Transcript Packet 22 - Barrington 220

Being the
President
Packet 22
To become President:
• You must be at least 35 years old
• You must be a natural born citizen of the United States
(born here or of American parents).
• You must have lived in the United States for at least 14
years.
Age:
• Most Presidents are much older than 35.
• We’ve only had 42 different presidents
Younger Presidents
1.
2.
3.
4.
Teddy Roosevelt: 42 (took
office when William McKinley
died – actually older than
Clinton when first elected)
John F. Kennedy: 43
Bill Clinton: 46
Ulysses S. Grant: 46
Older Presidents
1.
2.
3.
4.
Ronald Reagan: 69
William Henry Harrison: 65
James Buchanan: 64
George Bush (dad): 64
President Trivia: http://www.infoplease.com/spot/prestrivia1.html
Natural born citizen
• Born in the U.S.
• Born in a U.S. territory.
• Foreign born, but born of
American parent
(no-one’s ever done this and
there’s some discussion about it).
• Arnold Schwarzenegger:
Governor of California, but
can’t become president
Lived in the U.S. for at least 14 years
• Would you want a president
who had been living in the
Middle East for most of his life,
or for the past 10 years?
• Of course, people probably
wouldn’t elect most of the
people who’d run for president
after that, but….
Our Presidents:
have all been:
should be:
• White
• men
• expert political leaders
who can get people to
work together
• a strong, healthy person:
running for president and
being president can be
tough on a person.
• able to understand the
needs of a wide variety of
people.
Other things presidents have in common
• Most have been well
educated (especially
recently).
• About two thirds have
been lawyers.
• Most have been married.
• Most have been
protestants.
• Most started out in small
towns or in the country.
• Most were very active in
politics for a long time
before they were elected.
• About 2/3 were VicePresident before they
became President
(8 of them because the
previous President died
while in office).