Highest Political Office in the United States

Under the U.S. Constitution, the President of the United States is the head of state and the head of government of the United States. As chief of the executive branch and head of the federal government as a whole, the presidency is the highest political office in the United States by influence and recognition.

The president is also the Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. armed forces. The president is indirectly elected to a four-year term by an Electoral College (or by the House of Representatives should the Electoral College fail to award an absolute majority of votes to any person).

Since the ratification of the Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1951, no person may be elected to the office of the president more than twice. Also, no person who served more than two years of a term to which someone else was elected may be elected more than once. Upon death, resignation, or removal from office of an incumbent president, the Vice President assumes the office.

The Constitution lists three requirements for any individual wishing to become president of the United States.

A president must:

1. Be a native-born U.S. citizens. Someone may be born abroad, but only if both parents were citizens of the United States. The only exception to this was for those around at the time the Constitution was adopted. Their requirement was that they had to be a citizen when the Constitution was adopted.
2. Be at least 35 years of age. The youngest president elected was 43 years old. However, there was one president who was even younger. Do you know who he was?
3. Have lived in the United States for at least 14 years to be president. This does not have to be consecutive or even the 14 years leading up to becoming president.

Obviously, a lot more is needed than this. The candidate must be acceptable to a large number of people across the nation. Nonetheless, these are the minimum constitutional requirements for someone to become president of the United States.