Ch. 10 Lesson Summaries

Lesson 1: Presidential Qualifications and Leadership

Qualifications for the Presidency

What are the formal and informal qualifications to be president?

Constitutional Requirements 

According to the Constitution, the president must:

• Be a natural-born citizen of the United States,

• at least 35 years old, and

• a resi­dent of the United States for at least 14 years before taking office.

  The same requirements apply to the vice president.

Informal Requirements  

Every president in American history has served in one of these roles before becoming president: vice president, U.S. senator or representative, cabinet secretary, governor of a state, or general in the U.S. Army.

Since 1900, candidates who have served as U.S. senators or state governors have won the major parties’ presidential nominations the most often. A political career gives someone experience in lawmaking, compromise, and understanding how government functions. Prior government experience also gives presidential candidates the chance to form the alliances necessary to be nominated within their own political party, as well as the name recognition that is necessary to win votes.

Political Beliefs 

Extremely liberal or conservative candidates have little chance of being elected, and the major parties usually choose candidates who are moder­ate. Exceptions do occur, however. In 1964 Barry Goldwater, a very conservative Republican, became his party’s nominee for the presidency. In 1972 a very liberal Democrat, George McGovern, won his party’s nomination. Both men were defeated in the general election.

Personal Characteristics 

What kind of person becomes president? Historically, most presidents have come from northern European backgrounds. A few have been from poor families—Abraham Lincoln, Harry S. Tru­man, and Bill Clinton, for example. Several presidents—such as Franklin D. Roo­sevelt, John F. Kennedy, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush—have come from wealthy families, but most have been middle class. Most presidents have been white, married, and financially suc­cessful.

Barack Obama was the nation’s first African American president. The election of President Obama in 2008 represented a major change in American politics. Only fifty years earlier, African Americans faced oppressive, state-sanctioned discrimination. In his campaign, Obama stressed the need for unity among all ethnic, racial, and reli­gious groups. In a speech at the Constitution Center in March 2008, then-candidate Obama said:

To date, every president has been a man and each has identified as Christian. John F. Kennedy, elected in 1960, was the first Roman Catholic president; previously, voters had always elected a Protestant candidate. Still, presidential and vice presidential nominees and presidential candidates are becoming more diverse. Several women have been candidates for president and vice president. For example, Republican Sarah Palin and Democrat Geraldine Ferraro were vice presidential candidates. In 2008 Hillary Clinton came close to becoming the first female presidential nominee from a major party. Joe Lieberman, Al Gore’s running mate, was the first Jewish American vice presidential nominee. In 2012 Mitt Romney was the first Mormon candidate from a major party.

Financial Backing 

Running for the presidency demands large amounts of money. Candidates pay for advertising, salaries of campaign staff and consultants, and travel; they also spend millions of dollars to reach out to voters by mail, e-mail, Internet, and phone. Modern presidential campaigns cost tens of millions of dollars.

The figures for expenditures for the 2012 presi­dential campaign demonstrate how important it is for a candidate to have access to huge sums of money. The Federal Elections Commission (FEC) tracks campaign spending based on reports required by the candidates. According to the FEC, all of the presidential candidates from both parties during the primaries and general election spent more than $1.3 billion. The FEC tracks campaign spending on a monthly basis and reports this information to the public on its website.

In order to raise the vast sums of money needed to be competitive, presidential candidates must have strong financial support from many people. Personal wealth is a great asset for any candidate as well. Presidential candidates can accept public financing for their campaigns, but they must limit how much money they spend to specific dollar amounts. For the 2012 presidential election, the overall primary limit was $45.6 million and the general election spending limit was $91.2 million.

Candidates who forgo public financing can spend as much as they can collect. In 2008 then-candidate Barack Obama was the first major presidential candidate to forgo public financing for the general election. In 2012 both Mitt Romney and Barack Obama turned down public financing. Obama raised $722.4 million and Romney raised $447.6 million.

Applying What makes a candidate more likely to win the office of the president?

What kinds of leadership qualities do successful presidents have?

When the Founders wrote the Constitution, they thought that Congress, not the president, would lead the nation. At best, the president was to be the nation’s chief administrator and, in time of war, its commander in chief. Instead, the powers and duties of the president have grown steadily over the years. Public opinion surveys clearly show that Americans look to the president to keep the peace and to solve economic and social problems.

Every president has a unique style of leadership. Sometimes presidents demonstrate leadership by introducing bold new policies; President Truman did this in 1948 when he announced measures to end discrimination against African Americans in the military. More often, presidents demonstrate leadership by responding to crises, problems, or opportunities as they occur.

Understanding the Public  

A president must know and understand the American people. The most successful presidents have a genuine feel for the hopes, fears, and moods of the nation. Understanding the people is necessary to gain and hold their support.

Public support, in turn, can give a president real leverage in influencing lawmakers. Since Congress is a representative body, it is very sensitive to the amount of public support a president can generate. When a president is popular, presidential proposals and policies are better received by Congress than when the public holds a president in low regard. Failure to understand the public mood can prove disastrous for a president. In 1932, when the nation was mired in the Great Depression, President Herbert Hoover believed that the public did not want government to take an active role in confronting the nation’s economic problems. Actually, with millions out of work, Americans wanted their problems solved by any means, including federal intervention. President Hoover’s failure to understand people’s attitude cost him the presidency. In 1932 he lost the presidential election to the Democratic candidate, Franklin D. Roosevelt, by a large majority of votes, a landslide.

Ability to Communicate 

A leading expert has said, “Presidential power is the power to persuade.” Successful presidents must be able to communicate effectively and to present their ideas in a way that inspires public support. President Hoover was considered “out of touch” with the people as the economy started to crumble at the beginning of the Great Depression. He met infrequently with the press and only answered questions that were written in advance. In contrast, President Roosevelt was a master at communicating with the public. He held weekly press conferences during which he answered all questions. After his famous “fireside chats” over the radio, Roosevelt received as many as 50,000 letters of public support per week.

Modern presidents often use a strategy of "going public" to appeal directly to voters. President Ronald Reagan became known as “the Great Communicator” because of his ability to sell his ideas to the public. A former actor, he had a very relaxed demeanor, soothing voice, and practiced sense of timing during speeches and debates. Reagan also had a keen sense of humor and spoke optimistically and simply about his vision for America. He made the public feel as if they knew him. These communication skills were essential to his success as a candidate and a president, especially in times of crisis.

Sense of Timing 

A successful president must know when the time is right to introduce a new policy, to make a key decision, or to delay such actions. During the crisis in the former Soviet Union in the early 1990s, President George H.W. Bush agreed that American economic aid would help encourage democratic reforms there. He decided to delay acting on this policy, however, until the Soviet political situation was clearer and more stable. On the other hand, when some former Soviet republics declared their independence, Bush was quick to recognize their sovereignty.

Skillful presidents often use their assistants or cabinet secretaries to test the timing of new policy initiatives. They might deliberately leak information or have a cabinet secretary or an aide make a statement about a policy under consideration. Public response to the issue may influence whether the president pursues, delays, or quietly drops a policy initiative.

Ability to Compromise

Good leadership requires the capacity to be flexible and open to new ideas. A successful president must also be able to compromise. The nature of politics is such that even the president must be willing to give up something to get something in return. Presidents who are successful leaders are able to recognize that sometimes they must settle for legislation that provides only part of the programs they want. Presidents who will not compromise risk accomplishing nothing at all.

A famous dispute at the end of World War I between President Woodrow Wilson and the Congress is often cited as an example of a president refusing to compromise and losing everything in the end. Wilson had represented the nation at the Paris Peace Conference negotiations to end the war. He lobbied the other nations involved with the treaty to include a plan for a League of Nations, a global organization whose goal was to prevent war.

When the treaty came before the Senate for ratification, many senators opposed it. They did not want permanent ties of any kind to Europe and its problems. They specifically objected that the League of Nations plan would take away the right of Congress to declare war. (The League called for members to take collective action against any aggressor nation.)

Faced with these objections, President Wilson still refused to modify the treaty. Wilson faced a significant problem, however: If changes were made to the treaty to please the Senate, it would also have to be renegotiated with foreign powers. An angry Wilson decided to go on a public speaking tour to build support for the treaty. The tour ended suddenly when Wilson suffered a stroke. The Senate rejected the treaty, and the United States never joined the League of Nations. It did join the successor organization, the United Nations, in 1945.

Political Courage 

Successful presidents need political courage because sometimes they must go against public opinion to do what they think is best. It takes courage to make decisions that will be unpopular.

President Abraham Lincoln made this kind of decision during the Civil War. The early years of the war went very badly for the North—despite some Union victories, casualties were very high, and the war’s end seemed nowhere in sight. As time passed, the war became increasingly unpopular, and the president came under intense public and political pressure to negotiate peace. Despite his belief that his decision would mean his defeat in the 1864 election, however, Lincoln chose to continue the war to preserve the Union.

At times, presidents have shown leadership and courage by going against the traditional views of their own political parties. For example, prior to becoming president, Republican Richard Nixon’s congressional career and term as Dwight D. Eisenhower’s vice president were built around being an ardent anti-Communist. In that context, it was amazing that Nixon became the first president to visit the communist nation of People’s Republic of China. His efforts to open diplomatic relations with China surprised many people, especially members of his own party. Similarly, many people did not expect President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, to initiate efforts to reform the welfare system, a program often defended by Democrats and criticized by Republicans.

Evaluating Which leadership skills are most important for a president to have? Why?

Lesson 2: Presidential Salary, the Vice President, and Succession

Terms, Salary, and Benefits

What are the terms of office and compensation for the president?

Originally, the Constitution did not specify how many four-year terms a president could serve. George Washington set a long-held precedent when he served for eight years and then declined to run for a third term. When the next president took office, the peaceful transfer of power from Washington to John Adams showed that democracy had taken root in this country. Washington had not grabbed power and refused to let it go.

The tradition of presidents serving only two terms lasted for 150 years. Then in 1940 and in 1944, President Franklin D. Roosevelt ran for an unprecedented third and four terms. Many were outraged that Roosevelt wanted to keep power, but the voters kept electing him. They wanted to “carry on” with the president who had led them through the Great Depression and was leading them through World War II.

Reaction to Roosevelt’s four terms in office and concern over too much executive power led to passage of the Twenty-second Amendment in 1951. This amendment established that a president would be limited to two terms in office; it also allowed a vice president who takes over in the middle of a presidency and serves no more than two years to serve two more terms. Thus, one person could be president for 10 years but no more.

Salary and Benefits

The Constitutional Convention determined that presidents should receive compensation but left it up to Congress to decide the amount of compensation, or salary. The president currently earns $400,000 per year. The Executive Office of the President also provides a nontaxable travel allowance of up to $100,000 per year and a $50,000 expense account. Congress cannot increase or decrease the salary during a president’s term.

Other benefits, some necessary for security reasons, are also provided to the president. For example, Air Force One, a specially equipped jet, as well as other planes, helicopters, and limousines, are made available to the president and top assistants. Presidents receive free medical, dental, and health care. They live in the White House where the White House domestic staff does the cooking, shopping, and cleaning. The government pays to operate the White House and to hold official events, but the president’s family must pay for their own food, dry-cleaning, personal parties, and other expenses—adding up to thousands of dollars every month.

When presidents retire, they receive a lifetime pension that is equal to the pay for cabinet secretaries; the amount of a president’s pension is currently $199,700 per year. They also have free office space, free mailing services, lifetime Secret Service protection for themselves and their children, and up to $96,000 per year for office help. When presidents die, their spouses are eligible for a pension of $20,000 per year.

Analyzing Why are there presidential term limits? Do you think they are necessary? Explain.

The Vice President

What are the roles and responsibilities of the vice president?

The roles and responsibilities of vice presidents have changed significantly since the founding of the nation. At one time, the president and vice president were elected separately. They did not even have to be from the same political party, which was a source of tension in the White House. Now, vice presidents and presidents are typically allies loyal to the same priorities.    

Constitutional Responsibilities

The Constitution gives the vice president three duties. First, the vice president takes over the presidency in case of presidential death, disability, impeachment, or resignation. Second, the vice president presides over the Senate and votes in case of a tie; most vice presidents spend very little time in this part of the job. Third, under the Twenty-fifth Amendment, the vice president helps decide whether the president is unable to carry out his or her duties and acts as president should that happen. Nine vice presidents have succeeded to the presidency upon the death or resignation of the president. Another five have been elected president after their terms as vice president.

Modern Responsibilities 

A vice president’s work and power can be much greater than those mentioned in the Constitution. It all depends upon the duties the president assigns.

For many years, the vice presidency was almost a purely ceremonial office, with vice presidents attending events in place of the president and making goodwill tours to foreign countries. Today, a vice president’s role is more significant. Modern vice presidents have had greater access to the president, participated frequently in policy meetings, and undertaken urgent special assignments. For example, President Obama assigned Vice President Biden to develop new proposals for gun control after a mass shooting in Connecticut in 2012.

Vice presidents have also become more involved in serious foreign policy efforts. Vice presidents are members of the National Security Council and take part in its policy deliberations. During the Bush administration, Vice President Richard Cheney played a leading role in developing the administration’s war on terror policies. As a veteran of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Joe Biden has been a key foreign policy adviser to President Obama.

Presidential candidates select their vice presidential running mates carefully. They are often looking to add expertise or voter appeal to the campaign and the future administration. Presidential candidates also look for someone who will appeal to voters from a particular geographic region or demographic group to balance out their own qualities in the eyes of voters. Sometimes voters have reacted negatively to a vice presidential candidate that did not appear well prepared to serve as vice president and a possible successor to the president.

Discussing What are the constitutional duties of the vice president?

Succession

What is the process for presidential succession?

Eight presidents have died in office. Four were assassinated, and four died of natural causes. In 1967 the Twenty-fifth Amendment was ratified to clarify the succession to the presidency and the vice presidency.

The amendment was first applied in 1973 when Spiro Agnew resigned as President Richard Nixon’s vice president. Nixon then nominated Gerald Ford as vice president, and Congress approved the nomination. Less than a year later, when President Nixon resigned due to the Watergate scandal, Ford became president. Ford then nominated Nelson Rockefeller as vice president, and Congress again approved the nomination. These events marked the only time in American history that neither the president nor the vice president was elected to those offices.

What would happen if the offices of president and vice president both became vacant at the same time? The Succession Act of 1947 established the order of presidential succession for such instances. According to this law, after the vice president, the next in line for the presidency is the Speaker of the House. The president pro tempore of the Senate follows the Speaker. Next in line are the cabinet officers, starting with the secretary of state. The other 14 department heads follow in the order in which Congress created the departments.

What happens if a president becomes seriously disabled, or unable to fulfill the duties of the president, while in office? In fact, several presidents have experienced health problems and have been unable to execute their responsibilities. President James Garfield lingered between life and death for 80 days after he was shot in 1881, but no one was officially named to fulfill his duties. Just after World War I, a stroke disabled President Woodrow Wilson—his wife often performed his duties. In 1955 President Dwight D. Eisenhower had a heart attack, was completely disabled for several days, and had limited energy for several months; during that time, his assistants ran the executive branch.

The Twenty-fifth Amendment describes what should be done when a president is disabled. It provides that the vice president becomes acting president under one of two conditions: if the president informs Congress of an inability to perform in office and, second, if the vice president and a majority of the cabinet or a body authorized by Congress inform the Congress of this condition. This second provision takes effect when the president is unwilling or unable to inform Congress of a disabling condition.

The Twenty-fifth Amendment also spells out how a president can resume the powers and duties of the office. This can happen at any time the president informs Congress that a disability no longer exists.

Explaining What happens if a president is unable to carry out the duties of the office?

Lesson 3: Electing the President

Road to the White House

How do Americans choose their president?

The system of electing the U.S. president is unique. Unlike elections for members of Congress, governors, and many other officials, the president and vice president are not directly elected by voters. While the presidential candidates’ names appear on the ballot, voters are actually voting for electors, people who promise they will officially elect the president several weeks later. Thus, a vote for the Democratic candidate is a vote for the Democratic electors, and a vote for the Republican candidate is a vote for the Republican electors. These electors are known collectively as the Electoral College.

The Role of the Electoral College

The Constitution sets the basic rules for electing a president, including the role of the Electoral College. As they were drafting Article II of the Constitution, the Framers argued about whether or not the president should be elected directly by the people. Many of them did not trust an average person’s judgment about such an important matter. They also thought it would be difficult for average citizens to become informed enough about the candidates to make a wise choice. They doubted an average person living in one corner of the country could learn enough about a candidate from another part of the country. On the other hand, many Framers were concerned about giving someone else the responsibility to choose, namely the Congress. That would give Congress too much control over another branch of government. They compromised by creating a system of electors for each state.   

Less than 20 years after the Constitution was adopted and the electoral system was put in place, it was amended to fix problems unforeseen by the Framers. Under the original system, a candidate for vice president could actually receive more votes than a candidate for president. The Twelfth Amendment (1804) required presidential electors to vote separately for president and vice president to solve this problem.

Today, the Electoral College includes 538 electors. Each state has as many electors as it has senators and representatives in Congress. With 1 representative and 2 senators, Wyoming has 3 electoral votes. California, the most populous state, has 55 electoral votes (53 representatives and 2 senators). Washington, D.C., has 3 electors, even though it has no voting representation in Congress.

To be elected president or vice president, a candidate must win at least 270 of the 538 votes. The Electoral College is a winner-take-all system in almost every state. That means the candidate who receives the most popular votes in a given state wins all the electoral votes for that state—even if the margin of victory is only a single popular vote! 

Only Maine and Nebraska do not use the winner-take-all system. They allocate their electoral votes by congressional district. Whichever candidate receives the most popular votes in each district gets that district’s electoral vote. The remaining two electoral votes in those states are awarded to the candidate who wins the popular vote statewide.

The Electoral College meets a few weeks after the general election to record the electors’ votes. If no presidential candidate receives the majority of the electoral votes, the House of Representatives chooses from the three candidates who have the largest number of votes.  

This Electoral College system (and the winner-take-all system specifically) impacts the entire election process, from who becomes a candidate to how and where they campaign.

Preparing to Run for President

Years before a presidential election, potential candidates begin to plan their campaigns. They often begin by forming a political action committee (PAC), an organization of supporters. PACs can gather like-minded individuals to test whether a potential candidate has enough national appeal to win. PACs also begin raising large sums of money that would be needed for a campaign.

Candidates also form exploratory committees who meet with potential supporters and find well-respected public figures to endorse them. These committees help candidates solidify their positions on important issues, develop campaign slogans, and recruit others who might work on the campaign.

If the political scene looks favorable, prospective candidates might make their candidacy official by registering with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), an independent regulatory agency created by Congress to enforce federal election laws. Once a candidate begins to raise and spend money on a campaign, he or she must report all fundraising and expenditures to the FEC.

Primaries, Caucuses, and National Party Conventions

In the first phase of presidential campaigns, candidates must convince members of their own political party to choose them instead of another candidate from the same party. So, Democrats run against Democrats and Republicans run against Republicans in a series of primaries or caucuses.

In a primary, members of the party go to the polls and vote on which candidate they want to see earn their party’s nomination. In some states, non-party members can vote in a primary, but in most states, primary voters are party members. Delegates to the national party convention will cast votes for their state’s primary winner. During a caucus, members of a political party gather together to discuss candidates and select delegates to send to the national party convention, where they will also vote to nominate a candidate.

Each state runs its own primary or caucus, and the dates and rules for these vary from state to state. New Hampshire historically holds the first primary, and Iowa holds the first caucus, both during the winter, more than 10 months before the national presidential election. Throughout the spring, other states hold their primaries and caucuses.

As candidates travel from state to state for different primaries, they tend to focus on issues that are important to the party’s active members. Republicans might seem more conservative, and Democrats more liberal, as they campaign to win the votes of the party leaders and loyal party members.

In addition, candidates often focus on issues important to party voters in a particular region. For example, a candidate might spend more time talking about water rights in the West, where water rights are most contentious. During debates and campaign appearances, candidates might work to make their primary opponents appear far from the party’s values, or they might tout their own electability in the general election.

By late summer, when all the states have held their primaries and caucuses, the major political parties host national nominating conventions. At these conventions, loyal party members who have been chosen as delegates from each state vote for the candidate supported by their state’s voters. Delegates to the conventions represent all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and all U.S. territories. The delegates vote to nominate a candidate based on the outcome of their states’ primary elections and caucuses.

General Election

After securing the endorsement of a national party, candidates try to appeal to a wider circle of potential voters—people who are less loyal to a party or who are undecided.

Campaigns will spend vast amounts of money on commercials, and candidates will travel extensively around the states that they believe are most necessary to win the national election. Campaign advisers study electoral maps to predict which states’ electoral votes a candidate has a chance to win. Campaigning will often be concentrated in “swing states” where polls show voters closely divided. For example, Oklahoma, which reliably votes for Republican presidential candidates, and Connecticut, which usually votes Democratic, might not receive many visits from the candidates. For example, in states like Florida, Pennsylvania, Nevada, and Ohio, voters have been less predictable, so candidates from either major party may win there. In recent presidential elections, these states have been bombarded with campaign ads, canvassers, phone calls, rallies, and public appearances by the candidates.

It is customary for presidential candidates to debate one another in the run-up to an election. These debates are typically held in large auditoriums and are also televised and broadcast by radio, drawing very large national audiences. The formats of the debates are worked out beforehand by the two campaigns.

On a presidential election day, millions of Americans go to the polls and cast their votes for president and vice president. The campaigns have been carrying out extensive “get out the vote” efforts for months aimed at persuading as many of their supporters to vote as possible. The media report on the results of the election as soon as the polls close in the evening and often project a winner by midnight.

In December, a few weeks after the general election, the electors meet to cast their official votes for president and vice president.

Sequencing What are the steps that a presidential candidate takes starting with preparing to run through to Election Day?

Electoral College Issues

What are the weaknesses of the Electoral College system?

In most presidential elections, the Electoral College system works without controversy or even much attention from the general public. The system does support the principle of federalism because it gives small states more weight since they have two senators just as large states do. Further, it allows the states to decide how they will choose their electors.

Calls for reforming the system, however, are heard after every closely contested election. Critics point to three major weaknesses in the system that could affect the outcome of an election.

Winner Takes All 

In all but two states, if a candidate wins the largest number of popular votes, that person receives all the state’s electoral votes. Critics argue that this system is unfair to those who voted for a losing candidate. For example, in 2016 more than 3 million Texans voted for Hillary Clinton, but she did not receive any of Texas’s electoral votes. Likewise, Donald Trump received more than 4 million votes from Californians but none of California’s electoral votes.

The winner-take-all system makes it possible for a candidate who loses the popular vote to win the electoral vote. This usually happens when a candidate wins several large states by narrow margins. Five times in American history, the candidate who lost the popular vote won the election: in the elections of John Quincy Adams in 1824, Rutherford B. Hayes in 1876, Benjamin Harrison in 1888, George W. Bush in 2000, and Donald Trump in 2016. In the 2016 election, for example, Democrat Hillary Clinton won over 2.8 million more popular votes than Republican Donald Trump. Trump, however, received 304 electoral votes to 227 for Clinton.

Third-Party Candidates

When a third-party candidate—someone who represents a political party that is not the Democrats or Republicans—is a strong presidential contender, other problems can arise in the Electoral College. A third-party candidate could win enough electoral votes to prevent either major-party candidate from receiving a majority of the votes. The third party could then bargain to release electoral votes to one of the two major-party candidates.

Election by the House 

When neither presidential candidate wins 270 electoral votes, the House of Representatives must decide the winner. Each state casts one vote. The candidate who receives 26 or more votes is elected.

Election by the House raises three issues. First, states with small populations, such as Alaska and Wyoming, have as much weight as populous states, such as New York and California. Second, under the rules, if a majority of a state’s representatives cannot agree on a candidate, the state loses its vote. Third, if some House members favor a strong third-party candidate, it could be difficult for any candidate to get the 26 votes needed to win.

Ideas for Reform 

Many changes to the Electoral College have been proposed. One idea is to choose electors from congressional districts as is already done in Maine and Nebraska. The candidate with the most votes in a congressional district would win its electoral vote; then the candidate with the most districts in a state would receive the two statewide electoral votes.

Another idea is to assign electoral votes based on the winner of the nationwide popular vote. Supporters of this idea want to change the process by passing laws in each state to award that state’s electoral votes to the candidate who wins the most popular votes in the whole country. This method would not require amending the Constitution. Instead, the new rules would take effect when states possessing 270 electoral votes enact this type of law. So far, 10 states and the District of Columbia (possessing 165 electoral votes) have enacted that bill.

A third plan proposes that the presidential candidates would win the same share of a state’s electoral vote as they received of the state’s popular vote. If a candidate captured 60 percent of the popular vote, for example, the candidate would earn 60 percent of the state’s electoral votes. This plan would remove the very rare possibility of electors voting for someone they are not pledged to support. Critics of the plan point out that it could possibly expand the role of third parties and complicate the election process. Third-party candidates could get at least part of the electoral vote in each election, and they might be more likely to force a presidential election to be decided in the House of Representatives.

Others argue for the elimination of the Electoral College. Instead, the people would directly elect the president and vice president. While this alternative might seem obvious, it may drive up the cost of elections because candidates would have to campaign in all the major media markets across the country. Or, candidates might concentrate their campaign efforts on densely populated areas and ignore more rural communities. Others say eliminating the Electoral College would undermine federalism. With no electors, states would lose their role in the choice of a president.

Classifying What reforms have been proposed for the Electoral College system? Briefly describe each one.

The Inauguration

How is the president inaugurated?

Until the inauguration in late January, the new president is referred to as the president-elect. The new president takes office at noon on January 20 in the year following the presidential election. (Until 1933, the inauguration occurred in March.) The Constitution requires the president to take this oath:

By custom, the incoming president rides with the outgoing president from the White House to the Capitol for the inauguration when the chief justice administers the oath of office. The new president then gives an inaugural address.

Several inaugural addresses have become part of the nation’s heritage. During the Great Depression, Franklin D. Roosevelt lifted American spirits with the words: “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” In 1961 John F. Kennedy inspired a generation when he said: “Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.” Members of Congress, foreign diplomats, and thousands of citizens attend the inauguration. After the speech, a parade goes from the Capitol to the White House. That evening, parties are held to celebrate the new administration and to thank political supporters.

Paraphrasing How would you paraphrase the oath of office?