| The US President is the head of the state of the United States of America, the head of the executive branch (Federal government of the USA) and the commander-in-chief of the armed forces according to the constitution of the United States of America. The president has the right of veto on the bills, passed by the US Congress. The post is introduced by the Constitution of USA, passed in 1787. George Washington was the first US president in 1789.
Barack Obama is the present president of the USA. Officially, he assumed the office of President as the 44th president on 20.01.2009.
Qualifications of the candidates:
According to the constitution of the USA, any citizen born in the USA, above 35 yrs of age and residing in the USA for no less than 14 yrs is eligible to become the President. Ronald Reagan, elected as President at the age of 68 was the oldest President who served the post.
According to the 22nd amendment to the Constitution, passed in 1951, one and the same person can hold the office of President for no more than twice (immaterial as to whether he assumed office consequently or after sometime). Also, if any individual serves as president in the case of the death or resignation of an elected president (from the post of vice-president or otherwise) for two years or more, then the individual can be elected as president for no more than once in future. Actually, almost all of the earlier presidents adhered to this unwritten rule by following the example of George Washington, who served the post for only two terms. However in 1940, Franklyn D. Roosevelt was elected for a third term and in 1944, for the fourth term (Roosevelt died in 1945). After that, not belittling Roosevelt's merits and the extraordinary conditions in which he was re-elected (World War II), a decision was taken legislatively to limit the number of re-elections, so that this case did not become a precedent for establishing a dictatorship. The 22nd Amendment did not have a retroactive force and was not applicable to President Harry S. Truman, who completed a full term after the death of Roosevelt and also his own term, but Truman did not wish to be re-elected again in 1952.
Grover Cleveland was the only president who served the post for two non-consecutive terms.
In many countries with a republican form of government, the qualifications for presidential candidates are similar to the qualifications for the candidate in the USA, for example the age qualification.
Elections:
The president of USA is elected for a four-year term along with the vice-president through indirect (two-level) elections.
The president and vice-president work “in liaison” during the entire election campaign.
The so-called Electoral College votes directly for the President and Vice-president. According to the constitution, the Legislative Assembly of each state can appoint a specific number of electors (equaling to the number of representatives of the state in the Congress), who represent the interests of the state. The method, with the help of which the list of electors is determined, the Legislative Assembly can choose at its own discretion, however, presently, all states determine the electors through public voting, which takes place on the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November, once in four years.
The voting of electors takes place in the beginning of December and is a known formality, though it repeatedly happened that individual electors did not cast their vote as promised during their election. Laws exist in some of the states which oblige the electors to cast a vote on how the state orders them to do so.
The electors separately vote for the President and Vice-president and for the election, the candidate should have an overwhelming majority (more than half) of the electoral votes, presently, which stands at 538. If an absolute majority is not achieved, then the President or Vice-president is selected by the House of Representatives or, accordingly, by the Senate of Congress of the USA from the candidates who got the maximum number of votes from the Electoral College according to the laws constituted by the constitution.
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This Monday is Presidents Day in the U.S. We have so many past presidents that were great men and contributed much to the world we now live in. Although Monday is actually the anniversary of George Washington's birth, many businesses choose to honor four past presidents. Those highly revered presidents can be found on the $1, $5, $20 and $50 bills.
