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Muhammad Adnan Wednesday, November 30, 2005 02:49 PM

How 2 be a President of USA
 
The President of U.S.A

1) INTRODUCTION

President of the United States, chief executive officer of the federal government, leader of the executive branch, and the commander in chief of the armed forces. The president has the power to make treaties with other nations, with the advice and consent of two-thirds of the Senate. The president also appoints, with Senate consent, diplomatic representatives, Supreme Court judges, and many other officials.

The president and vice president are the only government officials in the United States elected by and representing the entire nation. Although the president shares power with Congress and the judiciary, he or she is the most powerful and important officeholder in the country. The president has no vote in Congress but is the single largest source of legislative proposals that become law. As the principal foreign policy maker, the president of the United States has become the world’s most important leader in international affairs.

2) TERM OF OFFICE AND QUALIFICATIONS

A) Term of Office

The Constitution of the United States specifies a four-year presidential term. It originally said nothing about how many terms a president could serve. But the precedent established by George Washington limited his successors to two terms. Succession by a vice president after a president’s death provided the opportunity to serve more than eight years without strictly violating the two-term rule. No president tried to serve more than eight years in office until Republican Theodore Roosevelt. After filling out three-and-a-half years of the term of President William McKinley following McKinley’s assassination in 1901 and then serving four years in his own right (1905-1909), Roosevelt ran unsuccessfully in 1912 for another four years.
The need for steady leadership during World War II (1939-1945) made it possible for Democrat Franklin Delano Roosevelt to break the tradition by winning four successive elections between 1932 and 1944. In a reaction against Franklin Roosevelt’s extended presidency, in 1951 Congress and state legislatures approved the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution, which limits a president to two elected terms. The amendment also prohibits a person from running for election a second time if he or she has already served more than two years of a term to which someone else had been elected.

B) Presidential Qualifications and Salary

The Constitution requires presidents to be natural-born citizens of the United States who are at least 35 years of age and have resided in the United States for 14 years. As a tacit statement of America’s commitment to democracy and equal opportunity, the Constitution gave any free white male citizen of the country the opportunity to become president. All males gained the right to become president in 1870 when the 15th Amendment to the Constitution gave African Americans the right to vote. Women were excluded from running for the office until 1920, when the 19th Amendment to the Constitution gave them the right to vote.

The Constitution specifies that presidents receive compensation (salary and benefits) for their work, and Congress sets the specific amount. The salary of presidents cannot be increased or diminished during their term of office. Nor can the president receive additional payments from the federal government or any of the states while in office. The Constitution also disallows presidents and other federal officials from receiving any title of nobility, gift, payment, or official position from a king, prince, or foreign state. All gifts to a president from foreign governments belong to the people of the United States rather than the president.
Congress establishes presidential salaries. Originally, the president earned $25,000, and this was doubled to $50,000 in 1873. In 1907 Congress added an annual $25,000 stipend for expenses connected with the office. The president’s salary increased to $75,000 in 1909 and went up again to $100,000 in 1949. At that time the expense allowance also increased to $90,000. In 1969 the salary advanced to $200,000, with $100,000 budgeted for travel and another $50,000 for expenses. In 2000 the salary increased to $390,000 plus $50,000 for expenses. Because the president’s official duties incur far more expenses than the expense budget can cover, agencies of the federal government often assume responsibility for presidential events. The Department of Defense, for example, pays the cost of having a military band perform at White House social functions and ceremonies.
For most of America’s history, retired presidents did not receive a pension. In 1958 Congress passed the Former Presidents Act, which gave retired presidents a pension of $25,000 per year, an office, and a staff. Congress has increased the pension several times. Former presidents now receive a pension that is based on the annual salary of a cabinet secretary, which was $161,200 in 2001. Former presidents have historically been given a generous allowance for office and staff. Beginning with Democrat Bill Clinton, presidents (or their surviving widows or widowers) will receive funds for an office and staff for four and one-half years after they leave office.

3) ELECTION TO THE PRESIDENCY

The power of the presidency makes it the most sought-after position in American politics. The keen competition for the post and high cost of waging an effective campaign limits the pool of candidates to a select few. The Constitution originally provided for the election of the president and vice president by the Electoral College. Members of the Electoral College, who are called electors, represent their states by casting votes for two candidates, with the person receiving the greatest number of votes becoming president and the second-place finisher, vice president. A tie vote in the 1800 election between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr led to the enactment in 1804 of the 12th Amendment to the Constitution, which provides that the Electoral College use separate ballots, one for president and one for vice president.
By the mid-19th century the votes of the Electoral College had only symbolic importance. Electors from each state simply followed the will of the voting majority by giving their votes to the candidate receiving the most popular votes. However, in the Electoral College system, it is possible for candidates to win a majority of electoral votes, and therefore the presidency, without winning the nationwide popular vote. This scenario has occurred three times in United States history: in 1876, when Rutherford B. Hayes beat Samuel Tilden; in 1888, when Benjamin Harrison defeated Grover Cleveland; and in 2000, when George W. Bush prevailed over Al Gore. Another president who lost the popular vote was John Quincy Adams, who was elected in 1824 by the House of Representatives after no candidate received a majority in the Electoral College.
The president and vice president are the only public officials in the United States chosen in a nationwide election, which takes place every four years. There are three major steps in a presidential candidate’s journey toward the White House: primary elections, the party convention, and the campaign for the general election between party nominees. After winning election the president takes an oath of office on Inauguration Day. The long and expensive process from primary elections through the general election weeds out most potential candidates.

A) Primary Elections

Political parties choose their presidential nominees through primary elections and party caucuses (meetings). In these state contests the major political parties—the Democrats and Republicans—select delegates to attend their party conventions. Primary voters and caucus participants choose delegates who will support their favored candidate at the convention. The party conventions, held in the summer before the November general election, formally nominate the winner of the primaries and caucuses. Would-be candidates crisscross the states that hold the earliest primaries, especially New Hampshire, which holds the country’s first primary, usually in mid-February. Most contenders also wage campaigns to win Iowa’s party caucuses, which are usually held in February as well. These states are widely regarded as indicators of a candidate’s chances in the overall primary process and in the general election. As a result, voters in the states with early primaries receive lavish attention from the primary contenders and the news media. In most states, only a party’s registered voters can vote in the party primary. Some states, however, have open primaries, which allow voters to wait until Election Day to choose the party primary that they want to vote in. The expense and physical strain of campaigning across the dispersed primary states winnows the field of candidates. Many drop out due to lack of finances or after poor showings in the early contests.

B) Party Conventions

Party conventions have historically been tense, dramatic events as candidates struggled to organize enough delegate support to win the nomination. At the 1924 Democratic Convention, for example, delegates voted more than 100 times before settling on a candidate. Because more states adopted the primary system in the second half of the 20th century, most recent Democratic and Republican conventions created little suspense over the selection of a candidate. Because the outcome is often known in advance, the nominating conventions are usually symbolic affairs, serving to publicize the party’s candidates and rally voter support in the months before the election.
Regardless of whether the party’s choice is evident in advance, party conventions follow a carefully scripted routine. Parties begin their conventions by writing a party platform that outlines their political program for the country. Drafting the platform and winning the convention’s support of this document marks an important milestone because it shows that the party has reached agreement between its competing factions.
After the platform has been approved by the convention, party leaders and invited guests make speeches to the convention delegates. During the speeches and party ceremonies, the potential candidates and their assistants roam through the convention to assess the strength of their support and to try to sway a majority of delegates to vote for their nomination. If a candidate has been particularly effective in the primary elections before the convention, he or she is likely to win the party nomination on the first or second convention vote. If the leading contender fails to win a majority of delegate votes and begins to lose votes on subsequent ballots, another contender may emerge as a compromise candidate.
As soon as the candidate wins the convention’s nomination and gives his or her acceptance speech, the candidate and party leaders try to repair the divisions that tend to emerge during the convention. If the winning candidate has not already named his vice-presidential running mate, the choice is announced at the convention. The candidate must try to establish an image as a national leader who has experience in foreign and domestic affairs, and who is capable of attracting voter support in critical states. Equally important, the candidate must raise millions of dollars to pay for campaign costs, including funds for travel and an extensive network of campaign headquarters, but especially to pay for television advertisements.

C) Election Campaign

The campaign for the presidency traditionally begins in early September and ends on Election Day—the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. Candidates often complain about the length of the campaign period, which can require grueling 20-hour days of speechmaking and traveling. The candidates rely on party organizers to ensure support from loyal party followers, but it is equally important for candidates to raise issues that appeal to undecided voters and those in opposing parties. Most campaigns rely on national radio and television appearances and on press coverage to spread their candidate’s message to the nation. Since the 1960 election, nationally televised debates between presidential candidates have affected the outcome of most elections. Paid television advertisements have become increasingly important, sending campaign costs soaring. In 1996 the presidential campaigns of Democrat Bill Clinton and Republican Robert Dole spent a combined total of over $230 million, nearly half on television advertisements. In addition, the Republican and Democratic parties spent a combined total of over $30 million on advertisements backing their candidates
Even as they spread campaign themes through national television and radio campaigns, the candidates also make hundreds of speeches in cities and towns across the country to appeal to specific groups of voters. Candidates make special attempts to curry favor in states with a large number of electoral votes, such as California, New York, and Texas. Because the candidate who wins the greatest number of popular votes in a state receives the entire electoral vote of that state, campaign strategists try to craft a plan to win in key populous states and to avoid wasting campaign resources on small or politically doubtful states.

D) Election Day and Inauguration

The nation usually knows who has won by the evening of Election Day or early the following morning. The formal balloting of the Electoral College, however, does not take place until the first Monday after the second Wednesday of December, when the electors meet in each state. These results are transmitted to the secretary of the Senate and are counted publicly before a joint session of Congress on January 6. Under the original provisions of the Constitution, the president and vice president were inaugurated on March 4 of the year following their election. In 1933 the 20th Amendment went into effect, moving the inauguration date up to January 20. At the inaugural ceremony, the new president recites an oath: “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

E) Who Becomes President

Although the Constitution specifies few qualifications for the presidency, as a practical matter the office is closed to most Americans. Today, a candidate who hopes to win the White House must have tens of millions of dollars and substantial political muscle if he or she hopes to make it through the arduous ordeal of presidential elections. The election process has changed through the course of American history, but the challenge has always been difficult, narrowing the field of viable candidates to a select few. The strongest contenders are usually former vice presidents, prominent senators, and governors of populous states, such as New York and California. Other strong candidates have come from the military, served as governors of small states, or otherwise distinguished themselves in remarkable ways. Nearly all serious candidates have enjoyed the backing of a major political party, although third-party candidates have made significant showings in a few elections. Ross Perot, for example, won 19 percent of the vote on the Reform Party ticket in the 1992 race, one of the strongest third-party showings in the 20th century. All successful presidential candidates have been men, and all but Democrat John F. Kennedy, a Catholic, were Protestant. An African American has never received a major party nomination, although Jesse Jackson’s relatively strong candidacies in 1984 and 1988 helped shape the debates in the Democratic primaries. No woman has ever made a bid for the White House. Geraldine Ferraro was the only woman who has run on a national ticket, winning the Democratic vice-presidential nomination in 1984.

4) PRESIDENTIAL SUCCESSION

Presidents can be removed from office only through death, resignation, an inability to discharge the powers and duties of their office, or by congressional impeachment and conviction on charges of treason, bribery, or other serious crimes. To impeach a president, the Constitution requires a majority of the House of Representatives to vote to send articles of impeachment (written charges) against a president to the Senate. The Senate must conduct a trial of the president. After the trial, a two-thirds majority vote of the Senate is required to convict and remove a president from office. Congress rarely undertakes impeachment proceedings against presidents. Both presidential impeachment trials in American history—against Andrew Johnson in 1867 and against Bill Clinton in 1999—resulted in votes to acquit by the Senate.
Only one president has resigned, Richard Nixon in 1974, when the House Judiciary Committee prepared articles of impeachment for his crimes and misdemeanors in the Watergate scandal. Eight presidents have died in office: William Henry Harrison (1841), Zachary Taylor (1850), Abraham Lincoln (assassinated 1865), James A. Garfield (assassinated 1881), William McKinley (assassinated 1901), Warren G. Harding (1923), Franklin D. Roosevelt (1945), and John F. Kennedy (assassinated 1963).
The order of succession upon the demise, removal, resignation, or incapacity of a president has been changed four times in the country’s history. Under the Constitution, the vice president is the undisputed successor to the president. But should both the president and vice president be unable to govern, Congress mandated in 1792 that the president pro tempore (temporary president) of the Senate or the Speaker of the House, in that order, succeed to the presidency, but only for the purpose of ordering a new election. In 1886 Congress changed the succession rules so that if both the presidency and vice presidency were vacant, the secretary of state and then other Cabinet members in their order of seniority would become president. In 1947 Congress again changed the order of succession and this order remains in effect today: the Speaker of the House, followed by the Senate’s president pro tem, the secretary of state, and then other members of the Cabinet assume the presidency if there is no president or vice president. In 1967 the 25th Amendment to the Constitution described the conditions under which the vice president could temporarily replace an incapacitated president.

5) RESPONSIBILITIES AND POWERS

In the more than two centuries since the presidency was established, the responsibilities and powers of the office have grown to a point where they almost exceed the capacity of any one individual to manage them. The fact that so few presidents have been elected to two terms—only 15 out of 41 men—and that only 12 have served two full terms shows how difficult the job can be.
The Constitution requires the president to discharge the duties of the office and preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. The president is also responsible for the execution of the laws of the United States. In domestic affairs, this means anything from implementing economic, social, and regulatory measures passed by Congress to acting as commander in chief to quell disorder or suppress insurrection. Presidents shape the country’s judicial affairs by appointing federal judges. They influence the country’s domestic, economic, political, and social life by proposing legislation, calling Congress into special session, and vetoing laws passed by Congress that they consider destructive to the national well-being. As commander in chief of the military, the president is also empowered to repel foreign invasion and to fight wars overseas. In times of overwhelming public danger, the president can declare martial law, when the courts are not open or cannot function freely. The Constitution also gives the president the power to grant pardons and reprieves in criminal cases. This power does not require congressional approval, but it cannot be used in cases of impeachment.
In addition to these formal duties, the president is the country’s chief educator who sets standards of taste and culture, using the White House, in Theodore Roosevelt’s words, as a “bully pulpit” to assert moral authority. Presidents are also the leaders of their political party, and they try to advance its agenda.
A Legislative and Judicial Responsibilities
The president proposes much of the legislation that Congress approves. The president’s power to veto (reject) legislation also serves as a strong influence on the legislative process. Because it takes a two-thirds vote of both the House and the Senate to override a presidential veto, Congress often modifies pending legislation to suit the president’s preferences. Aside from the role in proposing and vetoing laws, the president exercises important legislative authority by issuing executive orders that have the force of law. The president also supervises the implementation of laws by directing administrative agencies, such as the Department of Justice and the Department of Agriculture.
The president appoints federal judges, subject to the approval of the Senate. In addition, the president assumes important judicial and law enforcement powers through executive agencies. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) gathers evidence against perpetrators of federal crimes and the Justice Department seeks indictments and convictions in the courts against wrongdoers. Agencies such as the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) act as quasi-judicial bodies by holding hearings, issuing regulations, and adjudicating disputes.

B) Economic Authority

The president exerts substantial influence on the economic life of the nation through budgetary and taxing proposals. The president’s decisions to increase and reduce budgets and to cut or raise taxes in conjunction with Congress affect the entire country, from the largest corporations to the individual taxpayer. Presidential decisions early in the country’s history to contribute federal funds to road and canal projects helped boost the nation’s economic development, and federal spending continues to drive growth in many areas. The president’s ability to shape tariffs on imports affects the thousands of businesses that buy and sell goods to other countries. A president’s power to regulate industries through the enforcement of safety requirements and environmental regulations affects nearly every workplace in America. The executive branch employs millions of workers, including clerks, investigators, lawyers, and others, and their pay rates help set a standard of living for millions of other citizens.

C) Foreign Policy

The president is the chief diplomat of the United States. The Constitution gives the president the power to negotiate treaties and appoint diplomatic representatives with the advice and consent of the Senate. The president also has the power to negotiate executive agreements with foreign countries that have the force and effect of law but do not require congressional approval. The president has the discretion to give official recognition to foreign governments. Democrat Woodrow Wilson, for example, refused to recognize the government of Mexico in 1913 because it had come to power through violence.

D) Military Leadership

As commander in chief of the armed forces, the president has the power to formulate and direct military strategy and actions in times of war and peace. As the country’s principal military commander, the president is responsible for the nation’s security and the safety of its citizens. Although the Constitution grants Congress the power to declare war, historically the president has had nearly total freedom to send troops into combat. In the second half of the 19th century, many presidents sent U.S. forces into Latin American countries to defend American business interests. Harry Truman made a much more substantial commitment of American soldiers in 1950 when he decided to fight the Korean War (1950-1953). A series of presidents—Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, and Richard Nixon—waged war in Vietnam without a formal declaration of war from Congress. Since the establishment of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in 1947, nearly every president has used executive power to order the agency to conduct covert military operations abroad.

E) Appointive Powers

Subject to confirmation by a majority of the Senate, the president appoints the members of the Cabinet, the heads of independent federal agencies, and a large number of the administrative personnel of the federal executive departments and agencies. The president also appoints federal judges, including the justices of the Supreme Court of the United States; many federal employees; and the diplomatic representatives of the United States. The president also commissions, subject to congressional confirmation, all officers of the armed forces.
The appointive powers of presidents include the freedom to spend substantial sums of money to facilitate their administration of the government and the exercise of their constitutional powers. Franklin Roosevelt, for example, authorized the Manhattan Project—a massive federal project to build an atomic bomb during World War II. Since the end of World War II, presidents have used their budgetary authority to support the CIA’s secret projects.

6) THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH

A) Administrative Organization



The president leads the executive branch of the federal government, although he or she delegates much of this authority. The executive branch consists of 15 departments: agriculture, commerce, defense, education, energy, health and human services, homeland security, housing and urban development, interior, justice, labor, state, transportation, treasury, and veterans affairs.
The president also directs numerous independent agencies. These include the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), Export-Import Bank, Farm Credit Administration, Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Federal Election Commission, Federal Maritime Commission, Federal Reserve System, Federal Trade Commission (FTC), General Services Administration, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities, National Labor Relations Board, National Science Foundation, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Small Business Administration, Tennessee Valley Authority, United States Information Agency, and the Postal Service.

B) Executive Supervision

The president formally supervises more than 4,000 employees of the executive branch but delegates nearly all of this authority to staff members. The president’s executive office consists of several divisions, including the White House Office, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the Council of Economic Advisers, and the National Security Council. Through the personnel of the White House Office, often called the White House staff, the president maintains communication with Congress, heads of the executive departments and agencies, and the media. The president relies on the OMB to help prepare the federal budget and to supervise federal spending. Similarly, the president turns to his Council of Economic Advisers to research and write an annual economic report for submission to Congress, and to help assess the state of the economy and recommend economic policies.

C) Party Responsibilities

Presidents lead their political party. A popular president often uses this power to campaign for the party’s congressional candidates. The president’s vote-winning ability enables the candidates to use this leverage to demand support for their own legislative programs. In addition, popular presidents can sometimes use their national support to win control of Congress for their party. A president whose party has majority control of both houses of Congress stands in a much stronger position to make legislative gains than a president contending with a hostile Congress dominated by the opposition party.

7) THE LIFE OF THE PRESIDENT

A president’s life is unlike anything experienced by any other American. Even before radio and television made a president’s every move the object of media attention, presidents have always been under close public scrutiny. They have faced fierce partisan attacks by opposing politicians and journalists exercising the American traditions of freedom of speech and freedom of the press. Thomas Jefferson may have best caught what it means to be president when he described the office as “a splendid misery.”

A) Life in the White House

The White House is the president’s office, but it is also the president’s home. Presidents live in the White House with their spouse and children and entertain guests there, formally and informally. John and Abigail Adams became the first residents of the presidential mansion in 1800. The building had no furniture, and the lack of stairways or firewood made life even more uncomfortable. Although the residence became a more congenial place to live during the next 14 years, it wasn’t until 1817 that the mansion took on its modern form, after repairs following fires set by the British in the War of 1812 (1812-1815). The white paint used to hide the marks of these fires fixed the name of the structure in the popular mind as the White House.
Over the years, the White House has been filled with children and relatives of the first family (the president’s family). Lavish weddings, refurbishing projects, and official ceremonies keep the White House in the minds of Americans. The daughter of James Monroe, the country’s fifth president, was married at the White House in 1820, the first presidential child to be married in the mansion. The Monroes also redecorated the White House with elegant French furniture, setting a standard for all future presidents and their spouses to emulate. In 1886 Grover Cleveland wedded Frances Folsom, the first marriage of a president in the White House. During the terms of Theodore Roosevelt, Harry Truman, and John F. Kennedy, the White House was substantially renovated, but always with an eye to preserving its history. In the early 1960s Jacqueline Kennedy, the wife of John F. Kennedy, restored the mansion to its early 19th-century elegance. When the work was completed in 1962, 46 million Americans tuned in to watch her conduct a televised tour of the remodeled White House.


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Adil Memon Wednesday, November 30, 2005 09:26 PM

Salaam,

Brother.. this article is excellent. Can you please tell me the source?

Regards,
Adil Memon

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