President of the United States Job Description Succession and Vice-President

President of the United States

Job Description

Succession and Vice-President

Presidential Roles

1. Chief of State• Ceremonial head of the United

States Government• Symbol of all the people of the

nation• President reigns and rules• “the personal embodiment and

representative of their dignity and majesty”

2. Chief Executive

• Sees that the Nation’s laws are carried out

• Vested by the Constitution with “the Executive Power” of the United States

• Broad powers domestically and internationally - foreign affairs

• Most powerful office in the world

3. Chief Administrator• Heads the largest

government machine:

The Federal Bureaucracy

• Directs an administration that employs 3 million people and spends ~ $1.5 trillion per year

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4. Chief Diplomat

• Determines Foreign Policy

• Main architect of American Foreign Policy

• The United States chief spokesperson to the rest of the world

5. Commander in Chief

• Commands the United States’ armed forces

• 2 million men and women are in the US armed forces

• All of the power of the military and its arsenal are at his disposal



6. Chief Legislator

• Proposes laws to Congress

• Main architect of public policy - what the people want

• Sets the shape of the Congressional agenda



7. Party Chief

• The acknowledged leader

of his political party

• His political party controls the Executive Branch - the party in power

8. Chief Citizen

• Expected to be the representative of all of the American people

Works for and represents public interest against

private interests

“place of moral leadership” - FDR

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Three formal requirements to be President:

Natural born citizen35 years oldLived in the United States for at

least 14 years.

Three formal requirements to be President:

Natural born citizen35 years oldLived in the United States for at

least 14 years.



Presidential Term of Office

4 years

According to the 22nd Amendment, the president can only serve two term or a total of 10 years

Presidential Term of Office

4 years

According to the 22nd Amendment, the president can only serve two term or a total of 10 years

Table 1. GSA Allowances for Former Presidents -08Allowance Widows Carter Bush ClintonPension $0 $191,000 $191,000 $201,000Staff Salaries 0 96,000 96,000 96,000Staff Benefits 0 2,000 64,000 65,000Travel 0 2,000 56,000 50,000Rental Payments 102,000 175,000 516,000Telephone 0 10,000 17,000 79,000Postage 12,000 15,000 13,000 15,000Other Services 0 83,000 76,000 65,000Printing 0 5,000 14,000 14,000Supplies 0 5,000 15,000 26,000Equipment 0 7,000 69,000 35,000TOTAL $12,000 $518,000 $786,000 $1,162,000

Presidential BenefitsPresidential Benefits $50,000 expense account $100,000 travel account $190,000 entertainment account Homes: White House

Camp David, MD Transportation: limos, Airforce One,

(jet) Airforce Two, (helicopter), USS Sequoia, (yacht)

$50,000 expense account $100,000 travel account $190,000 entertainment account Homes: White House

Camp David, MD Transportation: limos, Airforce One,

(jet) Airforce Two, (helicopter), USS Sequoia, (yacht)

Who is the first lady?President’s wife - Michelle Obama

Who is the President of the US?Barack Obama

http://whitehouse.c-span.org/

Who is the first lady?President’s wife - Michelle Obama

Who is the President of the US?Barack Obama


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Presidential Succession

Who comes next?

Presidential Succession

Who becomes president if Barack Obama can not longer hold the office?

John BoehnerJoe Biden Daniel InouyeHillary Clinton Timothy Geithner

Who is next? Place the correct names on your worksheet, #’s 1 - 5.

1. Vice-President: Joe Biden

2. Speaker of the House: John Boehner

3. President Pro Tempore of the Senate:

Daniel Inouye

4. Secretary of State: Hilary Clinton

5. Secretary of Treasury: Timothy Geithner

25th Amendment

• “in case of the removal of the

President from office or of his death or resignation, the Vice-President shall become President”

• Purpose: orderly change of the head of government

• Constitution did not address what should be done if something happened to the President.

Presidential Succession Actof 1947

• Congress adopted the order of succession following the Vice-President

• Was an Act of Congress, not an amendment to the Constitution

• Purpose was to fix the order

of succession - no debate



Presidential Disability

• The 25th Amendment, sections 3 & 4 discuss what should be done if the President was disabled.

• VP becomes “acting” Pres. if:– 1. President informs Congress, in writing,

he is unable to work or– 2. VP & a majority of cabinet members

inform Congress in writing

Vice-Presidential Duties

• the first vice president, described it as "the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived or his imagination conceived.” John Adams

• The Constitution says very little, two formal duties:

1. Presides over the Senate2. Helps to decide the question of Presidential disability

• When running for office, the Presidential candidate selects who he would like as Vice Pres.

• President also selects the new Vice Pres. when there is a vacancy in the office.

• The President can not fire the Vice President. - Why?

Recent Roles of Vice-President

• More Vice-Presidents recently have had active roles in the administration

• Advisor to President on specific issues– Jimmy Carter 1st Pres. To give his VP,

Walter Mondale, an office in the west wing of the White House

– Al Gore was Clinton’s advisor on foreign policy and the environment



Electoral College

• Responsible for electing the President and the Vice President

• Founding Fathers had two purposes:– Wanted states involved in electing the Pres.– Protect the country from ill-informed populace

• Each state has same number of electors as representatives to Congress and Washington DC has 3 = 538 total electors

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Documents

President of the United States Job Description Succession and Vice-President