Difference between revisions of "President of the United States of America"
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Revision as of 15:07, January 21, 2017
The President of the United States is the head of the U.S. Executive Branch. As the head of state of the United States of America, the president is one of the most powerful people in the world. The writers of the Constitution recognized that they were writing a job description which, in England, was and is filled by the office of the prime minister and position of the monarch. According to the Founding Fathers of the USA, at that time, the monarchy of England did not appear to serve the common man and the Founding Fathers wanted a government that did.
Current president
Donald J. Trump currently is the 45th and current President (see note below the Presidents list). He took office on January 20, 2017. His predecessor was Barack Hussein Obama.
Election
The president is selected every four years by the American people, although not through a popular vote but rather through the Electoral College. This process makes the presidency one of the few elected officials in the United States of America chosen indirectly. The Founding Fathers implemented this procedure to ensure the relevance of smaller states in the voting process.
Term limits
Prior to Franklin Delano Roosevelt, presidents voluntarily limited themselves to two terms as an homage to George Washington. After Franklin D. Roosevelt served a little over twelve years in office, Congress passed the 22nd Constitutional Amendment restricting future presidents to two terms.
However, if the vice president succeeds to the presidency with no more than two years left in the prior president's term, he is allowed to run for two full terms, raising the potential time in office to ten years.
The first president to whom term limits applied was Dwight D. Eisenhower.
See also
Vice President of the United States of America
Presidents list
References
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