President of the United States

The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The role of the Executive Branch, of which the President is the head, is to enforce the national laws as stated in the Constitution or made by Congress. The office of president was established upon the ratification of the United States Constitution in 1788 and the first president took office in 1789.

The president serves as the chief executive and leader of the executive branch of the federal government. Article Two of the Constitution establishes the president as the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and enumerates powers specifically granted to the president, including the power to sign into law bills passed by both houses of Congress, to create a Cabinet of advisors, to grant pardons or reprieves, and, with the "advice and consent" of the Senate, to make treaties and appoint federal officers, ambassadors, and federal judges (including Justices of the Supreme Court). Article Two also defines a presidential term at four years; subsequently, the Twelfth Amendment (1804) revised the procedure for electing the president and the Twenty-second Amendment (1951) established presidential term limits.

The United States was the first nation to create the office of president as the head of state in a modern republic, and today the presidential system of government is used in many countries throughout the world. As of 2007, forty-two men have been President of the United States. George Washington was the first president of the United States, and George W. Bush is the 43rd and current president (because Grover Cleveland's two non-consecutive terms are counted twice). From the early 20th century, the United States' status as a superpower has led the American president to be one of the world's best-known public figures.

Origin

The Treaty of Paris (1783) left the United States independent and at peace but with an unsettled governmental structure. The Second Continental Congress had drawn up Articles of Confederation in 1777, describing a permanent confederation but granting to the Congress—the only federal institution—little power to finance itself or to ensure that its resolutions were enforced. In part this reflected the anti-monarchy view of the Revolutionary period, and the new American system was explicitly designed to prevent the rise of an American tyrant to replace the British King.

However, during the economic depression that followed the Revolutionary War the viability of the American government was threatened by political unrest in several States, efforts by debtors to use popular government to erase their debts, and the apparent inability of the Continental Congress to redeem the public obligations incurred during the war. The Congress also appeared unable to become a forum for productive cooperation among the States encouraging commerce and economic development. In response a Constitutional Convention was convened, ostensibly to reform the Articles of Confederation but that subsequently began to draft a new system of government that would include greater executive power while retaining the checks and balances thought to be essential restraints on any imperial tendency in the office of the president.

Before the 1788 ratification of the Constitution, there was no comparable figure with executive authority. Individuals who presided over the Continental Congress during the Revolutionary period and under the Articles of Confederation had the title "President of the United States of America in Congress Assembled", often shortened to "President of the United States". They had no important executive power. The president's executive authority under the Constitution, tempered by the checks and balances of the Judicial and Legislative branches of the Federal Government, was designed to solve several political problems faced by the young nation and to anticipate future challenges, while still preventing the rise of an autocrat over a nation wary of royal authority.

General description

Article Two of the United States Constitution, coupled with several articles of amendment, establish the requirements one must meet in order to become president, as well as the term of office, method of election, and powers.

Requirements for holding office

The president must be a natural born citizen of the United States (or a citizen of the United States at the time the U.S. Constitution was adopted), at least thirty-five years of age, and a resident of the United States for at least fourteen years. On assuming office the new president must take an oath to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States," to the best of his ability.^[1]

Term of office

The president and vice president serve a term of office of four years. The Twenty-second Amendment (which took effect in 1951) provides that no one may be elected to the office more than twice, and that no one may be elected president more than once who has held the office of (or acted as) president for more than two years of another's term. Prior to the ratification of this amendment, and following the precedent set by George Washington, an unofficial limit of two terms was generally observed, with the only exceptions being Theodore Roosevelt, who ran unsuccessfully for a third nonconsecutive term (although his first term was to finish that of slain President William McKinley—hence he was only elected once), and Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was elected 4 times, served three full terms and died in his fourth after just over 12 years in office. Ulysses S. Grant also briefly sought a third nonconsecutive term, making an unsuccessful run for the Republican Party nomination in 1880. Since the amendment went into effect, three presidents have served two full terms: Dwight Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton. Richard Nixon was elected to a second term but resigned before completing it. Current President George W. Bush will become the fourth should he complete his current term, on January 20, 2009. Lyndon B. Johnson was the only president since the ratification of the amendment to have been eligible to have served more than 2 terms, having served only 14 months of John F. Kennedy's term after becoming president following the latter's assassination. Harry S. Truman himself was not subject to term limits, as the 22nd specifically states that it both did not apply to the current term of the president in office upon its ratification (Truman) or "to any person holding the office of president when this Article was proposed by the Congress" (Truman). He briefly allowed his name on the ballot for the 1952 election (but did not campaign), and officially withdrew after losing the New Hampshire primary.

Election

Presidents and vice presidents of the United States are elected every four years indirectly through the United States Electoral College. They are the only nationally-elected offices in the United States, since executive officers and judges are appointed, United States Senators are elected at the state level, and United States Representatives are elected at the district level.

On election day, the voting citizens select their preferred candidate, usually by voting for a slate of electors put forward by the candidate's party. The ballots for each voting citizen typically has the names of the candidates for president and vice president (running together on a ticket), and votes for those individuals translate at the state level into votes for the electors chosen from their respective parties. Although State Legislatures have the constitutional power to appoint slates of electors, all fifty states have established popular election of presidential electors. In December, following the general election, Electors gather at their respective State capitals to cast their ballots, which are then transmitted to Congress under the care of the sitting Vice President of the United States. Originally, under Article II, the electors cast two votes for the office of president, the individual with the most votes becoming president, the runner up becoming vice president. This changed with the 12th amendment, with each elector casting one vote for president and one vote for vice president. The ballots are counted and certified in January before both houses of Congress. Should a candidate for either president or vice president fail to achieve a majority of votes, the United States House of Representatives (voting by state) chooses the next president from among the candidates while the United States Senate (voting normally) selects the vice president

Campaign

The modern presidential campaign begins before the primary elections, which the two major political parties use to clear the field of candidates in advance of their national nominating conventions, where the most successful candidate is made the party's nominee for president. The party's presidential candidate chooses a vice presidential nominee and this choice is rubber-stamped by the convention. Also, the party establishes a platform on which to base its campaign. Although nominating conventions have a long history in the United States, their substantive importance in the political process has greatly diminished; however, they remain important as a way of energizing the parties for the general election and focusing the public's attention on the nominees.

Nominees participate in nationally televised debates, and while the debates are usually restricted to the Democratic and Republican nominees, third party candidates may be invited (such as Ross Perot in the 1992 debates). Nominees campaign across the country to explain their views, convince voters, and solicit contributions. Much of the modern electoral process is concerned with winning swing states through frequent visits and mass media advertising drives.

Powers

The president, according to the Constitution, must "take care that the laws be faithfully executed." To carry out this responsibility, he has many powers, most of which are subject to or checked by Congressional power. He presides over the executive branch of the federal government; a vast organization of about 4 million people, including about 1 million active-duty military personnel, of whom he is Commander in Chief.

The Federalist Papers #69 states: In most of these particulars, the power of the President will resemble equally that of the king of Great Britain and of the governor of New York. The most material points of difference are these: First. The President will have only the occasional command of such part of the militia of the nation as by legislative provision may be called into the actual service of the Union. The king of Great Britain and the governor of New York have at all times the entire command of all the militia within their several jurisdictions. In this article, therefore, the power of the President would be inferior to that of either the monarch or the governor. Secondly. The President is to be commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the United States. In this respect his authority would be nominally the same with that of the king of Great Britain, but in substance much inferior to it. It would amount to nothing more than the supreme command and direction of the military and naval forces, as first General and admiral of the Confederacy; while that of the British king extends to the DECLARING of war and to the RAISING and REGULATING of fleets and armies, all which, by the Constitution under consideration, would appertain to the legislature.

However, the president's control over these tools of state are checked by Congress' power "to make Rules for the Government and Regulation for the land and naval Forces" (Article I, Section 8).

As president-elect, he will make as many as 6,000 appointments in addition to those that must be made during his/her term proper (including appointments to the federal judiciary), but the Senate must consent to all appointments, except those of "inferior officers" that Congress has vested exclusively in him/her, the courts, or the heads of departments. The president may make temporary appointments without the advice and consent of the Senate if the Senate is in recess, but such appointments expire at the end of the next session of the Senate.

While the president may not personally initiate legislation, he may veto any legislation passed by Congress. Such a veto may be overturned by a two-thirds majority vote in each House. The president may make treaties, but two-thirds of the Senate must ratify the treaty. He is also required by the Constitution to give Congress information on the State of the Union and propose measures for their consideration.

Salary

The First U.S. Congress voted to pay George Washington a salary of $25,000 a year (about $531,000 in 2007 terms) — a significant sum in 1789. Washington, already a wealthy man, refused to accept his salary. Theodore Roosevelt spent his entire $50,000 salary on entertaining guests at the White House. ^[2] Similarly, John F. Kennedy donated his salary to charities.^[3]

Traditionally, the president is the highest-paid government employee, though not in terms of traditional salary. His annual earnings total $150,000, though the president is given a $300,000 expense account. Consequently, the president's salary and total expense account serve as a traditional cap for all other federal officials, such as the Chief Justice. A raise for 2001 was approved by Congress and President Bill Clinton in 1999 because other officials who receive annual cost-of-living increases had salaries approaching the president's. Consequently, to raise the salaries of the other federal employees, the president's salary had to be raised as well. The President's monetary compensation is minuscule in comparison to the CEOs of most Fortune 500 companies and comparable to that of certain kinds of professionals e.g. attorneys and physicians in some parts of the United States. Overall the vast majority of U.S. presidents were very affluent upon entering office and thus were not dependent on the salary.

Prior to passage by Congress of the Former Presidents Act (FPA) in 1958, retired presidents did not receive a pension. All living presidents in 1959 began to receive a pension of $25,000 per year, an office, and a staff. The pension has increased numerous times with Congressional approval. Retired presidents now receive a pension based on the salary of the current administration's cabinet secretaries (Executive Level I), which is $183,500 as of 2007.^[4] Many former presidents also collect congressional pensions.^[5]

The FPA, as amended, also provides former presidents with travel funds and mailing privileges. Secret Service protection for former presidents is also authorized by statute.

Privileges of office

The president is entitled to use the White House as his living and working quarters, and its entire staff and facilities, including medical care, kitchen, housekeeping and security staff. While traveling, the president is able to conduct the functions of the office from one of two custom-built Boeing 747 aircraft popularly known as "Air Force One."^[6] The president also utilizes a United States Marine Corps helicopter, designated "Marine One" when the president is aboard. Similarly, "Navy One," "Army One," and "Coast Guard One" are the call signs used if the president is aboard a craft belonging to these services.^[7] For ground travel, the president uses an armored presidential limousine, currently a heavily modified Cadillac DTS which uses the call sign "Cadillac One" and is affectionately called "The Beast" by the Secret Service.

Secret Service

The sitting president and his family will be under constant protection by a United States Secret Service detail. Until 1997, all former presidents and their families were protected by the Secret Service until the president's death. The last president to have lifetime Secret Service protection is Bill Clinton; George W. Bush and all subsequent presidents will be protected by the Secret Service for a maximum of ten years after leaving office.^[8] However, following the increase in terrorism and threats to the president in general since 1997, lifetime protection is being reconsidered.

Removal from office

Article II of the Constitution provides that the president may be removed from office for "treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors" through impeachment and subsequent conviction. Article I gives the power of impeachment to a majority of the House of Representatives and conviction to two-thirds of the Senate. Two presidents, Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998, have been impeached. Neither was subsequently convicted by the Senate; however, Johnson was acquitted by just one vote.

By Act of Congress, the president may resign if his written resignation is delivered to the Secretary of State.^[9] The only president to resign was Richard Nixon, on August 9, 1974, facing articles of impeachment being reported on favorably by the House Judiciary Committee and probable subsequent Senate conviction.

If the office of President becomes vacant, whether through death, impeachment, or resignation of the sitting president, or through other means, the vice president immediately becomes president per Article II of the Constitution. More detail is prescribed in the 20th and 25th amendments, and other laws extend the line of succession further. The only president to be elected to neither the office of president nor that of vice president was Gerald Ford, who was appointed by Richard Nixon and confirmed after his vice president, Spiro Agnew, resigned in 1973. Nixon later resigned and Ford succeeded to the presidency. Ford was never subsequently elected.^[10]

Life after the presidency

Since 1997, presidents have been entitled to Secret Service protection for 10 years after finishing their terms of office (previously they were protected for life, which continues to be the case for presidents who served before 1997).^[11] Since Harry S. Truman (1953), presidents have received a pension after leaving office, and since the presidency of Herbert Hoover (1933), former presidents have received a repository for preserving and making available their papers, records, and other historical materials (The National Archives does not provide the initial funding for a Presidential Library. The National Archives only runs the completed facility).

Notable examples of significant post-presidential careers include William Howard Taft's tenure as Chief Justice of the United States, and Herbert Hoover's work on government reorganization after World War II. More recently, Jimmy Carter has become a global human rights campaigner and a best-selling writer. Other former presidents have served in elected office after leaving the White House; Andrew Johnson was elected to the Senate after his term was over, and John Quincy Adams served in the House of Representatives. Grover Cleveland, whose bid for reelection failed in 1888, was elected president again four years later in 1892. John Tyler served in the provisional Confederate States Congress during the Civil War, and was elected to the official Confederate Congress but died before it convened.

Presidential statistics

Births

Martin Van Buren (b. December 5, 1782) was the first president born after the Declaration of Independence and was thus arguably the first natural-born U.S. citizen (rather than a British subject) to become president. A Dutch-American, he was also the first president not of Anglo-Celtic origin.
John Tyler (b. March 29, 1790) was the first president born after the adoption of the U.S. Constitution: all previous presidents were eligible to serve because they were citizens at the time the Constitution was adopted.
Franklin Pierce (b. November 23, 1804) was the first president born in the 19th century.^[12]
Theodore Roosevelt (b. October 27, 1858) was the youngest man to become president, at age 42. (Assuming the presidency following William McKinley's assassination, he was not the youngest to be elected president).
Warren G. Harding (b. November 2, 1865) was the first president born after the American Civil War.
Herbert Hoover (b. August 10, 1874) in West Branch, Iowa, was the first president born west of the Mississippi River.
John F. Kennedy (b. May 29, 1917) was the youngest president elected,^[13] at age 43, and the first person born in the 20th century to serve as president.
Lyndon B. Johnson (b. August 27, 1908) was the American president born earliest in the 20th century.
Jimmy Carter (b. October 1, 1924) was the first person born after World War I to become president and the first president to be born in a hospital.
Ronald Reagan was the oldest president elected, at age 69, and the oldest person to serve as president, at age 77 when his term ended.
Bill Clinton (b. August 19, 1946) was the first person born after World War II to serve as president.

Deaths

Since George Washington's death in the 1790s, presidents or former presidents have died in every decade except four: the 1800s, 1810s, 1950s, and 1980s. No president or former president has died in the month of May.
Another odd coincidence occurred among the second and third Presidents, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. Bitter rivals throughout much of their lives, they both died on the same day, exactly fifty years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence. It has been rumored that Adams' last words were "Jefferson lives," not knowing that the former president had died just hours before.
Starting in 1840, every president who was elected in a year ending with a 0 (zero) died in office: Harrison (1840), Lincoln (1860), Garfield (1880), McKinley (1900), Harding (1920), Roosevelt (1940), and Kennedy (1960). The streak was broken with Reagan (1980).
The three presidents who presided over the bulk of the Vietnam War all died on the 22nd: Kennedy (November 22, 1963), Johnson (January 22, 1973), and Nixon (April 22, 1994).

Deaths in office and assassination attempts

Four presidents have been assassinated: Abraham Lincoln (1865) by John Wilkes Booth, James Garfield (1881) by Charles J. Guiteau, William McKinley (1901) by Leon Czolgosz, and John F. Kennedy (1963), by Lee Harvey Oswald .^[14]
Four others died in office of natural causes: William Henry Harrison died of pneumonia in 1841, Zachary Taylor died of "acute indigestion" in 1850,^[15] Warren G. Harding died of a heart attack in 1923, and Franklin D. Roosevelt died of cerebral hemorrhage in 1945.
There have been 9 attempts on the life of a sitting President, as well as 2 on former Presidents (Theodore Roosevelt and George H.W. Bush) and 1 on a President-elect:

Andrew Jackson (1835) by Richard Lawrence
Former President Theodore Roosevelt (1912) by John Schrank
President-elect Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1933) by Giuseppe Zangara
Harry S. Truman (1950) by Griselio Torresola and Oscar Collazo
Richard M. Nixon (1974) by Samuel Byck
Gerald R. Ford (1975) by Lynette Fromme and Sara Jane Moore (two separate, independent attempts)
James E. Carter (1979) by Raymond Lee Harvey
Ronald W. Reagan (1981) by John Hinckley, Jr. (Main article: Reagan assassination attempt)
Former President George H. W. Bush (1993) by sixteen suspected terrorists, in the employ of Saddam Hussein's Iraq
William J. Clinton (1994) by Francisco Duran
George W. Bush (2005) by Vladimir Arutinian

"Curse of Tippecanoe" refers to the fact that between William Henry Harrison and John F. Kennedy, each president elected or re-elected in a year evenly divisible by twenty died in office: William Henry Harrison (1840), Abraham Lincoln (1860), James Garfield (1880), William McKinley (1900), Warren G. Harding (1920), Franklin D. Roosevelt (1940), John F. Kennedy (1960). Ronald Reagan (1980) survived an attempt on his life and George W. Bush (2000) had a Soviet grenade thrown at him while in the country of Georgia, which failed to explode.
John Tyler is considered by some to be the only president who died outside of the United States, as he died in 1862 in the State of Virginia, which at the time considered itself part of the Confederate States of America.

Elections

Four presidents^[16] have been elected by a majority of the Electoral College without a plurality of popular votes:

John Quincy Adams trailed Andrew Jackson by 44,804 votes in the 1824 election^[17]
Rutherford B. Hayes trailed Samuel J. Tilden by 264,292 votes in the 1876 election
Benjamin Harrison trailed Grover Cleveland by 95,713 votes in the 1888 election
George W. Bush trailed Al Gore by 543,895 votes in the 2000 election.

Eleven presidents have been elected with a plurality of popular votes, without a majority of popular votes:
- James K. Polk—49.3% of the popular vote in the 1844 election
- Zachary Taylor—47.3% of the popular vote in the 1848 election
- James Buchanan—45.3% of the popular vote in the 1856 election
- Abraham Lincoln—39.9% of the popular vote in the 1860 election
- James Garfield—48.3% of the popular vote in the 1880 election
- Grover Cleveland—48.8% of the popular vote in the 1884 election
- Grover Cleveland—46.0% of the popular vote in the 1892 election
- Woodrow Wilson—41.8% of the popular vote in the 1912 election
- Woodrow Wilson—49.3% of the popular vote in the 1916 election
- Harry S. Truman—49.7% of the popular vote in the 1948 election
- John F. Kennedy—49.7% of the popular vote in the 1960 election
- Richard Nixon—43.2% of the popular vote in the 1968 election
- Bill Clinton—42.9% of the popular vote in the 1992 election
- Bill Clinton—49.2% of the popular vote in the 1996 election

Two presidents have been elected by the House of Representatives when no candidate achieved a majority of electoral votes:
- Thomas Jefferson had the same number of electoral votes as Aaron Burr in the 1800 election.
- John Quincy Adams trailed Andrew Jackson by 15 electoral votes in the 1824 election, but Jackson did not have a majority.
Two presidents won the electoral vote but lost their resident state:
- James Polk—lost Tennessee to Henry Clay but won the election in the 1844 election.
- Woodrow Wilson—lost New Jersey to Charles Evans Hughes but won the election in the 1916 election.
Six presidents won the electoral vote but lost their birth state:
- William Henry Harrison lost Virginia to Martin Van Buren but won his resident state of Ohio and the 1840 election.
- James Polk lost North Carolina to Henry Clay but won the 1844 election.
- Zachary Taylor lost Virginia to Lewis Cass but won the 1848 election.
- Abraham Lincoln lost Kentucky to John Bell but won his resident state of Illinois and the 1860 election. Lincoln also lost Kentucky to George Brinton McClellan, but won Illinois and the 1864 election.
- George H. W. Bush lost Massachusetts to Michael Dukakis but won his resident state of Texas and the 1988 election.
- George W. Bush lost Connecticut to Al Gore but won his resident state of Texas and the 2000 election. Bush also lost Connecticut to John Kerry but won his resident state of Texas and the 2004 election.
Only James Polk has won the presidency while losing both his resident state and birth state.

Unelected presidents

Nine presidents have taken office without being elected to the presidency. Of those nine, eight had been elected as vice presidents and then succeeded to the presidency.
- Of the eight who were elected vice president, four did not run for the following presidency.
  - John Tyler—assumed the presidency on the death of William Henry Harrison; did not run in the 1844 election
  - Millard Fillmore—succeeded Zachary Taylor; did not run in the 1852 election
  - *Fillmore did run for president in the 1856 election as a Know Nothing Party candidate and received 873,053 votes (21.6%), finishing third
  - Andrew Johnson—succeeded Abraham Lincoln; did not run in the 1868 election
  - Chester A. Arthur—succeeded James Garfield; did not run in the 1884 election
- The other four later ran for president and were elected:
  - Theodore Roosevelt—succeeded William McKinley; elected president in the 1904 election
  - Calvin Coolidge—succeeded Warren G. Harding; elected president in the 1924 election
  - Harry S. Truman—succeeded Franklin D. Roosevelt; elected president in the 1948 election but did not run again in the 1952 election, despite being eligible for a second term.
  - Lyndon B. Johnson—succeeded John F. Kennedy; elected president in the 1964 election but did not run again in the 1968 election
- One president, Gerald Ford, was never elected as either vice president or president; he was appointed vice president by Richard Nixon (with approval from Congress) upon the resignation of Vice President Spiro Agnew. He succeeded to the presidency after Nixon's resignation and was defeated in the 1976 election by Jimmy Carter.

Terms of office

There were four cases in which only one person served in a presidential term but that person did not serve for a full 1461 days.
- Although the first presidential term was deemed to have started on March 4, 1789—the day that the United States Constitution became operational—the First Congress did not meet to count the electoral vote until April 6, and thus George Washington did not accede to the office until then, giving him 1427 days and some number of hours.
- Franklin D. Roosevelt's first term began at noon EST March 4, 1933, but the twentieth amendment changed the start of the next term to noon EST on January 20, 1937, giving Roosevelt a first term of 1419 days.
- 1800 and 1900 were not leap years, so John Adams' term and William McKinley's first term were shortened to 1460 days.
An urban legend claims that David Rice Atchison was the 11½th president of the United States for one day on March 4, 1849, in between the terms of James K. Polk (whose term expired at noon EST on March 4) and Zachary Taylor (who chose not to be sworn in until March 5 as March 4 was a Sunday). However, this fails the test of logic. If one does not consider Taylor to have officially become president until the administration of his Oath of Office, then this precludes any person from having automatically succeeded before likewise having taken the oath. In fact, Taylor, as president-elect, automatically succeeded to the Office of President upon the expiration of Polk's term, even if he did not yet enter into the execution of that office until the oath was administered. This was confirmed by Congress when it certified his election, as it defined the beginning of the administration as the instant Polk left office. Even if supposing, for the sake of argument, that only Presidents-elect are required to take the oath before officially occupying the office, while officials in the Presidential Line of Succession occupy the presidency ipso facto, then there would be dozens of additional "presidents" who only held the office for a matter of hours or minutes.
Grover Cleveland had two non-consecutive terms as president and is counted both as the 22nd and the 24th president. Consequently, all subsequent presidents who are referred to as "the President of the United States" are actually the person to hold the office. So George W. Bush, the 43rd president, is actually the 42nd person to be president.

Other facts

William Howard Taft is the only president to serve as both the head of the executive branch and the judicial branch of the U.S.; he was Chief Justice of the United States after his term as president.
All five bearded presidents have been members of the Republican Party.
Most presidents have been of substantially English descent, but there have been a few who came from a different background:
- Predominantly Dutch: Martin Van Buren [6]
  - Although Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin D. Roosevelt had Dutch names, neither was predominantly Dutch; each had only one Dutch grandfather. Theodore Roosevelt's other three grandparents were all British; Franklin Roosevelt's other three grandparents were of Puritan stock.
- Predominantly German: Herbert Hoover and Dwight Eisenhower [7]
- Predominantly of Irish or Scottish descent: William McKinley and John F. Kennedy.
John Tyler's grandmother was Huguenot.
Only one president was the son of two immigrant parents: Andrew Jackson. Five presidents (Jefferson, Buchanan, Arthur, Wilson, Hoover) had just one immigrant parent each.
Only one president, James Buchanan, remained a bachelor. Bachelor Grover Cleveland married Frances Folsom while in office, while both John Tyler and Woodrow Wilson became widowers and remarried while in office.
Franklin D. Roosevelt is the only president to have had a readily apparent physical disability.
Four presidents were related as father and son: John Adams and John Quincy Adams; George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush.
One pair of presidents were grandfather and grandson, William Henry Harrison and Benjamin Harrison.
Historical rankings of United States Presidents by academic historians usually regard three presidents — in chronological order, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Franklin D. Roosevelt — to be the three most successful presidents by a wide margin.
The Secret Service and some agencies in the government use acronyms as jargon. Since the Truman Administration the President of the United States has been called POTUS, pronounced //. The wife of the president, traditionally referred to as the First Lady is called FLOTUS, pronounced //. The Vice President of the United States is often abbreviated to VPOTUS, pronounced //. See Secret Service codename.
Military service: 31 out of the 42 U.S. presidents have served in the military. All but one (James Buchanan) served as officers.
Three out of the first five presidents died on July 4 (Independence Day): John Adams (1826), Thomas Jefferson (1826), and James Monroe (1831). The first two died within hours of each other, 50 years to the day after adopting the Declaration of Independence together. [8]
Six presidents graduated and one got his Master's degree from Harvard University: The six were both Adamses, Hayes, both Roosevelts and Kennedy. George W. Bush received his Master of Business Administration degree there; four graduated and one earned his law degree from Yale University: The four were Taft, Ford, and both Bushes. Bill Clinton received his law degree there; three graduated from the College of William and Mary: Jefferson, Monroe, and Tyler; two graduated from Princeton University: Madison and Wilson; two attended Columbia University: Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt; two graduated from the United States Military Academy: Ulysses S. Grant and Dwight D. Eisenhower; and one graduated from the United States Naval Academy: Jimmy Carter.
Since 1947, almost every president has pardoned a Thanksgiving turkey, in a ceremony informally called the National Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation.
Fifteen presidents were Freemasons: George Washington, James Monroe, Andrew Jackson, James Polk, James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, James Garfield, William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, Warren G. Harding, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Lyndon Johnson and Gerald Ford.
All but seven presidents had prior executive experience as Governors, Generals, or vice-presidents of prior administrations. [9]
The United States was completely debt free for the first and only time in American history under Andrew Jackson.
William Henry Harrison was the first President to have his photograph taken, although John Quincy Adams, who served before him, had several taken several years later.
John Adams created the Department of the Navy.
Thomas Jefferson's tombstone does not mention that he served as President of the U.S.
William Henry Harrison served the shortest presidency in American history: 30 days.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the first President to appoint a woman to his cabinet.
Ronald Reagan was the first President to appoint a woman to the Supreme Court.
Despite the fact that there are far more Roman Catholics in the United States than Quakers, Quakers have contributed more presidents than the Roman Catholics. Kennedy was the only Roman Catholic, while Hoover and Nixon were Quakers.

External links

Official

Presidential histories

The American Presidency Project, UC Santa Barbara. - A collection of over 67,000 Presidential documents
Presidential Documents from the National Archives. - A collection of letters, portraits, photos, and other documents from the National Archives
POTUS, Internet Public Library. - Brief biographies, election results, cabinet members, notable events, and some points of interest on each of the presidents.
Life Portraits of the American Presidents, C-SPAN. - A companion website for the C-SPAN television series: American Presidents: Life Portraits
United States of America, Archontology.org.

Speeches

Presidential Inaugural Addresses, Re-QUEST dot Net.
State of the Union Addresses of the American Presidents, USA-Presidents.info.

President's Weekly Address

Miscellaneous

The Presidents, American Experience. - A PBS site on the American presidency.
An Interactive Guide to the Presidents of the United States
Allpresidents.org, Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies. - An educational site on the American presidency.
All the President's Roles, Ask Gleaves. - An article analyzing the president's many hats.
The Masonic Presidents Tour, The Masonic Library and Museum of Pennsylvania. - Brief histories of the Masonic careers of Presidents who were members of the Freemasons.
Teaching about the U.S. Presidency, ERICDigests.org. - A resource for educators teaching the American Presidency
American Presidents Blog. - The author of this blog posts links to sites relating to the American Presidency or specific American Presidents
Presidential Administrations: Presidents, Vice Presidents, and Cabinet Members, A People and a Nation. - Listing of the cabinet members for each Presidential Administration
Presidential Rankings, Wall Street Journal. - Opinion poll of how great each President is believed to be.
PresidentialDoodles.com, two centuries of scribbles, scratches, squiggles, and scrawls from the Oval Office
Archive of Pictures of U.S. Presidents

Citations

[1] Findlaw.com reposting of the constitution, Article II, Section I, Paragraph 8.
[2] Morris: The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt
[3] Richard Reeves. President Kennedy: Profile of Power. (1993)
[4] Former Presidents Act (FPA), U.S. Senate, U.S. Senate, 1958.
[5] Former presidents cost U.S. taxpayers big bucks, Toledo Blade, 2007.
[6] Any U.S. Air Force aircraft carrying the president will use the call sign "Air Force One."
[7] " Executive One" becomes the call sign of any civilian aircraft when the president boards.
[8] 18 USC 3056
[9] Findlaw for legal professionals.
[10] http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2006/obit.ford/story/honorable.man/index.html, Morton, Bruce, An honorable man, CNN, 2006-12-26.
[11] 18 USC 3056
[12] Millard Fillmore was born January 7, 1800, the last year of the 18th century.
[13] See:List of United States presidents by age at ascension to office and note Theodore Roosevelt was younger than Kennedy when he became president, but was not elected, succeeding after the assassination of McKinley.
[14] [4] [5]
[15] Taylor's body was exhumed in 1991 to test if he had died of arsenic poisoning. It was determined he did not.
[16] A possible addition to this list is John F. Kennedy, who may have trailed Richard Nixon in the 1960 election. The precise gap in votes is difficult to determine because Alabama voters could only vote "Democratic" without choosing a candidate. Half of the state's electoral votes were pledged to Kennedy, and the other half went to Harry F. Byrd. It is impossible to know how many voters meant their "Democratic" vote to be for Kennedy or Byrd, and the margin between Kennedy and Nixon was smaller than the number of Democratic votes in Alabama. The official U.S. government figure counts all Alabama votes in Kennedy's total, giving Kennedy the plurality over Nixon.
[17] However, in six of the then twenty-four states in 1824, the electors were chosen by the state legislature, with no popular vote.

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