Research Paper on The US Presidency: History and Controversy Since 1776

Introduction

The president of the United States is the head of the executive branch of government and the commander in chief of the armed forces. The United States has elected 44 presidents since its independence in 1776. All but one president has served non-consecutive terms. Glover Cleveland is the only president to have served none-consecutive terms (Brighton, 2012). Generally, the presidency in the United States has been a controversial office, with many issues since the first president; George Washington took office in 1776 (Jensen, Quinn, & Weymouth, 2017). The United States has seen several presidents assassinated, including President John Kennedy and Abraham Lincoln. There have also been cases of impeachment, including Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton. In both cases, the House of Representatives impeached, but the president was exonerated by the senate (Barber, 2017). Currently, the president of the United States, John Donald Trump, is facing an impeachment proceeding. Figure 1 represents the results of a survey indicating the best president of the United States. From figure 1, 31 percent of the respondents believe Obama was the best president. Only 10 percent of the respondents vouched for the current president. The likes of Ford, Nixon, and Ford received the least support. Although considered the most powerful office on earth, the United States Presidency is significantly a difficult seat for any politician to hold.

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Role of the President, Checks, and Balances

The president of the United States is in charge of the executive arm of the government. In his duties, he manages expenditure and infrastructure projects. He is responsible for managing trade deals and brokering international ties with foreign nations as well (Blinder & Watson, 2016). He thus seeks to ensure that the interests of the United States on a global forum are always met. In his role in the diplomatic policy world, the United States president is often responsible for world peace, ensuring that troubled regions across the world gain support and military aid. This role has been played by the United States since the Second World War, retaining America's role as the political World Power (Roediger III & DeSoto, 2016). The president thus has to constantly deploy the United States military whenever possible to deter terror activities or on peace-keeping missions.

As the head of the executive, as well as the leader or commander in chief of the Armed Forces, the president wields a lot of power. One common powerful tool is known as the control of America's nuclear arsenal, using a command briefcase. He thus has the power to order a nuclear strike on an adversarial nation, with support from the senate and the joint command of the United States military (Blinder & Watson, 2016). The powers of the president, however, do not come without limitation. He, for instance, is expected to adhere to the law, and always do what is in the interest of the nation, and not for personal gain. The president's office is often open to scrutiny from the official opposition in the United States House of Representatives as well as the United States senate (Jensen et al., 2017). Although he is not subject to legal action unless impeached, impeachment proceedings can always be enforced against the president for perceived abuse of office (Roediger III & DeSoto, 2016).

How Americans Elect the President

The process of electing the American president is quite lengthy. It begins with a declaration of candidature from either of the parties in the country. The major parties that often produce the winning candidate for the presidential seat include the Democratic Party and the Republican Party (Barber, 2017). Both of these parties have alternatingly produced the presidency for more than a century now. Other parties nonetheless exist in the United States. These include; the Green Party, the Libertarian Party, and the Constitutional Party (Winger, 2017). Nonetheless, none of these parties has ever produced a considerable number of elected officials in the house since 1852. For this reason, the United States political scene is often seen as a two-party system, with either of the major parties producing the presumptive presidential candidate. The process of getting the candidate includes a series of party primaries before the final delegates conference, where the presumptive winner in the party contests is declared the nominee for the party (Roediger III & DeSoto, 2016).

Once the parties have produced their candidates, there are a series of debates that follow. These debates are not compulsory but considered necessary for the popularization of the candidates. An independent body organizes the debates between the candidates, focusing on key issues in the economy as well as foreign policy. The candidates then campaign in the states, with the hope of racking up popular votes as well as delegate votes (Blinder & Watson, 2016). The candidate often meets a set of requirements before they can be considered. These requirements include; having attained the age of 35 years, having lived in the United States for more than 14 years, and is a natural-born citizen of the United States (Tillman, 2016). The popular vote is often held in the first week of November, every four years (Tillman, 2016). The popular vote nonetheless does not guarantee a winner, as the delegates often determine the person who becomes president (Jensen et al., 2017). The winning candidate thus not only seeks support from the popular vote but also from delegates among the 50 States of America.

Major Issues with President Trump

The current president of the United States is Donald John Trump. He was elected into office in November 2016 and sworn in a month later (Kapoutsis & Volkema, 2019). Since his campaign began early in 2015, President Trump was deemed very controversial. He, for instance, had several sex scandals associated with him, as well as claims of racism and bigotry. The 2016 presidential campaign saw a divided country exchange unpleasantries between Democrat and Republican supporters. Various concerns about the Trump candidature were raised. First, he was the first nominated candidate to have never had any political experience. The campaigns brought to light concerns about discriminative employment policies by the Trump Empire, as well as accusations of fraud by Trump University (Barber, 2017). Trump can thus be arguably considered one of the most controversial presidents in United States history.

President Trump's first term has already seen an investigation about foreign interference in United States elections. It was argued that during the 2016 campaign, he asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to investigate Hillary Clinton's emails, exposing a scandal in the State Department office (Kapoutsis & Volkema, 2019). He is also said to have released a dossier on Hillary Clinton's role in the Benghazi scandal months to the 2016 presidential election (Kapoutsis &Volkema, 2019). His political strategy can thus be considered less than above par. He then faced a significant host of rape accusations even while in office. The same accusations were leveled against his Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh (Kapoutsis & Volkema, 2019). Although these allegations were later dropped, they significantly dented his image. Similarly, there is an ongoing impeachment campaign to remove Trump from office, with the claims that he withheld military funding to Ukraine, to seek a favor from the Ukrainian president.

Trump seems to be fighting a significant political battle waged by the Democratic Party. Thanks to his non-diplomatic approach to issues, he has considerably watered down his predecessor's legacy. Not only did Trump withdraw from the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), he also engineered similar withdrawals from the 2015 Paris Summit and the Iranian Nuclear Deal (Barber, 2017). He has waged a trade war with China, which has seen many United States farmers bear the brunt of the high tariffs on exports to China. Significantly, the economy under Trump has oppressed the middle income in the United States. Although a strong financial market has supported the economy, the key sectors of the economy, such as tourism, agriculture, and trade, have faced an economic downturn under Trump's leadership (Kapoutsis & Volkema, 2019).

Historical Impacts on the Presidency

The seat of the United States President has often been dogged with controversy, especially due to the decisions various presidents in the past have made. The country has seen presidents who waged war, such as Abraham Lincoln, with the Civil War, and those who ended it, such as David Eisenhower, with the Second World War (Tillman, 2016). Generally, the United States has been affected by decisions taken by past presidents. There is hardly a regime that did not make controversial decisions. Nonetheless, some presidents are notable for decisions that change the shape of American political, social, and economic policies. Regimes such as the Lincoln era is known for the end of slavery and the urbanization of America in the industrial revolution (Wilson, 2017). Roosevelt, the longest-serving president, is known to have steered the United States through the Second World War, to become a global political power (Blinder & Watson, 2016).

Some of the most significant political controversies occurred with recent American presidents. President George Walker Bush is known for the war in Iraq, arguably one of America's most controversial military decisions. He also refused to end the Afghan war as well, leading to a rallying call for 'bring our troops home' in the United States (Tate, 2015). Bush is also responsible for the 2007 economic crisis, which saw a credit crunch in the country, a collapse of the banking sector, as well as loss of mortgages by many Americans (Tillman, 2016). President Barrack Obama is infamous for the Benghazi war, which saw the eviction and slaughter of former Libyan president, Muammar Gadhafi. Obama's policies are also known to have weakened the immigration system, leading to increased terror attacks in the country. During his reign, the polarization of the country was common, with hate crime being on an all-time high.

Conclusion

The office of the president of the United States is quite coveted and popularized among candidates in the country's major political parties. Most of the party's elite often vie for the presidency, in races that, at times, attract more than 20 candidates from one party. Becoming the United States president is not an easy fete. It was a long ride for Barack Obama to become the first black person in that seat. To date, no woman has ever been elected president of the United States, more than 200 years since independence. The competitive nature of the seat attracts controversy and support, as has been the case with President Trump. Men who hold this office, however, make decisions that not only shape America's political future but the global economic trends as well. The office of the president of the United States is thus arguably one of the most influential positions in the world.

References

Barber, J. D. (2017). The Presidential Character: Predicting Performance in the White House.Routledge. Retrieved from http://www.inetteacher.com/Upload1/102550/docs/Barber%20Article0001.pdf

Blinder, A. S., & Watson, M. W. (2016). Presidents and the US Economy: An Econometric Exploration. American Economic Review, 106(4), 1015-1045. Retrieved from https://www.nb...