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Chapter 7: the President and the Executive Branch 164-170 U2 Ch07 S1 CT-860970 11/28/03 10:22 AM Page 164 The Constitution says very little about what a president is expected to do. The nation’s first president, George Washington, established many traditions that shaped the presidency. Contact a federal information center to learn about the various divisions of the Executive Office of the President. Create a brochure to present what you find. To learn more about the presidency, view the Democracy in Action video lesson 8: The Presidency. Know-Want-Learn Study Foldable Make this foldable to determine what you already know, what you want to know, and what you learn about the executive branch of government. Step 1 Fold a sheet of paper into Step 2 Turn the paper Reading and thirds from top to bottom. horizontally, unfold, and label the Writing Before you three columns as shown. read, write down what you already know and President what you want to Foreign Job Staff & know under each Policy Advisers heading. As you read the chapter, record what you learn. President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick 164 Cheney get ready to go to a government ceremony. ▲ Reuters NewMedia Inc./CORBIS 164-170 U2 Ch07 S1 CT-860970 11/28/03 10:24 AM Page 165 Chapter Overview Visit the Civics Today Web site at civ.glencoe.com and click on Chapter Overviews— Chapter 7 to preview chapter information. 164-170 U2 Ch07 S1 CT-860970 11/28/03 10:25 AM Page 166 SECTION The President and Vice President GUIDE TO READING Main Idea “The presidency of the United States Every four years, electors selected by popular vote carries with it a responsibility so personal as to be cast their ballots for pres- without parallel. No one can make decisions ident and vice president, for him. Even those closest to him . never whose terms of office are know all the reasons why he does certain things established in the United and why he comes to certain conclusions. To be States Constitution. President of the United States is to be lonely, very lonely at times of great decisions.” Key Terms —Harry S Truman Electoral College, elector President Reading Strategy Truman Categorizing Information As you read, categorize Qualifications for President information by complet- Harry S Truman was the thirty-third president of the ing a chart like the one below with information United States, serving from 1945 to 1953.The president heads about the U.S. presidency. the executive branch of the United States government. The presidency is the top political job in the country. Because of the U.S. Presidency Qualifi- Back- Term of power and global influence of the United States, the president cations ground Office is generally considered to hold the most important job in the world. Our country’s first president was George Washington. Salary & Just as the nation has grown tremendously since that time, so Election Benefits has the office of the presidency. The constitutional requirements for the presidency remain the same as they did when George Washington was president. Read to Learn The U.S. Constitution lists only three rules about who can • What qualifications become president of the United States. A person must be (1) at are needed to be least 35 years old, (2) a native-born American citizen, and president? (3) a resident of the United States for at least 14 years. By law, • How are presidents elected? anyone who meets these qualifications can become president. • What are the rules Of course, someone who hopes to become president must have of presidential many more qualifications than those three. succession? So far, every American president has been a white male. All but one have been Protestant Christians. Most have won elec- tions before. Most have had a college education. Many have been lawyers. Most came from states with large populations. Only in the past few decades has the presidency become a possibility for a wider group of Americans. John F. Kennedy became the first Catholic president in 1960. In 1984 the 166 Chapter 7 The President and the Executive Branch AP/Wide World Photos 164-170 U2 Ch07 S1 CT-874574 9/27/05 9:56 PM Page 167 Democratic Party nominated Geraldine during election campaigns. Even so, the Ferraro as its first female vice-presidential electoral votes of a few small states can candidate. Four years later Jesse Jackson, decide the outcome of a close election. an African American, ran a close second in To be elected president or vice presi- the race to become the Democratic candi- dent, a candidate must win at least 270 of date for president. In 2000 the Democrats the 538 electoral votes. The winner-take-all nominated Connecticut senator Joseph system makes it difficult for third-party Lieberman as the first Jewish candidate for candidates—candidates not from the two vice president. major parties—to win electoral votes. Although the winning presidential can- didate is usually announced on the same Electing a President evening as the popular election, the formal election by the Electoral College doesn’t Presidential elections take place every take place until December, when the elec- four years in years evenly divisible by the tors meet in each state capital to cast their number 4—for example, 2000, 2004, and ballots. Congress counts the electoral votes 2008. The Constitution does not provide and declares the winner as the next presi- for direct popular election of the president. dent. You will read more about the Instead, it set up an indirect method of Electoral College system in Chapter 10. election called the Electoral College. The Constitution says that each state “shall Defining What is a appoint” electors, who then vote for one presidential elector? of the major candidates. Although the bal- lot will show the names of the presidential candidates, when you vote for a candidate, Term of Office you are actually voting for a list of presi- dential electors pledged to that candidate. Presidents serve four-year terms. Each state has as many electoral votes Originally the Constitution placed no limits as the total of its U.S. senators and repre- on how many terms a president could sentatives. The Electoral College includes serve. The nation’s first president, George 538 electors. (Washington, D.C., has three Washington, served for eight years, then electoral votes.) This means that the states refused to run for a third term. Presidents with large populations have many more followed Washington’s example and no electoral votes than less populated states. In president served more than two terms until almost every state, the Electoral College is 1940, when Franklin D. Roosevelt ran for a “winner-take-all” system. Even if a candi- and won a third term. In 1944 Roosevelt date wins the popular vote by just a tiny won a fourth term. The Twenty-second majority, that candidate Amendment, ratified in 1951, limits each usually gets all of the president to two elected terms in office, or state’s electoral votes. a maximum of 10 years if the presidency Candidates thus pay began during another president’s term. much more atten- tion to these states Salary and Benefits The president receives a salary of John F. Kennedy won $400,000 per year, plus money for expenses the presidency in 1960. and travel. The president lives and works Chapter 7 The President and the Executive Branch 167 David J. & Janice L. Frent Collection/CORBIS 164-170 U2 Ch07 S1 CT-860970 11/28/03 10:28 AM Page 168 Presidential and airplanes. For long trips, the president Succession uses Air Force One, a specially equipped jet. Identifying What is the Vice President maximum number of years that a U.S. Speaker of the House president can serve in office? President Pro Tempore of the Senate Secretary of State The Vice President Secretary of the Treasury The vice president is elected with the Secretary of Defense president through the Electoral College Attorney General system. The qualifications for the office are Secretary of Homeland Security the same as those for the presidency. The Secretary of the Interior Constitution gives little authority to the Secretary of Agriculture vice president. Article I states that the vice Secretary of Commerce president shall preside over the Senate and Secretary of Labor vote in that body in case of a tie. Secretary of Health Vice presidents are usually not very vis- and Human Services ible to the public. Their activities rarely Secretary of Housing and receive front-page newspaper coverage.Yet, Urban Development if the president dies, is removed from office, Secretary of Transportation becomes seriously ill, or resigns, the vice Secretary of Energy president becomes president. Nine vice Secretary of Education presidents have become president due to Secretary of Veterans Affairs the death or resignation of a president. John Source: Nelson, Ed. The Presidency A to Z, Adams, our nation's first vice president, 3rd ed. (Washington, D.C.: CQ Press, 2003). described the situation well. He said, In 1947 Congress passed a law on the order of succession to the presidency. Who follows “I am Vice President. In this I am the Speaker of the House in succession? nothing, but I may become everything.” in the White House, which contains a pri- vate movie theater, a small gym, a bowling Presidential Succession alley, and a heated pool. A White House Eight presidents have died while in domestic staff of more than 80 people office. The original wording of the Consti- takes care of the president’s family. tution states that if the president dies or In addition, the president has the use of leaves office during his term, the vice pres- Camp David, a beautiful estate in the ident takes on the “powers and duties” of Catoctin Mountains of Maryland, about the presidency.
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