7.1-The President and
Vice President
The Office of the
President
• The President heads the Executive Branch and is described
in Article II of the Constitution
The Office of the
President
• The US Constitution lists
three rules about who can
become president:
• 1. The person must be at
least 35 years old
• 2. A native-born American
citizen
• 3. A resident of the US for
at least 14 years
Presidential
Elections
• Presidential elections take place every 4 years
Presidential
Elections
• The Constitution does not provide for direct
popular election of the president; it set up an
indirect method of election called the Electoral
College
Presidential
Elections
• The Constitution says each state shall appoint electors who
then vote for one of the major candidates
Washington D.C.- 3 electors casting ballots in the 2008 election
Presidential
Elections
• The Twentieth Amendment (1933) shortens the time
between an election and inauguration day; moved from
March 4th to January 20th
Electoral College
System
• Each state has as many electoral votes as the total of its US
Senators and Representatives (Washington, DC has 3
electoral votes)
Representation by
Population
Equal Representation2
Electoral College
System
• The Electoral College includes 538 electors; it is mostly a
“winner-take-all” system; if a candidate wins the popular
vote by a tiny majority, that candidate gets all the state’s
electoral votes
Electoral College
System
• To be elected president a candidate must receive at
least half of the 538 electoral votes, a candidate
needs 270 votes to win
Electoral College
System
• If no candidate receives a majority in the electoral
college the House of Representatives elects the
winner
• The formal election by the Electoral College
doesn’t take place until December when electors
meet in each state capital to cast their ballots
Term of Office
• Presidents serve 4 year terms
• George Washington served two
four year terms and refused to
run again; many later Presidents
followed his example, this is
known as a precedent
Term of Office
• No president
served more than
two terms until
1940, when
Franklin D.
Roosevelt ran for
and won a third
term; he won a
4th term in 1944
Term of Office
• The 22nd
Amendment
(1951) limits each
President to 2
elected terms in
office, or a
maximum of ten
years if his
presidency began
during another
president’s term
Salary and Benefits
• The president receives a salary of $400,000 per year plus
money for expenses and travel; he lives and works in the
White House
Salary and Benefits
• He also has the use of Camp David, an estate in
Maryland 60 miles north of Washington, D.C.; it
serves as a retreat and a place to host foreign
leaders
Salary and Benefits
• When presidents travel, they command a fleet of
special cars, helicopters, and airplanes; for long
trips the president uses Air Force One a specially
equipped jet
The Vice President
• The Vice President is elected with the President by the
Electoral College; the qualifications are the same as those
for the President
The Vice President
• Article I states the VP shall preside over the Senate and vote
in case of a tie
Since 1789, 244 tie-breaking votes have
been cast.
http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/reference/f
our_column_table/Tie_Votes.htm
The Vice President
• If the president dies, is removed from office, falls seriously
ill, or resigns, the Vice President becomes president
The Vice President
• The Twelfth Amendment (1804) states that electors should
cast separate ballots for President and Vice President
Election of 1796- John Adams (Federalist) was President, Thomas Jefferson (DemocraticRepublican) was VP
Presidential
Succession
• In 1841 William
Henry Harrison
became the first
President to die
in office, his VP
John Tyler
became President
Presidential
Succession
• In 1947 Congress passed the Presidential Succession Act
which indicates the line of succession after the VP
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presi
dential_line_of_succession
Presidential
Succession
• According to this law, if the president and VP die
or leave office, the Speaker of the House becomes
president
• Next in line is the President Pro Tempore of the
Senate, then the Secretary of State and other
members of the cabinet
Presidential
Succession
• The 25th Amendment
(1967) says if the president
dies or leaves office the VP
becomes president, he then
chooses another VP who
must be approved by the
Senate and House of
Representatives
Joint Resolution proposing the 25th Amendment
th
25
Amendment
• Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr.
(born July 14, 1913 –
December 26, 2006) was the
thirty-eighth President of the
United States, serving from
1974 to 1977, and the fortieth
Vice President of the United
States serving from 1973 to
1974. He was the first person
appointed to the vicepresidency under the terms of
the 25th Amendment, and
became President upon
Richard Nixon's resignation
on August 9, 1974.
Presidential
Succession
• It also gives the VP a role in determining whether a
president is disabled and unable to do the job, if that occurs
the VP serves as acting President until the President is ready
to go back to work
1985- George H. Bush was acting President while Reagan underwent surgery; 2002 and
2007- Dick Cheney was acting President while Bush underwent surgery