Retrieved September 28 2009 Forte David F Essays on Article II Convening of Congress The Heritage Guide to the Constitution Heritage Foundation Retrieved April 14 2019 Steinmetz Katy August 10 2010 Congressional Special Sessions Time Retrieved April 14 2019 Article II Section 3 U S Constitution Legal Information Institute 2012 Retrieved August 7 2012 Executive Branch whitehouse gov April 2015 Retrieved January 24 2020 via National Archives NLRB v Noel Canning 572 U S 2014 Shurtleff v United States 189 U S 311 1903 Myers v United States 272 U S 52 1926 Humphrey s Executor v United States 295 U S 602 1935 and Morrison v Olson 487 U S 654 1988 respectively Gaziano Todd February 21 2001 Executive Summary The Use and Abuse of Executive Orders and Other Presidential Directives Washington D C The Heritage Foundation Retrieved January 23 2018 United States v Curtiss Wright Export Corp 299 U S 304 1936 characterized the President as the sole organ of the nation in its external relations an interpretation criticized by Louis Fisher of the Library of Congress Zivotofsky v Kerry 576 U S 2015 Ramsey Michael Vladeck Stephen Common Interpretation Commander in Chief Clause National Constitution Center Educational Resources some internal navigation required National Constitution Center Retrieved May 23 2017 Hamilton Alexander The Federalist 69 reposting Retrieved June 15 2007 Christopher James A Baker III July 8 2008 The National War Powers Commission Report The Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia Archived from the original PDF on November 26 2010 Retrieved December 15 2010 No clear mechanism or requirement exists today for the president and Congress to consult The War Powers Resolution of 1973 contains only vague consultation requirements Instead it relies on reporting requirements that if triggered begin the clock running for Congress to approve the particular armed conflict By the terms of the 1973 Resolution however Congress need not act to disapprove the conflict the cessation of all hostilities is required in 60 to 90 days merely if Congress fails to act Many have criticized this aspect of the Resolution as unwise and unconstitutional and no president in the past 35 years has filed a report pursuant to these triggering provisions a b c d The Law The President s War Powers Time June 1 1970 Archived from the original on January 7 2008 Retrieved September 28 2009 Mitchell Alison May 2 1999 The World Only Congress Can Declare War Really It s True The New York Times Retrieved November 8 2009 Presidents have sent forces abroad more than 100 times Congress has declared war only five times the War of 1812 the Mexican War the Spanish American War World War I and World War II Mitchell Alison May 2 1999 The World Only Congress Can Declare War Really It s True The New York Times Retrieved November 8 2009 President Reagan told Congress of the invasion of Grenada two hours after he had ordered the landing He told Congressional leaders of the bombing of Libya while the aircraft were on their way Gordon Michael R December 20 1990 U S troops move in Panama in effort to seize Noriega gunfire is heard in capital The New York Times Retrieved November 8 2009 It was not clear whether the White House consulted with Congressional leaders about the military action or notified them in advance Thomas S Foley the Speaker of the House said on Tuesday night that he had not been alerted by the Administration Andrew J Polsky Elusive Victories The American Presidency at War Oxford University Press 2012 online review George Washington and the Evolution of the American Commander in Chief The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation James M McPherson Tried by War Abraham Lincoln As Commander in Chief 2009 DOD Releases Unified Command Plan 2011 United States Department of Defense April 8 2011 Archived from the original on May 13 2011 Retrieved February 25 2013 10 U S C 164 Joint Chiefs of Staff About the Joint Chiefs of Staff Retrieved February 25 2013 Johnston David December 24 1992 Bush Pardons Six in Iran Affair Aborting a Weinberger Trial Prosecutor Assails Cover Up The New York Times Retrieved November 8 2009 But not since President Gerald R Ford granted clemency to former President Richard M Nixon for possible crimes in Watergate has a Presidential pardon so pointedly raised the issue of whether the president was trying to shield officials for political purposes Johnston David December 24 1992 Bush Pardons Six in Iran Affair Aborting a Weinberger Trial Prosecutor Assails Cover Up The New York Times Retrieved November 8 2009 The prosecutor charged that Mr Weinberger s efforts to hide his notes may have forestalled impeachment proceedings against President Reagan and formed part of a pattern of deception and obstruction In light of President Bush s own misconduct we are gravely concerned about his decision to pardon others who lied to Congress and obstructed official investigations Eisler Peter March 7 2008 Clinton papers release blocked USA Today Retrieved November 8 2009 Former president Clinton issued 140 pardons on his last day in office including several to controversial figures such as commodities trader Rich then a fugitive on tax evasion charges Rich s ex wife Denise contributed 2 000 in 1999 to Hillary Clinton s Senate campaign 5 000 to a related political action committee and 450 000 to a fund set up to build the Clinton library Millhiser Ian June 1 2010 Executive Privilege 101 Center for American Progress Archived from the original on June 9 2010 Retrieved October 8 2010 Part III Mohamed v Jeppesen Dataplan Court case Retrieved November 29 2010 via FindLaw a b Frost Amanda Florence Justin 2009 Reforming the State Secrets Privilege American Constitution Society Retrieved November 9 2017 Weaver William G Pallitto Robert M 2005 State Secrets and Executive Power Political Science Quarterly 120 1 85 112 doi 10 1002 j 1538 165x 2005 tb00539 x Use of the state secrets privilege in courts has grown significantly over the last twenty five years In the twenty three years between the decision in Reynolds 1953 and the election of Jimmy Carter in 1976 there were four reported cases in which the government invoked the privilege Between 1977 and 2001 there were a total of fifty one reported cases in which courts ruled on invocation of the privilege Because reported cases represent only a fraction of the total cases in which the privilege is invoked or implicated it is unclear precisely how dramatically the use of the privilege has grown But the increase in reported cases is indicative of greater willingness to assert the privilege than in the past Savage Charlie September 8 2010 Court Dismisses a Case Asserting Torture by C I A The New York Times Retrieved October 8 2010 Finn Peter September 9 2010 Suit dismissed against firm in CIA rendition case The Washington Post Retrieved October 8 2010 Glenn Greenwald February 10 2009 The 180 degree reversal of Obama s State Secrets position Salon Retrieved October 8 2010 Background on the State Secrets Privilege American Civil Liberties Union January 31 2007 Retrieved October 8 2010 Brown Tanya Ballard October 7 2019 President Trump Doesn t Need To Release His Tax Returns For Now NPR Retrieved April 28 2020 Abbott James A Rice Elaine M 1998 Designing Camelot The Kennedy White House Restoration Van Nostrand Reinhold pp 9 10 ISBN 978 0 442 02532 8 The White House State Dinner The White House Historical Association Retrieved November 9 2017 Duggan Paul April 2 2007 Balking at the First Pitch The Washington Post p A01 History of the BSA Fact Sheet PDF Boy Scouts of America Archived from the original PDF on June 29 2014 Retrieved November 9 2017 Grier Peter April 25 2011 The not so secret history of the White House Easter Egg Roll The Christian Science Monitor Archived from the original on July 30 2012 Retrieved July 30 2012 Hesse Monica November 21 2007 Turkey Pardons The Stuffing of Historic Legend The Washington Post Retrieved May 14 2011 Gibbs Nancy November 13 2008 How Presidents Pass The Torch Time Archived from the original on November 21 2008 Retrieved May 6 2011 Dorning Mike January 22 2009 A note from Bush starts morning in the Oval Office Chicago Tribune Archived from the original on December 28 2011 Retrieved May 6 2011 Dykoski Rachel November 1 2008 Book note Presidential idolatry is Bad for Democracy Twin Cities Daily Planet Retrieved November 11 2009 Dana D Nelson s book makes the case that we ve had 200 years of propagandized leadership Neffinger John April 2 2007 Democrats vs Science Why We re So Damn Good at Losing Elections HuffPost Retrieved November 11 2009 back in the 1980s Lesley Stahl of 60 Minutes ran a piece skewering Reagan s policies on the elderly But while her voiceover delivered a scathing critique the video footage was all drawn from carefully sic staged photo ops of Reagan smiling with seniors and addressing large crowds Deaver thanked Stahl for broadcasting all those images of Reagan looking his best Nelson Dana D 2008 Bad for democracy how the Presidency undermines the power of the people U of Minnesota Press ISBN 978 0 8166 5677 6 Retrieved November 11 2009 in rich detail how Kennedy drew on the power of myth as he framed his experience during World War II when his PT boat was sliced in half by a Japanese Nelson Dana D 2008 Bad for democracy how the Presidency undermines the power of the people U of Minnesota Press ISBN 978 0 8166 5677 6 Retrieved November 11 2009 Even before Kennedy ran for Congress he had become fascinated through his Hollywood acquaintances and visits with the idea of the image p 54 Lexington July 21 2009 The Cult of the Presidency The Economist Retrieved November 9 2009 Gene Healy argues that because voters expect the president to do everything When they inevitably fail to keep their promises voters swiftly become disillusioned Yet they never lose their romantic idea that the president should drive the economy vanquish enemies lead the free world comfort tornado victims heal the national soul and protect borrowers from hidden credit card fees Article II The Executive Branch Annenberg Classroom The Interactive Constitution Philadelphia Pennsylvania The National Constitution Center Retrieved June 15 2018 Bernstein Richard D February 4 2021 Lots of People Are Disqualified From Becoming President The Atlantic Retrieved March 1 2021 In addition to the list of people who are ineligible for reasons of mere demographic chance the Constitution adds a category of people who cannot be elected as a result of their misdeeds This category includes presidents along with vice presidents and federal civil officers who are impeached convicted by two thirds of the Senate and disqualified for serious misconduct committed while they were in office Wolfe Jan January 14 2021 Explainer Impeachment or the 14th Amendment Can Trump be barred from future office Reuters Retrieved March 1 2021 Moreno Paul Articles on Amendment XIV Disqualification for Rebellion The Heritage Guide to the Constitution The Heritage Foundation Retrieved June 15 2018 Vlamis Kelsey Here s how the 14th Amendment could be used to prevent Trump from running again Business Insider Retrieved March 1 2021 Peabody Bruce G Gant Scott E February 1999 The Twice and Future President Constitutional Interstices and the Twenty Second Amendment Minnesota Law Review 83 3 565 635 Archived from the original on January 15 2013 Retrieved June 12 2015 Albert Richard Winter 2005 The Evolving Vice Presidency Temple Law Review 78 4 811 896 Retrieved July 31 2018 via Digital Commons Boston College Law School International Law US Power The United States Quest for Legal Security p 10 Shirley V Scott 2012 Twenty third Amendment Annenberg Classroom Philadelphia Pennsylvania The Annenberg Public Policy Center March 29 1961 Retrieved July 30 2018 a b Neale Thomas H May 15 2017 The Electoral College How It Works in Contemporary Presidential 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Pennsylvania National Constitution Center Retrieved August 3 2018 Munson Holly July 12 2011 Who said that A quick history of the presidential oath ConstitutionDaily Philadelphia Pennsylvania National Constitution Center Archived from the original on August 4 2018 Retrieved August 3 2018 Neale Thomas H October 19 2009 Presidential Terms and Tenure Perspectives and Proposals for Change PDF Washington D C Congressional Research Service Retrieved August 3 2018 Waugh Joan October 4 2016 Ulysses S Grant Campaigns and Elections Miller Center of Public Affairs University of Virginia Retrieved August 3 2018 a b Twenty second Amendment Annenberg Classroom Philadelphia Pennsylvania The Annenberg Public Policy Center Retrieved August 2 2018 Feerick John D 2011 Presidential Succession and Inability Before and After the Twenty Fifth Amendment Fordham Law Review New York City Fordham University School of Law 79 3 907 949 Retrieved December 13 2018 a b Feerick John Essays on Article II Presidential Succession The Heritage Guide to the Constitution The Heritage Foundation Retrieved December 13 2018 Succession Presidential and Vice Presidential Fast Facts CNN October 24 2017 Retrieved July 19 2018 Olsen Jillian November 19 2021 How many other vice presidents have temporarily taken over presidential powers St Petersburg Florida WTSP Retrieved May 11 2022 Sullivan Kate November 19 2021 For 85 minutes Kamala Harris became the first woman with presidential power CNN Retrieved November 19 2021 a b Presser Stephen B Essays on Article I Impeachment Heritage Guide to the Constitution The Heritage Foundation Retrieved August 3 2018 Gerhardt Michael J Essays on Article I Trial of Impeachment Heritage Guide to the Constitution The Heritage Foundation Retrieved August 3 2018 David Priess 2018 2 Undermined by Opponents or Subordinates How to Get Rid of a President History s Guide to Removing Unpopular Unable or Unfit Chief Executives PublicAffairs ISBN 978 1541788206 Presidential and Vice Presidential Salaries Exclusive of Perquisites Data from Congressional Quarterly s Guide to the Presidency University of Michigan Retrieved July 31 2020 Williamson Samuel H Seven Ways to Compute the Relative Value of a U S Dollar Amount 1774 to Present MeasuringWorth Retrieved July 31 2020 Longley Robert September 1 2017 Presidential Pay and Compensation ThoughtCo Retrieved July 31 2018 Elkins Kathleen February 19 2018 Here s the last time the president of the United States got a raise CNBC Retrieved July 31 2018 The White House Building whitehouse gov Retrieved August 3 2018 Bulmiller Elisabeth January 2009 Inside the Presidency Few outsiders ever see the President s private enclave National Geographic Washington D C Retrieved August 3 2018 The White House Building whitehouse gov Retrieved August 3 2018 President s Guest House includes Lee House and Blair House Washington DC Washington D C General Services Administration Retrieved November 9 2017 Air Force One whitehouse gov March 21 2015 via National Archives White House Military Office Retrieved June 17 2007 Any U S Air Force aircraft carrying the president will use the call sign Air Force One Similarly Navy One Army One and Coast Guard One are the call signs used if the president is aboard a craft belonging to these services Executive One becomes the call sign of any civilian aircraft when the president boards New Presidential Limousine enters Secret Service Fleet U S Secret Service Press Release January 14 2009 Retrieved on January 20 2009 Ahlers Mike M Marrapodi Eric January 6 2009 Obama s wheels Secret Service to unveil new presidential limo CNN Archived from the original on February 2 2016 Retrieved December 16 2017 Farley Robert August 25 2011 Obama s Canadian American Bus FactCheck Retrieved December 16 2017 Junior Secret Service Program Assignment 7 Code Names National Park Service Archived from the original on January 18 2007 Retrieved August 18 2007 Candidate Code Names Secret Service Monikers Used on the Campaign Trail CBS September 16 2008 Archived from the original on October 6 2008 Retrieved November 12 2008 Edmund Morris Colonel Roosevelt 2011 Gary Dean Best The Life of Herbert Hoover Keeper of the Torch 1933 1964 2013 Kasey S Pipes After the Fall The Remarkable Comeback of Richard Nixon 2019 Douglas Brinkley The Unfinished Presidency Jimmy Carter s Journey Beyond the White House 1998 John Whiteclay Chambers II 1979 Presidents Emeritus American Heritage 30 4 16 25 Shock and Anger Flash Throughout the United States Associated Press March 31 1981 Archived from the original on September 6 2015 Retrieved March 11 2011 Four Presidents Reagan Presidential Library National Archives and Records Administration Archived from the original on May 12 2011 Retrieved April 3 2011 Biography of Richard M Nixon whitehouse gov December 30 2014 via National Archives The White House a b Stephanie Smith March 18 2008 Federal Pension and Retirement Benefits PDF Federation of American Scientists Congressional Research Service The Library of Congress Archived PDF from the original on January 7 2021 Retrieved November 10 2020 Schwemle Barbara L October 17 2012 President of the United States Compensation PDF Congressional Research Service Retrieved January 10 2013 Former presidents cost U S taxpayers big bucks Toledo Blade January 7 2007 Retrieved May 22 2007 18 U S C 3056 Obama signs bill granting lifetime Secret Service protection to former presidents and spouses The Washington Post Associated Press January 10 2013 Archived from the original on August 23 2016 Retrieved January 10 2013 a b United States Secret Service Protection United States Secret Service Retrieved November 9 2017 Obama signs protection bill for former presidents The Washington Times January 10 2013 Retrieved August 14 2013 44 U S C 2112 U S Senate Party Division U S Senate Retrieved January 2 2017 Jamison Dennis December 31 2014 George Washington s views on political parties in America The Washington Times Retrieved July 1 2016 Political Parties Mount Vernon Virginia Mount Vernon Ladies Association Retrieved March 24 2019 The Presidents of the United States of America Enchanted Learning Retrieved August 2 2018 Political Parties of the Presidents Presidents USA Retrieved August 2 2018 Further readingAyton Mel Plotting to Kill the President Assassination Attempts from Washington to Hoover Potomac Books 2017 United States Balogh Brian and Bruce J Schulman eds Recapturing the Oval Office New Historical Approaches to the American Presidency Cornell University Press 2015 311 pp Kernell Samuel Jacobson Gary C 1987 Congress and the Presidency as News in the Nineteenth Century PDF Journal of Politics 49 4 1016 1035 doi 10 2307 2130782 JSTOR 2130782 S2CID 154834781 Lang J Stephen The Complete Book of Presidential Trivia Pelican Publishing 2001 ISBN 1 56554 877 9 Graff Henry F ed The Presidents A Reference History 3rd ed 2002 online short scholarly biographies from George Washington to William Clinton Greenberg David Republic of Spin An Inside History of the American Presidency W W Norton amp Company 2015 xx 540 pp bibliography Han Lori Cox The Presidency ABC CLIO 2021 wide ranging reference book Han Lori Cox ed Hatred of America s Presidents Personal Attacks on the White House from Washington to Trump ABC CLIO 2018 Hopper Jennifer Rose Reexamining the Nineteenth Century Presidency and Partisan Press The Case of President Grant and the Whiskey Ring Scandal Social Science History 42 1 2018 109 133 Leo Leonard Taranto James Bennett William J Presidential Leadership Rating the Best and the Worst in the White House Simon and Schuster 2004 ISBN 0 7432 5433 3 Marshall Jon Clash Presidents and the Press in Times of Crisis U of Nebraska Press 2022 Shade William G and Ballard Campbell eds American Presidential Campaigns and Elections 2003 Sigelman Lee Bullock David 1991 Candidates issues horse races and hoopla Presidential campaign coverage 1888 1988 PDF American Politics Quarterly 19 1 5 32 doi 10 1177 1532673x9101900101 S2CID 154283367 Tebbel John William and Sarah Miles Watts The Press and the Presidency From George Washington to Ronald Reagan Oxford University Press 1985 online review Waterman Richard W and Robert Wright The image is everything presidency Dilemmas in American leadership Routledge 2018 Presidential Studies Quarterly published by Wiley is a quarterly academic journal on the presidency Historiography and memory Greenstein Fred I et al Evolution of the Modern President A Bibliographical Survey 1977 annotated bibliography of 2500 scholarly articles and books covering each president onlinePrimary sources Waldman Michael Stephanopoulos George My Fellow Americans The Most Important Speeches of America s Presidents from George Washington to George W Bush Sourcebooks Trade 2003 ISBN 1 4022 0027 7 External linksPresident of the United States at Wikipedia s sister projects Definitions from Wiktionary Media from Commons News from Wikinews Quotations from Wikiquote Texts from Wikisource Textbooks from Wikibooks Travel information from Wikivoyage Resources from Wikiversity Data from Wikidata White House homepage United States Presidents Collection General Collection Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title President of the United States amp oldid 1131653885, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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