“The President and the
Executive Branch”

The President’s Job

The President’s Job
 The job of the
President of the
United States is often considered one of the most powerful jobs in the world . The U.S.
President influences many world events.

Constitutional Qualifications
 Must be at least 35 years old
 Must be a native born American citizen
 Must be a U.S. resident for at least
14 years .

Presidential History
 Until 2008, every other U.S. president has been a white male .
 With only one exception, all have also been
Protestant
Christians .

Presidential History
 Most have had a college degree , been a lawyer , and are from states with a large population.

Presidential “Firsts”
John F. Kennedy was our first elected Catholic president and our youngest president elected (1960)
Geraldine Ferraro was our first female vice presidential candidate (1984)
Jesse Jackson was our first
African American presidential candidate (1988) to narrowly miss his party’s nomination.

Presidential “Firsts”
Joseph Lieberman was our first Jewish vice presidential candidate
(2000).
Barack Obama became the first African
American President of the United States of
America (2008)

Electing the President

Electing the President
 Presidential elections take place every four
(4) years.
 These years are all divisible by the number four (4) .
 Ex. 1996, 2000, 2004,
2008, 2012, 2016 etc.

Electing the President
 Presidents are NOT elected by the popular vote !
 They are actually elected indirectly by a method called the
“ Electoral College ”.

Electing the President
 Voters vote in the
Presidential election but this is just to indicate their preferences to the
“ electors
” who are people appointed to vote in presidential elections for major candidates.
 Each state gets the same amount of electors as they have representing them in
Congress .

Electing the President
 The number of electoral voters is determined by the number of
Representatives and Senators in each state.
 There are a total of 538 electors who vote (435 Representatives and 100 Senators in Congress =
535)
 Although NOT a state,
Washington DC is also given three (3) electoral votes, as outlined the 23 rd Amendment.
 Grand total = 538

Electing the President
 In most states, it is a
“ winner take all
” system.
 This means that if the candidate wins the popular vote of that state, they normally get all the electoral votes.

Electing the President
 To be elected president and vice president, the candidates need to win at least 270 out of 538 electoral votes.

Electing the President
 The Electoral College system makes it difficult for third parties to win the presidency.


Electing the President
The results of the “ Electoral
College
” are NOT official after the election in
November.
 They are official in the month of December , when they are confirmed by congress.
 This is one example of checks and balances.

Landmark Supreme Court Case

–
Bush v. Gore (2000)
Because the election was too close to call, the
Florida Supreme Court demanded a recount of the Florida popular votes for this Presidential
Election.
– After a series of lawsuits and media pressure, the US Supreme Court decided to take the case because of its national concern. It deemed that there would not be a fair and equitable way to recount the votes (the recount violated the 14 th
Amendment.) As a result, Bush won the 2000
Election.
– How did this impact the US?

Presidential Terms
 Presidents serve four year terms .
 Most early Presidents followed George
Washington’s example and served only two terms (8 years)

Presidential Terms
 Only Franklin D.
Roosevelt served more than two (2) terms
(1932-1945).
 He was elected to four terms, mainly due to
World War II .

Presidential Terms
 Today, the 22 nd
Amendment limits the
President to only two
(2) terms in office.
 There is a maximum of ten (10) years in office.

Presidential Salary
 The President of the
United States earns an annual salary of
$400,000 (plus benefits and expenses).

Presidential Residences
 The President lives and works in the White House in Washington DC (“1600
Pennsylvania Avenue”).

Presidential Residences
 The President also has access to “
Camp David
”, a beautiful retreat in the mountains of Maryland.
 It has been the site of many important meetings.

Presidential Transportation
 The President travels on
“
Air Force One
” (the
Presidential plane)
 They also have access to cars, helicopters, and other forms of transportation.


Role of the Vice President
The Constitutional qualifications for
Vice President are identical to that of the President.
 An important role of the Vice
President is to preside over the U.S.
Senate (S)he can break a tie vote if necessary!!!!!
 The most important role is to assume the job of President if necessary
(which has happened 9 times in our history)

Presidential Succession
 The first Vice
President to assume the role of President through death or illness was John Tyler in 1841 (took over for
William H. Harrison after his death).

Presidential Succession
 In 1947, the “
Presidential
Succession Act
” established the official
“presidential succession,” or the order of who takes over. We still felt that we more direction…

Presidential Succession
 The 25 th Amendment states that a vice president who assumes the role of president may choose their own Vice
President.

 This must be approved by Congress!!!

Presidential Succession
 This amendment also gives the Vice
President the authority to determine if the
President is disabled or unable to do the job.
 This amendment has only been used 3 times
(1973, 1974, & 1985)

Presidential Succession
 The Speaker of the
House and the
President Pro
Tempore are the second and third persons in line for the presidency.