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 The Presidency—An Overview

The moment he takes the oath of office, the President must immediately assume many different roles. Here,
Donald J. Trump is sworn in as the 45th President in 2017.
Objectives
 Describe the President's many roles.
 Understand the formal qualifications necessary to become President.
 Explain how the presidential term of office has changed over time and the roles Presidents George
Washington and Franklin D. Roosevelt played in that evolution.
 Describe the President's pay and benefits and how the role played by Congress in the setting of those
compensations contributes to the system of checks and balances.
 Understand the structure of presidential succession created by the U.S. Constitution.
 Understand the constitutional provisions relating to presidential disability.
Key Terms
 chief of state
 William Howard Taft

 chief executive

 domestic affairs

 foreign affairs

 chief administrator

 Harry Truman

 chief diplomat

 chief legislator

 commander in chief

 chief economist

 chief of party

 chief citizen

 Franklin Roosevelt

 Lyndon Johnson

 Richard Nixon

 John F. Kennedy

 Theodore Roosevelt

 Ronald Reagan

 Herbert Hoover

 Dwight Eisenhower

 Alexander Hamilton

 George Washington

 George H.W. Bush

 presidential succession

 impeachment
 William Henry Harrison

 Presidential Succession Act of 1947

 president pro tempore

 Woodrow Wilson

 George W. Bush

 Bill Clinton

 Barack Obama

 Donald Trump

Lesson 1: The Presidency–An Overview

The President’s Many Roles

Do you know who the youngest person ever to be President of the United States was? The oldest? Who held
the presidency for the longest time? The shortest? Can a person born abroad become President? You will find
the answers to these questions, and much more, in this section, which provides a basic overview of the
presidential office.

At any given time, of course, only one person is the President of the United States. The office, with all of its
awesome powers and duties, belongs to that one individual. Whoever that person may be, he—and most likely
someday she—must fill several different roles, and all of them at the same time. The President is
simultaneously (1) chief of state, (2) chief executive, (3) chief administrator, (4) chief diplomat, (5) chief
legislator, (6) commander in chief, (7) chief economist, (8) chief of party, and (9) chief citizen.

Chief of State
To begin with, the President is chief of state, the ceremonial head of the government of the United States. He
or she is, then, the symbol of all of the people of the nation—in President William Howard Taft's words, “the
personal embodiment and representative of their dignity and majesty.”
In many countries, the chief of state reigns but does not rule. That is certainly true of the queens of England,
Denmark, and the Netherlands; the kings of Norway, Sweden, and Belgium; the emperor of Japan; and the
presidents of Italy and Germany. It is just as certainly not true of the President of the United States. The
President both reigns and rules.
Chief Executive
The President is the nation’s chief executive, vested by the Constitution with “the executive Power” of the
United States. That power is immensely broad in domestic affairs as well as foreign affairs. Indeed, the
American presidency is often described as “the most powerful office in the world.”
But remember, the President is not all-powerful. He or she lives in an environment filled with constitutional
checks and balances in which there are many practical limits on what he or she can and cannot do.

Chief Administrator
The President is also the chief administrator, the director of the huge executive branch of the Federal
Government. He or she heads one of the largest governmental machines the world has ever known. Today, the
President directs an administration that employs some 2.7 million civilians and spends some $3.8 trillion a
year.
Managing the sprawling executive branch is only one of the President’s several jobs. Harry
Trumancomplained that he had to spend too much of his time “flattering, kissing, and kicking people to get
them to do what they were supposed to do anyway.”
Chief Diplomat
Every President is also the nation’s chief diplomat, the main architect of American foreign policy and the
nation’s chief spokesman to the rest of the world. “I make foreign policy,” President Truman once said—and
he did. Everything the President says and does is closely followed, both here and abroad.
President George W. Bush wears a traditional jacket at a meeting with Chinese President Jiang Zemin. As
chief diplomat, the U.S. President meets with world leaders and shapes foreign policy.
Chief Legislator
The President is also the nation’s chief legislator, the principal author of its public policies. Most often, it is
the President who sets the overall shape of the congressional agenda—initiating, suggesting, requesting,
insisting, and demanding that Congress enact most of the major pieces of legislation that it does.
The President and Congress do sometimes clash, and the President does not always get his or her way on
Capitol Hill. Still, working with Congress occupies a major part of the President’s time.

These six presidential roles all come directly from the Constitution. Yet they do not complete the list. The
President has still other vital roles to play.

Commander in Chief
In close concert with his or her role in foreign affairs, the Constitution also makes the President
the commander in chief of the nation’s armed forces. The 1.5 million men and women in uniform and all of
the nation’s military might are subject to the President’s direct and immediate control. The Constitution does
give Congress some significant powers in foreign affairs and over the military, but the President has long since
become dominant in both fields.

In his role as commander in chief of U.S. forces, President Ronald Reagan speaks to U.S. Army troops
stationed in South Korea in 1983.
Chief Economist
Some observers have suggested that modern Presidents must also be the nation's chief economist. That is, the
President is expected to keep a close eye on the nation's economy and to take immediate and effective action
when conditions dictate. Since the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe in 1989,
and paralleling the rapid expansion of Asian economies (especially those of China and India), the management
of America's trade relationships has been an expanding aspect of presidential responsibilities. This change has
created unique challenges for the President. Opening foreign markets for American goods requires lowering or
removing trade restrictions and tariffs on goods imported into the United States.
As chief economist, the President must constantly balance many conflicting demands, including those of
consumers, labor unions, and manufacturers. At the same time, the President must remain ever sensitive to the
effect that American economic policies can have on our relationships with countries around the world.

Chief of Party
The President is, automatically, the chief of party, the acknowledged leader of the political party that controls
the executive branch—and is virtually unchallengeable in that role. As you know, parties are not mentioned in
the Constitution, but they do have a vital place in the workings of the American governmental system. Much of
the real power and influence of the President depends on his or her ability to play this critical role.
Chief Citizen
The office also automatically makes its occupant the nation’s chief citizen. The President is expected to be
“the representative of all the people.” He or she is expected to take the high road and champion the public
interest against the many different and competing private interests. “The presidency,” said Franklin
Roosevelt, “is not merely an administrative office. That is the least of it. It is, preeminently, a place of moral
leadership.”

President Obama comforts a New Jersey resident as he and Governor Chris Christie survey hurricane damage
in 2012. As chief citizen, the President fights for the people's best interests.
Listing the President’s roles is a useful way to describe the President’s job. But, remember, the President must
juggle all of these roles simultaneously, and they are all interconnected. In addition, as presidential power has
grown over time, so has the number and scope of the roles he or she must fulfill. Note, too, that none of them
can be performed in isolation. The manner in which a President plays any one role can affect his or her ability
to execute the others.

As but two illustrations of the point, take the experiences of Presidents Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon.
Each was a strong and relatively effective President during his first years in office. But Mr. Johnson’s actions
as commander in chief during the agonizing and increasingly unpopular war in Vietnam seriously damaged his
stature and effectiveness in the White House. In fact, the damage was so great that it helped persuade LBJ not
to run for reelection in 1968.
The many-sided and sordid Watergate scandal brought President Nixon’s downfall. The manner in which he
filled the roles of party leader and chief citizen so destroyed Mr. Nixon’s presidency that he was forced to
leave office in disgrace in 1974.

1. IDENTIFY MAIN IDEAS The President fills several different roles simultaneously. Analyze how
the roles of chief of state, chief diplomat, and commander in chief are related.
Qualifications for the Presidency
Whatever else a President must be, the Constitution says that he—and likely one day, she—must meet three
formal qualifications for office (Article II, Section 1, Clause 5). These qualifications are related to a
candidate's citizenship, age, and residency.

Citizenship
Any man or woman who seeks the presidency must first be “a natural born Citizen . . . of the United States.”
But what exactly do the words “natural born” mean? Do they refer to being “native born”—that is, born in the
United States? By law, a person born abroad to an American-citizen parent becomes an American citizen at
birth. That law leads many to argue that it is therefore possible for a person born outside the United States to
become President. Some dispute that view, however. The question of what the Constitution means here cannot
be answered until someone born a citizen, but born abroad, does in fact seek the presidency.

Age
The Constitution also states that in order to serve as President, a person must “have attained . . . the Age of 35
years.” John F. Kennedy, at 43, was the youngest person ever elected to the office. Theodore
Roosevelt reached the White House by succession at age 42. Only seven other chief executives took the oath
of office before age 50, most recently, Bill Clinton in 1993, and Barack Obama in 2009.
Donald Trump, who was 70 when he was elected in 2016, was the oldest candidate ever to win the
office. Ronald Reagan was 77 when he left office in 1989, making him the oldest person ever to hold the
presidency. Most chief executives have been in their 50s when they resided in the White House.

The Framers set the minimum age requirement for President at 35. Analyze Charts Why do you think the
Framers set a minimum age? Do you think there should be a maximum age limit? Why?
Residency
Finally, to hold the office of President of the United States, a person must “[H]ave . . . been fourteen years a
Resident within the United States.” Given the elections of Herbert Hoover (in 1928) and Dwight
Eisenhower (in 1952), we know that here the Constitution means any 14 years in a person’s life. Both Mr.
Hoover and General Eisenhower spent several years outside the country before winning the White House.
While these formal qualifications do have some importance, they are really not very difficult to meet. Indeed,
well over 100 million Americans do so today. Several other informal and important qualifications for the
presidency exist as well, however. These include such requirements as political experience and speaking
ability.
1. DRAW CONCLUSIONS Why do you think the Framers chose to provide formal qualifications for
the office of the President?
The Presidential Term of Office
The Framers considered a number of different limits on the length of the presidential term. Most of their debate
centered on a four-year term, with the President eligible for reelection, versus a single six-year or seven-year
term without being eligible for reelection. They finally settled on a four-year term (Article II, Section 1, Clause
1). They agreed, as Alexander Hamilton wrote in The Federalist No. 71, that four years was a long enough
period for a President to have gained experience, demonstrated his abilities, and established stable policies.
Until 1951, the Constitution placed no limit on the number of terms a President might serve. Several
Presidents, beginning with George Washington, refused to seek more than two terms, however. Soon, the
“no-third term tradition” became an unwritten rule.
Franklin D. Roosevelt broke the tradition by seeking and winning a third term in 1940, and then a fourth in
1944. To prevent this from recurring, the 22nd Amendment made the unwritten custom limiting presidential
terms a part of the written Constitution.

After Franklin Roosevelt was elected President four times, Congress passed the 22nd Amendment to limit the
number of presidential terms. Infer What are the pros and cons of term limits?
Each President may now serve a maximum of two full terms—eight years—in office. A President who
succeeds to the office after the midpoint in a term could possibly serve for more than eight years. In that case,
the President may finish out the predecessor’s term and then seek two full terms of his or her own. However,
no President may serve more than ten years in the office.

Many people, including Presidents Truman, Eisenhower, and Reagan, have called for the repeal of the 22nd
Amendment. They insist that the two-term rule is undemocratic because it places an arbitrary limit on the
people’s right to decide who should be President. Critics also say that it undercuts the authority of a two-term
President, especially in the latter part of a second term. Supporters of the amendment defend it as a reasonable
safeguard against “executive tyranny.”

Several Presidents have urged a single six-year term. They and others have argued that a single, nonrenewable
term would free a President from the pressures of a campaign for a second term—and so would allow the chief
executive to focus on the pressing demands of the office.

1. IDENTIFY CAUSE AND EFFECT Who was Franklin D. Roosevelt, and what effect did he have on
the development of the 22nd Amendment?
Presidential Succession and Disability
Consider these facts. To this point, 47 people have served as Vice President. Of these, 14 have reached the
Oval Office—most recently, George H.W. Bush in 1989. Indeed, 5 of the last 12 Presidents were once Vice
President.
Methods of Filling Vacancies
Presidential succession is the scheme by which a presidential vacancy is filled. If a President dies, resigns, or
is removed from office by impeachment, the Vice President succeeds to the office. Originally, the
Constitution did not provide for the succession of a Vice President. Rather, it declared that "the powers and
duties" of the office—not the office itself—were to "devolve on [transfer to] the Vice President" (read
carefully Article II, Section 1, Clause 6).
In practice, however, the Vice President did succeed to the office when it became vacant. Vice President John
Tyler was the first to do so. He set the precedent in 1841 when he succeeded President William Henry
Harrison, who died of pneumonia just one month after taking office. What had been practice became a part of
the written Constitution with the 25th Amendment in 1967, which states, "In case of the removal of the
President from office or of his death or resignation, the Vice President shall become President."
Order of Succession
According to Article II, Section 1, Clause 6 of the Constitution, Congress fixes the order of succession
following the Vice President. The present law on the matter is the Presidential Succession Act of 1947. By its
terms, the Speaker of the House and then the president pro temporeof the Senate are next in line. They are
followed, in turn, by the secretary of state and then by each of the other 14 heads of the Cabinet departments,
in order of each position's precedence—that is, the order in which their offices were created by Congress.
By tradition, one of the people in the line of succession does not attend the President's State of the Union
address with the others. Analyze Charts Why do you think this is done?
Disability of the President
Until the 25th Amendment was adopted in 1967, the arrangement for presidential succession had serious gaps.
Neither the Constitution nor Congress had made any provision for deciding when a President was so disabled
that he could not perform the duties of the office. Nor was there anything to indicate by whom such a decision
was to be made.

For nearly 180 years, then, the nation played with fate. President Eisenhower suffered three serious but
temporary illnesses while in office: a heart attack in 1955, ileitis in 1956, and a mild stroke in 1957. Two other
Presidents were disabled for much longer periods. James Garfield lingered for 80 days before he died from an
assassin's bullet in 1881. Woodrow Wilson suffered a paralytic stroke in September of 1919 and was an
invalid for the rest of his second term. In fact, he was so ill that he could not meet with his Cabinet for seven
months after his stroke. And, in 1981, Ronald Reagan was gravely wounded in an assassination attempt.
Filling the Disability Gap
Sections 3 and 4 of the 25th Amendment fill the disability gap, and in detail. The Vice President is to become
Acting President if (1) the President informs Congress, in writing, "that he is unable to discharge the powers
and duties of his office," or (2) the Vice President and a majority of the members of the Cabinet inform
Congress, in writing, that the President is so incapacitated.
The President may resume the powers and duties of the office by informing Congress by "written declaration"
that no inability exists. However, the Vice President and a majority of the Cabinet may challenge the President
on this score. If they do, Congress has 21 days in which to decide the matter.

Transferring Power
Thus far, the disability provisions of the 25th Amendment have come into play on three occasions: In 1985,
Ronald Reagan transferred the powers of the presidency to Vice President George H.W. Bush for nearly eight
hours, while surgeons removed a tumor from Mr. Reagan's large intestine. In 2002, and again in 2007,
President George W. Bush conveyed his powers to Vice President Dick Cheney for some two hours, while
Mr. Bush was anesthetized during a routine medical procedure.
1. INFER Why do you think the nation felt it was necessary to add the 25th Amendment to the
Constitution when the practice of succession had already been established by Vice President Tyler?
Assessment
1. Apply Concepts In what way is the President's effectiveness as chief economist dependent on his or
her expertise as chief diplomat?
2. Draw Conclusions Who were Ronald Reagan and Franklin D. Roosevelt, and what viewpoint did
they share about the presidential term of office?
3. Identify Cause and Effect Who was Theodore Roosevelt, and how was he affected by succession?
4. Make Generalizations Why was the 25th Amendment necessary?
5. Interpret At the national level, public offices can be filled by election or appointment. Why do you
think the Constitution does not provide for the presidency to be filled by appointment if the office
becomes vacant?