tag:theconversation.com,2011:/au/topics/us-presidents-12345/articlesUS presidents – The Conversation2023-10-18T11:22:53Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2158502023-10-18T11:22:53Z2023-10-18T11:22:53ZBiden’s Middle East trip has messages for both global and domestic audiences<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554537/original/file-20231018-15-5inc0y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=89%2C224%2C5901%2C3763&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">President Biden meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on arriving in Tel Aviv on Oct. 18.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/BidenIsraelPalestinians/a064192aa42449e697f8a41bd2b318eb/photo?Query=biden%20israel&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=1416&currentItemNo=3">AP Photo/Evan Vucci</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>U.S. President Joe Biden’s decision to travel to an active war zone and the scene of an unfolding humanitarian crisis spoke volumes, even before his arrival.</p>
<p>The White House <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/10/16/statement-from-press-secretary-karine-jean-pierre-on-president-bidens-travel-to-israel-and-jordan/">has stated</a> that Biden’s purpose is to “demonstrate his steadfast support for Israel” after Hamas’ “brutal terrorist attack” on Oct. 7, 2023. But Israel wasn’t meant to be his only stop. </p>
<p>The president was also scheduled to travel to Amman, Jordan, to meet with Jordanian King Abdullah II, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. However, <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/biden-jordan-meeting-arab-leaders-cancelled/">the meeting was canceled</a> with Biden already en route to Israel.</p>
<p>The trip is a bold but risky move, a carefully orchestrated display of Biden’s belief that the United States should take an active leadership role in global affairs. It is a strategy Biden has used before, most notably in his <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/02/20/world/russia-ukraine-war#heres-how-bidens-visit-to-kyiv-unfolded">February 2023 surprise visit to Ukraine</a>. </p>
<p>As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Wrt5_qIAAAAJ&hl=en">scholar of U.S. presidential rhetoric and political communication</a>, I have spent the past decade studying how chief executives use their international travels to reach audiences at home and abroad. I see clear parallels between Biden’s trip and similar actions by other presidents to extend American influence on the world stage.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554392/original/file-20231017-29-n9owns.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Roosevelt sits in the cab of a large steam shovel" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554392/original/file-20231017-29-n9owns.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554392/original/file-20231017-29-n9owns.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=743&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554392/original/file-20231017-29-n9owns.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=743&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554392/original/file-20231017-29-n9owns.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=743&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554392/original/file-20231017-29-n9owns.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=934&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554392/original/file-20231017-29-n9owns.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=934&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554392/original/file-20231017-29-n9owns.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=934&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">President Theodore Roosevelt, center, is seated on a steam shovel in the Panama Canal Zone during the first trip abroad by a U.S. chief executive, in November 1906.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0f/Roosevelt_and_the_Canal.JPG">New York Times photo archive/Wikimedia</a></span>
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<h2>A paramount duty</h2>
<p>Prior to 1906, no U.S. president had ever traveled abroad while in office. A <a href="https://kansaspress.ku.edu/9780700615803/">long-standing tradition</a> held that the U.S. had left the trappings of monarchy behind, and that it was much more appropriate for chief executives to travel domestically, where Americans lived and worked.</p>
<p>President Theodore Roosevelt, who had an expansive view of presidential power, bemoaned what he called <a href="https://www.whitehousehistory.org/off-for-the-ditch">this “ironclad custom</a>” and ultimately bucked it. In November 1906, Roosevelt visited the Panama Canal Zone and <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/tr-panama/">posed at the controls of a giant steam shovel</a> to shore up public support for constructing the canal. Beyond pushing this megaproject forward, the trip enabled Roosevelt to see and be seen on the international stage.</p>
<p>Other presidents followed suit as the U.S. began to take a more active role in global affairs. Just before Woodrow Wilson departed for the 1919 Paris Peace Conference at Versailles, where world leaders convened to set the terms for peace after World War I, <a href="https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/sixth-annual-message-6">he stated in his annual message to Congress</a> that it was his “paramount duty to go” and participate in negotiations that were of “transcendent importance both to us and to the rest of the world.” </p>
<p>During World War II, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt embraced this idea of bearing a moral responsibility to speak to, and for, both U.S. citizens and a global audience. Images of FDR seated between British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Josef Stalin at <a href="https://www.loc.gov/item/96522736/">Tehran</a> and <a href="https://www.loc.gov/resource/cph.3a10098/">Yalta</a> symbolized global leadership – a robust vision that endured after the U.S. president’s untimely death.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554402/original/file-20231017-23-wzhcci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Three world leaders seated side on the porch of a building" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554402/original/file-20231017-23-wzhcci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554402/original/file-20231017-23-wzhcci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554402/original/file-20231017-23-wzhcci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554402/original/file-20231017-23-wzhcci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554402/original/file-20231017-23-wzhcci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=610&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554402/original/file-20231017-23-wzhcci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=610&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554402/original/file-20231017-23-wzhcci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=610&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Soviet leader Josef Stalin, U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill on the portico of the Russian Embassy in Tehran, Iran, during their conference, Nov. 28-Dec. 1, 1943.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.loc.gov/resource/cph.3a33351/">Library of Congress</a></span>
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<h2>Embodying US foreign policy</h2>
<p>Going global quickly became <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/W/bo186006093.html">a deliberate rhetorical strategy during the Cold War</a>, as presidents from Harry Truman to Ronald Reagan used trips abroad to symbolize American commitment to important places and regions. By choosing to visit certain destinations, presidents made clear that these places were important to the U.S. </p>
<p>This is exactly what Biden no doubt hopes to accomplish through his visit to Israel. When he <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2023/10/10/remarks-by-president-biden-on-the-terrorist-attacks-in-israel-2/">condemned the Hamas attack on Israel</a> as “an act of sheer evil,” he also declared: “We stand with Israel.” Traveling to an <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/biden-travel-israel-wednesday-war-hamas-rcna120729">active war zone</a> embodies this pledge far more clearly than words alone.</p>
<p>And this is how Israelis have interpreted the visit. Tzachi Hanegbi, the leader of Israel’s National Security Council, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/10/17/israel-hamas-war-news-gaza/#link-CDUZASQRRFDMZBBPHUASW47B4I">described the visit</a> as “a bear hug, a large rapid bear hug to the Israelis in the south, to all Israelis, and to every Jew.”</p>
<h2>Addressing both sides</h2>
<p>But Biden must also acknowledge the very real plight of Palestinians who are trapped <a href="https://theconversation.com/decades-of-underfunding-blockade-have-weakened-gazas-health-system-the-siege-has-pushed-it-into-abject-crisis-215679">in dire conditions</a> in Gaza as Israel prepares for a ground invasion. This is no doubt the reason his team sought a face-to-face meeting with Abbas. </p>
<p>I expect that Biden will demonstrate U.S. support for Israel while also drawing a clear distinction between Hamas and the Palestinian people. And Biden will likely draw on his <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2023/09/20/remarks-by-president-biden-and-prime-minister-benjamin-netanyahu-of-israel-before-bilateral-meeting-new-york-ny/">friendship of many years</a> with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to urge moderation in Israel’s military response.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wXhf2aYzGbw?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">President Joe Biden’s trip will embody U.S. commitment to Israel while giving the president an opportunity to moderate its actions.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>The home audience</h2>
<p>Biden’s trip also has important meaning for U.S. electoral politics. A former <a href="https://wsp.wharton.upenn.edu/book_author/joe-biden/">chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee</a>, Biden has long maintained that the U.S. must take an active role in the world. In the 2020 presidential campaign, he argued that Donald Trump’s policy of “America First” had <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/biden-transition-updates/2020/11/10/933556440/biden-tells-world-leaders-its-not-america-alone-anymore">left “America alone</a>” by undercutting relationships with critical U.S. allies.</p>
<p>For Jewish voters, the president’s visit offers tangible evidence of an enduring U.S. commitment to Israel, especially after some far-left Democratic lawmakers <a href="https://www.axios.com/2023/10/11/squad-democrats-israel-hamas-tensions">refused to criticize</a> the Hamas attack. And Biden’s willingness to <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2023/10/10/remarks-by-president-biden-on-the-terrorist-attacks-in-israel-2/">condemn Hamas</a> as a “terrorist organization” may also speak to Republican voters, who are <a href="https://www.cfr.org/blog/partisan-gap-support-israel-seems-permanent">much more likely</a> to back Israel. </p>
<p>Defining an appropriate role for the U.S. in world affairs is certain to be an important issue in the 2024 presidential election, especially with active conflicts in Ukraine and now in the Middle East. Biden has consistently called for U.S. engagement abroad – not only in words, but by showing up in places like Kiev and Tel Aviv.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215850/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Allison M. Prasch does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Until 1906, no US president had ever traveled abroad in office. Then Teddy Roosevelt demonstrated the power of showing up.Allison M. Prasch, Associate Professor of Rhetoric, Politics and Culture, University of Wisconsin-MadisonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2004112023-10-05T12:34:13Z2023-10-05T12:34:13ZThe splendid life of Jimmy Carter – 5 essential reads<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511714/original/file-20230222-26-wdgm71.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=129%2C54%2C2027%2C1377&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Cuban President Fidel Castro watches former U.S. President Jimmy Carter throw a baseball on May 14, 2002, in Havana, Cuba.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/cuban-president-fidel-castro-watches-former-us-president-news-photo/73894798?phrase=jimmy%20carter%20fidel%20castro&adppopup=true">Sven Creutzmann/Mambo Photography/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In <em>Mark 8:34-38</em> a question is asked: “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”</p>
<p>Jimmy Carter never lost his soul. </p>
<p>A person who served others, Jimmy Carter did more to advance the cause of human rights than any U.S. president in American history. That tireless commitment “to advance democracy and human rights” was noted by the Nobel Committee when it honored Carter with its <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2002/summary/">Peace Prize</a> in 2002.</p>
<p>From establishing the nonprofit <a href="https://www.cartercenter.org/">Carter Center</a> to working for <a href="https://www.habitat.org/volunteer/build-events/carter-work-project">Habitat for Humanity</a>, Carter never lost his moral compass in his public policies. </p>
<p>Over the years, The Conversation U.S. has published numerous stories exploring the legacy of the nation’s 39th president – and his blessed life after leaving the world of American politics. Here are selections from those articles. </p>
<h2>1. A preacher at heart</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.asbury.edu/about/directory/david-swartz/">As a scholar</a> of American religious history, Asbury University Professor David Swartz believes that a speech Carter gave on July 15, 1979, was the most theologically profound speech by an American president since <a href="https://www.nps.gov/linc/learn/historyculture/lincoln-second-inaugural.htm">Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address</a>, on March 4, 1865.</p>
<p>Carter’s nationally televised sermon was watched by 65 million Americans as he “intoned an evangelical-sounding lament about a crisis of the American spirit,” <a href="https://theconversation.com/revisiting-jimmy-carters-truth-telling-sermon-to-americans-97241">Swartz wrote</a>. </p>
<p>“All the legislation in the world,” Carter proclaimed during the speech, “can’t fix what’s wrong with America.”</p>
<p>What was wrong, Carter believed, was self-indulgence and consumption. </p>
<p>“Human identity is no longer defined by what one does but by what one owns,” Carter preached. But “owning things and consuming things does not satisfy our longing for meaning.”</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/revisiting-jimmy-carters-truth-telling-sermon-to-americans-97241">Revisiting Jimmy Carter's truth-telling sermon to Americans</a>
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<h2>2. Tough-minded policies on human rights</h2>
<p>Though Carter was considered a weak leader after <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2019/11/04/the-iranian-hostage-crisis-and-its-effect-on-american-politics/">Iranian religious militants</a> seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979, his overseas policies were far more effective than critics have claimed, <a href="https://theconversation.com/jimmy-carters-lasting-cold-war-legacy-human-rights-focus-helped-dismantle-the-soviet-union-113994">wrote</a> Gonzaga University historian <a href="https://www.gonzaga.edu/college-of-arts-sciences/faculty-listing/detail/donnelly">Robert C. Donnelly</a>, especially when it came to the former Soviet Union.</p>
<p>Shortly after the <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2014/08/the-soviet-war-in-afghanistan-1979-1989/100786/">Soviet invasion of Afghanistan</a> in 1979, for instance, Carter imposed an embargo on <a href="https://www.npr.org/2018/08/16/639149657/farmers-caught-up-in-u-s-trade-war-s-remember-80-s-grain-embargo">U.S. grain sales</a> that targeted the Soviet Union’s dependence on imported wheat and corn to feed its population. </p>
<p>To further punish the Soviets, Carter persuaded the U.S. Olympic Committee to refrain from competing in the upcoming Moscow Olympics while the Soviets repressed their own people and occupied Afghanistan.</p>
<p>Among Carter’s critics, none was harsher than Ronald Reagan. But in 1986, after beating Carter for the White House, even he had to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1986/04/06/us/reagan-acknowledges-carter-s-military-buildup.html">acknowledge Carter’s foresight</a> in modernizing the nation’s military forces, a measure that further increased economic and diplomatic pressure on the Soviets. </p>
<p>“Reagan admitted that he felt very bad for misstating Carter’s policies and record on defense,” Donnelly wrote. </p>
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<em>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/jimmy-carters-lasting-cold-war-legacy-human-rights-focus-helped-dismantle-the-soviet-union-113994">Jimmy Carter's lasting Cold War legacy: Human rights focus helped dismantle the Soviet Union</a>
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<h2>3. Carter’s unexpected liberal foe</h2>
<p>Reagan’s win over Carter in the 1980 U.S. presidential race was due in part to Carter’s bitter race during the Democratic primary against an heir to one of America’s great political families – Ted Kennedy. </p>
<p>Kennedy’s decision to run against Carter was “something of a shock to Carter,” <a href="https://theconversation.com/when-the-lion-of-the-senate-roared-like-a-mouse-39826">wrote</a> <a href="https://www.bu.edu/cgs/profile/thomas-whalen/">Thomas J. Whalen</a>, a Boston University associate professor of social science. </p>
<p>In 1979, Kennedy had pledged to support Carter’s reelection bid but later succumbed to pressure in liberal Democratic circles to launch his own presidential bid and fulfill his family’s destiny. </p>
<p>In addition, Whalen wrote, Kennedy “harbored deep reservations about Carter’s leadership, especially in the wake of a faltering domestic economy, high inflation and the seizure of the American Embassy in Iran by radical Muslim students.”</p>
<p>In response, Carter vowed to “whip (Kennedy’s) ass.” </p>
<p>And did. </p>
<p>But that win over Kennedy came at a high cost. </p>
<p>“Having expended so much political and financial capital fending off Kennedy’s challenge,” Whalen wrote, “he was easy pickings for Reagan in that fall’s general election.</p>
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<em>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/when-the-lion-of-the-senate-roared-like-a-mouse-39826">When the Lion of the Senate roared like a mouse</a>
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<h2>4. A quiet fight against a deadly disease</h2>
<p>Guinea worm is a painful parasitic disease that is contracted when people consume water from stagnant sources contaminated with the worm’s larvae. </p>
<p>Clemson University Professor Kimberly Paul has <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=yb246-8AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">worked as a parasitologist</a> for over two decades. </p>
<p>"I know the suffering that parasitic diseases like Guinea worm infections inflict on humanity, especially on the world’s most vulnerable and poor communities,” she <a href="https://theconversation.com/guinea-worm-a-nasty-parasite-is-nearly-eradicated-but-the-push-for-zero-cases-will-require-patience-199156">wrote</a>.</p>
<p>In 1986, it infected an estimated 3.5 million people per year in 21 countries in Africa and Asia. </p>
<p>Since then, that number has been reduced by more than 99.99% to 13 provisional cases in 2022, in large part because of Carter and his efforts to eradicate the disease. Those efforts included teaching people to filter all drinking water.</p>
<p>Over time, Carter’s efforts proved tremendously successful. On Jan. 24, 2023, The Carter Center, the nonprofit founded by the former U.S. president, <a href="https://www.cartercenter.org/news/pr/2023/2022-guinea-worm-worldwide-cases-announcement.html">announced</a> that “Guinea worm is poised to become the second human disease in history to be eradicated.”</p>
<p>The first was smallpox. </p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/guinea-worm-a-nasty-parasite-is-nearly-eradicated-but-the-push-for-zero-cases-will-require-patience-199156">Guinea worm: A nasty parasite is nearly eradicated, but the push for zero cases will require patience</a>
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<h2>5. Carter’s brave step in Cuba</h2>
<p>In 2002, long after his departure from the White House in 1981, Carter became the the first U.S. president to visit Cuba since the <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/post-revolution-cuba/">1959 Cuban Revolution</a>. Carter had accepted the invitation of then President Fidel Castro.</p>
<p><a href="https://chrd.gsu.edu/profile/jennifer-mccoy-2-4/">Jennifer Lynn McCoy</a>, now at Georgia State University, was director of <a href="https://www.cartercenter.org/peace/americas/index.html">The Carter Center’s Americas Program</a> at the time and accompanied Carter on that trip, on which he <a href="https://www.cartercenter.org/news/documents/doc517.html">gave a speech in Spanish</a> that called on Castro to lift restrictions on free speech and assembly, among other constitutional reforms.</p>
<p>Castro was unmoved by the speech but instead invited Carter <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/cuba-and-the-united-states-play-beisbol-diplomacy/">to watch a Cuban all-star baseball game</a>. </p>
<p>At the game, McCoy <a href="https://theconversation.com/jimmy-carter-in-cuba-46109">wrote</a>, “Castro asked Carter for a favor” – to walk to the pitcher’s mound without his security detail to show how much confidence he had in the Cuban people.</p>
<p>Over the objections of his Secret Service agents, Carter obliged and walked to the mound with Castro and threw out the first pitch.</p>
<p>Carter’s move was a symbol of what normal relations could look like between the two nations – and of Carter’s unwavering faith. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/jimmy-carter-in-cuba-46109">Jimmy Carter in Cuba</a>
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<p><em>Editor’s note: This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversation’s archives</em>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/200411/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Beloved in his hometown of Plains, Georgia, Jimmy Carter became the 39th US president and used his office to make human rights a priority throughout the world.Howard Manly, Race + Equity Editor, The Conversation USLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2145312023-09-29T14:22:01Z2023-09-29T14:22:01ZCan Biden bounce back as the US presidential race turns nastier?<p>Antagonism between the two expected candidates for US president in 2024 is ramping up as the political battleground turns increasingly nasty. </p>
<p>US president Joe Biden suggested that Donald Trump and his allies pose a threat to democracy, “our institutions, to our constitution itself”, in <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2023/09/28/remarks-by-president-biden-honoring-the-legacy-of-senator-john-mccain-and-the-work-we-must-do-together-to-strengthen-our-democracy/">a recent speech</a> honouring former Republican senator John McCain.</p>
<p>“There is no question that today’s Republican Party is driven and intimidated by Maga Republican extremists,” he said, as part of a set of remarks aimed at showing the difference between McCain’s version of Republicanism and Trump’s. Americans continue to be concerned about threats to US democracy, according to a <a href="https://maristpoll.marist.edu/polls/biden-the-issues-facing-the-nation/">NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll</a>.</p>
<p>In the same week, Trump’s <a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-uaw-detroit-biden-strike-autoworkers-debate-165c2d45cb43992814b23a1f6c7572f1">speech to car industry workers</a> in Detroit pointedly tried to drive a wedge between Biden and working-class voters. The former <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/transportation/4226917-trump-rips-into-biden-as-he-seeks-to-woo-michigan-autoworkers/">president claimed</a>: “A vote for Crooked Joe means the future of the auto industry will be made in China.”</p>
<p>Currently, Trump and Biden are neck and neck in the polls, and what makes the 2024 race all the more gripping is that a former president will run for the highest political office in the United States while facing 91 criminal charges across <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2023/07/politics/trump-indictments-criminal-cases/index.html">four criminal cases</a>. Trump says he is not guilty of any offence.</p>
<p>So why is Biden not pulling ahead of an opponent who already served a chaotic four-year term in the White House and is now facing criminal charges? A CNN study at the beginning of September shed some light on this. It <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2023/09/07/politics/cnn-poll-joe-biden-headwinds/index.html">showed</a> the president’s overall job approval figure at 39%. It also found that 58% of those polled believe Biden’s economic policies have worsened conditions in America, with 70% stating things are going badly in the country.</p>
<h2>It’s the economy, stupid</h2>
<p>More than 30 years ago then president Bill Clinton’s campaign manager and Democratic party strategist, James Carville, after becoming increasingly impatient at questions regarding what the 1992 presidential campaign was all about, responded by placing a sign in his office: “It’s the economy, <a href="https://politicaldictionary.com/words/its-the-economy-stupid/">stupid</a>!” This arguably remains the case ahead of the 2024 presidential election. </p>
<p>An ABC News/Washington Post poll on September 24 found that <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/troubles-biden-age-reelection-campaign-poll/story?id=103436611">44% of respondents</a> believe they are financially worse off under Biden. While his administration can rightly point to <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/article/7-reasons-the-u-s-economy-is-among-the-strongest-in-the-g7/">strong economic growth</a>, near full employment, and record investment in infrastructure, one economic metric remains a critical area of concern: rising prices.</p>
<p>EJ Antoni, public finance economist at the Grover M. Hermann Centre for the Federal Budget, has stated that, “<a href="https://www.heritage.org/markets-and-finance/commentary/bidenomics-unpopular-good-reason">prices have risen</a> 17% on average since Mr Biden became president, versus rising a mere 1.4% in the year before he took office… While annual inflation has since come down, prices are still rising, and now the pace is picking up steam.” </p>
<p>High inflation in <a href="https://ycharts.com/indicators/us_inflation_rate#:%7E:text=US%20Inflation%20Rate%20(I%3AUSIR)&text=US%20Inflation%20Rate%20is%20at,in%20price%20over%20a%20year.">2022</a> has been coupled with other economic problems for the Biden administration. Senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, William A. Galston said that “the <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/articles/why-so-many-americans-are-unhappy-about-the-economy/">earnings</a> of most US households declined significantly last year. For households in the middle of the economic distribution, the decline was 2.3%, from US$76,330 (£61,000) in 2021 to US$74,580 in 2022.” </p>
<p>American discontent with “Bidenomics” is not only an explanation for the president’s poor favourability ratings, but may also explain Trump’s relatively strong figures when matched against Biden in national polling. <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/09/abc-nbc-polls-show-the-economy-hurts-biden-more-than-age.html">Gary Langer</a>, a public opinion researcher and political analyst, has observed that: “When he reluctantly left office in January 2021, 38% approved of (Trump’s) work as president… But currently, looking back, 48% say they approve of Trump’s performance when he was in office… Comparison with Biden may be a factor.”</p>
<h2>The age factor</h2>
<p>The other political issue at play for Joe Biden is his age. He will turn 81 in November (Trump is 77). In a recent <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/first-read/poll-overwhelming-majorities-express-concerns-biden-trump-ahead-2024-r-rcna111347">NBC News poll</a>, 74% of voters stated that they had concerns about an octogenarian president as well as his mental fitness. In a sign that his campaign realises it is time to step up the pressure on Trump and fight back, Biden’s team has just launched a <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2023/09/27/politics/biden-anti-trump-ad-michigan/index.html">$25 million television advertising blitz</a> in key battleground states. </p>
<p>In May 2023 Trump was found liable in a civil trial of <a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-rape-carroll-trial-fe68259a4b98bb3947d42af9ec83d7db">sexually assaulting</a> advice columnist E. Jean Carroll in 1996. A further legal defeat came on September 26 when a New York judge ruled the former president <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/09/26/ny-judge-finds-trump-committed-fraud-sanctions-his-attorneys/">perpetrated fraud</a> by repeatedly misrepresenting his wealth by hundreds of millions of dollars. </p>
<p>Republicans are now trying to shift the legal focus, launching a House impeachment hearing <a href="https://apnews.com/article/hunter-biden-impeachment-inquiry-house-republicans-51576c5fe4294be2605a14fa81075196#:%7E:text=WASHINGTON%20(AP)%20%E2%80%94%20House%20Republicans,colleagues%20and%20a%20skeptical%20Senate.">against Biden</a>, related to his son Hunter’s international business deals, as part of an inquiry into “abuse of public office”.</p>
<p>With 13 months to go before the next presidential election, Biden and Trump remain in an incredibly tight race according to recent <a href="https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/president-general/">polling</a>. The <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/troubles-biden-age-reelection-campaign-poll/story?id=103436611">ABC-News/Washington Post poll</a> cited earlier even has Trump leading Biden by ten points, 52%-42%. A <a href="https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/president-general/">YouGov/Economist poll</a> conducted the same week, however, has the president leading Trump by five points, 45%-40%. </p>
<p>As Trump’s seven Republican opponents for president took to the <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/2024-election-republican-debate/">debate stage</a> in California on September 27, the former president chose instead to campaign in Michigan, a sign that Trump does not think he has any real competition. Former South Carolina governor Nikki Hayley, one of those opponents, <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/09/27/trump-challengers-electability-polls-00118389">claimed</a> that: “We have to face the fact that Trump is the most disliked politician in America. We can’t win a general election that way.” This view is not echoed by Republican voters. A <a href="https://www.monmouth.edu/polling-institute/reports/monmouthpoll_us_092623/">Monmouth University poll</a> found that 48% believe Trump is “definitely” the strongest candidate to beat Biden. </p>
<p>Even some Democrats worry that Trump is looking like a winner. In a recent podcast interview, <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4224057-carville-democrats-needs-to-wake-the-f-up-about-bidens-2024-risks/">Carville said</a> if the election was “November the third of this year. And … the candidates are (Joe Biden and Donald Trump) … Trump would be a betting favourite”. The 2024 presidential election race looks extremely tight, and increasingly vicious.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214531/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Richard Hargy does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Biden’s team are about to launch a US$25 million television advertising blitz in key battleground states.Richard Hargy, Visiting Research Fellow, Queen's University BelfastLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2122332023-09-14T18:53:09Z2023-09-14T18:53:09ZHunter Biden is the latest presidential child to stain a White House reputation − but others have shined it up<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548059/original/file-20230913-25-9vesrk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=13%2C0%2C2982%2C2020&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">President Joe Biden and family after he was sworn in at the U.S. Capitol, January 20, 2021.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/BidenInauguration/4df43ce386994cf098c6f2e8f1f104fb/photo?Query=Hunter%20Biden%20Joe%20Jill&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=1292&currentItemNo=31&vs=true">AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Hunter Biden, the surviving son of President Joe Biden, <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ded.82797/gov.uscourts.ded.82797.40.0.pdf">was indicted on Sept. 14, 2023</a>, on gun-related charges – facing a possible criminal trial while his father is campaigning for reelection. The charges relate to Hunter Biden’s alleged lying about his drug use when he purchased a gun in 2018. And a conviction could mean <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/14/us/politics/hunter-biden-indictment-gun-charges.html">prison time of 10 years</a> <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/09/14/hunter-biden-indicted-on-gun-charges-00115964">or more</a>. </p>
<p>As Hunter Biden’s legal peril rises, with all its ensuing political complications, people have rediscovered the likes of <a href="https://www.biography.com/political-figures/a44270818/hunter-biden-scandals-involving-kids-of-presidents">Ulysses Grant Jr., Alice Roosevelt and Neil Bush</a>, as if the best way to make sense of Hunter Biden is found in a rogues’ gallery of difficult presidential relatives. </p>
<p><a href="https://history.wustl.edu/people/peter-kastor">As a historian of the American presidency</a>, I see the case of Hunter Biden as a revealing indicator of the ways that presidential children have figured in American public life, whether they were beloved or reviled. </p>
<p>Most presidents and first ladies have <a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/All-the-Presidents-Children/Doug-Wead/9780743446334">attempted to protect their children</a> – especially their young children – from the scrutiny and the emotional toll of public life. Whether they were publicly visible or not, their children have always been factors in the presidents’ public lives and presidents have sought to exploit the political benefits they can draw from their children. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, commentators and the American public alike have drawn their own conclusions about individual presidents and the presidency as an institution in part on the basis of presidential children. </p>
<p>In my own research, I have observed that presidents have consistently looked to their adult sons as potential political allies, only to find that young children and especially young daughters have become more effective political assets. Those dynamics have only intensified over time, especially in recent decades as presidents increasingly <a href="https://commonreader.wustl.edu/c/marriage-in-the-white-house/">put their private lives on public display</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548092/original/file-20230913-19-7krw3f.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A collage of three photos of men with brides." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548092/original/file-20230913-19-7krw3f.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548092/original/file-20230913-19-7krw3f.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548092/original/file-20230913-19-7krw3f.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548092/original/file-20230913-19-7krw3f.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548092/original/file-20230913-19-7krw3f.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548092/original/file-20230913-19-7krw3f.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548092/original/file-20230913-19-7krw3f.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Their daughters’ weddings help humanize a president; clockwise from left, Lyndon Johnson and daughter Lynda; George W. Bush and daughter Jenna; Richard Nixon and daughter Tricia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Johnson: Getty Images; Bush: Shealah Craighead/The White House via FilmMagic; Nixon: Nixon White House Photographs</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>America, mirrored</h2>
<p>Presidential children have reflected how Americans think about age and gender, parenting and politics. </p>
<p>Those sometimes abstract concepts assume real form in presidential families. And they operate in unexpected ways. The fact that gender norms often precluded presidential daughters from an <a href="http://ap.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/womens-history/essays/women-american-politics-twentieth-century">explicitly political role</a> paradoxically could make them more popular public figures. The assumption that young children <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2014/12/02/politics/political-kids-off-limits/index.html">should be free from the political rough-and-tumble</a> has recently made them highly effective symbols for presidential image-making.</p>
<p>Presidents have often sought a role for their adult sons in supporting their administrations. Many of those sons happily obliged. In 1837, Martin Van Buren <a href="https://www.nps.gov/mava/learn/historyculture/abraham-van-buren.htm">appointed his son, Abraham</a>, to serve as his private secretary, at the time a high-level confidential advisor. Over a century later, <a href="https://www.nps.gov/people/john-eisenhower.htm">Dwight Eisenhower selected his son, John</a>, to serve as assistant staff secretary. <a href="https://erpapers.columbian.gwu.edu/james-roosevelt-1907-1991">James Roosevelt campaigned for his father, Franklin</a>, and quite literally supported him. In public appearances, Franklin would lean on James, holding his hand in what appeared to be an expression of affection but was actually <a href="https://erpapers.columbian.gwu.edu/james-roosevelt-1907-1991">a tactic to hide his polio-related disability</a>. </p>
<p>The ambitions of <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/presidents/john-quincy-adams/">John Quincy Adams</a>, son of the second president of the U.S., <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/presidents/john-adams/">John Adams</a> and himself a future president, raised <a href="https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/presidential-nepotism-debate-goes-back-to-the-founders-time">accusations of nepotism</a> in a country that claimed to have eliminated a royal class. But <a href="https://www.whitehousehistory.org/white-house-hostesses-the-forgotten-first-ladies">Martha Jefferson Randolph</a> could fill the traditional role of first lady and serve as confidante to her father, the widower and <a href="https://www.whitehousehistory.org/bios/thomas-jefferson">third U.S. president, Thomas Jefferson</a>. </p>
<p>The sons of Teddy and Franklin Roosevelt both faced accusations that they traded on their fathers’ names <a href="https://fdr.blogs.archives.gov/2018/01/31/sons-of-the-commander-in-chief-the-roosevelt-boys-in-world-war-ii/">to secure undeserved offices</a>. <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/291313/wilson-by-a-scott-berg/">In contrast, Woodrow Wilson’s daughter</a>, Margaret, served as first lady for over a year before her widowed father remarried. Her younger sister, <a href="https://www.whitehousehistory.org/pioneering-women-of-the-woodrow-wilson-white-house-1913-1921">Jessie, was an activist</a> for women’s suffrage and the League of Nations.</p>
<p>As journalists, historians and the American public have <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/606853/the-presidents-vs-the-press-by-harold-holzer/">tried to pierce the veil of privacy</a> surrounding presidential private life over the past half-century, presidents and the politicos who surround them have also sought to remove that veil, but selectively so, with an eye toward their own advantage. </p>
<p>Biographers <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/6467/6467-h/6467-h.htm">celebrated presidents like Teddy Roosevelt</a> and <a href="https://www.jfklibrary.org/visit-museum/exhibits/past-exhibits/first-children-caroline-and-john-jr-in-the-kennedy-white-house">John Kennedy who played with their young children</a>. Ronald <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/ThisWeek/family-feud-reagans-children-debate-legacy-father/story?id=12786615">Reagan’s children argued about whether he was a good father</a>, claiming that his private behavior should affect whether people should see him as a great president.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/18/politics/gallery/white-house-weddings-history/index.html">White House weddings of Lynda Bird Johnson and Tricia Nixon</a> provided opportunities to soften the image of the brass-knuckles political personalities of Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon. These were <a href="https://www.whitehousehistory.org/digital-library/exhibits/something-old-something-new-eight-first-daughters-fashionable-white-house-weddings">major public events</a> in their own time, and the notion that Nixon wanted to exploit the event while never abandoning his antagonism toward the Washington press corps was a <a href="https://www.20thcenturystudios.com/movies/the-post">subplot in the 2017 film, “The Post</a>.”</p>
<p>The Johnson and Nixon weddings offered a preview of how White House children provided presidents with image management opportunities. But the process began in earnest 30 years ago, as Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama sought to preserve the privacy of their young daughters even as they made conspicuous efforts to demonstrate their role in raising those daughters. </p>
<p>In “A Place Called Hope,” a promotional film for his 1996 re-election campaign, Bill Clinton beamed with pride as he discussed <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFMo3d9zq9g&t=5m4s">Chelsea Clinton’s growing comfort at political events</a>. George W. Bush <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/200372/decision-points-by-george-w-bush/">celebrated both of his daughters’ public careers</a>, even when Barbara became an activist with left-leaning organizations. Barack Obama joked with TV host Jimmy Kimmel about managing his daughters’ social media accounts, as if he were <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNyd34TPXUg&t=2m23s">just another befuddled father</a>.</p>
<p>In an era of identity politics, when the explicit <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1993/10/feminisms-identity-crisis/304921/">invocation of feminism could generate a political backlash</a>, these young daughters provided the means for these three presidents to reinforce the image of themselves as members of just another American family and modern fathers who supported their daughters. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LFMo3d9zq9g?wmode=transparent&start=303" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Bill Clinton speaks about his daughter, Chelsea, in a promotional video.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Those family-oriented images made the shift to Donald Trump all the more jarring. His approach harkened back to the 19th century, when presidents appointed their adult sons to office while young children rarely appeared in public. Rather than exploit young Barron Trump’s potential to present Trump as a caring father, Trump preferred to emphasize his grown children. </p>
<p>Donald Trump Jr., and Eric Trump <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/don-jr-and-eric-trump-campaigning-2018-10">regularly served as surrogates for their father</a>. Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/10/ivanka-trump-jared-kushner-nepotism-conflicts-of-interest">held official appointments</a> in the administration. </p>
<p>Yet whatever benefit he believed he drew from these adult children, Trump found they were immediate <a href="https://apps.bostonglobe.com/opinion/graphics/2021/06/future-proofing-the-presidency/part-3-a-sordid-family-affair/">lightning rods</a> for <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/11/us/politics/donald-trump-jr-eric-trump-business.html">public criticism</a>.</p>
<h2>How to look normal</h2>
<p>The template of presidential children making their fathers appear more familiar and accessible still rules. </p>
<p>While the adult children of most Republican candidates have been invisible on the current campaign trail, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis – often described as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/10/us/politics/desantis-iowa.html">awkward</a> and <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/01/17/ron-desantis-likability-issue-on-politics-00077927">lacking charm</a> – has made a point of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/18/us/politics/ron-desantis-age.html">appearing with his young children</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/president-biden/">Joe Biden’s preferred political origin story</a> is the image of the caring father who was sworn into the Senate in a hospital ward so he did not leave Beau and Hunter following the car crash that killed Biden’s first wife and his only daughter. </p>
<p>At the Democratic Convention in 2008, Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden nominated his father <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYjrS-F3dCc">as the party’s candidate for vice president</a>. He was the latest presidential son to campaign for his father. But <a href="https://apnews.com/general-news-d8f69eb645d74b7886387f713981b739">Beau died from brain cancer</a> at age 46. With Beau gone and Hunter’s legal problems a political liability, Biden has taken a page from his predecessors’ handbook. </p>
<p>If his administration cannot cast Biden as a young dad like Ron DeSantis, they can surround him with his grandchildren. In fact, when Biden won the presidential election in 2020, one of the first photos from the Biden camp came from his granddaughter, Naomi, showing her generation of the family <a href="https://people.com/politics/election-2020-joe-biden-celebrates-victory-with-grandchildren/">literally surrounding their grandfather</a>. </p>
<p>The indictment wasn’t the only bad news for the Bidens – father and son – in one week. Hunter Biden had already become the ultimate lightning rod for his father, with the announcement on Sept. 12, 2023, by the House GOP that they <a href="https://apnews.com/article/mccarthy-biden-impeachment-shutdown-house-republicans-b187202be8814f7acbdd6e2e937e23d4">will undertake impeachment proceedings</a> based largely on the president’s alleged interactions with his son’s business ventures. Hunter Biden’s place in the story of presidential children is thus clear, a story that politicians now know by heart: As a crucial element in his father’s public image – for better or for worse.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212233/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Kastor does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Politics, age and gender combine to shape the understanding of presidents’ families – and the presidents themselves.Peter Kastor, Professor of History & American Culture Studies, Associate Vice Dean of Research, Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. LouisLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2100442023-08-30T12:17:52Z2023-08-30T12:17:52ZGovernors may make good presidents − unless they become ‘imperial governors’ like DeSantis<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544785/original/file-20230825-17-4q4pb7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C2635%2C8188%2C2684&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Of the eight Republicans on stage at the party's first presidential debate, six were current or former governors.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/republican-presidential-candidates-former-arkansas-gov-asa-news-photo/1621999903">Joshua Lott/The Washington Post via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many people believe governors make good presidents. In fact, a 2016 Gallup Poll found that almost <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/189119/state-governor-best-experience-presidency.aspx">74% of people</a> say that governing a state provides excellent or good preparation for someone to be an effective president. As a result, many political commentators have tried to explain why Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is stumbling in his campaign for president. </p>
<p>Some say it is because he is <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/10/us/politics/ron-desantis-campaign-challenges.html">stiff or awkward on the campaign trail</a>, or his path to the nomination is not really to the political right of former President Donald Trump, or he needs to step up and directly confront the former president.</p>
<p>But as the former executive director of the <a href="https://www.nga.org/">National Governors Association</a> for 27 years, I have worked with well over 300 governors. During that time I have been part of many conversations with governors regarding other governors running for president. So I know that some current and former governors on both sides of the aisle would have another reason for why DeSantis is stalling. If you were to ask them, I expect they would mostly smile and say quietly, “It is because he has become an imperial governor” – one who believes he is all-powerful and that all his decisions will be just applauded and never questioned or opposed.</p>
<h2>A dominant position</h2>
<p>Unlike presidents, who are seldom able to politically dominate Washington, D.C., many governors can dominate their states – so much so that some begin to believe they can do nothing wrong. Essentially, they believe they can do anything. </p>
<p>That experience often creates a false impression that what they did in their states they can do for the nation. A recent Miami Herald opinion article called DeSantis an <a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/editorials/article277104213.html">anti-woke, anti-LGBTQ+ politician</a> who has become known for fighting drag queens, critical race theory and Disney.</p>
<p>These are not exactly issues important to citizens of most other states and thus not useful as a foundation for a presidential campaign. This is clearly reflected in a recent New York Times poll of Republicans, where <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/06/us/politics/woke-republicans-poll.html">only 17% supported an anti-woke campaign</a>, while 65% supported a law-and-order campaign.</p>
<h2>Significant power</h2>
<p>Governors traditionally have more constitutional and legal powers than do presidents, particularly in terms of budgets and in cases of emergency.</p>
<p>In fact, former governors Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush were known to remark, when they were president, that they <a href="https://www.upi.com/Archives/1987/02/01/UPI-Spot-News-Weekender-Line-item-veto-on-Reagan-wish-list-again/1481539154000/">wished they had the budget powers</a> <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/supcourt/stories/wp062698.htm">they had</a> <a href="https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2006/03/text/20060306-7.html">when they were governor</a>. Often, I heard these comments during discussions with governors at National Governors Association meetings.</p>
<p>To reduce federal spending, Congress and the president must agree.</p>
<p>But <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/4082783-line-item-veto-explained/">most governors have line-item veto authority</a> over budgets, allowing them to strike funding for specific programs, subject only to the override by a super-majority of the legislature.</p>
<p>Similarly, many governors can <a href="https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/issue-briefs/2022/03/how-states-can-manage-midyear-budget-gaps">cut previously enacted state budgets by up to 5%</a> without consent from the legislature.</p>
<p>Some governors can even spend federal funds sent to the state without legislative approval. For instance, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a Republican, unilaterally expanded Medicaid eligibility in his state in 2013 under the Affordable Care Act – <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/22/us/medicaid-expansion-is-set-for-ohioans.html">over the objections of his fellow GOP members</a> who controlled the state General Assembly.</p>
<p>By contrast, President Joe Biden has struggled to <a href="https://www.edweek.org/policy-politics/supreme-court-rejects-student-loan-relief-plan/2023/06">reduce the burden of student loan debt</a>, and, in fact, his plan was overturned by the Supreme Court.</p>
<p>Governors also typically have more power than presidents during emergencies. During the pandemic, <a href="https://nashp.org/states-covid-19-public-health-emergency-declarations/">all 50 governors declared states of emergency</a> that allowed them to expand health care workers’ ability to provide care, reducing hospitals’ and doctors’ liability to lawsuits, and protected consumers from price gouging on necessities. They were also able to require certain groups of people to wear masks and get vaccinated, and even shut down bars and restaurants for periods of time. </p>
<p>When then-President Trump declared a <a href="https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/presidential-actions/proclamation-declaring-national-emergency-concerning-novel-coronavirus-disease-covid-19-outbreak/">federal COVID-19 emergency</a>, his powers were largely restricted to the health care programs that the federal government administers, such as Medicare and Medicaid, and efforts by the Department of Health and Human Services.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544787/original/file-20230825-21-tmcf8s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man in a vest swings a baseball bat." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544787/original/file-20230825-21-tmcf8s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544787/original/file-20230825-21-tmcf8s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544787/original/file-20230825-21-tmcf8s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544787/original/file-20230825-21-tmcf8s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544787/original/file-20230825-21-tmcf8s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544787/original/file-20230825-21-tmcf8s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544787/original/file-20230825-21-tmcf8s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis swings a baseball bat during a presidential campaign stop in Iowa in August 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/Election2024DeSantis/3e78128c336546f3b3cb79f4894e0589/photo">AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Political prominence</h2>
<p>Governors often are the dominant political force in their states. They particularly tend to overshadow the legislative and judicial branches – which significantly limit the power of the president at the federal level. </p>
<p>Governors dominate the legislature, in part, because state lawmakers tend to have <a href="https://www.ncsl.org/about-state-legislatures/size-of-state-legislative-staff">very few staff</a> to help them – if any at all. By contrast, U.S. House members each have <a href="https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R43947">about 18 staff members</a>,
and senators average about 40 staffers.</p>
<p>And that doesn’t include committee staff members or the support organizations of the <a href="https://www.usa.gov/agencies/congressional-research-service">Congressional Research Service</a>, the <a href="https://www.cbo.gov/">Congressional Budget Office</a> and the <a href="https://www.gao.gov/">Government Accountability Office</a>, which work for committees and members.</p>
<p>In addition, most state legislators are part time and may only be in session a few weeks per year. The commonwealth of Virginia is like many states, <a href="https://www.djj.virginia.gov/pages/about-djj/legislative-process.htm">only meeting for 60 days</a> in even years and 30 days in odd years – though those sessions are often extended by up to 15 days.</p>
<p>It is also true that many governors have legislatures with huge majorities of the same party, which often minimizes any opposition. In Florida, for instance, <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/2023_Florida_legislative_session">28 of the 40 senators are Republican</a>, and 85 of the 120 House members are as well. This adds up to a veto-proof majority for DeSantis. </p>
<p>Governors tend to dominate state supreme courts, too. Most states’ justices, who are typically appointed by the governor, have <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Length_of_terms_of_state_supreme_court_justice">both term limits and age limits</a>, which means turnover is much more rapid. Therefore, states’ top judges are more likely to have been appointed by the current sitting governor – as opposed to the federal Supreme Court, where <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/our-government/the-judicial-branch/">judges have life appointments</a> and can serve through many presidencies.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544807/original/file-20230825-15-1rmqq5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman smiles while holding a microphone." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544807/original/file-20230825-15-1rmqq5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544807/original/file-20230825-15-1rmqq5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544807/original/file-20230825-15-1rmqq5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544807/original/file-20230825-15-1rmqq5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544807/original/file-20230825-15-1rmqq5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544807/original/file-20230825-15-1rmqq5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544807/original/file-20230825-15-1rmqq5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley speaks during a presidential campaign event in Iowa in August 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/Election2024AbortionCandidates/f3b2a649196d48319450820fe8556d85/photo">AP Photo/Jeff Roberson</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A matter of timing</h2>
<p>A governor most often begins to view himself as imperial during the first couple of years after a very successful reelection – and only in states with large populations.</p>
<p>The last governor that I remember who reached imperial status was <a href="https://www.nga.org/governor/scott-walker/">Scott Walker</a>, Wisconsin’s governor from 2011 to 2019. He ran for president in 2016 but <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2015/09/scott-walker-2016-drops-out-213894">withdrew after only two months</a> because of his poor showing in the polls.</p>
<p>This year, in addition to DeSantis, five other former or current governors have declared they are running for president. And at least one is still considering doing so. But most of them are not imperial governors nor at risk of becoming one.</p>
<p>Mike Pence, the former governor of Indiana, never became imperial because he never ran for reelection. Instead, he was chosen by Donald Trump to be his vice president. In addition, many in his party believe he would have had <a href="https://www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/2016/05/27/gov-mike-pence-facing-tough-re-election-afte-social-issues-stands/85023730/">difficulty in his bid for reelection</a>.</p>
<p>Former Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey never reached imperial status because he governed in a state where the legislature was dominated by the opposite party. Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson served in a very small state, with only 3 million people. Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley also served in a small state, of 5 million people. Any power she might have carried from the governorship into a run for the presidency has dissipated in the six years she has been out of office, including serving as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Gov. Doug Burgum of North Dakota serves in an even smaller state, with less than a million people. Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin is reportedly <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2023/08/15/virginia-voters-glenn-youngkin-2024/70549023007/">still considering a run</a>.</p>
<p>DeSantis, by contrast, is a second-term governor of a large state. Florida is the <a href="https://www.census.gov/library/stories/state-by-state/florida-population-change-between-census-decade.html">third most-populated state</a>, with <a href="https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/FL/PST045222">22.2 million residents</a> as of July 2022. And in 2022, <a href="https://www.wuft.org/news/2022/11/08/desantis-wins-2022-florida-governors-race-by-largest-margin-in-40-years/">DeSantis won reelection in a landslide</a> with <a href="https://www.politico.com/2022-election/results/florida/statewide-offices/">59.4% of the vote</a>.</p>
<p>The state legislature is dominated by people of the same political party, and DeSantis has appointed <a href="https://www.wptv.com/news/state/desantis-appoints-fifth-justice-to-current-state-supreme-court-meredith-sasso">five of the seven justices</a> on the state supreme court.</p>
<p>There is no question that <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-poll-indictments-2023-08-20/">Trump’s recent indictments</a> have made him a stronger candidate for the nomination. Whether this strength will last is unclear as the court cases play out.</p>
<p>But if DeSantis continues to be an imperial governor, he will not be able to take advantage of any erosion in support for the former president and risks being just a footnote in the 2024 race – and may have to forget about 2028 as well.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210044/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Raymond Scheppach does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A former executive director of the National Governors Association explains what it is about certain governors that makes them less suited for the presidency.Raymond Scheppach, Professor of Public Policy, University of VirginiaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2101602023-08-02T10:43:22Z2023-08-02T10:43:22ZGeorge Washington knew when it was time to go, unlike Trump, because the founders worried about the judgment of history<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540241/original/file-20230731-29-3akr7o.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C5%2C3778%2C2486&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">George Washington, hand on the Bible, at his inauguration in 1789 as the first president of the U.S.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/the-inauguration-of-george-washington-as-the-first-news-photo/3092200?adppopup=true">MPI / Stringer/Archive photos, Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Donald Trump’s <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/08/01/us/trump-jan-6-indictment-2020-election.html">new indictment by a grand jury</a> in Washington, D.C., for crimes related to his alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, counts as another blow to his reputation.</p>
<p>He might be convicted. But even if he’s not, a set of deeper issues has clearly emerged already: Many leaders and politicians today just <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/29/us/politics/mcconnell-feinstein-biden-age.html">cling to power</a>. Heedless of the common good, they seem to forget that the judgment of posterity will come, inescapably. </p>
<p>One clear diagnosis of this problem came almost 40 years ago from <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/07/us/robert-bellah-sociologist-of-religion-who-mapped-the-american-soul-dies-at-86.html">Robert Bellah</a>, the renowned American sociologist, when he spotted a momentous transformation. It was 1986, and President Ronald Reagan had entered his second term. </p>
<p>Bellah felt that public officials lived too much in the moment. He feared that politicians had become too ambitious and egotistical, and had come to disregard not only their own reputation, but also, to some extent, the future itself – since “reputation” is a relation among people and among generations.</p>
<p>If politicians think that “private ambition, material aggrandizement, and looking out for number one are the most important things,” Bellah wrote, then they are implicitly suggesting that you should change into “<a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3480392?seq=1">a bad person</a>.”</p>
<p>The transformation lamented by Bellah may not be irreversible, but many public figures have come dangerously close to the tenet once attributed to Louis XV, king of France in the 18th century: “<a href="https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199567454.001.0001/acref-9780199567454-e-100">Après moi le déluge</a>,” “After me the flood” – which means that they are largely insensitive to what will remain after they are gone.</p>
<p>And yet, <a href="https://www.mountvernon.org/plan-your-visit/calendar/events/meet-the-authors-2023-s-best-books-on-the-founding-era/">as a historian</a> and author most recently of a <a href="https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/12786/first-among-men">biography of George Washington</a>, I’d like readers to know that when America was young, the situation was the exact opposite. </p>
<p>People, especially public figures, were highly concerned about their reputation, or “<a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691122366/the-founding-fathers-and-the-politics-of-character">character</a>,” as it was usually called.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540247/original/file-20230731-235615-kwut55.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man in a dark coat and red tie stands next to a woman in dark coat and sunglasses, talking." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540247/original/file-20230731-235615-kwut55.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540247/original/file-20230731-235615-kwut55.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540247/original/file-20230731-235615-kwut55.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540247/original/file-20230731-235615-kwut55.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540247/original/file-20230731-235615-kwut55.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540247/original/file-20230731-235615-kwut55.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540247/original/file-20230731-235615-kwut55.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">On Jan. 20, 2021, the day he left the White House, Donald Trump stood with his wife and told reporters, ‘We will be back in some form.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/outgoing-us-president-donald-trump-and-first-lady-melania-news-photo/1230687958?adppopup=true">Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Honeymoon turns to hatred</h2>
<p>How a person looked through other people’s eyes was an obsession in the 18th century.</p>
<p>An individual in society, Scottish economist and philosopher <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Adam-Smith">Adam Smith</a> wrote in 1759, is “immediately provided with the mirror.” Everyone is “<a href="https://archive.org/details/dli.bengal.10689.4837">placed in the countenance and behaviour of those he lives with</a>.”</p>
<p>The American founders were particularly concerned about their reputations. Moreover, the judgment of posterity terrified them. </p>
<p>When Washington was about to enter the presidency, he realized his moral stature would suffer. “<a href="https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/mss/mgw/mgw2/017/017.pdf">The eyes of Argus are upon me</a>,” he wrote to his nephew Bushrod Washington in July 1789. <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Argus-Greek-mythology">Argus Panoptes</a>, the many-eyed giant of Greek mythology, was watching Washington, “and no slip will pass unnoticed.”</p>
<p>When his turn for the highest office came, Thomas Jefferson also <a href="https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-29-02-0189">shivered with ominous presentiments</a>. </p>
<p>“I know well that no man will ever bring out of that office the reputation which carries him into it,” he wrote. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540248/original/file-20230731-235615-7m6xwd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A dark portrait of a man in 18th century jacket and white blouse, with fine features." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540248/original/file-20230731-235615-7m6xwd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540248/original/file-20230731-235615-7m6xwd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=715&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540248/original/file-20230731-235615-7m6xwd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=715&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540248/original/file-20230731-235615-7m6xwd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=715&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540248/original/file-20230731-235615-7m6xwd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540248/original/file-20230731-235615-7m6xwd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540248/original/file-20230731-235615-7m6xwd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">When Thomas Jefferson was about to become president, he said, ‘I know well that no man will ever bring out of that office the reputation which carries him into it.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.whitehousehistory.org/photos/thomas-jefferson">White House Collection/White House Historical Association</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Public officials will unavoidably fall from grace, Jefferson concluded: “The honey moon would be as short in that case as in any other, and its moments of ecstasy would be <a href="https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-29-02-0189">ransomed by years of torment and hatred</a>.”</p>
<p>The founders had good reasons to tremble for their reputation – many of these men <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Founding-Fathers-and-Slavery-1269536">enslaved other human beings</a>. At the same time, none of them tried to cling to the role of leader when their time had passed. That was because they dreaded the idea that public opinion would censor them as self-serving and cunning operators. </p>
<p>And, more important, it was because they didn’t want to become an embarrassment, a hindrance, a chunk of gravel in the very machinery of the nation.</p>
<h2>Stepping down</h2>
<p>Washington, famously, set the example. In June 1799, <a href="https://www.nga.org/governor/jonathan-trumbull-jr/">Jonathan Trumbull Jr., the governor of Connecticut</a> who had also served as Washington’s military secretary during the American Revolution, <a href="https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-resources/spotlight-primary-source/washington-proposed-third-term-and-political-parties">urged him to run for a third term</a>. Many others had previously prodded him.</p>
<p>But Washington demurred. He was determined not to appear egotistical and be “charged” in the public eye “<a href="https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/06-04-02-0165">with concealed ambition</a>.”</p>
<p>Perhaps even stronger, given the country’s heated political climate in the 1790s, there was also Washington’s awareness that he had become a problem himself.</p>
<p>“The line between Parties,” Washington wrote to Trumbull, had become “so clearly drawn” that politicians would “regard neither truth nor decency; attacking every character, without respect to persons – Public or Private – <a href="https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/06-04-02-0165">who happen to differ from themselves in Politics</a>.”</p>
<p>Washington was aware that he was no longer the leader in the position to unify the nation in the way he did in the 1780s, at the end of the revolution. Even if he were willing to run for president again, “I am thoroughly convinced I should not <a href="https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/06-04-02-0165">draw a single vote</a>” from the opposite side, he wrote Trumbull.</p>
<h2>Retiring from public life</h2>
<p>The founders were able to create a network of admirers who would serve as stewards of their reputation, while downplaying the missteps they made.</p>
<p>“<a href="https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/98-01-02-5912">Take care of me when dead</a>,” old Jefferson begged James Madison, his friend of over 50 years, just a few months before he passed away.</p>
<p>For their part, flawed though these leaders were, they helped their friends and admirers by trying not to make them too uncomfortable. They stayed away from public controversy as much as they could. And when they believed they were done, they retired from the public scene – a political act in its own terms.</p>
<p>Even before entering the presidency, Washington wasn’t at all afraid to “tread the paths of private life.” He would do that eventually, right after his second term, in 1797, and “<a href="https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/04-01-02-0064">with heartfelt satisfaction</a>.”</p>
<p>Washington had always accepted the unavoidable fact that, like every other mortal, he also would “move gently down the stream of life, <a href="https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/04-01-02-0064">until I sleep with my Fathers</a>.”</p>
<p>Washington would be remembered as the <a href="https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/cincinnatus/">American Cincinnatus</a>. Just like <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Lucius-Quinctius-Cincinnatus">Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus</a>, the mythic Roman statesman and military leader, Washington himself relinquished power – and he did so voluntarily.</p>
<p>Relinquishing power and retiring were the best way to ensure Washington’s glory and reputation. </p>
<p>Apparently, passing the scepter to the next generation and worrying over one’s reputation don’t come as naturally today – at least to some.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210160/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Maurizio Valsania does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>When America was young, its leaders had no trouble retiring from public service and public life. That’s not universally true now.Maurizio Valsania, Professor of American History, Università di TorinoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2071652023-06-07T12:25:23Z2023-06-07T12:25:23ZMike Pence is jockeying against Donald Trump for the Republican presidential nomination – joining the ranks of just one vice president who, in 1800, also ran against a former boss<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530414/original/file-20230606-23-shmj8a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Former President Donald Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence appear together in November 2020. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/id/1285532140/photo/president-trump-delivers-update-on-operation-warp-speed-at-white-house.jpg?s=1024x1024&w=gi&k=20&c=WobfF5DOO2Zm4jugWSZR6Me6_SRCp6LkbcQQUZO4FTk=">Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Former Vice President Mike Pence filed paperwork to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/05/us/politics/pence-2024-president-candidate.html">declare his candidacy</a> for president on June 5, 2023 – placing him in unusual ranks. </p>
<p>While 18 of the 49 former vice presidents have gone on to run for president, it’s rare for vice presidents to run against their former bosses. Six of these former vice presidents, including President Joe Biden, were ultimately elected president.</p>
<p>Pence, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/article/christie-pence-burgum-2024-announce-president.html">alongside other candidates,</a> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jun/05/mike-pence-president-run-2024-election">officially announced</a> his bid on June 7. </p>
<p>Pence and former President Donald Trump have had a complicated relationship. Pence’s devout conservative evangelical Christianity was a crucial ingredient in <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2023/03/trump-religious-right-evangelical-vote-pence-desantis-support/673475/">helping carry Trump</a> to victory in 2016.</p>
<p>But Trump <a href="https://www.axios.com/2023/03/14/trump-pence-jan-6-riot-blame">blames Pence</a> for the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots and has said he is <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/01/06/953616107/pence-faces-his-most-challenging-trump-loyalty-test-yet">angry with him for certifying</a> the 2020 election results. Pence <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jun/16/mike-pence-40ft-from-mob-january-6">remained trapped at the Capitol</a> during the attack, which <a href="https://time.com/6199490/trump-jan-6-oath-dereliction-duty/">Trump did nothing</a> to try to end. </p>
<p>There are only a few other times in American history that are vaguely similar to the unfolding battle over who will become the Republican presidential nominee. Both were extraordinarily bitter, and centuries later, their strife still makes historians and experts on the presidency – <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=_khILTgAAAAJ&hl=en">including myself</a> – raise eyebrows. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530421/original/file-20230606-21-j1d7bk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man with white hair looks to his side at a man with an open mouth and light white hair who is speaking." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530421/original/file-20230606-21-j1d7bk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530421/original/file-20230606-21-j1d7bk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530421/original/file-20230606-21-j1d7bk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530421/original/file-20230606-21-j1d7bk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530421/original/file-20230606-21-j1d7bk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530421/original/file-20230606-21-j1d7bk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530421/original/file-20230606-21-j1d7bk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mike Pence, left, is the second vice president to run against his former boss for election.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/id/1181889149/photo/president-trump-congratulates-astronauts-for-first-all-womens-spacewalk.jpg?s=1024x1024&w=gi&k=20&c=trx6Qu2hTZNb_0HsBc2HKU8etApkdWOBn2rmKsqJeEU=">Win McNamee/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Name-calling in 1800</h2>
<p>There is one other time in history when a vice president ran against the president he served with in office. </p>
<p>In the election of 1800, Vice President Thomas Jefferson challenged incumbent President John Adams. Adams had won the presidency in 1796, and Jefferson was runner-up, making him vice president. Until 1804, the person who came in first in a presidential election <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/when-did-vice-presidency-stop-going-to-second-place-ask-smithsonian-180957199/">became commander in chief</a>, while the person who brought in the second-most votes became vice president. </p>
<p>Jefferson, though, <a href="https://lehrmaninstitute.org/history/1800.html">wanted the top job.</a></p>
<p>And so when Adams ran for reelection, <a href="https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/creating-the-united-states/election-of-1800.html#:%7E:text=The%20extremely%20partisan%20and%20outright,of%20votes%20would%20become%20president">Jefferson ran against him</a> in one of the most <a href="https://ap.gilderlehrman.org/essay/presidential-election-1800-story-crisis-controversy-and-change">notorious races</a> in American history. </p>
<p>Jefferson’s allies called Adams “a hideous hermaphroditical character which has neither the force and firmness of a man, nor the <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/are-presidential-campaigns-getting-nastier-not-really">gentleness and sensibility of a woman.”</a> </p>
<p>An Adams ally with the <a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/to-the-people-of-the-united-states-september-15-1800-burleigh-connecticut-courant/mwGsTnI8bMhT5g?hl=en&ms=%7B%22x%22%3A0.5081011307166028%2C%22y%22%3A0.4918988692833975%2C%22z%22%3A8.702393504015665%2C%22size%22%3A%7B%22width%22%3A10.300864752031519%2C%22height%22%3A1.229747173208494%7D%7D">pseudonym of Burleigh</a>, meanwhile, <a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/story/a-nation-divided-the-election-of-1800-thomas-jefferson-foundation-at-monticello/wgURxDCU-6gaJA?hl=en">offered an omen if Jefferson won the presidency</a>: “Murder, robbery, rape, adultery, and incest will be openly taught and practiced, the air will be rent with the cries of the distressed, the soil will be soaked with blood, and the nation black with crimes,” Burleigh wrote. </p>
<p>The two used proxies to level vicious personal attacks against one another in the press. But neither one gained the advantage. The election ended in an Electoral College tie. This set up what is sometimes known as the <a href="https://americainclass.org/the-revolution-of-1800/">Revolution of 1800</a> – the very first time one group in political power peacefully ceded that power to another group, based on the results of an election. </p>
<p>Jefferson emerged victorious from the election. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530423/original/file-20230606-29-drfhav.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A black and white photo shows a large room filled with people, in a stadium like setting." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530423/original/file-20230606-29-drfhav.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530423/original/file-20230606-29-drfhav.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530423/original/file-20230606-29-drfhav.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530423/original/file-20230606-29-drfhav.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530423/original/file-20230606-29-drfhav.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=540&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530423/original/file-20230606-29-drfhav.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=540&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530423/original/file-20230606-29-drfhav.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=540&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A view of the Republican National Convention in June 1912, when William Howard Taft was nominated to serve on the ticket.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/id/479783275/photo/1912-republican-national-convention-chicago.jpg?s=1024x1024&w=gi&k=20&c=48Sib23_1-KcTzt1akiEv2LQVS3dwW8A8c92o9FptNc=">PhotoQuest/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>‘Dumber than a guinea pig’ in 1912</h2>
<p>But there is another point in history that is similar to the Trump vs. Pence race that is about to get underway.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/theodore-roosevelt">Vice President Theodore Roosevelt assumed the presidency</a> after the death of President William McKinley in 1901. Roosevelt was reelected in 1904 and decided to leave office in 1909, rather than seek another term. </p>
<p>Roosevelt endorsed William Howard Taft, his secretary of war, for president. And Taft <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/presidents/william-howard-taft/">won the race easily</a>. </p>
<p>But Roosevelt grew unhappy with the Taft administration, as he felt it was not upholding his beliefs that the president <a href="https://www.americanforeignrelations.com/O-W/Presidential-Power-The-stewardship-theory.html">should do what is necessary</a> for the good of the country, as long as it is not explicitly forbidden by law. </p>
<p>In one instance, the Taft administration <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/42621438">filed a lawsuit</a> against U.S. Steel Corporation for violating antitrust laws that prevent unlawful mergers or other business practices. </p>
<p>Roosevelt <a href="https://millercenter.org/president/taft/domestic-affairs">went into a fury</a>. Other factors were at play, but he had personally approved the steel company’s trust and <a href="https://ehistory.osu.edu/exhibitions/1912/trusts/trtaft">viewed Taft’s actions</a> as a personal attack against himself and his administration’s legacy. </p>
<p>Roosevelt challenged Taft for the Republican nomination and ran against him in 1912. The former president dusted off his bully pulpit and used his rhetorical knives to their maximum advantage against Taft. </p>
<p>In the spring of 1912, <a href="https://elections.harpweek.com/1912/cartoon-1912-medium.asp?UniqueID=18&Year=1912">Roosevelt referred to Taft</a> as a “fathead,” “puzzlewit” and “dumber than a guinea pig.” </p>
<p>Taft then used the term puzzlewit in a humorous, self-deprecating way to draw attention to what he felt were <a href="https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/46032385/1912-05-17/ed-1/seq-4/#date1=1770&index=0&rows=20&words=brain+puzzle+witted&searchType=basic&sequence=0&state=&date2=1963&proxtext=puzzle-witted+brain&y=0&x=0&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1">failures of Roosevelt</a>. This included Roosevelt’s <a href="https://millercenter.org/president/roosevelt/foreign-affairs">opposition to treaties</a> with Great Britain and France.</p>
<p>Taft also said in a 1912 campaign speech in Ohio that, “I hold that the man is a demagogue and a flatterer who comes out and tells the people that they know it all. <a href="https://blog.oup.com/2020/07/dont-vote-for-the-honeyfuggler/">I hate a flatterer</a>. I like a man to tell the truth straight out, and I hate to see a man try to honeyfuggle the people by telling them something he doesn’t believe.”</p>
<p>The 1912 Chicago Republican Convention, where the two faced off, was <a href="https://ehistory.osu.edu/exhibitions/1912/content/RepublicanConvention">one of the most raucous</a> in history. Taft and Roosevelt supporters even got into into fistfights. </p>
<p>The Republican Party leadership ultimately backed Taft. And Roosevelt, in dramatic fashion, removed his supporters from the convention after a speech, in which he declared, “… we stand at Armageddon, <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/1912-republican-convention-855607/">and we battle for the Lord!</a>” </p>
<p>Then, Roosevelt formed the Progressive Party and split Republicans, paving the way for Democrat Woodrow Wilson’s presidential win. </p>
<h2>No other time exactly like it</h2>
<p>Pence’s decision to run against Trump has no direct equivalent in American history. </p>
<p>This election cycle will break new ground and help establish future expected norms – in part because Trump is the only candidate to have run while <a href="https://manhattanda.org/district-attorney-bragg-announces-34-count-felony-indictment-of-former-president-donald-j-trump/">facing a criminal indictment</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jun/05/donald-trump-prosecutor-mar-a-lago-classified-documents">multiple other ongoing investigations</a> of potential criminal activity.</p>
<p>However, if the past is a prologue, the Republican primary season will likely have more in common with the Roosevelt and Taft match-up than others, at least in terms of direct insults and attacks upon leadership style – things Trump is known for doing.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207165/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shannon Bow O'Brien does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Pence’s announcement that he will run for president brings to mind how rare it is for a vice president to compete against a former running mate.Shannon Bow O'Brien, Associate Professor of Instruction, The University of Texas at AustinLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2047682023-05-11T12:13:37Z2023-05-11T12:13:37Z‘The Diplomat’ negotiates expectations – and myths – about gender, power and politics<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525469/original/file-20230510-14022-f4qqq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3594%2C1988&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Keri Russell plays a a nonpolitical straight shooter in a political role that she grudgingly accepts.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/billboard-for-a-netflix-streaming-show-the-diplomat-on-a-news-photo/1252546268?adppopup=true"> Brian van der Brug / Contributor/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Few people would have predicted that a loquacious drama about a woman foreign service professional would have been Netflix’s next big hit. But <a href="https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/the-diplomat-season-2-netflix-keri-russell-1235599216/">everyone is talking</a> about “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt17491088/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_8_nm_0_q_the%2520diplomat">The Diplomat</a>” – for good reason.</p>
<p>The series, starring Keri Russell as the U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom, <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/diplomat-lands-top-streaming-most-213223969.html">debuted at No. 1 on the streaming charts</a>. Critics commend the <a href="https://latinamedia.co/the-diplomat/">stellar performances</a>, <a href="https://www.stylist.co.uk/entertainment/tv/the-diplomat-netflix-cast-release-date-plot/779125">twisty plot</a> and “<a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-reviews/the-diplomat-review-netflix-keri-russell-the-americans-tv-political-thriller-feminism-vp-rufus-sewell-1234715683/">wryly funny</a>” writing that comprise this “<a href="https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/the-diplomat-season-2-netflix-keri-russell-1235599216/">gripping and propulsive drama</a>.” Even the official Twitter account of the U.S. Embassy in London <a href="https://twitter.com/USAinUK/status/1653336857789313024">tweeted</a> a playful and mostly laudatory video fact-checking the first episode.</p>
<p>With so many eyes on the latest TV iteration of a woman in a high-profile political position, its depiction of women’s leadership is significant. As a communication scholar who researches media <a href="https://www.tamupress.com/book/9781623495558/woman-president/">framing of real</a> <a href="https://www.peterlang.com/document/1056671">and fictional</a> women politicians, I am interested in how television and film shape our views of women politicians in the real world. </p>
<p>Although “The Diplomat” initially perpetuates a popular stereotype that the only women who can be trusted in high office are those who don’t want to be there, it thoughtfully portrays the ubiquity of everyday sexism in political culture.</p>
<iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?height=314&href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fnetflixus%2Fvideos%2F876623796764197%2F&show_text=false&width=560&t=0" width="100%" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share" height="400"></iframe>
<h2>Women and political ambition</h2>
<p>“The Diplomat” follows Russell’s character, Kate Wyler, the newly appointed ambassador to the U.K., and her husband, Hal, a former ambassador and the duo’s more politically ambitious half, played by Rufus Sewell. </p>
<p>The president needs to replace his vice president due to an impending scandal, and Hal has maneuvered Kate onto the VP short list – without her knowledge – by convincing the president’s chief of staff, Billie Appia, played by Nana Mensah, that Kate’s supreme competence and lack of political ambition is what qualifies her for the job. </p>
<p>Hal insists that “no one with the temperament to win a campaign should be in charge of anything.”</p>
<p>The assumption at the center of “The Diplomat” is that politicians make lousy leaders. There’s no doubt that for many viewers, that’s <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2023/04/07/poll-biden-congress-democrats-republicans-unfavorable/11622285002/">part of its appeal</a>. </p>
<p>Like “The West Wing,” – the series on which the <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/showrunner">showrunner</a> of the “The Diplomat,” Debora Cahn, got her start – the show is part political fairy tale, envisioning a world in which people who can solve problems are actually empowered to do so. As she tries to convince Kate to consider the VP gig, Billie asks, “Can you imagine hiring someone for a key governing position just because you think they’d be good at it?”</p>
<p>This is tricky terrain to negotiate, however, and “The Diplomat” initially reinforces one of the most pernicious stereotypes about women politicians on screen and in real life: Women who have political ambition can’t be trusted. In series like “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1759761/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Veep</a>,” “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/list/ls085193267/">24</a>” and “<a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/on-television/borgen-s-bleak-view-of-women-in-power">Borgen: Power and Glory</a>,” ambitious women politicians turn out to be incompetent or corrupt.</p>
<p>Conversely, ethical and successful women politicians such as those in “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0429455/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Commander in Chief</a>,” “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3501074/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Madam Secretary</a>” and, now, “The Diplomat” are public servants who have to be cajoled into participating in campaigning and partisan politics.</p>
<p>After Kate discovers that people have been scheming behind her back to install her as the vice president during a foreign policy crisis, she cements her status as a nonpolitical straight shooter by marching up to the president and announcing, “I am not cut out for this. I’m stepping down. The good news is, that makes me the one person in the world who isn’t trying to kiss your ass, but still knows a lot about Iran.” </p>
<p>Then, after schooling the commander in chief on the finer points of foreign policy, Kate asserts that his willingness to cooperate with the British prime minister’s request for a show of force is because “you’re scared your enemies think you’re too old and frail to put Americans in the line of fire.” </p>
<p>Because this is a political fairy tale, the president, played by Michael McKean, shakes her hand, tells her she’s doing great, and says, “Just knock off that ‘I resign’ shit. It really pisses me off. I don’t have that kind of time.”</p>
<p>The vision of a candid, nonpolitical woman who wins powerful men’s respect by exposing flaws in their logic and highlighting their weaknesses makes good TV. </p>
<p>But it complicates things when viewers become voters and are asked to support real women candidates who put themselves forward for public office and get punished for speaking their minds and asserting authority. Women politicians who express ambition are often <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07491409.2017.1302257">evaluated more negatively</a> by voters than their men counterparts, from whom political ambition is not just tolerated, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/11/03/why-ambitious-men-are-celebrated-and-ambitious-women-are-criticized/">but expected</a>.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pmRJiZ4mFQU?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">‘Borgen: Power and Glory’ is one of a number of series in which ambitious women politicians, even those who began their careers as successful idealists, devolve into cynical political operators whose priorities harm their families, their parties and their nations.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Gender and power</h2>
<p>“The Diplomat” recognizes that likable women protagonists, like their political counterparts, can’t appear to be be power hungry. But it also resists the notion that the vice presidency is a powerless office. </p>
<p>As Billie and the U.S. embassy’s deputy chief of mission, Stuart Heyford, played by Ato Essandoh, try to persuade Kate to agree to be vice president, Billie emphasizes that the position would come with substantial influence. </p>
<p>“The VP spends more time in the Oval Office than anyone who doesn’t have a desk there,” she says, then promising, “We’d put you in the lead on foreign policy.” Stuart appeals to Kate’s sense of mission with a line that also reminds viewers that Kate isn’t inappropriately ambitious: “You’d be doing it for the country, not the power.”</p>
<p>The elaborate, and preposterous, chain of events that produces this conversation – in which the president’s chief of staff tries to persuade a rank-and-file foreign service officer to agree to be the vice president in the middle of a term – allows the show to remark on the absurd corrosiveness of political campaigns. After reminding Kate that she wouldn’t “have to survive a campaign,” there is the following exchange between Billie and Stuart:</p>
<p>Billie: “I mean, it’s bad for the guys, but for the women – f–k me. Is she pretty, but not too pretty? Appealing, but not hot? Confident, but not bitchy? Decisive, but not bitchy?”</p>
<p>Stuart: “Cute bitchy, but not bitchy bitchy.”</p>
<h2>Dressing the part</h2>
<p>Cahn explores this double standard visually as well. Although Kate prefers black suits, minimal makeup, undisciplined hair and shoes that allow her to power walk through her day, her impeccably coiffed staff urges her to adopt a more appealing, feminine and camera-friendly look.</p>
<p>Rather than presenting Kate as dowdy or oblivious and giving her a midseason glow-up, however, the show demonstrates that she is <a href="https://www.indiewire.com/features/craft/the-diplomat-keri-russell-costumes-netflix-1234831239/">well aware of the image she is creating</a>. During a photo shoot for British Vogue, Kate tells the photographer, “I don’t want to make your job any harder than it already is, but it would be great if there weren’t any shots of me looking wistfully into the distance as I caress my own neck.” </p>
<p>“The Diplomat” wraps insights about sexism in politics in the packaging of a political thriller. Its popularity is a good thing. As the 2024 campaign season ramps up, voters need compelling reminders of the effect sexism can have on democracy – because patriarchal political culture is something we all have to negotiate.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204768/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Karrin Vasby Anderson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Although the series perpetuates the stereotype that politically ambitious women can’t be trusted in high office, it thoughtfully portrays the ubiquity of everyday sexism in political culture.Karrin Vasby Anderson, Professor of Communication Studies, Colorado State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2029342023-04-27T12:32:29Z2023-04-27T12:32:29ZBiden’s coronation no-show is no snub – more telling is whom he sends to King Charles’ big day<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523020/original/file-20230426-221-38efal.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=6%2C6%2C2009%2C1278&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Scranton Joe meets Buckingham Chaz.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/BritainRoyalsBiden/cccfb92c68354978b4cf7199933f7a50/photo?Query=Charles%20Biden&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=1400&currentItemNo=55">Jane Barlow/Pool Photo via AP</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The fact that first lady Jill Biden, but not her husband, President Joe Biden, will be attending King Charles III’s coronation on May 6, 2023, has not gone down too well with sections of the U.K. press. A “<a href="https://www.the-sun.com/news/7801384/joe-biden-ireland-visit-good-friday-agreement/">royal snub</a>,” <a href="https://www.gbnews.com/royal/king-charles-joe-biden-turns-down-invitation-coronationinvita">screamed headlines</a>, while commentators grumbled about “<a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/irish-joe-is-more-cringe-than-craic-7qfmjzk93">Irish Joe</a>” and his “<a href="https://www.express.co.uk/news/us/1757664/joe-biden-king-charles-coronation-northern-ireland-dxus">hatred” of the Brits</a>.</p>
<p>The truth is, no U.S. president has ever attended a British coronation ceremony. Indeed, American presidents tend to avoid royal ceremonies of all stripes. Biden did <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/bidens-attend-packed-funeral-for-queen-elizabeth-ii-/6753216.html">attend Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral</a> in September 2022, but that was very much the exception, not the rule.</p>
<p>Given the U.S.’s particular history – and its parting of ways with the U.K. back in 1776 – it’s easy to see why a president might feel uneasy about witnessing the anointing of a new sovereign. No matter how “special” the relationship, some distinctions need to be preserved.</p>
<p>But as a <a href="https://www.bu.edu/history/profile/arianne-chernock/">historian of America’s relationship with the U.K. monarchy</a>, I believe it would be wrong to assume that Joe Biden’s absence signals a lack of engagement, or appreciation, for the coronation as a significant global occasion. Jill Biden’s attendance, after all, matters. </p>
<p>What’s more, she will be joined by an American coronation delegation. The composition of the delegation has yet to be announced. But if <a href="https://yalebooks.co.uk/page/detail/?k=9780300229943">history is a guide</a>, who is sent across the Atlantic will telegraph particular American ideas and aspirations. The delegation will also reflect the president’s own personal agenda.</p>
<h2>Signaling intent</h2>
<p>This was true for the delegation <a href="https://www.fdrlibrary.org/royal-visit">President Franklin D. Roosevelt</a> sent to King George VI’s coronation in 1937, staged just two years before hostilities broke out in Europe. That party was headed by <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/macarthur-general-john-j-pershing/">General John J. Pershing</a>, commander of the American Expeditionary Forces during World War I, and included James Gerard, <a href="https://americandiplomacy.web.unc.edu/2003/04/james-w-gerard-his-image-of-imperial-germany-1913-1918/">former U.S. Ambassador to Germany</a>, and Admiral Hugh Rodman, a former commander-in-chief in the U.S. Navy.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man in a fancy hat and military uniform stands on the steps of a hotel." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523024/original/file-20230426-489-zb2ot9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523024/original/file-20230426-489-zb2ot9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523024/original/file-20230426-489-zb2ot9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523024/original/file-20230426-489-zb2ot9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523024/original/file-20230426-489-zb2ot9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523024/original/file-20230426-489-zb2ot9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523024/original/file-20230426-489-zb2ot9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Gen. John J. Pershing, second to the left, sets off for Buckingham Palace, London, on May 10, 1937. (AP Photo/Staff/Len Puttnam)</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/KingGeorgeVICoronation/4584720ed89e410ebef95c48d4a4cc74/photo?Query=Pershing%20coronation&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=1&currentItemNo=0">AP Photo/Staff/Len Puttnam</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Pershing and Gerard were committed internationalists, eager to use American power to contain European fascism. Gerard had reviewed Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” for The New York Times in 1933, in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1996/10/06/books/a-hymn-of-hate.html">which he expressed</a> his “fear for the world’s future.” In dispatching both to the coronation, Roosevelt was signaling where he stood on Nazi Germany. </p>
<h2>Elevating women</h2>
<p>Even more telling is the delegation that President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent to <a href="https://text-message.blogs.archives.gov/2018/05/31/the-coronation-of-queen-elizabeth-ii/">Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation</a> in June 1953. In this postwar moment – marked by escalating tensions with the Soviet Union and the <a href="https://millercenter.org/the-presidency/educational-resources/age-of-eisenhower/mcarthyism-red-scare">accompanying Red Scare</a> at home – Eisenhower chose his four representatives carefully. Two, <a href="https://history.defense.gov/Multimedia/Biographies/Article-View/Article/571266/george-c-marshall/">General George C. Marshall</a> and <a href="https://www.jcs.mil/About/The-Joint-Staff/Chairman/General-of-the-Army-Omar-Nelson-Bradley/">General Omar Bradley</a>, were military heavyweights. Marshall, who headed the delegation, had been U.S. Army chief of staff during World War II. More recently, as secretary of state, he had helped implement <a href="https://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/marshall-plan">the Marshall Plan</a>, which provided crucial funding to postwar Europe. </p>
<p>Bradley, likewise, had played a decisive role in the war, and now served as chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff. Eisenhower selected both to convey a clear message about American influence abroad. His third delegate, meanwhile, was <a href="https://www.oyez.org/justices/earl_warren">Earl Warren</a>, governor of California and a crucial Eisenhower supporter. The president would soon appoint Warren chief justice of the Supreme Court.</p>
<p>Less predictable, though still important, was Eisenhower’s fourth delegate: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/08/business/media/08cowles.html">Fleur Cowles</a>, the fashionable former editor of Flair magazine and wife of the publisher, Mike Cowles.</p>
<p>In some ways, this was Eisenhower’s most inscrutable choice. A self-made woman – she was born Florence Freidman, the daughter of a salesman – Cowles had only recently become a powerful presence in the Republican Party. She and her husband gave generously to Ike’s presidential campaign.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="A woman in sunglasses and winter coat." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523026/original/file-20230426-18-tbcw5e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523026/original/file-20230426-18-tbcw5e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=807&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523026/original/file-20230426-18-tbcw5e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=807&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523026/original/file-20230426-18-tbcw5e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=807&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523026/original/file-20230426-18-tbcw5e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1014&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523026/original/file-20230426-18-tbcw5e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1014&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523026/original/file-20230426-18-tbcw5e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1014&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">American writer and editor Fleur Cowles.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/american-writer-fleur-cowles-foreign-editor-of-look-news-photo/940104666?adppopup=true">Photo by Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Fleur Cowles’ newcomer status elicited ire in some quarters – as did the fact that Eisenhower had selected a woman at all. “Wouldn’t a G.I. be better able to represent the president?” quipped one grumpy journalist.</p>
<p>But the pick had its own logic. The coronation of Elizabeth II <a href="https://theconversation.com/in-1953-queen-crazy-american-women-looked-to-elizabeth-ii-as-a-source-of-inspiration-that-sentiment-never-faded-190289">was a female-centered event</a>, and Eisenhower likely recognized this. In choosing Cowles, Eisenhower played into this female narrative, while also signaling his own, sometimes contradictory, aspirations for the modern American woman.</p>
<p>As Eisenhower would <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/a-republican-president-a-liberal-justice-their-memorials-show-how-united-america-really-is/2020/09/21/daad3b0e-fc0e-11ea-b555-4d71a9254f4b_story.html">explain just a few years later</a>, the process of “recognizing the equality of women” was not yet complete, though he still believed women’s primary role to be that of “central figure in the home.” As some of Cowles’ admirers explained, she embodied this idealized version of the postwar career woman – elegant, ambitious, and yet still committed to her family.</p>
<h2>Pinned down on US positions</h2>
<p>The composition of Eisenhower’s delegation, then, spoke volumes about the president’s priorities, both at home and abroad.</p>
<p>Once the delegation arrived in London, its role as a diplomatic corps became only more evident. Far from avoiding politics, the delegates sought platforms to broadcast American policies. Marshall, for example, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1953/06/06/archives/marshall-denies-u-s-has-war-aim-asks-cheering-london-audience-for.html">gave a talk at the English-Speaking Union</a> justifying the U.S. military presence in Korea and warning of the dangers of Soviet propaganda.</p>
<p>More informally, the delegation fielded frequent questions from the press about controversial issues and did its best to remain in lockstep with the president. As Cowles <a href="https://www.hrc.utexas.edu/press/releases/2011/fleur-cowles-archive.html">recalled of the trip</a>, if she wasn’t “being pin[ned] down” about Sen. Joe McCarthy’s <a href="https://millercenter.org/the-presidency/educational-resources/age-of-eisenhower/mcarthyism-red-scare">Communist witch hunt</a>, she was being grilled about the impending execution of <a href="https://www.eisenhowerlibrary.gov/research/online-documents/julius-and-ethel-rosenberg">Julius and Ethel Rosenberg</a>, whose trial on charges of espionage had “been turned into a cause celebre in Europe.” In short, attending the coronation was real work.</p>
<p>So instead of fixating on why Joe Biden isn’t attending, observers on both sides of the pond should focus on the delegation that Jill will be leading. The choices, whenever they’re announced, will tell us much about how President Biden wants to position himself ahead of his 2024 presidential bid.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/202934/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Arianne Chernock does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>No US president has ever attended a British royal coronation – but history shows that they signal intent by whom they choose to go in their stead.Arianne Chernock, Professor of History, Boston UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2045242023-04-26T14:09:15Z2023-04-26T14:09:15ZWhy a Biden-Harris reelection ticket makes sense for the Democrats in 2024<p>After months of speculation, the US president, Joe Biden, has confirmed his intention to seek reelection in 2024. In his <a href="https://twitter.com/JoeBiden/status/1650801827728986112?s=20">video announcement</a>, Biden promised to stand up against “MAGA extremists” and called on Americans to give him the chance to “finish the job”, saying:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>When I ran for president four years ago, I said we are in a battle for the soul of America. And we still are. This is not a time to be complacent. That’s why I’m running for reelection.</p>
</blockquote>
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<p>The Republican party countered immediately, showing an AI-generated <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLMMxgtxQ1Y">video</a> on the GOP <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3o7kbpTUQ5-0WTMIp8sVwA">YouTube</a> channel that depicted a dystopian future if Biden was reelected, using fake reports of increasing crime rates, illegal immigration and financial chaos.</p>
<p>There seems to be little enthusiasm for a second Biden term among Americans. His Gallup <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/329384/presidential-approval-ratings-joe-biden.aspx">job approval rating</a> at the end of his third year in office was just 40% – below Ronald Reagan’s (41%) in 1983 and only a point above Donald Trump’s in 2019 (39%).</p>
<p>According to a recent <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/democrats-biden-reelection-bid-acceptance-more-than-excitement-poll-2023-04-24/">CBS News poll</a>, almost half (45%) of Democrats think that Biden shouldn’t run. A huge 86% of those who thought he shouldn’t run stated that their main cause of concern was Biden’s age, while 77% felt it was time for someone new.</p>
<p>However, a slew of opinion polls assembled by the influential US politics blog <a href="https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/president-primary-d/">FiveThirtyEight</a> have found that Biden would beat any of the other Democrat politicians touted as possible nominees.</p>
<h2>The age-old question</h2>
<p>Born on November 20 1942, Biden would be 82 at the start of a second term and 86 by its end – the oldest person to be elected president and serve in the office. One focus group of swing voters deemed Biden too old, with a panellist <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/02/18/1157955440/biden-age-2024-election">saying</a>: “Give that man a break!”</p>
<p>But columnist Abhi Rahman <a href="https://www.star-telegram.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/other-voices/article273801215.html">has argued</a> that Biden’s age should be seen as a strength, not a weakness, and that he has the potential to make significant ground for Democrats in the next election, much like Reagan <a href="https://www.270towin.com/1984_Election/">did in 1984</a> – another president whose age was <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1984/10/11/us/reagan-criticizes-comments-on-age.html">raised as a concern</a> by his opponents.</p>
<p>Just like Biden, even Reagan’s own party was <a href="https://www.csmonitor.com/1980/0623/062345.html">worried about his age</a> before his first election in 1980, at the (relatively) youthful age of 70. Republican leaders’ worries about whether Reagan would be able to “maintain his energy level” throughout his presidency were <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/i-hope-there-s-age-limit-jimmy-carter-says-he-n1055836">underlined by a claim</a> by former president Jimmy Carter that he could not have dealt with the challenges of the office at the age 80.</p>
<p>Republicans are less likely to point to Biden’s age as an issue. Trump, currently the likeliest candidate to be the Republican nominee, has said that <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/3553096-trump-says-life-begins-at-80-amid-questions-about-bidens-age/">Biden’s age is not an issue</a> – which is unsurprising given that Trump will be almost 79 at the next election.</p>
<p>Instead, Republicans have focused on the issues that continue to challenge the Biden administration: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/23/us/politics/republicans-inflation-federal-reserve-powell.html">inflation</a> and <a href="https://nypost.com/2023/04/23/house-republicans-deliver-on-commitment-to-secure-the-border-because-biden-never-will/">immigration</a> concerns at the <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/04/19/house-republicans-mayorkas-southern-border-00092808">southern border</a>.</p>
<p>While Democrats are not entirely happy with Biden running again because of his age, it is unlikely anyone will pose a significant threat to his nomination. Carter was the last incumbent to be <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/01/17/686186156/how-ted-kennedys-80-challenge-to-president-carter-broke-the-democratic-party">challenged for the nomination</a> when Senator Edward Kennedy threw his hat into the ring in 1980. Kennedy was unsuccessful then and his nephew, Robert F Kennedy Jr, poses no serious challenge to Biden with his <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/19/politics/robert-f-kennedy-jr-2024-announcement/index.html">current campaign</a> for the nomination.</p>
<h2>Running mate</h2>
<p>Biden’s confirmation of his intention to run included his selection of the vice-president, Kamala Harris, as his running mate. <a href="https://www.govexec.com/management/2023/02/could-biden-choose-new-running-mate-2024/383354/">Questions had been raised</a> about whether Biden might have chosen someone else for the ticket. Instead, he has identified Harris as his nominated successor, an issue that had <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/01/30/harris-democrats-worry/">concerned</a> many Democrats.</p>
<p>In her <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-harris-officially-announce-2024-re-election-campaign">statement</a>, Harris called the 2024 election “a pivotal moment in our history” and told Americans that she and the president “look forward to finishing the job, winning this battle for the soul of the nation, and serving the American people for four more years in the White House”.</p>
<p>Harris’s selection is important. As columnist Thomas Friedman <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/25/opinion/kamala-harris-joe-biden-2024-reelection.html">wrote in the New York Times</a>, Biden’s age – and possible failing health while in office – means Americans are voting as much for the vice-president as they are Biden, “more than in any other election in American history”.</p>
<p>But why break a winning formula? Recent <a href="https://www.ipsos.com/en-us/desantis-trails-far-behind-trump-republican-support-2024-presidential-nomination">polls indicate</a> that a Biden-Harris ticket currently offers the best possible chance for a Democrat victory against either Trump or Florida’s governor Ron DeSantis.</p>
<p>Unlike Trump, Biden has portrayed himself as a <a href="https://www.axios.com/2020/11/07/biden-president-for-all-americans">president for all Americans</a>, not just those who voted for him. His public courting of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/03/business/economy/biden-infrastructure-senate-republicans.html">Republican collaboration</a> on the passing of his landmark infrastructure bills made small steps to bridging the partisan gap in American politics. This may provide a bridge for the Democratic party of tomorrow to appeal to some Republicans.</p>
<p>Such bipartisan appeal gains even more importance when considering that the 2024 presidential election may be the end of a cycle – the passing of the old guard.</p>
<p>The 2028 election will require a new generation of political leaders to step into the vacuum. If he wins in 2024, Biden will <a href="https://constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution/amendments/amendment-xxii">constitutionally</a> be unable to stand, having had two terms in office. If Trump loses for a second time, he will not be trusted with the nomination again. And if Biden loses, it is unlikely he will run at the age of 86.</p>
<p>Increasingly politically active millennial voters, who turned out in <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/11/10/1135810302/turnout-among-young-voters-was-the-second-highest-for-a-midterm-in-past-30-years">high numbers</a> in the 2022 midterms, have the potential to <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/c361e372-769e-45cd-a063-f5c0a7767cf4">change</a> the political landscape of the 2028 election, and are becoming the target audience of the next set of presidential candidates. Who these will be is currently a mystery, but contenders will likely be jockeying for the box-seat between 2024 and the next election. </p>
<p>Until then, it appears almost certain that <a href="https://apnews.com/article/bernie-sanders-biden-endorsement-2024-d8f0772b117e2bf83e1062708ea651c0">Democrats</a> will put their faith in the Biden-Harris ticket for one more term.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204524/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dafydd Townley does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>If elected, Biden would be the oldest person to occupy the White House. But he’s by far the most popular candidate the Democrats have.Dafydd Townley, Teaching Fellow in International Security, University of PortsmouthLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1968512022-12-19T21:11:18Z2022-12-19T21:11:18ZEven if Jan. 6 referrals turn into criminal charges – or convictions – Trump will still be able to run in 2024 and serve as president if elected<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501993/original/file-20221219-26-noptxz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C190%2C7935%2C5012&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Looming large over proceedings.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/an-image-of-former-president-donald-trump-is-displayed-as-news-photo/1245731847?phrase=January%206&adppopup=true">Jim Lo Scalzo-Pool/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/12/19/jan-6-committee-hearings-live-updates/?itid=hp-top-table-main_p001_f001">criminal referral of Donald Trump to the Department of Justice</a> by a House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/12/19/1143415487/the-jan-6-committee-is-about-to-have-its-last-hearing-heres-what-to-expect">is largely symbolic</a> – the panel itself has no power to prosecute any individual.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, the recommendation that Trump be investigated for four potential crimes – obstructing an official proceeding; conspiracy to defraud the United States; conspiracy to make a false statement; and inciting, assisting or aiding or comforting an insurrection – raises the prospect of an indictment, or even a conviction, of the former president.</p>
<p>It also poses serious ethical questions, given that Trump has already <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/trump-announces-2024-run-president-015331045.html">announced a 2024 run for the presidency</a>, especially in regards to the referral over his alleged inciting or assisting an insurrection. Indeed, a <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/january-6-us-capitol-attack-128973">Department of Justice investigation</a> over Trump’s activities during the insurrection is already under way.</p>
<p>But would an indictment – or even a felony conviction – prevent a presidential candidate from running or serving in office? </p>
<p>The short answer is no. Here’s why:</p>
<p>The U.S. Constitution specifies in clear language the qualifications required to hold the office of the presidency. In <a href="https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/article-2/section-1/clause-5/#:%7E:text=No%20Person%20except%20a%20natural,been%20fourteen%20Years%20a%20Resident">Section 1, Clause 5 of Article II</a>, it states: “No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.”</p>
<p>These three requirements – natural-born citizenship, age and residency – are the only specifications set forth in the United States’ founding document.</p>
<h2>Congress has ‘no power to alter’</h2>
<p>Furthermore, the Supreme Court has made clear that constitutionally prescribed qualifications to hold federal office may not be altered or supplemented by either the U.S. Congress or any of the states.</p>
<p>Justices clarified the court’s position in their 1969 <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/1968/138">Powell v. McCormack</a> ruling. The case followed the adoption of a resolution by the House of Representatives barring pastor and New York politician <a href="https://history.house.gov/People/Listing/P/POWELL,-Adam-Clayton,-Jr--(P000477)/">Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.</a> from taking his seat in the 90th Congress.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="A button with a man's face on it under the motto 'Keep The Faith, Baby'." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495444/original/file-20221115-21-uz4qmi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495444/original/file-20221115-21-uz4qmi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=596&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495444/original/file-20221115-21-uz4qmi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=596&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495444/original/file-20221115-21-uz4qmi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=596&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495444/original/file-20221115-21-uz4qmi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=749&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495444/original/file-20221115-21-uz4qmi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=749&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495444/original/file-20221115-21-uz4qmi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=749&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Adam Clayton Powell.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/button-promoting-harlem-congressman-adam-clayton-powells-news-photo/534234502?phrase=Clayton%20Powell&adppopup=true">David J. & Janice L. Frent/Corbis via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The resolution was not based on Powell’s failure to meet the age, citizenship and residency requirements for House members set forth in the Constitution. Rather, the House found that <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1987/12/15/charges-of-favoritism-tests-of-credibility-at-house-ethics-panel/b878ba60-348e-471f-87aa-ded06cac0e4b/">Powell had diverted congressional funds and made false reports</a> about certain currency transactions.</p>
<p>When Powell sued to take his seat, the Supreme Court invalidated the House’s resolution on grounds that it added to the constitutionally specified qualifications for Powell to hold office. <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/395/486/">In the majority opinion</a>, the court held that: “Congress has no power to alter the qualifications in the text of the Constitution.”</p>
<p>For the same reason, no limitation could now be placed on Trump’s candidacy. Nor could he be barred from taking office if he were to be indicted or even convicted.</p>
<h2>But in case of insurrection …</h2>
<p>The Constitution includes no qualification regarding those conditions – with one significant exception. <a href="https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/amendment-14/">Section 3 of the 14th Amendment</a> disqualifies any person from holding federal office “who, having previously taken an oath … to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.” </p>
<p>The reason why this matters is the Department of Justice is <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/09/15/trump-january-6-subpoenas-meadows/">currently investigating</a> Trump for his activities related to the <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/january-6-us-capitol-attack-128973">Jan. 6 insurrection</a> at the Capitol. And one of the four criminal referrals made by the Jan. 6 House committee was over Trump’s alleged role in inciting, assisting or aiding and comforting an insurrection.</p>
<p>Under the provisions of the 14th Amendment, Congress is authorized to pass laws to enforce its provisions. And in February 2021, one Democratic Congressman proposed <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/1405">House Bill 1405</a>, providing for a “cause of action to remove and bar from holding office certain individuals who engage in insurrection or rebellion against the United States.”</p>
<p>Even in the event of Trump being found to have participated “in insurrection or rebellion,” he might conceivably argue that he is exempt from Section 3 for a number of reasons. The 14th Amendment does not specifically refer to the presidency and it is not “self-executing” – that is, it needs subsequent legislation to enforce it. Trump could also point to the fact that Congress enacted an <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/03/11/opinion/confederate-amnesty-act-must-not-insulate-jan-6-insurrectionists/">Amnesty Act in 1872</a> that lifted the ban on office holding for officials from many former Confederate states.</p>
<p>He might also argue that his activities on and before Jan. 6 did not constitute an “insurrection” as it is understood by the wording of the amendment. There are few judicial precedents that interpret Section 3, and as such its application in modern times remains unclear. So even if House Bill 1405 were adopted, it is not clear whether it would be enough to disqualify Trump from serving as president again. </p>
<h2>Running from behind bars</h2>
<p>Even in the case of conviction and incarceration, a presidential candidate would not be prevented from continuing their campaign – even if, as a felon, they might not be able to vote for themselves. </p>
<p>History is dotted with instances of candidates for federal office running – and even being elected – while in prison. As early as 1798 – some 79 years before the 14th Amendment – House member <a href="https://history.house.gov/Historical-Highlights/1800-1850/The-life-of-Representative-Matthew-Lyon-of-Vermont-and-Kentucky/">Matthew Lyon was elected to Congress</a> from a prison cell, where he was serving a sentence for sedition for speaking out against the Federalist Adams administration.</p>
<p><a href="https://aflcio.org/about/history/labor-history-people/eugene-debs">Eugene Debs</a>, founder of the Socialist Party of America, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2019/09/22/socialist-who-ran-president-prison-won-nearly-million-votes/">ran for president in 1920</a> while serving a prison sentence for sedition. Although he lost the election, he nevertheless won 913,693 votes. Debs promised to pardon himself if he were elected. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="A black and white photo shows a man in a suit and long coat standing in front of a boat." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495443/original/file-20221115-13-r799l3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495443/original/file-20221115-13-r799l3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=845&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495443/original/file-20221115-13-r799l3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=845&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495443/original/file-20221115-13-r799l3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=845&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495443/original/file-20221115-13-r799l3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1061&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495443/original/file-20221115-13-r799l3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1061&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495443/original/file-20221115-13-r799l3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1061&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">American socialist Eugene Debs ran for office from prison.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/eugene-v-debs-american-socialist-organized-social-news-photo/515948158?phrase=Eugene%20Debs&adppopup=true">Bettmann / Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>And controversial politician and conspiracy theorist <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/13/obituaries/lyndon-larouche-dead.html">Lyndon Larouche also ran for president</a> from a jail cell in 1992. </p>
<h2>A prison cell as the Oval Office?</h2>
<p>Several provisions within the Constitution offer alternatives that could be used to disqualify a president under indictment or in prison.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/amdt25-1/ALDE_00001013/#:%7E:text=Twenty%2DFifth%20Amendment%2C%20Section%201,Vice%20President%20shall%20become%20President.">25th Amendment</a> allows the vice president and a majority of the cabinet to suspend the president from office if they conclude that the president is incapable of fulfilling his duties.</p>
<p>The amendment states that the removal process may be invoked “if the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.”</p>
<p>It was proposed and ratified to address what would happen should a president be incapacitated due to health issues. But the language is broad and some legal scholars believe it could be invoked if someone is deemed incapacitated or incapable for other reasons, such as incarceration.</p>
<p>To be sure, a president behind bars could challenge the conclusion that he or she was incapable from discharging the duties simply because they were in prison. </p>
<p>But ultimately the amendment leaves any such dispute to Congress to decide, and it may suspend the President from office by a two-thirds vote.</p>
<p>Indeed, it is not clear that a president could not effectively execute the duties of office from prison, since the Constitution imposes no requirements that the executive appear in any specific location. The jail cell could, theoretically, serve as the new Oval Office. Of course, managing a presidency from a prison cell would in itself raise myriad issues in regards the handling of sensitive or classified documents.</p>
<p>Finally, if Trump were convicted and yet prevail in his quest for the presidency in 2024, Congress might choose to impeach him and remove him from office. <a href="https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/artII-S4-1-1/ALDE_00000282/#:%7E:text=Article%20II%2C%20Section%204%3A,other%20high%20Crimes%20and%20Misdemeanors.">Article II, Section 4</a> of the Constitution allows impeachment for “treason, bribery, and high crimes and misdemeanors.”</p>
<p>Whether that language would apply to Trump for indictments or convictions arising from his previous term or business dealings outside of office would be a question for Congress to decide. The precise meaning of “<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/10/what-does-high-crimes-and-misdemeanors-actually-mean/600343/">high crimes and misdemeanors</a>” is unclear, and the courts are unlikely to second-guess the House in bringing an impeachment proceeding. For sure, impeachment would remain an option – but it might be an unlikely one if Republicans maintained their majority in the House in 2024 and 2026.</p>
<p><em>Editor’s note: This is an updated version of an <a href="https://theconversation.com/no-an-indictment-wouldnt-end-trumps-run-for-the-presidency-he-could-even-campaign-or-serve-from-a-jail-cell-194425">article originally published</a> on Nov. 16, 2022.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/196851/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stefanie Lindquist does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A House panel made four criminal referrals in relation to Donald Trump’s alleged role in the attack on the Capitol. Convictions might make him an unpalatable candidate but wouldn’t bar him from running.Stefanie Lindquist, Foundation Professor of Law and Political Science, Arizona State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1944252022-11-16T13:29:52Z2022-11-16T13:29:52ZNo, an indictment wouldn’t end Trump’s run for the presidency – he could even campaign or serve from a jail cell<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495552/original/file-20221116-21-l1o2i3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C8%2C2000%2C1320&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Former US President Donald Trump speaks in Palm Beach, Florida, on Nov.15, 2022.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/former-us-president-donald-trump-speaks-at-the-mar-a-lago-news-photo/1244812333?phrase=trump&adppopup=true">Photo by Alon Skuy/AFP via Getty Images.</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Donald Trump <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/trump-announces-2024-run-president-015331045.html">announced his 2024 run for the presidency on Nov. 15</a>. In his address he railed against what he perceived as the “persecution” of himself and his family, but made scant mention of his legal woes.</p>
<p>Confirmation of Trump’s White House bid comes at a curious time – a week after a <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/11/09/2022-election-results-analysis-and-takeaways-00065878">lackluster Republican midterm performance</a> that <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2022-election/trump-hurt-republicans-2022-elections-numbers-point-yes-rcna56928">many blamed on him</a>. Moreover, it comes as the former president faces <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/23306941/donald-trump-crimes-criminal-investigation-mar-a-lago-fbi-january-6-election-georgia-new-york">multiple criminal investigations</a> over everything from his <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/nov/14/donald-trump-handled-records-marked-classified-after-presidency-court-filing-alleges">handling of classified documents</a>, to allegations of <a href="https://theconversation.com/trump-properties-arent-the-only-ones-to-see-wild-valuations-putting-a-price-on-real-estate-isnt-straightforward-191228">falsifying the value of New York properties</a>. There is also the not-so-small matter of a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/09/15/trump-january-6-subpoenas-meadows/">Justice Department investigation</a> into the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol.</p>
<p>The announcement has led some to speculate that Trump may be hoping that becoming a presidential candidate will in some way <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jul/05/trump-2024-run-us-elections-prosecution">shield him from prosecution</a>.</p>
<p>So, does an indictment – or even a felony conviction – prevent a presidential candidate from running or serving in office? </p>
<p>The short answer is no. Here’s why:</p>
<p>The U.S. Constitution specifies in clear language the qualifications required to hold the office of the presidency. In <a href="https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/article-2/section-1/clause-5/#:%7E:text=No%20Person%20except%20a%20natural,been%20fourteen%20Years%20a%20Resident">Section 1, Clause 5 of Article II</a>, it states: “No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.”</p>
<p>These three requirements – natural-born citizenship, age, and residency – are the only specifications set forth in the United States’ founding document.</p>
<h2>Congress has ‘no power to alter’</h2>
<p>Furthermore, the Supreme Court has made clear that constitutionally prescribed qualifications to hold federal office may not be altered or supplemented by either the U.S. Congress or any of the states.</p>
<p>Justices clarified the court’s position in their 1969 <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/1968/138">Powell v. McCormack</a> ruling. The case followed the adoption of a resolution by the House of Representatives barring pastor and New York politician <a href="https://history.house.gov/People/Listing/P/POWELL,-Adam-Clayton,-Jr--(P000477)/">Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.</a> from taking his seat in the 90th Congress.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="A button with a man's face on it under the motto 'Keep The Faith, Baby'." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495444/original/file-20221115-21-uz4qmi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495444/original/file-20221115-21-uz4qmi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=596&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495444/original/file-20221115-21-uz4qmi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=596&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495444/original/file-20221115-21-uz4qmi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=596&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495444/original/file-20221115-21-uz4qmi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=749&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495444/original/file-20221115-21-uz4qmi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=749&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495444/original/file-20221115-21-uz4qmi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=749&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Adam Clayton Powell.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/button-promoting-harlem-congressman-adam-clayton-powells-news-photo/534234502?phrase=Clayton%20Powell&adppopup=true">David J. & Janice L. Frent/Corbis via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The resolution was not based on Powell’s failure to meet the age, citizenship and residency requirements for House members set forth in the Constitution. Rather, the House found that <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1987/12/15/charges-of-favoritism-tests-of-credibility-at-house-ethics-panel/b878ba60-348e-471f-87aa-ded06cac0e4b/">Powell had diverted Congressional funds and made false reports</a> about certain currency transactions.</p>
<p>When Powell sued to take his seat, the Supreme Court invalidated the House’s resolution on grounds that it added to the constitutionally specified qualifications for Powell to hold office. <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/395/486/">In the majority opinion</a>, the court held that: “Congress has no power to alter the qualifications in the text of the Constitution.”</p>
<p>For the same reason, no limitation could now be placed on Trump’s candidacy. Nor could he be barred from taking office if he were to be indicted or even convicted.</p>
<h2>But in case of insurrection…</h2>
<p>The Constitution includes no qualification regarding those conditions – with one significant exception. <a href="https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/amendment-14/">Section 3 of the 14th Amendment</a> disqualifies any person from holding federal office “who, having previously taken an oath … to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.” </p>
<p>The reason why this matters is the Department of Justice is <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/09/15/trump-january-6-subpoenas-meadows/">currently investigating</a> Trump for his activities related to the <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/january-6-us-capitol-attack-128973">Jan. 6 insurrection</a> at the Capitol.</p>
<p>Under the provisions of the 14th Amendment, Congress is authorized to pass laws to enforce its provisions. And in February 2021, one Democratic Congressman proposed <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/1405">House Bill 1405</a>, providing for a “cause of action to remove and bar from holding office certain individuals who engage in insurrection or rebellion against the United States.”</p>
<p>Even in the event of Trump being found to have participated “in insurrection or rebellion,” he might conceivably argue that he is exempt from Section 3 for a number of reasons. The 14th Amendment does not specifically refer to the presidency and it is not “self-executing” – that is, it needs subsequent legislation to enforce it. Trump could also point to the fact that Congress enacted an <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/03/11/opinion/confederate-amnesty-act-must-not-insulate-jan-6-insurrectionists/">Amnesty Act in 1872</a> that lifted the ban on office holding for officials from many former Confederate states.</p>
<p>He might also argue that his activities on and before Jan. 6 did not constitute an “insurrection” as it is understood by the wording of the amendment. There are few judicial precedents that interpret Section 3, and as such its application in modern times remains unclear. So even if House Bill 1405 were adopted, it is not clear whether it would be enough to disqualify Trump from serving as president again. </p>
<h2>Running from behind bars</h2>
<p>Even in the case of conviction and incarceration, a presidential candidate would not be prevented from continuing their campaign – even if, as a felon, they might not be able to vote for themselves. </p>
<p>History is dotted with instances of candidates for federal office running – and even being elected – while in prison. As early as 1798 – some 79 years before the 14th Amendment – House member <a href="https://history.house.gov/Historical-Highlights/1800-1850/The-life-of-Representative-Matthew-Lyon-of-Vermont-and-Kentucky/">Matthew Lyon was elected to Congress</a> from a prison cell, where he was serving a sentence for sedition for speaking out against the Federalist Adams administration.</p>
<p><a href="https://aflcio.org/about/history/labor-history-people/eugene-debs">Eugene Debs</a>, founder of the Socialist Party of America, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2019/09/22/socialist-who-ran-president-prison-won-nearly-million-votes/">ran for president in 1920</a> while serving a prison sentence for sedition. Although he lost the election, he nevertheless won 913,693 votes. Debs promised to pardon himself if he were elected. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="A black and white photo shows a man in a suit and long coat standing in front of a boat." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495443/original/file-20221115-13-r799l3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495443/original/file-20221115-13-r799l3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=845&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495443/original/file-20221115-13-r799l3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=845&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495443/original/file-20221115-13-r799l3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=845&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495443/original/file-20221115-13-r799l3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1061&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495443/original/file-20221115-13-r799l3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1061&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495443/original/file-20221115-13-r799l3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1061&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">American socialist Eugene Debs ran for office from prison.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/eugene-v-debs-american-socialist-organized-social-news-photo/515948158?phrase=Eugene%20Debs&adppopup=true">Bettmann / Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>And controversial politician and conspiracy theorist <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/13/obituaries/lyndon-larouche-dead.html">Lyndon Larouche also ran for president</a> from a jail cell in 1992. </p>
<h2>A prison cell as the Oval Office?</h2>
<p>Several provisions within the Constitution offer alternatives that could be used to disqualify a president under indictment or in prison.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/amdt25-1/ALDE_00001013/#:%7E:text=Twenty%2DFifth%20Amendment%2C%20Section%201,Vice%20President%20shall%20become%20President.">25th Amendment</a> allows the vice president and a majority of the cabinet to suspend the president from office if they conclude that the president is incapable of fulfilling his duties.</p>
<p>The amendment states that the removal process may be invoked “if the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.”</p>
<p>It was proposed and ratified to address what would happen should a president be incapacitated due to health issues. But the language is broad and some legal scholars believe it could be invoked if someone is deemed incapacitated or incapable for other reasons, such as incarceration.</p>
<p>To be sure, a president behind bars could challenge the conclusion that he or she was incapable from discharging the duties simply because they were in prison. But ultimately the amendment leaves any such dispute to Congress to decide, and it may suspend the President from office by a two-thirds vote.</p>
<p>Indeed, it is not clear that a president could not effectively execute the duties of office from prison, since the Constitution imposes no requirements that the executive appear in any specific location. The jail cell could, theoretically, serve as the new Oval Office.</p>
<p>Finally, if Trump were convicted and yet prevail in his quest for the presidency in 2024, Congress might choose to impeach him and remove him from office. <a href="https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/artII-S4-1-1/ALDE_00000282/#:%7E:text=Article%20II%2C%20Section%204%3A,other%20high%20Crimes%20and%20Misdemeanors.">Article II, Section 4</a> of the Constitution allows impeachment for “treason, bribery, and high crimes and misdemeanors.”</p>
<p>Whether that language would apply to Trump for indictments or convictions arising from his previous term or business dealings outside of office would be a question for Congress to decide. The precise meaning of “<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/10/what-does-high-crimes-and-misdemeanors-actually-mean/600343/">high crimes and misdemeanors</a>” is unclear, and the courts are unlikely to second-guess the House in bringing an impeachment proceeding. For sure, impeachment would remain an option – but it might be an unlikely one if Republicans maintained their majority in the House in 2024 and 2026.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/194425/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stefanie Lindquist does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The former president made little mention of his personal legal battles as he announced his bid to retake the White House.Stefanie Lindquist, Foundation Professor of Law and Political Science, Arizona State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1898502022-10-26T12:29:48Z2022-10-26T12:29:48ZRap artists have penned plenty of lyrics about US presidents – this course examines what they say about Reagan and the 1980s<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489515/original/file-20221013-14-avelq0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=10%2C30%2C3421%2C2253&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Numerous rap songs criticize the Reagan administration for its complicity in the illicit drug trade.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/president-ronald-reagan-campaigning-for-a-second-term-of-news-photo/594771010?phrase=Ronald%20Reagan&adppopup=true">Wally McNamee/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Text saying: Uncommon Courses, from The Conversation" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption"></span>
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<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/topics/uncommon-courses-130908">Uncommon Courses</a> is an occasional series from The Conversation U.S. highlighting unconventional approaches to teaching.</em> </p>
<h2>Title of course:</h2>
<p>“Rap, Reagan and the 1980s”</p>
<h2>What prompted the idea for the course?</h2>
<p>Actually, it was Donald Trump’s <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-donald-trump-came-up-with-make-america-great-again/2017/01/17/fb6acf5e-dbf7-11e6-ad42-f3375f271c9c_story.html">Make America Great Again</a> movement. People seemed shocked by his campaign slogan. But it wasn’t the first time in the U.S. that an entertainer had acted as a populist politician to win the allegiance of working-class white voters who feared losing their socioeconomic status. That distinction more rightly belongs to Ronald Reagan, who used the phrase first in his 1980 campaign.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489513/original/file-20221013-24-kjid11.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A campaign button emblazoned with the faces of two men is topped with the words 'Reagan-Bush in '80'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489513/original/file-20221013-24-kjid11.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489513/original/file-20221013-24-kjid11.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=554&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489513/original/file-20221013-24-kjid11.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=554&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489513/original/file-20221013-24-kjid11.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=554&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489513/original/file-20221013-24-kjid11.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=697&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489513/original/file-20221013-24-kjid11.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=697&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489513/original/file-20221013-24-kjid11.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=697&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A 1980 Ronald Reagan campaign button employed the use of the phrase ‘Let’s Make America Great Again.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_522618">Smithsonian Institution</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Many of my students, who came of age during the Obama administration, enjoyed the 2016 song by YG and Nipsey Hussle titled “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlIREcAu0PI">FDT</a>,” which is an acronym for “F— Donald Trump.” The song’s <a href="https://genius.com/Yg-fdt-lyrics">lyrics</a> criticize Trump for campaigning for the White House by trying to <a href="https://time.com/3923128/donald-trump-announcement-speech/">breed resentment against immigrants from Mexico</a>. I realized then that, just as today’s rappers are weighing in on politics, I could teach a course about how rap artists in the 1980s – and even afterward – dealt with the politicians from that era, chief among them President Reagan.</p>
<h2>What does the course explore?</h2>
<p>It uses hip-hop as a tool to understand the sociopolitical, economic and cultural factors that affected the lives of Black youths during the 1980s – the era of “<a href="https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/heres-why-reaganomics-is-so-controversial-video">Reaganomics</a>.” That’s the <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/reaganomics.asp">name given to Reagan’s economic policies</a>, which called for deregulation of the markets, widespread tax cuts, less spending on social programs and more spending on the military.</p>
<p>For instance, we use Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five’s classic 1982 hit “The Message” to examine the disappearance of middle-class factory jobs from American cities during a period of <a href="https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2002/03/bought.htm">globalization</a> and <a href="https://www.edweek.org/education/education-spending-declined-during-80s-report-says/1991/06">cuts to public school funding</a>.</p>
<p>The group rapped:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“<em>My son said, Daddy, I don’t wanna go to school<br>
‘Cause the teacher’s a jerk, he must think, I’m a fool<br>
And all the kids smoke reefer, I think it’d be cheaper<br>
If I just got a job, learned to be a street sweeper</em>”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Students also examine the crack cocaine epidemic of the 1980s through the lyrics of Too $hort’s “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJ9ioPrZ6_c">Girl That’s Your Life</a>” from 1983, N.W.A’s “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ei_zhL_YTY">Dopeman</a>” from 1987, and Killer Mike’s 2012 song “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lIqNjC1RKU">Reagan</a>,” which holds the Reagan administration <a href="https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB2/index.html">complicit in creating the crack cocaine epidemic</a>.</p>
<p>Raps Killer Mike: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“<em>Just like Oliver North introduced us to cocaine / In the 80s when them bricks came on military planes</em>.”</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Why is this course relevant now?</h2>
<p>It allows students to see the effects of the loosely regulated market economy of Reagan’s America, which led to <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/45131666">profound wealth gaps</a>. </p>
<p>To get a sense of the implications of the Reagan 1980s, I also have students listen to Kendrick Lamar’s “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YARwQQntqp8">Ronald Reagan Era</a>,” which came out in 2011 and deals with the flow of drugs, crack cocaine in particular, into Lamar’s native Compton, California, and Los Angeles during the late 1980s. The song also illuminates how drugs negatively affected his neighborhood and childhood. Lamar was born in 1987.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490105/original/file-20221017-19-6eidfe.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two men speak while holding microphones" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490105/original/file-20221017-19-6eidfe.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490105/original/file-20221017-19-6eidfe.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490105/original/file-20221017-19-6eidfe.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490105/original/file-20221017-19-6eidfe.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490105/original/file-20221017-19-6eidfe.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490105/original/file-20221017-19-6eidfe.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490105/original/file-20221017-19-6eidfe.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Kendrick Lamar, right, and Killer Mike are among the rap artists who’ve made songs that mention Ronald Reagan in the title.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Andrew Chin and Matthew Baker Getty Images</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What’s a critical lesson from the course?</h2>
<p>As various rap artists have pointed out, the violence that takes place in urban communities is directly connected to the world of politics.</p>
<p>As a group called Above the Law, part of a coalition of artists called the <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9892864/">West Coast Rap All-Stars</a>, stated in the 1990 song “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pmg6c0PASYk">We’re All in the Same Gang</a>”:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“<em>violence don’t only revolve from drugs and thugs and gangs that bang; most times it’s a political thang.</em>” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>A key lesson is that much of the praise for Reagan, a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10511431.2019.1708602">revered figure</a> in the conservative movement, did not always match the effects of his policies. For instance, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/06/01/trump-is-giving-arthur-laffer-presidential-medal-freedom-economists-arent-laughing/">modern economists have questioned</a> the purported benefits of the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/06/01/trump-is-giving-arthur-laffer-presidential-medal-freedom-economists-arent-laughing/">Laffer curve</a>, which is an <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/l/laffercurve.asp">economic analysis</a> that shows the relationship between tax rates and tax revenue, and which was used to support the <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/taxnotes/2021/09/03/reagans-tax-cut">Reagan tax cuts</a>. Reagan also embraced <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-bad-is-inequality-trickle-down-economics-thomas-piketty-economists-2021-12">“trickle-down” economics</a>, a theory that tax breaks and other benefits for business will ultimately help everyone, but economists say these benefits rarely, if ever, reached the most marginalized. </p>
<h2>What materials does the course feature?</h2>
<p>• “<a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1057/9780230616196">Ronald Reagan and the 1980s: Perceptions, Policies, Legacies</a>,” edited by Cheryl Hudson and Gareth Davies</p>
<p>• “<a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/625232/reconsidering-reagan-by-daniel-s-lucks/">Reconsidering Reagan: Racism, Republicans, and the Road to Trump</a>,” by Daniel Lucks</p>
<p>• “<a href="https://kansaspress.ku.edu/9780700616510/hip-hop-revolution/">Hip-Hop Revolution: The Culture and Politics of Rap</a>,” by Jeffrey O.G. Ogbar</p>
<p>• The 1985 movie “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089444/">Krush Groove</a>,” starring Sheila E. as well as Joseph Simmons and Daryl McDaniels of the pioneering rap group <a href="https://www.rundmc.com/">Run-DMC</a>.</p>
<h2>What will the course prepare students to do?</h2>
<p>The class prepares students to communicate their points of view to the public in creative and concise ways, much as rappers do in their songs. Specifically, they must write 16 bars. They also critically evaluate readings, songs and albums by doing a “5-Mic Review” <a href="https://www.hiphopnostalgia.com/2014/01/the-source-mic-system-for-album-reviews.html">in the way of the groundbreaking rap magazine The Source</a>. Finally, they do a group project that involves constructing a soundtrack for a movie or a hip-hop playlist.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/189850/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stefan M. Bradley does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Ronald Reagan may have been known as ‘The Great Communicator,’ but rap artists don’t view his legacy through such rose-colored glasses. A professor of Black studies and history takes a closer look.Stefan M. Bradley, Professor of Black Studies and History, Amherst CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1872422022-08-08T19:06:51Z2022-08-08T19:06:51ZIf Biden decides not to run for reelection, he faces a big threat: Being a lame duck<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477516/original/file-20220803-21-nrvais.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C8%2C5952%2C3953&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">President Joe Biden delivers the State of the Union address in the U.S. Capitol on March 1, 2022, among many lawmakers who may want his job. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/president-joe-biden-delivers-the-state-of-the-union-address-news-photo/1238864019?adppopup=true">Jabin Botsford-Pool/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As President Joe Biden’s approval ratings <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/395378/biden-job-approval-dips-new-low.aspx">continue to hover around 40%</a> and polls consistently show that <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/26/politics/cnn-poll-biden-2024/index.html">most Americans do not want him to run for reelection</a>, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/13/politics/biden-reelection-white-house-karine-jean-pierre-cnntv/index.html">Biden’s spokespeople insist</a> that he plans to run. </p>
<p>It would be more surprising if he did not run. </p>
<p>No eligible sitting president has declined to run for reelection since 1968. Announcing that he does not plan to run would make Biden an early lame duck and make it much harder for him to accomplish his goals.</p>
<h2>‘A lot of little things’</h2>
<p>A <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/11/11/donald-trump-lame-duck-president-political-term/6257752002/">lame-duck president leaves office at a known time</a>. Second-term presidents and presidents who have just lost their reelection campaign both fall into this category, as well as presidents who choose not to seek a second term.</p>
<p>In nature, a lame duck is particularly vulnerable to predators because it cannot keep up with the other ducks. Before the term was applied to politics, <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/safires-political-dictionary-9780195340617?cc=us&lang=en&">it was used in the financial industry in 18th-century England</a> to refer to someone in financial distress and thus vulnerable to creditors. In politics, lame ducks are defenseless against rivals because the rest of the political world has moved on and left them stumbling behind.</p>
<p>For the period between the election in November and inauguration in January, lame ducks are often unable to do anything legislatively. Instead, they are able to accomplish only what they can do on their own. </p>
<p>This is when <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/lame-duck-presidents-tend-to-offer-more-clemency/">many presidents issue a lot of pardons</a>, particularly controversial ones. But their legislative records during their lame-duck period are dismal, since Congress has little incentive to work with someone who will soon be gone.</p>
<p>Post-election lame ducks have been a political problem since early in American history. </p>
<p>In 1801, <a href="https://www.whitehousehistory.org/the-midnight-appointments">John Adams appointed dozens of “midnight judges”</a> to seats created by the Federalist Congress, to try to limit the powers of incoming President Thomas Jefferson and his allies in Congress. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477515/original/file-20220803-21-ix2g65.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man at a lectern in a suit and tie gestures with his hands while another man, also in a suit and tie, stands next to him, listening." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477515/original/file-20220803-21-ix2g65.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477515/original/file-20220803-21-ix2g65.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477515/original/file-20220803-21-ix2g65.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477515/original/file-20220803-21-ix2g65.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477515/original/file-20220803-21-ix2g65.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477515/original/file-20220803-21-ix2g65.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477515/original/file-20220803-21-ix2g65.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">U.S. President Barack Obama, left, stands with Judge Merrick B. Garland at the White House while nominating him to the U.S. Supreme Court on March 16, 2016.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/president-barack-obama-stands-with-judge-merrick-b-garland-news-photo/515910174?adppopup=true">Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 1861, outgoing President <a href="https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/james-buchanan-why-is-he-considered-americas-worst-president/">James Buchanan did nothing</a> to try to stop the secession of Southern states, seeing them as Abraham Lincoln’s problem. <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/11/worst-presidential-transition-1892-harrison-cleveland.html">Benjamin Harrison took steps in 1893</a> to try to damage the economy just to make it harder for Grover Cleveland to govern. <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/03/fdr-herbert-hoover-big-government/580456/">Herbert Hoover in 1933 would not change course on economic policy</a>, despite the public’s electing Franklin Roosevelt and clearly wanting change.</p>
<p>By the early 1930s, frustration with these lame-duck periods led to the <a href="https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/amendment/amendment-xx">adoption of the 20th Amendment</a>, which moved the date of presidential inaugurations back from March 4 to Jan. 20, shortening the lame-duck period by six weeks. </p>
<p>With less time to linger, presidents have still found ways to <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/27552704">take a lot of little actions</a> to try to build their legacy, protect their accomplishments or, especially for those who have lost a reelection campaign, to make life more difficult for the next president. <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2015/03/17/politics/obama-politics-white-house">Barack Obama used executive orders</a> in the final two years of his presidency to achieve policy goals he had been unable to push through Congress. <a href="https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/531846-trump-demonstrates-why-we-should-limit-the-powers-of-lame-duck-presidents/">Donald Trump used executive orders</a> to make last-minute changes intended to create additional headaches for Joe Biden.</p>
<h2>‘Old news’</h2>
<p>Some presidents are lame ducks for longer periods – the ones who cannot run again after serving two terms, or the rare few who have announced during their first term that they will not run for reelection. They face a different governing problem. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/27551932">Second-term presidents are generally able to accomplish things</a> for the first two years of their second term, perhaps three if they are popular. But once the next election cycle starts, the press and the public both shift their attention to the candidates, and the president loses a great deal of his ability to control the media narrative or reach the public.</p>
<p>Once candidates declare that they are running, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/27550310">the press treats lame-duck presidents as old news</a>, with a dismissive attitude toward anything the outgoing president might be doing. </p>
<p>Congress, especially one controlled by the opposition party, will often take a similar approach. In Obama’s final year as president, for example, <a href="https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/12/republican-party-obstructionism-victory-trump-214498/">Republicans in Congress blocked all his efforts</a>, including his attempt to appoint a justice to a Supreme Court vacancy.</p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=HGtESWYAAAAJ&hl=en">As a scholar of the presidency</a> who has studied elections and transitions, I believe that if Biden announces he is not running for reelection, there will be an immediate and unavoidable shift in the media, Congress and the Democratic Party leadership to a focus on the 2024 election. He will face the same kind of treatment past lame ducks have experienced, especially if the Republicans win control of the House or the Senate, or both, in the 2022 midterm elections. </p>
<h2>Opens the field</h2>
<p>Biden’s fate at the hands of Congress, the press and the public may be even worse, since a decision not to run again is very likely to be seen as a failure. </p>
<p>Only three first-term presidents <a href="https://medium.com/useless-knowledge-daily/which-us-presidents-chose-not-to-run-for-a-second-term-eba9cb2660cb">have declined to run for a second term</a>. The most similar case was Lyndon Johnson, who had served about five years, <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/presidents/lyndon-b-johnson/">finishing the term of the assassinated President John F. Kennedy before being elected</a> to a full term of his own in 1964.</p>
<p>When <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2018/03/31/a-pearl-harbor-in-politics-lbjs-stunning-decision-not-to-seek-reelection/">Johnson decided not to run for reelection in 1968</a>, he was losing public support in the face of an unpopular war in Vietnam and major opposition from within his own party. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kxWGg3AARnI?wmode=transparent&start=181" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">President Lyndon Baines Johnson announces he will not run for reelection in 1968.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It is not clear exactly when he decided not to run again, but his <a href="https://millercenter.org/the-presidency/presidential-speeches/march-31-1968-remarks-decision-not-seek-re-election">announcement that he was not running</a> was not made until after the New Hampshire primary in early 1968. By that point, his ability to effectively govern had already been badly damaged by fallout from the Vietnam War, and media attention quickly shifted away from him to focus on the candidates who might replace him.</p>
<p>If Biden announces he is not running, that will open up the field for potential Democratic candidates who are not willing to run against a sitting president of their own party. These candidates will want to know as soon as possible so they can launch their campaigns early.</p>
<p>But Biden will want to delay the announcement to keep the media focus on his administration and the policy goals he hopes to achieve, especially those that require action by Congress. After all, his term of office continues until Jan. 20, 2025, whether he runs again or not. To accomplish anything in those last two years he will need to keep the media and Congress focused on his administration.</p>
<p>This will cause a strain between the would-be presidents and the man who currently holds the office. But Biden, like any president, is more concerned with his own agenda than with the campaigns of others. His agenda stands a better chance if he runs than if he does not.</p>
<p>Still, the combination of old age and unpopularity makes it plausible that Biden would decide to forgo a second term. If he makes that decision, he will likely hold off as long as possible before announcing it. From the moment he becomes a lame duck, the most productive days of his presidency are sure to be behind him.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/187242/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael J. Faber does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A combination of irrelevancy, powerlessness and derision is in store for a president who chooses not to run for reelection.Michael J. Faber, Associate Professor of Political Science, Texas State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1856672022-06-29T20:29:14Z2022-06-29T20:29:14ZLet’s spare a few words for ‘Silent Cal’ Coolidge on July 4, his 150th birthday<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471452/original/file-20220628-14646-ondh6m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">President Calvin Coolidge stands with members of a nonprofit group called the Daughters of 1812.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/president-calvin-coolidge-stands-with-members-of-a-group-called-the-picture-id640478979?s=2048x2048"> Library of Congress/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A woman sitting next to President Calvin Coolidge at a dinner party once told him she had made a bet that she could get him to say more than two words. </p>
<p>“<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/presidents/calvin-coolidge/">You lose</a>,” replied Coolidge, who served as president from 1923 until 1929.</p>
<p>During a White House recital, a nervous opera singer foundered through a performance before Coolidge. Someone asked him what he thought of the singer’s execution. “<a href="https://whatculture.com/offbeat/12-most-impressive-retorts-in-history?page=3">I’m all for it,” he said</a>. </p>
<p>Coolidge was so taciturn that he was known as “Silent Cal.” </p>
<p>Three U.S. presidents – all of them Founding Fathers, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe – <a href="https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/blog/three-presidents-die-on-july-4th-just-a-coincidence">died on July 4.</a></p>
<p>Only one was <a href="https://biography.yourdictionary.com/articles/who-is-the-only-u-s-president-born-on-july-4.html">born on July 4</a>. </p>
<p>Calvin Coolidge <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/presidents/calvin-coolidge/">was born</a> in Plymouth Notch, Vermont, 150 years ago, on July 4, 1872. He died in January 1933. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471453/original/file-20220628-14748-ptv14g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A black and white photo depicts a man in a topcoat and hat gazing at a truck bearing images of two men and the words 'Two common sense Americans.'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471453/original/file-20220628-14748-ptv14g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471453/original/file-20220628-14748-ptv14g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471453/original/file-20220628-14748-ptv14g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471453/original/file-20220628-14748-ptv14g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471453/original/file-20220628-14748-ptv14g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=684&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471453/original/file-20220628-14748-ptv14g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=684&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471453/original/file-20220628-14748-ptv14g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=684&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Calvin Coolidge inspects a campaign truck painted with images of himself and his running mate, Charles G. Dawes.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/calvin-coolidge-inspects-a-campaign-truck-painted-with-images-of-his-picture-id104560171?s=2048x2048">FPG/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Getting to know Coolidge</h2>
<p>Fireworks rarely followed Coolidge during his political career. </p>
<p>Coolidge was balding, 5-foot-9 with a slight build, and he could walk into an empty room and blend in. He rarely smiled or changed expression. Alice Roosevelt Longworth, the daughter of President Theodore Roosevelt, described Coolidge’s dour expression by saying <a href="https://libquotes.com/alice-roosevelt-longworth/quote/lbn2b5z">he looked as if</a> “he had been <a href="https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=weaned%20on%20a%20pickle">weaned on a pickle</a>.”</p>
<p>Such a description would not have offended Coolidge. “I think the American public wants a solemn ass as a president,” <a href="https://www.loc.gov/item/2010643539/">he said</a>, “and I think I’ll go along with them.” </p>
<h2>Best known for a laugh or two</h2>
<p>The 30th president remains a footnote in the history of U.S. presidents. Coolidge was preceded in the White House by Warren Harding, whose administration was one of <a href="https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-schiller-harding-trump-20180802-story.html">the most corrupt in U.S. history</a>. Coolidge was succeeded by Herbert Hoover, who was in office when the country fell into the throes of the <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/great-depression/great-depression-history">Great Depression</a>, which began with the crash of the stock market in October 1929, several months after Hoover took office. </p>
<p>Coolidge is probably best known for his contributions to books of political humor. I included him in a 2020 book I edited, “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Art-Political-Putdown-Comebacks-Politicians/dp/1452183856">The Art of the Political Putdown: The Greatest Comebacks, Ripostes, and Retorts in History</a>.”</p>
<p>Coolidge, a Republican who believed in <a href="https://coolidgefoundation.org/resources/essays-papers-addresses-17/">small government, low taxes</a>, morality, thrift and tradition, rose quickly – but quietly – in Massachusetts politics, where he became <a href="https://malegislature.gov/VirtualTour/Artifact/90">president of the state Senate in 1914</a>. While serving in this capacity, two senators got into a bitter exchange of words in which one told the other to go to hell. The recipient of the remark demanded that Coolidge take his side. “I’ve looked up the law, Senator,” Coolidge told him, “and <a href="https://coolidgefoundation.org/resources/essays-papers-addresses-17/">you don’t have to go</a>.”</p>
<p>Coolidge was elected <a href="https://malegislature.gov/VirtualTour/Artifact/90">governor of Massachusetts in 1919</a>. He soon earned a national reputation for being decisive by firing striking police officers in Boston and ordering the state militia to bring calm to the city after the strike had left its inhabitants vulnerable to violent mobs in September 1919. </p>
<p>Warren Harding, the Republican presidential nominee in 1920, chose Coolidge as his running mate. Harding and Coolidge won the election. Coolidge then became president when Harding died in 1923. </p>
<p>Early in his term, in December 1923, Coolidge <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/presidents/calvin-coolidge/">spoke to Congress</a> and pressed for isolation in U.S. foreign policy and tax cuts. He believed <a href="https://slate.com/human-interest/2011/11/calvin-coolidge-why-are-republicans-so-obsessed-with-him.html">in small government</a> and also benefited from the country’s strong economic position in the early 1920s. This helped his popularity rise, and he got more than <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/presidents/calvin-coolidge/">54% of the popular vote</a> in the 1924 election.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471459/original/file-20220628-14286-ejcf8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Calvin Coolidge eats ice cream off a plate next to his wife, in front of a group of men dressed formally in suits and a Navy uniform in this black and white photo" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471459/original/file-20220628-14286-ejcf8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471459/original/file-20220628-14286-ejcf8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471459/original/file-20220628-14286-ejcf8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471459/original/file-20220628-14286-ejcf8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471459/original/file-20220628-14286-ejcf8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=558&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471459/original/file-20220628-14286-ejcf8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=558&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471459/original/file-20220628-14286-ejcf8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=558&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Calvin Coolidge and his wife, Grace Goodhue Coolidge, eat ice cream at a garden party for veterans at the White House in an undated photo.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/president-and-mrs-coolidge-eat-ice-cream-at-a-garden-party-for-at-picture-id640491357?s=2048x2048">Library of Congress/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images)</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A genius for inactivity</h2>
<p>If it was Coolidge’s decisive action that brought him to national attention, it was his inaction as president that defined his presidency and won him the admiration of political conservatives. </p>
<p>Newspaper columnist <a href="https://www.frontporchrepublic.com/2010/06/the-anti-propaganda-of-calvin-coolidge/">Walter Lippmann wrote</a> this about Coolidge in 1926: “Mr. Coolidge’s genius for inactivity is developed to a very high point. It is a grim, determined, alert inactivity, which keeps Mr. Coolidge occupied constantly.”</p>
<p><a href="https://css.cua.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Arnold-Calvin-Coolidge-Classical-Statesman-1.pdf">Historians, however, praise Coolidge</a> for presiding over low inflation, low unemployment and budget surpluses during every year of his presidency. He kept the country at peace and restored confidence in the government after the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Warren-G-Harding/Scandals">scandal-plagued Harding years</a>. </p>
<p>But being president and taking daily naps still apparently left Coolidge with a lot of free time. </p>
<p>Coolidge reportedly liked to <a href="https://nebushumor.wordpress.com/2020/03/26/stray-historical-thoughts-calvin-coolidge-edition/">press the alarm buttons</a> in the Oval Office, and when the Secret Service agents ran into the office to see what was wrong, he would be hiding.</p>
<p>Coolidge decided not to run for reelection in 1928. When reporters asked him why, he answered with characteristic succinctness. “<a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2012/05/01/151762298/the-funniest-presidents-in-history">Because there’s no chance for advancement</a>,” he said.</p>
<p>If Coolidge had been reelected, he would have suffered Hoover’s fate of being president during the Depression. His political timing was as good as his comic timing. </p>
<p>Social critic H.L. Mencken once speculated on how Coolidge would have responded to the collapse of the stock market and the collapse of the nation’s economy. </p>
<p>“He would have responded to bad times precisely as he responded to good ones – that is, by pulling down the blinds, stretching his legs upon his desk, and snoozing away the lazy afternoons,” Mencken wrote. And yet the iconoclastic Mencken had this begrudging praise for Coolidge. “There were no thrills while he reigned, but neither were there any headaches. He had no ideas, <a href="http://www.perno.com/amer/docs/H%20L%20Mencken%20on%20Calvin%20Coolidge.htm">and he was not a nuisance</a>.”</p>
<p>When American writer Dorothy Parker, who, like Coolidge, could say much with few words, learned that the former president had died in 1933, she replied, “<a href="https://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/07/04/silent/">How could they tell</a>?”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/185667/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Lamb does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>US President Calvin Coolidge hasn’t gone down in history for his triumphs or failures as president during the 1920s – but his dry sense of humor carries on.Chris Lamb, Professor of Journalism, IUPUILicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1787872022-03-24T14:30:52Z2022-03-24T14:30:52ZWilliam Ruto: how Kenya’s new president took on powerful political dynasties<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/453888/original/file-20220323-19-1gouv9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">William Ruto </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">YASUYOSHI CHIBA/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>William Samoei Ruto, 55, has been <a href="https://nation.africa/kenya/news/politics/william-ruto-named-president-elect-3914858">declared</a> the winner of Kenya’s presidential election. He is the leader of the United Democratic Alliance party under the Kenya Kwanza (Kenya First) coalition. Ruto defeated his main rival in the election Raila Odinga, 77, who was <a href="https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/politics/article/2001440113/i-accept-azimio-nomination-says-raila-as-kalonzo-formally-joins-movement">running</a> under the rival Azimio la Umoja (Unity Declaration) coalition. </p>
<p>He becomes Kenya’s first sitting deputy president to succeed the incumbent following competitive elections and first candidate to win the presidency at first attempt.</p>
<p>The declaration of the results was temporarily disrupted amid chaotic scenes by the losing candidate’s supporters alleging irregularities. The situation was thrown into further disarray when four commissioners broke ranks, held a separate press conference and denounced the results as <a href="https://nation.africa/kenya/news/politics/four-iebc-commissioners-disown-chebukati-presidential-results-3915420">“opaque”</a>.</p>
<p>Ruto won the polls in spite of a <a href="https://www.citizen.digital/news/president-kenyatta-sustains-attack-on-dp-ruto-team-over-politicking-n292078">sustained pushback</a> by the incumbent, Uhuru Kenyatta, his former ally who chose instead <a href="https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2022-03-19-uhuru-campaigns-for-raila-in-nairobi/">to back</a> his former archrival and longtime opposition leader Raila Odinga. </p>
<p>Kenyatta and Ruto are former allies: Ruto campaigned for Kenyatta during his first presidential attempt in 2002, which he lost. Both were <a href="https://www.icc-cpi.int/kenya">indicted</a> by the International Criminal Court (ICC) as the suspected masterminds of the mass atrocities that followed the disputed 2007 elections. They then <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/mar/09/kenyatta-declared-victor-in-kenyan-elections">teamed up to contest in 2013</a>. They prevailed in 2017 as well, but not before the Supreme Court <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/8/11/uhuru-kenyatta-wins-kenya-presidential-election">annulled</a> the first round.</p>
<p>After their falling out, however, Ruto characterised Kenyatta and Odinga as the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-58246207">embodiments</a> of dynastic politics and <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-modern-african-studies/article/abs/political-power-and-tribalism-in-kenya-by-westen-k-shilaho-cham-palgrave-macmillan-2018-pp-xvii-186-5499-hbk/EC0139B1008E6D2A562833E5D46CA6B3">entitlement</a>. The two are sons of Jomo Kenyatta and Oginga Odinga, Kenya’s first president and first vice president respectively. In a way, Ruto prevailed against the state, powerful elites, a biased media, the intelligentsia, civil society and jaundiced polling firms. His victory is historic and phenomenal.</p>
<p>As an outlier in Kenya’s political power matrix, which is dominated by a tiny clique related by familial and economic ties and adept at manipulating tribalism to capture the state, Ruto was elbowed out by the establishment. But he has somersaulted back by appealing directly to the masses, his original constituency.</p>
<h2>Ruto versus status quo</h2>
<p>For almost six decades, political and economic power has been confined within a group around Kenya’s first two presidents – Kenyatta and Daniel arap Moi. Raila Odinga joined this group in the sunset years of Moi’s tenure and counted on it to propel him to power in the just concluded elections. The group has leverage over state agencies and the security apparatus. It exploits state power to advance commercial interests spread across the entire gamut of Kenya’s economy.</p>
<p>Kenyatta’s family, for instance, has vast business <a href="https://www.theelephant.info/op-eds/2018/07/07/crony-capitalism-and-state-capture-the-kenyatta-family-story/">interests</a>. The Mois are also fabulously <a href="https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2020-02-04-inside-mzee-mois-business-empire/">wealthy</a> . Ruto has accused these families of state capture – exploiting their control of the state to enrich themselves primitively.</p>
<p>Ruto is also certainly <a href="https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/entertainment/city-news/2000224690/william-ruto-how-he-rose-from-roadside-kuku-seller-to-multi-billionaire">a man of means</a>. According to his opponents in the government he too has extensive <a href="https://allafrica.com/stories/202109020465.html">business interests</a>. It’s for this reason that Ruto has <a href="https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2021-09-04-how-the-state-plans-to-puncture-rutos-hustler-narrative/">been accused of hypocrisy</a> for championing the downtrodden, or ordinary Kenyans whom he refers to as <a href="https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/politics/article/2001422559/ruto-i-have-shown-hustlers-they-can-also-be-rich">“hustlers”</a>. </p>
<p>Pivotal to Ruto’s campaign was his <a href="https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2021-07-29-dp-ruto-this-is-what-bottom-up-economic-model-means/">bottom-up economic model</a>. Its pillars are the dispersal of economic and political opportunities, and dignifying the poor. It invokes equity, inclusivity, social justice and fair play. </p>
<p>His “hustler nation” movement was buoyed by <a href="https://www.pd.co.ke/news/blame-the-government-for-unemployment-dp-ruto-96287/">mass unemployment</a>, <a href="https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/ken-opalo/article/2001434385/jubilees-legacy-of-poverty-amid-huge-infrastructure-bill">poverty</a>, <a href="https://www.oxfam.org/en/kenya-extreme-inequality-numbers">inequalities</a> and state excesses such as <a href="https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2022/country-chapters/kenya">extrajudicial executions</a> and runaway corruption.</p>
<p>Ruto successfully reinvented himself as the agent of class consciousness hitherto absent in Kenya’s political discourse and competition. By rebranding himself as the antithesis of the status quo and personification of the hopes of the poor, his messaging resonated with a cross spectrum of the marginalised.</p>
<p>As the victor, his work is cut out for him. He will have to overhaul Kenya’s socioeconomic and political edifice to assuage the restless and disenchanted populace. He has to provide leadership that will disabuse the Kenyan society of tribal consciousness, embed civic values and national identity. If he does not, he risks becoming a casualty of his success.</p>
<h2>The making of a winner</h2>
<p>Following disputed elections in 2017, Kenyatta and his close allies embarked on a campaign of vilification against Ruto. He was soon edged out of the government and remained as Kenyatta’s principal assistant in law only. Kenyatta <a href="https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/politics/article/2001373923/has-president-uhurus-executive-order-abolished-joint-presidency">transferred</a> his official responsibilities as deputy president to a loyal cabinet minister in an attempt to whittle down the office and clip Ruto’s political wings.</p>
<p>The aim was to delegitimise and frustrate him into resigning, thus knocking him out of the succession race. Ruto exhibited resilience despite the frustrations.</p>
<p>In Kenya’s media, including social media, Ruto was the villain; the bogeyman. Through newspaper headlines, hashtags, prime time news and talk shows, he was cynically <a href="https://www.africanews.com/2018/08/24/ruto-says-poll-that-ranked-him-most-corrupt-kenyan-politician-is-fake-news/">depicted</a> as the skunk of Kenya’s politics solely associated with vices such as corruption, land grabs, impunity, unbridled ambition, insolence, warlord politics, and ethnic cleansing. He exploited this sense victimhood to his advantage.</p>
<p>These vices, however, pervade Kenya’s political landscape and the depiction was more information by partisanship than moral rectitude. His accusers are no better.</p>
<p>Ruto cut his political teeth under the mentorship of the long-serving autocrat Daniel arap Moi in the early 1990s. Facing presidential opponents for the first time in 1992, Moi mobilised the youth vote with the help of young politicians, under an outfit known as <a href="https://allafrica.com/stories/202010070108.html">Youth for KANU ‘92</a>. Ruto was one of the youthful politicians who crafted the successful – but equally <a href="https://nation.africa/kenya/life-and-style/dn2/money-and-youth-schemes-kanu-crafted-to-keep-power-901298">infamous</a> – re-election strategy in 1992. This involved Moi sanctioning the <a href="https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/business/financial-standard/article/2001419844/taxpayers-still-paying-for-states-90s-money-printing-debacle">printing of money</a> used to bribe voters, among other things. </p>
<p>Ruto’s entry into parliament in 1997 was in defiance of his mentor. Moi, a fellow Kalenjin from the Rift Valley, had tried to prevail on Ruto not to run. Moi exited in 2002 and Ruto astutely won over the Kalenjin voting bloc and used it as a launching pad into national politics. Moi had wanted to bequeath it to his son, Gideon. Hence the fallout between Moi and Ruto.</p>
<p>The Kenyatta-Moi-Odinga axis, which Ruto has propped up in the past, turned against him, fearful that he would end their economic and political stranglehold. They perceived Ruto – relatively young, astute, ambitious, prescient and gallant – as a threat to their dubious privileges. Now that Ruto, has won the presidency, time will tell whether their fears were exaggerated.</p>
<p>In 2010, Ruto stood out from this coterie and mobilised against the passage of the current constitution. He later defended his stand on the grounds that he did not approve of some parts of the constitution – but <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJSf-coUoOI">embraced</a> it once it was passed.</p>
<p>He faulted Kenyatta for violating the same constitution through blatant defiance of numerous court orders and weaponising oversight bodies and state agencies against Ruto and his allies. Ruto also accused Kenyatta and Odinga of a conspiracy to illegally amend the constitution to consolidate their power, and entrench ethnicity through the Building Bridges Initiative. The attempt was quashed as unconstitutional by the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-57094387">high court</a>, <a href="https://www.businessdailyafrica.com/bd/economy/appeal-court-upholds-ruling-against-bbi-3519108">appeals court</a> and finally the <a href="https://nation.africa/kenya/news/eyes-on-supreme-court-as-bbi-ruling-draws-near--3719972">supreme court</a>.</p>
<h2>Political traction</h2>
<p>Despite his rhetoric, Ruto is a creature of Kenya’s political culture, notorious for a lack of scruples. Its elite is anglophile in outlook, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/charles-njonjo-and-the-genesis-of-kenyas-fixation-with-security-178547">disdainful of the poor</a>. It is also mired in <a href="https://www.theafricareport.com/2402/truth-justice-and-the-unbroken-line-of-kenyas-elites/">impunity and tribalism</a>.</p>
<p>What is significant is that Ruto’s reframing of the political discourse into <a href="https://globalchallenges.ch/issue/9/hustlers-versus-dynasty-kenyas-new-class-politics/">hustlers versus dynasties</a> has accorded him traction, helped him win the presidency and set the tempo of this election despite the outgoing government’s abysmal scorecard. He made the election about the rule of law, constitutionalism, equalisation of economic opportunities for the poor and marginalised and political competition based on cross cutting social economic interests.</p>
<p>This contrasted with Odinga, who publicly <a href="https://nation.africa/kenya/news/politics/raila-uhuru-adviser-in-my-government-3750736">defined</a> himself as the status quo candidate, an extension of Kenyatta tenure and therefore out to preserve the exclusive political and economic arrangement that dates to colonialism. It was a move that cost him the presidency on the fifth attempt.</p>
<p>The stakes are high for Kenyans. The Ruto victory has broken the back of dynastic dominance of Kenya’s politics and economy. Peripheral actors will emerge as he reorganises Kenya’s state and politics. As to whether Ruto will live to his lofty promises and prise open the economy for the benefit of all, that remains an open question.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/178787/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Westen K Shilaho does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As an outlier in Kenya’s political power matrix, Ruto was elbowed out by the establishment. But he has somersaulted back by appealing directly to the masses.Westen K Shilaho, Senior Research Fellow, Institute for PanAfrican Thought and Conversation (IPATC), University of JohannesburgLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1754562022-01-24T17:39:03Z2022-01-24T17:39:03ZJoe Biden: a report card on the US president’s first year in office<p>When Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th US president in January 2021, <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2021/06/30/behind-bidens-2020-victory/">51.3%</a> of American voters heaved a sigh of relief – along with much of the world. After four tumultuous and unscripted years of Donald Trump, restoration of calm via his experienced successor seemed welcome. And if Biden was known for a propensity to sometimes misspeak, it seemed little more than a quaint shortcoming, certainly compared with the previous occupant of the White House.</p>
<p>Fast forward to the first anniversary of the Biden administration, and international news headlines shout otherwise. Speaking on January 19 about the highly volatile situation in Ukraine, Biden referred to how America and allies might respond to a “<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2022/01/19/remarks-by-president-biden-in-press-conference-6/">minor incursion</a>” by Russia. Both the president and his press secretary moved quickly to <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/01/19/biden-ukraine-russia-527440">make a clarification</a>, if not fully successfully, to clean up the fallout. A disunited western response to Russian aggression is not a diplomatic win for the administration. </p>
<p>Nor was the chaotic US departure from Afghanistan in August 2021. Long since planned, this move had the support of the voting public but the mishandling was both a <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/bidens-chaotic-withdrawal-from-afghanistan-is-complete">humanitarian and PR disaster</a>, and a political blow to the administration and to US primacy in the region. The grave consequences for Afghanistan are ongoing.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442019/original/file-20220121-17253-11a55t5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Graph showing Joe Biden's approval ratings since January 2021 plotted as lines showing %age approve and %age disappeove." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442019/original/file-20220121-17253-11a55t5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442019/original/file-20220121-17253-11a55t5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442019/original/file-20220121-17253-11a55t5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442019/original/file-20220121-17253-11a55t5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442019/original/file-20220121-17253-11a55t5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442019/original/file-20220121-17253-11a55t5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442019/original/file-20220121-17253-11a55t5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<p>Other domestic challenges, notably <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-16/biden-s-job-on-inflation-found-lacking-by-majority-in-cbs-poll">rising inflation</a>, have added to popular discontent. Furthermore, the administration has been stymied in its efforts to get Congress to enact the so-called <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/build-back-better/">Build Back Better</a> and <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-59946927">Voting Rights</a> legislation. </p>
<p>In both cases the frustration is exacerbated by the fact that action has been thwarted because of the decisions of two <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/democrats-brace-for-likely-defeat-of-voting-rights-push-due-to-gop-filibuster/2022/01/19/2f9a734c-792d-11ec-bf97-6eac6f77fba2_story.html">Democratic Senators</a>. The president’s Republican opponents, meanwhile, rejoice at his stalled agenda.</p>
<p>Hence, drawing a negative conclusion on this busy and difficult year seems reasonable. And yet, there has been progress and amidst the prevailing “peril”, there is promise. In fact, there are numerous good news stories and accomplishments by the administration which can get lost in the media vortex. The president has not excelled at accentuating these positives, something crucial to get right in this age of hyper-scrutiny.</p>
<h2>On the plus side</h2>
<p>So, what positives can be included on the Biden report card? Team Biden arrived at the White House with a 200-page plan to “beat” COVID-19. The delta and omicron variants complicated this picture and dealing with an evolving virus in a nation awash with fake news was always going to be fraught.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, 500 million vaccines were administered during Biden’s first year in office leading to 75% of US adults receiving at least one dose. While the administration cannot be blamed for slow take-up by those who have fallen prey to misinformation, its efforts effectively to force vaccinations on large companies were <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2022/01/13/politics/supreme-court-vaccine-mandate-covid-19/index.html">rebuked by</a> the supreme court.</p>
<p>Crucially, the economic story is not just about inflation (which in any case is the Federal Reserve’s primary responsibility). Between January and December 2021, the unemployment rate fell from 6.3% to 3.9% and a record 6.4 million jobs have been added to the economy. This points to a sustained recovery. Such a good news story could be of benefit to the Democrat party and at least limit the electoral damage as they head towards what may be bruising mid-term elections later in 2021. </p>
<h2>The need to ‘cut through’</h2>
<p>So, whether it’s the economy or the pandemic which dominates voter priorities in November, there is a positive story to tell. The president himself acknowledged in his one-year speech that he needs to “get out of this place more often” and <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/joe-biden/white-house-plots-public-reset-biden-s-agenda-flails-n1287619">engage with</a> the public. </p>
<p>He also has some other successes, which voters clearly approved of, not least legislative accomplishment in the shape of the US$1.9 trillion (£1.4 trillion) <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/biden-celebrates-passage-covid-aid-bill-rose-garden-event-n1261008">American Rescue Plan</a>. There are further aspects of the Build Back Better agenda that have support among the public, particularly those <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/americans-like-whats-in-the-build-back-better-act-theyre-lukewarm-on-the-bill-itself/">relating to healthcare</a>, despite the hefty price-tag that comes with the legislation. Here again, messaging is crucial. The president needs to focus on what is possible and deliver on his campaign promise of being a negotiator. </p>
<p>On some issues, notably voting rights legislation, he is caught between a rock and a hard place as he is denounced by progressives for not acting decisively enough, yet the legislative reality is that the <a href="https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2022/01/13/joe-biden-senate-democrats-voting-rights-legislation/6510371001/">votes are not</a> there. There may yet be space for progress on Build Back Better and here is where Biden’s second year could move on from the “peril” and deliver on the “promise”. </p>
<p>The political landscape is scorched in many places but there are some areas of potential growth. <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2013/06/bill-clinton-splits-with-obama-on-syria-092683">In the words</a> of former president Bill Clinton, “sometimes it’s best to get caught trying”.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/175456/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It’s been a tough year for the 47th US president.Clodagh Harrington, Associate Professor of American Politics, De Montfort UniversityAlex Waddan, Associate Professor in American Politics and American Foreign Policy, University of LeicesterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1700772021-10-27T12:19:51Z2021-10-27T12:19:51ZIn Biden’s visit with the pope, a page from Reagan’s playbook?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/428291/original/file-20211025-17-lnj3tp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=53%2C38%2C1943%2C1293&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Pope John Paul II met with President Ronald Reagan in Miami in 1987.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/PopesandPresidents/15692286ae92405fa139bab157480ce2/photo?Query=reagan%20pope&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=41&currentItemNo=32">AP Photo/Arturo Mari, File</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>President Joe Biden, who will <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/14/politics/joe-biden-pope-francis/index.html">meet Pope Francis</a> at the Vatican on Oct. 29, is Catholic. The country’s’ first Catholic president, John F. Kennedy, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqvQEIchix4">visited the Vatican</a> too. But meetings between U.S. presidents and popes have been a staple of politics since the Kennedy era, whether the president was Catholic or not.</p>
<p>Woodrow Wilson was the first sitting president to meet a pope, <a href="https://www.rte.ie/centuryireland/index.php/articles/woodrow-wilson-becomes-first-us-president-to-visit-vatican-city#:%7E:text=Rome%2C%206%20January%201919%20%2D%20Woodrow,playing%20the%20American%20national%20anthem.">visiting Pope Benedict XV</a> amid peace negotiations after World War I. Dwight Eisenhower <a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/john-xxiii/en/speeches/1959/documents/hf_j-xxiii_spe_19591206_usa.html">met John XXIII</a> as part of an international goodwill tour. Lyndon Johnson first <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGcLSSUns04">met with Paul VI</a> when the pontiff came to New York for <a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/en/speeches/1965/documents/hf_p-vi_spe_19651004_united-nations.html">a historic address</a> at the United Nations in 1965. Richard Nixon twice met with Paul VI, despite the Pope’s clear <a href="https://thecatholicnewsarchive.org/?a=d&d=ca19671228-01.2.4&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN--------">opposition to the war in Vietnam</a>. Gerald Ford <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:President_Gerald_R._Ford,_Pope_Paul_VI,_and_Secretary_of_State_Henry_Kissinger_Examine_a_Silver_Eagle_Statue_in_the_Pontifical_Residence_at_the_Vatican_-_NARA_-_23898471.jpg">met with Paul VI</a> in 1975, and Jimmy Carter <a href="https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/eyewitness/html.php?section=21">greeted the new pope, John Paul II</a>, in 1979. </p>
<p>Those meetings all preceded the establishment of <a href="https://www.state.gov/u-s-relations-with-the-holy-see/">formal diplomatic relations</a> between the United States and the Holy See, as the Vatican city-state is known in formal diplomacy. The two states finally exchanged ambassadors <a href="https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1984/01/11/168525.html?pageNumber=1">in 1984</a>, under Ronald Reagan and John Paul II. Both were committed anti-communists, and their move to establish official ties marked an important geopolitical alliance.</p>
<p>In my research <a href="https://ctu.edu/faculty/steven-millies/">on the relationship between Catholicism and U.S. politics</a>, their partnership stands out as a turning point – and a boon for Reagan. At the time, he needed a Catholic ally, and found one in John Paul II. </p>
<p>And today, Biden faces a somewhat similar situation.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Pope Francis reaches up to shake the hand of Joe Biden, then vice president, in Congress." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/428294/original/file-20211025-21-18q8y0a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/428294/original/file-20211025-21-18q8y0a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428294/original/file-20211025-21-18q8y0a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428294/original/file-20211025-21-18q8y0a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428294/original/file-20211025-21-18q8y0a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428294/original/file-20211025-21-18q8y0a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428294/original/file-20211025-21-18q8y0a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">President Joe Biden’s Oct. 2021 audience with Pope Francis will not be the pair’s first meeting. Here, the two shake hands before the pope’s 2015 address to Congress.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/BidenPope/c14de37987474fee8e25cc31dd204049/photo?Query=biden%20pope&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=115&currentItemNo=2">AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File</a></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Common cause</h2>
<p>The Holy See has been an independent city-state <a href="https://vatican.com/The-Lateran-Treaty/">since 1929</a>, but in reality, the pope has been a head of state at least since the eighth century.</p>
<p>It is a unique situation: a religious leader functioning fully as a head of state. Yet the Roman Catholic Church occupies a unique place in world history. <a href="https://www.theglobalist.com/the-catholic-origins-of-globalization/">As the first global power</a>, the church has shaped world politics for centuries. Today the church is not only home to more than a billion believers, but it directly and indirectly supports <a href="https://blogs.shu.edu/unstudies/2017/10/31/the-role-of-the-holy-see-and-catholic-organizations-at-the-united-nations/">a tremendous amount of nonprofit work</a> around the world.</p>
<p>When Reagan formalized the long-standing U.S. diplomatic relationship with the Holy See in 1984, the church’s wide influence provided a good reason. But not the only one. </p>
<p>The previous year, shortly ahead of his reelection campaign, Reagan had reason to worry that Catholic voters might not support him. U.S. bishops had published <a href="https://www.usccb.org/upload/challenge-peace-gods-promise-our-response-1983.pdf">a pastoral letter</a>, “The Challenge of Peace,” which said that “good ends (defending one’s country, protecting freedom, etc.) cannot justify immoral ends (the use of weapons which kill indiscriminately and threaten whole societies).” It was a direct challenge to the Reagan administration’s arms buildup, which had <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-world-reached-the-brink-of-nuclear-war-not-once-but-twice-in-1983-68998">heated up</a> the Cold War. </p>
<p>The administration went to lengths to discredit the bishops, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1982/12/16/us/minuet-with-catholic-bishops-over-nuclear-war.html">suggesting they were out of step with the pope</a>. American public opinion was turning against the arms race, and Reagan needed a powerful ally who could help him <a href="https://litpress.org/Products/4467/Good-Intentions">hold on to Catholic voters</a>.</p>
<p>Reagan <a href="https://isi.org/books/a-pope-and-a-president/">found that ally</a> in John Paul II, who shared his wariness toward the Soviet Union. While the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1162/JCWS_a_00533">bishops’ pastoral</a> was being drafted – a process journalist Jim Castelli <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Bishops_and_the_Bomb.html?id=8ptsAAAAIAAJ">has traced in depth</a> – John Paul warned that the church must not call for the U.S. to disarm unilaterally. The Polish pope had experienced Soviet domination and hoped <a href="https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bal-te.communism02apr02-story.html">to liberate the world</a> from communist influence.</p>
<p>Given the president and the pope’s common cause, Rome likely would be more sympathetic to Reagan’s perspective than the U.S. bishops. The U.S. established diplomatic relations with the Holy See eight months after publication of “The Challenge of Peace” and 10 months before the 1984 election. </p>
<p>Abortion politics <a href="https://litpress.org/Products/4467/Good-Intentions">heated up</a> in the run-up to the election, as pro-choice Catholic Mario Cuomo, the Democratic governor of New York, <a href="https://sites.middlebury.edu/presidentialpower/2015/01/02/why-didnt-mario-run-that-was-always-the-question/">considered running for president</a>. The Democrats eventually nominated Walter Mondale, with another pro-choice Catholic, <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/geraldine-ferraro-unprecedented-1984-campaign-vice-president-180975491/">Geraldine Ferraro</a>, as his running mate. Reagan, who positioned himself as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01707-1_7">pro-life</a>, focused attention on the issue in another effort to win back Catholic voters, one assured to carry approval from the pope. </p>
<p>Reagan won the 1984 election in <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/20079853">a historic landslide</a>. He carried 49 states and took the greatest share of <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Catholic_Voter_in_American_Politics/B9nFwo5B1BQC?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA191&printsec=frontcover">the Catholic vote</a> that any Republican had won to that point in history.</p>
<h2>Another timely trip?</h2>
<p>Today, 37 years later, the Biden presidency faces its own Catholic dilemma – the latest chapter in a long struggle about Catholics in American public life, highlighting <a href="https://theconversation.com/us-bishops-set-collision-course-with-vatican-over-plan-to-press-biden-not-to-take-communion-162820">a deeper rift</a> between U.S. bishops and the Vatican. </p>
<p>Many U.S. bishops want to bar public figures from receiving the sacrament of Communion – the focus of every Catholic Mass – if they support the right to an abortion, which the church considers a grave sin. In 2019, a South Carolina priest <a href="https://www.ncronline.org/news/people/pastors-denial-eucharist-biden-stirs-recurring-debate">refused to offer Communion</a> to Biden because of the politician’s pro-choice stance.</p>
<p>In November, U.S. bishops <a href="https://www.usccb.org/events/2021/usccb-fall-general-assembly">will gather</a> to debate a document on “<a href="https://churchlifejournal.nd.edu/articles/what-is-at-stake-in-eucharistic-coherence/">Eucharistic coherence</a>,” which may contain instructions about who is eligible for Communion.</p>
<p>But the Vatican has all but urged the bishops <a href="https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2021-05/vatican-letter-ladaria-bishops-us-communion-politics-abortion.html">not to go ahead</a> with the document.</p>
<p>“I have never refused the Eucharist to anyone,” Pope Francis <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/15/world/europe/pope-francis-biden-abortion.html">told reporters</a> in September 2021, urging priests to think about the issue “as pastors” rather than from a political viewpoint.</p>
<p>As Biden prepares for his papal visit, the administration may have Reagan’s instructive history in mind. The president – like Reagan – may find a more receptive ear in Rome than at home.</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Steven Millies was a member of the Biden/Harris 2020 Campaign's National Catholic Advisory Council.</span></em></p>Joe Biden may be only the country’s second Catholic president, but a long line of U.S. leaders have met with popes over the years.Steven P. Millies, Professor of Public Theology and Director of The Bernardin Center, Catholic Theological UnionLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1598522021-04-29T01:14:23Z2021-04-29T01:14:23ZMeasuring a president’s first 100 days goes back to the New Deal<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397407/original/file-20210427-13-rjaqv4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C3%2C1010%2C679&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Joe Biden has signed dozens of executive orders during his first 100 days in office, many of them reversing Trump-era policies.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Evan Vucci/AP Photo</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>During Joe Biden’s first 100 days in office as president, he has signed <a href="https://www.congress.gov/public-laws/117th-congress">11 bills into law</a>.</p>
<p>One was the prominent <a href="https://www.ncsl.org/ncsl-in-dc/publications-and-resources/american-rescue-plan-act-of-2021.aspx">American Rescue Plan Act of 2021</a>, intended to provide broad economic relief and increase distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. Another law, not so broad, added <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/578">sesame</a> to the list of allergens for food labeling requirements. A third allows U.S. senators and Senate committees to <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/422">share employees</a>. </p>
<p>Most of the remaining new federal laws this year relate to other pandemic relief measures or to public health issues.</p>
<p>President Biden’s other policy proposals are running into the roadblock known as the United States Senate, which may explain why he’s also signed <a href="https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2021/politics/biden-executive-orders/">60 executive actions</a> that don’t require the cooperation of Congress. Many of these reversed the policies of his predecessor. </p>
<p>But where did the tradition of using a president’s first 100 days to evaluate him originate?</p>
<h2>Creating the concept</h2>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/165961/original/file-20170419-2423-ah1val.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/165961/original/file-20170419-2423-ah1val.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/165961/original/file-20170419-2423-ah1val.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165961/original/file-20170419-2423-ah1val.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165961/original/file-20170419-2423-ah1val.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165961/original/file-20170419-2423-ah1val.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165961/original/file-20170419-2423-ah1val.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165961/original/file-20170419-2423-ah1val.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Vice President John Nance Garner (left) affectionately pats the head of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>The idea began in 1933 with Franklin D. Roosevelt. FDR didn’t plan to put himself under scrutiny. Rather, he had in mind measuring the New Deal achievements of the first 100 days of a special congressional session that year. </p>
<p>In a <a href="https://millercenter.org/the-presidency/presidential-speeches/july-24-1933-fireside-chat-3-national-recovery-administration">July 24 Fireside Chat</a>, FDR referred to “the crowding events of the 100 days which had been devoted to the starting of the wheels of the New Deal.” </p>
<p>In the decades since, journalists, historians and political scientists continued the practice of looking for accomplishments in the early months of a presidency.</p>
<p>During those 100 days, FDR got many <a href="http://history.house.gov/HistoricalHighlight/Detail/35195?ret=True">major bills</a> through Congress to battle the economic crisis of the Great Depression. These bills created the Public Works Administration and the Civilian Conservation Corps to provide job opportunities, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to insure bank deposits and the Tennessee Valley Authority to provide rural electricity. This flurry of activity became the standard by which future presidents would be judged. Most came up short.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/106591290105400409">a 2001 study</a>, political scientists John Frendreis, Raymond Tatalovich and Jon Schaff determined that the presidents who followed FDR have not come close to his success levels in seeing proposed bills pass into law so early in their administrations. The authors attributed that to changes in Congress that have slowed down the lawmaking process. </p>
<p>Let’s consider how the presidents have done.</p>
<h2>Truman to Clinton</h2>
<p>Following FDR’s death, Harry Truman’s <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/history/articles/2009/02/26/the-first-100-days-harry-truman-showed-decisiveness-and-intelligence">first 100 days</a> were focused on the closing battles of World War II, with Germany’s surrender occurring less than one month after Truman took office. </p>
<p>Dwight Eisenhower’s first 100 days were similarly dominated by foreign policy, including the <a href="https://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/0304/post-stalin.html">death</a> of Soviet Union leader Joseph Stalin and negotiations to <a href="https://www.eisenhowerlibrary.gov/research/online-documents/korean-war">end</a> the Korean War.</p>
<p>John Kennedy entered office with an ambitious agenda, which included the creation of the Peace Corps, but his first 100 days are probably <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/26/opinion/26reeves.html">best remembered</a> for the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba. </p>
<p>Lyndon Johnson’s first 100 days were largely consumed by coping with the aftermath of Kennedy’s assassination, but LBJ also used the period and <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/history/articles/2009/03/05/the-first-100-days-lyndon-johnson-fulfilled-kennedys-legacy">Kennedy’s legacy</a> to begin the groundwork to pass major civil rights and war on poverty legislation.</p>
<p>While Richard Nixon also promoted an ambitious domestic agenda in the White House, his first 100 days contained no major achievements. Nixon <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1970/01/18/archives/temperate-modest-shrewd-lucky-retiring-conservative-calculating-the.html">told</a> reporters: “I don’t count either the days or the hours, and I have never really thought in terms of 100 days. I plan for the long term.” Later, it was revealed that he had ordered a <a href="http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/u-s-bombs-cambodia-for-the-first-time">secret bombing</a> of Cambodia during the period. </p>
<p>Gerald Ford’s <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/history/articles/2009/03/19/the-first-100-days-clinton-and-ford-got-off-to-a-rocky-start">first 100 days</a> are best remembered for his swearing-in ceremony following Nixon’s resignation, when he announced that “our long national nightmare is over.” He pardoned Nixon one month later for any crimes the former president had committed in office.</p>
<p>Jimmy Carter also had an inauspicious start. Possibly because of his inexperience in Washington, he asked Congress to pursue several different domestic policy goals, many of which never passed into law. Perhaps best remembered from Carter’s early months is <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbNFKgNoWc0">his speech</a> from the White House to declare that energy policy and efforts to end American dependence on oil were the “moral equivalent of war.”</p>
<p>Ronald Reagan’s administration drew the lesson from his immediate predecessor that it was best to focus on one or two domestic issues during the first 100 days. Reagan spent <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/history/articles/2009/03/12/the-first-100-days-reagan-pushed-his-agenda-of-tax-cuts-and-less-government">his first months</a> as president promoting an agenda of tax and spending cuts, though those did not pass into law until August 1981, four months later. Reagan’s first 100 days as president were also notable for the assassination attempt made against him, which limited his political efforts for part of the period.</p>
<p>George H.W. Bush’s first 100 days as president were largely a continuation of the policies of the Reagan presidency. They were noted at the time for being <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1989/04/23/opinion/president-bush-s-hundred-days-seen-against-ronald-reagan-s-2922-days.html">relatively uneventful</a>, with a congressional battle over a secretary of defense nominee and the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska dominating the political news.</p>
<p>The biggest political news story during Bill Clinton’s first 100 days was probably the failure of his stimulus package of domestic spending increases to get past a Republican filibuster in the Senate, though the eventual budget that resulted helped steer the United States toward budget surpluses later in the decade. Clinton’s <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/history/articles/2009/03/19/the-first-100-days-clinton-and-ford-got-off-to-a-rocky-start">first month</a> also included his signing of the <a href="https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fmla">Family and Medical Leave Act</a> into law, the start of <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/10/the-awkward-clinton-era-debate-over-dont-ask-dont-tell/381374/">a debate about service of gays in the military</a> and the creation of <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/%22Hillarycare%22_(The_proposed_Health_Security_Act_of_1993)">a task force on national health care reform, chaired by Hillary Clinton</a>. </p>
<h2>The 21st century</h2>
<p>George W. Bush took office in January 2001 after a disputed electoral outcome in Florida led to <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2000/00-949">a 5-4 Supreme Court decision</a> that essentially made him president. In a politically divided country, <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2001/ALLPOLITICS/04/25/bush.interview.02/">Bush’s strategy</a> seemed to be to avoid controversy and build his political capital, with his major legislative proposals in the time period involving tax cuts and education reform.</p>
<p>Because of the economic crisis that began during Bush’s final months as president, Barack Obama’s first 100 days in office were dominated by the passage of the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/111th-congress/house-bill/1/text">American Recovery and Reinvestment Act</a>, a package of economic stimulus investments that <a href="https://www.stlouisfed.org/publications/regional-economist/first_quarter_2017/the-recovery-act-of-2009-vs-fdrs-new-deal-which-was-bigger">by some measures</a> was even larger than those passed in FDR’s 100 days in 1933. During a <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/obama-on-economic-crisis-transition/">CBS “60 Minutes” interview</a> in November 2008, Obama even said he was reading about FDR’s 100 days as an example.</p>
<p>During Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office, his main political success was the <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2017/04/senate-confirms-gorsuch-to-supreme-court-237005">confirmation</a> of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. Trump’s <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2017/04/29/what-happened-in-the-first-100-days-of-trump-presidency/100944988/">first 100 days</a> also featured government malfunction. Massive protests greeted his attempts to ban entry of citizens of certain Islamic countries into the U.S. and suspend refugee entry, and federal judges blocked the bans. Trump’s promised <a href="https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/trumpometer/promise/1388/repeal-obamacare/">repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act failed</a>.</p>
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<p>Biden already has one significant legislative achievement during his first 100 days, the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/1319/text">American Rescue Plan Act</a>. He also used his powers as president to <a href="https://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/news/biden-ramps-vaccine-distribution-200-million-doses-end-summer">expedite</a> COVID-19 vaccine distribution, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/19/politics/us-rejoins-paris-agreement-biden-administration/index.html">rejoin the Paris Agreement</a> on climate change, and revoke some of Trump’s border measures and the <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/20/executive-order-protecting-public-health-and-environment-and-restoring-science-to-tackle-climate-crisis/">permit for the Keystone XL pipeline</a>. Among the dilemmas he has faced is a large number of <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56405009">children seeking asylum</a> in the United States at the Mexican border.</p>
<p>Biden has proposed <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/03/31/fact-sheet-the-american-jobs-plan">a sweeping infrastructure plan</a>, <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/31/biden-infrastructure-plan-spending-on-climate-change-clean-energy.html">new climate change policies</a>, <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/01/20/fact-sheet-president-biden-sends-immigration-bill-to-congress-as-part-of-his-commitment-to-modernize-our-immigration-system/">immigration reforms</a> and <a href="https://apnews.com/article/breonna-taylor-joe-biden-race-and-ethnicity-police-legislation-57796a64d9dd71b35aa48ac217249cec">criminal justice and police reforms</a>, among other campaign promises he wants to fulfill. Whereas FDR in the 1930s could count on Democratic majorities in Congress to vote many of the president’s proposed ideas into law, Biden has been unable to accomplish the same so far. </p>
<p>The current tiny Democratic majorities in the House and Senate in Washington, and a Senate filibuster now used to stop almost all significant legislation, have prevented Biden from being able to match FDR’s level of accomplishments during his first 100 days.</p>
<p>If Biden would like during his first year as president to match an FDR level of presidential achievement, it will likely be necessary to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/14/politics/biden-agenda-bipartisan-deals/index.html">negotiate deals</a> with at least 10 Senate Republicans. Or Biden will need to persuade a group of very <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/08/senate-joe-manchin-opposes-eliminating-or-weakening-the-filibuster.html">reluctant Senate Democrats</a> to abandon the filibuster power once and for all.</p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of <a href="https://theconversation.com/trump-and-the-history-of-the-first-100-days-76268">an article originally published on April 17, 2017</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/159852/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robert Speel does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Since the Roosevelt administration, it’s become standard to look for accomplishments in a presidency’s early months.Robert Speel, Associate Professor of Political Science, Erie Campus, Penn StateLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1581992021-04-19T12:27:57Z2021-04-19T12:27:57ZHas any US president ever served more than eight years?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/392657/original/file-20210330-19-1co58pi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C76%2C5662%2C4431&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Franklin Delano Roosevelt, standing at center and facing left just above the eagle, takes the presidential oath of office for the third time in 1941.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://flickr.com/photos/54078784@N08/6351043453">FDR Presidential Library and Museum via Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/curious-kids-us-74795">Curious Kids</a> is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to <a href="mailto:curiouskidsus@theconversation.com">curiouskidsus@theconversation.com</a>.</em></p>
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<p><strong>Has there ever been a president who has served more than eight years? – Joseph, 8, New York, New York</strong></p>
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<p>The only president in American history to serve more than two four-year terms was <a href="https://millercenter.org/president/fdroosevelt">Franklin Delano Roosevelt</a>. He actually served three full terms as well as the first three months of a fourth term until his death on April 12, 1945.</p>
<p>The current limits on how long a person can be president come from the 22nd Amendment, added to the U.S. Constitution in 1951, which limits presidents to <a href="https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/amendment-22/">two successful presidential elections</a>. The amendment makes one exception: If a president takes office in the middle of someone else’s term – if the president dies, for example, and a vice president takes over and serves less than two years, that person can still run twice for their own election. But if the replacement president serves for more than two years of their predecessor’s term, they can only be elected to one more presidential term of their own.</p>
<p>FDR wasn’t breaking those rules, because the rules did not exist for the first 162 years of the nation’s history, from 1789 to 1951. Even so, in all that time, he was the only president who served more than two terms.</p>
<p>A total of 13 presidents have served exactly two full terms. Eight of them came before Roosevelt. <a href="https://millercenter.org/president/washington">George Washington</a>, <a href="https://millercenter.org/president/jefferson">Thomas Jefferson</a>, <a href="https://millercenter.org/president/madison">James Madison</a>, <a href="https://millercenter.org/president/monroe">James Monroe</a>, <a href="https://millercenter.org/president/jackson">Andrew Jackson</a>, <a href="https://millercenter.org/president/grant">Ulysses Grant</a> and <a href="https://millercenter.org/president/wilson">Woodrow Wilson</a> served their terms consecutively. <a href="https://millercenter.org/president/cleveland">Grover Cleveland</a> served two terms separated by the four-year term of <a href="https://millercenter.org/president/bharrison">Benjamin Harrison</a>.</p>
<p>Some considered third terms: In 1880, four years after he finished out his second term, <a href="http://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198837404.003.0020">Grant pressed his candidacy once again</a> but failed to secure the Republican Party’s presidential nomination. And as Woodrow Wilson finished out his second term in 1920, <a href="https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/david-pietrusza/1920/9780786732135/">he also thought about running for a third term</a>, but ultimately withdrew from consideration.</p>
<p>Five more presidents – <a href="https://millercenter.org/president/eisenhower">Dwight Eisenhower</a>, <a href="https://millercenter.org/president/reagan">Ronald Reagan</a>, <a href="https://millercenter.org/president/clinton">Bill Clinton</a>, <a href="https://millercenter.org/president/gwbush">George W. Bush</a> and <a href="https://millercenter.org/president/obama">Barack Obama</a> – came after the 22nd Amendment was passed, so they had to leave and let someone else take over.</p>
<p>Four additional presidents – <a href="https://millercenter.org/president/roosevelt">Theodore Roosevelt</a>, <a href="https://millercenter.org/president/coolidge">Calvin Coolidge</a>, <a href="https://millercenter.org/president/truman">Harry Truman</a> and <a href="https://millercenter.org/president/lbjohnson">Lyndon Johnson</a> – completed the remaining terms of another president and were elected to their own full term immediately afterward. Under the rules of their times, each of them could have run for one more term. Several chose not to run for reelection; others ran and lost.</p>
<p>For example, Lyndon Johnson, who took over after John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, initially tried for a second full term in 1968. But during the presidential primaries, he withdrew from consideration, in part because his <a href="https://www.history.com/news/lbj-exit-1968-presidential-race">handling of the war in Vietnam was unpopular</a> and threatened his chances.</p>
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<p>The precedent of serving just two terms was originally established by Washington, the nation’s first president. By all accounts, <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/46099/his-excellency-by-joseph-j-ellis/">Washington would have easily been reelected</a> had he chosen to run a third time.</p>
<p>But he rejected public calls to run for a third term as president in 1796. Washington was concerned that by staying in office longer, <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/46099/his-excellency-by-joseph-j-ellis/">he might send a message</a> that presidents should govern until death or illness drove them away, like a king. The American Revolution had just overthrown a monarchy. Washington thus wanted to lead by example in voluntarily leaving office after his second term, retiring to his Mount Vernon estate in Virginia.</p>
<p>After all, if two terms is good enough for George Washington, isn’t it good enough for everyone else?</p>
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<p><em>Hello, curious kids! Do you have a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to <a href="mailto:curiouskidsus@theconversation.com">CuriousKidsUS@theconversation.com</a>. Please tell us your name, age and the city where you live.</em></p>
<p><em>And since curiosity has no age limit – adults, let us know what you’re wondering, too. We won’t be able to answer every question, but we will do our best.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/158199/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Yalof does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Only one president has done so – Franklin Delano Roosevelt – but others considered it, and even tried.David Yalof, Professor of Political Science, University of ConnecticutLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1571812021-03-16T07:24:37Z2021-03-16T07:24:37ZSt Patrick’s day: why so many US presidents like to say ‘I’m Irish’<p>At a crowded campaign event early in the 2020 US election race, Joe Biden was asked for “a quick word for the BBC”. Half-incredulously, Biden glanced over his shoulder, replying, “The BBC? I’m Irish,” before flashing a smile and disappearing into an adjacent room. </p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/DarranMarshall/status/1325146584284323841?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1325159843171201024%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es3_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thenational.scot%2Fnews%2F18855650.im-irish-us-president-elect-joe-biden-cheeky-dig-bbc%2F">The video</a> gained substantial attention after Biden’s victory last November. It seemingly foretold an ominous shift in the US-UK relationship from a son of a British immigrant who loved the Queen (“A great, great woman,” <a href="https://eu.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/celebrities/2019/12/03/trump-melania-queen-elizabeth-royal-family-palace-nato-party/2588959001/">oozed Donald Trump</a> after a state banquet in 2019) to a man who wouldn’t even speak to the BBC on grounds of his Irish ancestry.</p>
<p>Biden is the most strongly identified Irish-American in the White House since John F Kennedy, the only other Catholic president. As vice president, Biden <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_S3Z3lYwfu0">made jokes</a> about banning the colour orange from his house (the colour of Northern Irish unionism) and, as he prepared his run for president, he met with the former Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams to discuss, as Adams put it, “<a href="https://twitter.com/gerryadamssf/status/908390249906282496?lang=en">UI</a>” (a united Ireland).</p>
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<p>Yet, relying on the simple fact of Biden’s ancestry to predict US-UK relations under his presidency is misguided. Irish nationalist sentiments <a href="https://www.irishpost.com/news/sinn-fein-places-united-ireland-referendum-adverts-in-us-newspapers-205933">run high in the US</a>, especially among its large diaspora. US presidents frequently indulge these views, at least symbolically. But, in practical terms, they have had little impact on the US-UK relationship. Compartmentalisation, not sectarianism, has been the US’s foreign policy approach. In other words, the US does not see its relationship with the UK through the prism of the Irish question, and it seems likely to remain this way under Biden.</p>
<p>More than 30 million people in the US – <a href="https://www.census.gov/newsroom/facts-for-features/2020/irish-american-heritage.html">about one in ten Americans</a> – identify as “Irish”. The population of Ireland is less than 5 million, meaning there are over six times as many people in the US who claim to be Irish in the US as those living in the Republic of Ireland itself. </p>
<p>During the Troubles, this group was even larger – both in absolute and percentage terms. In the 1980 census, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2096133">40 million</a> Americans identified as Irish, constituting about one-fifth of the US population (a higher percentage than African Americans or Hispanics at the time).</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-brexit-is-leading-a-resurgent-irish-american-influence-in-us-politics-121343">How Brexit is leading a resurgent Irish American influence in US politics</a>
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<p>Republicanism has found strong support among <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/irish-nationalists-in-america-9780190055608?cc=us&lang=en&#">the Irish diaspora in the US</a>. At the time of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, a Gallup poll found a majority of Americans supported a united Ireland, and <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/4189/americans-support-unification-ireland-wide-margin.aspx">just 17% thought</a> that Northern Ireland should remain part of the United Kingdom. </p>
<p>During the Troubles, a variety of pro-nationalist interest groups were set up by the Irish diaspora in the United States. The most “militantly republican” group of the Irish lobby was <a href="http://irishnorthernaid.com/">Irish Northern Aid</a> (Noraid). A 1981 <a href="https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/530/241/1370227/">federal court judgment</a> revealed the group’s links to the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA). Such groups were condemned by <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1975/12/16/archives/ira-aid-unit-in-the-bronx-linked-to-flow-of-arms-bronxira-aid-unit.html">moderate nationalist leaders</a>.</p>
<p>Other elements of the Irish lobby focused on change through legislation and executive action. They experienced some success but largely limited to symbolic gestures. In 1994, Bill Clinton reluctantly agreed to grant Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams a 48-hour visa to <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-47072146">visit New York</a> to speak at a conference in New York, in spite of protestations from the British government. </p>
<h2>Friends of Ireland (but also the UK)</h2>
<p>The so-called Irish lobby has gained renewed attention in recent years. Before the UK secured a free trade agreement with the EU in December 2020, members of the US congress <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/jul/31/brexit-mess-with-good-friday-and-well-block-uk-trade-deal-us-politicians-warn">threatened to block</a> a US–UK trade deal unless the UK–EU agreement maintained an open border between the north and south of the island of Ireland. </p>
<p>The House Committee on Ways and Means, which would scrutinise a US–UK trade deal, was chaired by Congressman Richard Neal (a Democrat from Massachusetts). Neal is co-chair of the <a href="http://dearcolleague.us/2019/02/join-the-friends-of-ireland-caucus/">Friends of Ireland Caucus</a>, founded in 1981 at the time of the IRA prisoner hunger strikes.</p>
<p>In spite of this, US presidential administrations have sought a more balanced approach. The US considers the UK to be one of its most valuable and important strategic partners. US presidents work closely with British governments, while also offering symbolic affirmation for Ireland.</p>
<p>This leads to US presidents indulging in a bit of double-speak. Perhaps the most dramatic example of this was shown by Jimmy Carter, who – <a href="https://imsvintagephotos.com/presidential-candidate-jimmy-carter-is-shown-wearing-a-button-saying-england-get-out-of-ireland-while-marching-in-new-york-s-st-patricks-s-day-parade-1548131">on St Patrick’s Day 1976</a> – marched down Fifth Avenue in New York wearing a badge emblazoned with the slogan “England, get out of Ireland”. </p>
<p>Yet, the following year, Carter chose to make England the destination of his first international visit as president. Carter addressed a 20,000-strong crowd in Newcastle with the traditional, “<a href="https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/history/howay-lads-american-president-jimmy-12990951">Howay the lads</a>”, which was returned with rapturous applause. Carter declared himself “to be a Geordie now”. Relations between Carter and Labour prime minister Jim Callaghan <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1977/03/11/archives/carter-in-warm-welcome-to-callaghan-affirms-special-ties-to-britain.html">were reportedly good</a>.</p>
<p>Biden’s references to his Irish ancestry do not distinguish him from other US presidents. With Donald Trump being the exception, nearly every president of the last half-century has identified as “Irish”, even when the evidence of such a link has been tenuous. Bill Clinton, for example, claimed to have Irish roots, but there is scant record to <a href="https://www.irishpost.com/life-style/which-us-presidents-have-irish-roots-193244">link him</a> with Irish ancestors. </p>
<p>If measured by when their last ancestor left Ireland, Joe Biden is no more Irish than Barack Obama. Indeed, the Irish ancestors of Kennedy, Obama and Biden all left Ireland <a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/ancestors-of-biden-obama-jfk-reagan-left-ireland-within-some-10-years-of-each-other-1.4416065">within a decade of each other</a>, during or just after the Irish Potato Famine (1845 to 1852). The last ancestor of Joe Biden to be born in Ireland was his great-great grandfather, born in 1832, one year after Barack Obama’s closest Irish ancestor.</p>
<p>Nearly all US presidents like to say, “I’m Irish,” but traditionally this has not meant being anti-British. While Biden’s personal affinities are clear, we should expect him to follow his predecessors in placing US security interests before Irish nationalist affections.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/157181/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Richard Johnson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Joe Biden is just the latest in a long line of US presidents to trace their ancestry back to the Emerald Isle.Richard Johnson, Lecturer in US Politics & Policy, Queen Mary University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1549972021-02-09T20:15:11Z2021-02-09T20:15:11ZDonald Trump impeachment trial: how the process will unfold in the US Senate<p>Despite US president Joseph Biden’s concern over making the most of any honeymoon period to pass his legislative agenda, Congress is now consumed by the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/feb/09/donald-trump-impeachment-trial-begins-us-senate">second impeachment trial</a> of Donald Trump. Impeachment itself is a vague process with few concrete rules. This makes the importance of understanding these rules and the procedure for this unprecedented Senate impeachment trial of a former president extremely significant and of great historic consequence. </p>
<p>While each impeachment is uniquely confined to a particular context or controversy, the process itself has been consistently defined by the same vague references contained in the constitution. The <a href="https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/briefing/Senate_Impeachment_Role.htm#:%7E:text=The%20Senate%20sits%20as%20a,or%20convict%20the%20impeached%20official.&text=The%20Constitution%20requires%20a%20two,conviction%20is%20removal%20from%20office.">constitution</a> confines impeachment to cases of what it refers to as “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanours”. </p>
<p>While this phrase had precedent in <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/10/what-does-high-crimes-and-misdemeanors-actually-mean/600343/">British common law</a>, the issue of defining an impeachable offence has often revolved around investigating a suspected abuse of power. We saw this, for example, in Trump’s <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/18/us/politics/trump-impeached.html">first impeachment trial</a>. In that case, Congress examined whether Trump had encouraged Ukraine to interfere in the US election campaign by investigating Biden – his anticipated opponent. The Senate, with a small Republican majority at the time, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/02/05/us/politics/impeachment-vote-results.html">voted largely along party lines</a> to acquit the president.</p>
<p>Under the Constitution, the House of Representatives “has the sole power” to consider impeachment. If a simple majority from the House votes in favour of even one article of impeachment, the president is impeached. They must then be tried by the Senate.</p>
<p>Too often, the term impeachment is only understood as the removal of a politician from office. But while three US presidents have been impeached by the House of Representatives (<a href="https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/briefing/Impeachment_Johnson.htm">Andrew Johnson in 1868</a>, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/clinton-impeachment/senate-acquits-president-clinton/">Bill Clinton in 1998</a> and Donald Trump in both 2019 and 2021), none has been convicted by the Senate. </p>
<p>Richard Nixon, the 37th president, resigned from office in 1974 <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2017/05/29/richard-nixon-was-not-impeached-despite-what-hillary-clinton-and-others-say/">to avoid an impeachment trial</a> that seemed certain to remove him from office. But the full consequences of a successful impeachment process itself have never occurred and debate over the role of partisanship continues with increasing concern over the potential for impeachment to become an <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/06/murphy-trumprepublicans-blind-partisan-loyalty-033079">exercise in partisan loyalty</a>.</p>
<p>The House passed a single article of impeachment against Trump, for “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/13/us/politics/trump-impeached.html">incitement of insurrection</a>”, the charge now being considered by the Senate. There is no standard process for an impeachment trial. The guidelines for the trial are agreed by senators to reflect the particular circumstances. </p>
<p>In this case, Trump has <a href="https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2021-02-04/house-democrats-ask-trump-to-testify-senate-trial">declined to speak in his own defence</a> and, while there is an option to include witnesses, it is not compulsory. This case is particularly suited to first-person testimony from members of Congress, as the lawmakers themselves were witnesses to the alleged crime as it unfolded at the Capitol. There is also video footage that could provide evidence in the trial.</p>
<h2>Impartial justice</h2>
<p>Senators are sworn in to act in the capacity of jurors. Duty to country and constitution is intended to come first over party loyalty, with <a href="https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/01/16/impeachment-senators-pledge-impartial-justice-trump-trial/4488539002/">senators swearing</a> to “do impartial justice according to the Constitution and laws”. The House impeachment managers act as prosecutors, while the president has a team of lawyers for his defence. </p>
<p>Nine Democrats <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/12/us/pelosi-impeachment-managers.html">have been chosen</a> by the House speaker, Nanci Pelosi, to act as impeachment managers, led by Representative <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/25/politics/jamie-raskin-impeachment-manager/index.html">Jamie Raskin</a> of Maryland. </p>
<p>As we saw in Trump’s first impeachment, the chief justice of the Supreme Court is meant to oversee a president’s trial in the Senate, as stipulated by the constitution. But, as Trump is no longer in office, Chief Justice John Roberts <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/01/25/960389715/sen-patrick-leahy-to-preside-over-trumps-senate-impeachment-trial">has passed this responsibility</a> over to president <em><a href="https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/briefing/President_Pro_Tempore.htm">pro-tempore</a></em> of the Senate, Patrick Leahy. The senior senator from Vermont was chosen by his fellow senators to act as the presiding officer, in respect for his longstanding public service in office. </p>
<p>The Senate impeachment trial culminates in a vote on whether to convict. A successful impeachment requires a two-thirds majority of senators – 67 votes – to convict. This final vote will be preceded by closing arguments limited to four hours and followed by deliberations. The unlikelihood of the almost evenly divided Senate (50 Republicans, 48 Democrats and two Independents), convicting Trump has obscured the debate over what convicting a politician who has already left office would look like. </p>
<p>Partisanship has already been apparent in 45 Republican senators <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/01/26/us/biden-trump-impeachment">voting against</a> holding an impeachment trial in the first place. The argument over the whether the trial is constitutional has become part of the process – the first day of debate in the trial has been devoted <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/08/us/politics/trump-impeachment-constitutional.html">to the matter</a>. The impeachment trial proceeds if there is a majority of 51 votes in favour. According to the constitution, the vice president, Kamala Harris, can only vote in the Senate in cases of a 50-50 impasse.</p>
<p>With a majority in favour, the trial should begin in earnest with each side presenting their arguments. It has been agreed that this process should not exceed four days. Following this, there will be four hours for senators to ask questions, succeeded by two hours debating motions subpoenaing documents and witnesses, as called for by House managers. The trial will be extended to include discovery and witnesses, if the Senate votes in favour of these motions.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/impeaching-a-former-president-4-essential-reads-153821">Impeaching a former president – 4 essential reads</a>
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<p>David Schoen, Trump’s lawyer, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/feb/07/trump-impeachment-trial-lawyer-sabbath-david-schoen">initially asked</a> for the trial not to continue through the Jewish Sabbath. It was decided that the trial would pause through Friday evening and Saturday, continuing on Sunday February 14. However, Schoen has <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2021/02/08/politics/sabbath-request-withdrawn-david-schoen/index.html">now withdrawn this request</a> giving the trial potential to go through the weekend. Despite this being Valentine’s Day weekend, the current hyper-partisanship in Congress is unlikely to inspire many sentiments of affection or congeniality.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/154997/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Laura Ellyn Smith does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The rules of impeachment in the US Constitution are vague, but here’s how the trial of Donald Trump in the US Senate will work.Laura Ellyn Smith, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Richmond The American International University in London, & Doctoral Candidate, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1536982021-01-20T22:33:24Z2021-01-20T22:33:24ZJoe Biden sends a clear message to the watching world – America’s back<blockquote>
<p>Politics doesn’t have to be a raging fire destroying everything in its path</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Two weeks after the <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-us-canada-55641714">storming of the US Capitol</a> by the followers of his predecessor, in the middle of an out-of-control pandemic that has killed more than 400,000 Americans, Joe Biden — the 46th president of the US — tried to contain the blaze in his <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/01/20/us/biden-inauguration#biden-sworn-in">inaugural address</a>.</p>
<p>As aspiration, the speech was pitch perfect. Biden rightly took on the present of America’s most serious domestic crisis since the Civil War. Coronavirus, the Capitol attack, economic loss, immigration, climate change and social injustice were confronted: </p>
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<p>We’ll press forward with speed and urgency for we have much to do in this winter of peril and significant possibility. Much to do, much to heal, much to restore, much to build and much to gain.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>But what distinguished the speech beyond the essential was the sincerity with which it was delivered. Since the election, there has been a commingling of Biden’s <a href="https://apnews.com/article/e5a1e70314eb44219448eeb850c65f1e">personal narrative of loss</a> with the damage that America has suffered. When he spoke of the “empty chair” and relatives who have died, it was from the heart and not just the script.</p>
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<p>So, as he said in front of the Capitol: “My whole soul is in this”, there was no doubt — in contrast to the statements of his predecessor — that it is.</p>
<p>Complementing Biden’s rhetoric are the executive orders and legislation set out in the days before the inauguration. <a href="https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2021/01/19/biden-immigration-proposal-includes-pathway-citizenship-some/4212870001/">Immigration reform</a> will be accompanied by protection of almost <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/02/13/who-daca-dreamers-and-how-many-here/333045002/">800,000 young Dreamers</a> from deportation. There is a mandate to reunite children separated from parents and a path to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants. </p>
<p>The US has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/19/biden-environment-paris-climate-agreement-keystone-xl-pipeline">rejoined the Paris Accords</a> on climate change. The <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/psychological-trauma-stress-lasting-impact-muslim-ban-n1254789">“Muslim Ban”</a> is rescinded, Donald Trump’s <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-01-20/biden-to-reverse-trump-travel-ban-halt-wall-construction">wall with Mexico suspended</a>. And coronavirus will finally be confronted with coordination between the federal, state and local governments and a <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/14/politics/biden-economic-rescue-package-coronavirus-stimulus/index.html">US$1.9 trillion “American Rescue Plan”</a>.</p>
<h2>Words to a waiting world</h2>
<p>But where is America in the world in all this? In Biden’s attention to domestic crises, there was little beyond his intention to re-engage with the world on climate and reverse the previous administration’s myopic immigration measures. Even the invocations of American greatness, with one exception, stayed within its borders: </p>
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<p>Through a crucible for the ages, America has been tested anew and America has risen to the challenge.</p>
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<p>There is historical precedent for the exclusive focus on home. In 1933, as the Great Depression raged, Franklin Delano Roosevelt also made no reference to the world <a href="https://www.fdrlibrary.org/first-inaugural-curriculum-hub">as he said at his first inauguration</a>: </p>
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<p>The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Perhaps even more pertinently, in 1865, <a href="https://www.ourdocuments.gov/print_friendly.php?flash=false&page=&doc=38&title=President+Abraham+Lincolns+Second+Inaugural+Address+%281865%29">Abraham Lincoln said in his second inaugural address</a>, a month before his assassination and two months before the end of the Civil War: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Beyond the inaugural, there are clues in <a href="https://theconversation.com/whos-who-in-joe-bidens-cabinet-152252">Biden’s appointment of Obama-era pragmatists</a>: Antony Blinken as secretary of state, Jake Sullivan as national security advisor, John Kerry in a special post for climate change. There will be no sweeping “Biden Doctrine”, nor a grand speech such as Barack Obama’s in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/04/us/politics/04obama.text.html">Cairo</a> or <a href="https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-obama-turkish-parliament">Ankara</a> in 2009. </p>
<p>Instead, the pragmatists will try to restore alliances, reestablish the “rules of the game” with countries such as China, Russia and North Korea — and work case-by-case on immediate issues such as the <a href="https://theconversation.com/iran-us-policy-of-maximum-pressure-has-failed-why-the-west-needs-to-re-engage-tehran-153011">Iran nuclear deal</a>.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/whos-who-in-joe-bidens-cabinet-152252">Who’s who in Joe Biden’s cabinet</a>
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<p>But for this day, and for the weeks and months to come, the foreign challenges will primarily be an extension of the domestic issues that Biden set out on “America’s day … democracy’s day”. </p>
<p>Recovery of America’s damaged standing will come from success in putting out the fires that are not just in the US: saving lives and vanquishing a virus, committing to a secure environment, tackling the inequities and divisions in the way of justice for all.</p>
<p>For as the world watched, Biden’s exceptional reference to an aspiration beyond the US came in his penultimate paragraph about the “American story” to be written:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>That America secured liberty at home and stood once again as a beacon to the world. That is what we owe our forebears, one another, and generations to follow.</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Scott Lucas does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Biden’s inaugural speech focused mainly on healing domestic rifts and a new kind of politics at home. But he also signalled a return to engagement with the outside world.Scott Lucas, Professor of International Politics, University of BirminghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1522152021-01-12T13:22:06Z2021-01-12T13:22:06ZA brief history of the term ‘president-elect’ in the United States<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377787/original/file-20210108-13-1bju23q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=97%2C66%2C3820%2C2500&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Statue of George Washington in front of Federal Hall in New York City.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/george-wahington-statue-royalty-free-image/172154583?adppopup=true">Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>On Jan. 20, Joe Biden will be sworn in as president of the United States. Until then, he is president-elect of the United States.</p>
<p>But what exactly does it mean to be president-elect of the United States? </p>
<p>As a <a href="https://clasprofiles.wayne.edu/profile/hf1190">lawyer and philosopher who studies word meaning</a>, I have researched the meaning and history of the term “president-elect” using publicly available resources like the <a href="https://www.english-corpora.org/coha/">Corpus of Historical American English</a> – a searchable database of over 400 million words of historical American English text. I’ve also used <a href="https://founders.archives.gov/">Founders Online</a>, which makes freely available many documents written by the nation’s founders.</p>
<p>“President-elect” is not a term that is legally defined in U.S. law. Rather, the term’s meaning has developed over time through its use by the public. Its use can be traced all the way back to George Washington. </p>
<h2>The founders used it</h2>
<p>In 1793, <a href="https://founders.archives.gov/?q=president-elect&s=1111311111&sa=&r=10&sr=">Washington wrote a letter</a> concerning his upcoming second inauguration as president in which he referred to himself as “president-elect.” </p>
<p>Numerous letters by the Founding Fathers contain the term “president-elect” in connection with the 1796 presidential election. </p>
<p>Of particular note is a <a href="https://founders.archives.gov/?q=president-elect&s=1111311111&sa=&r=14&sr=">letter from James Madison to Thomas Jefferson</a>, sent on Christmas Day 1796. Wrote Madison: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Unless the Vermont election of which little has of late been said, should contain some fatal vice, in it, Mr. Adams may be considered as the President elect. Nothing can deprive him of it but a general run of the votes in Georgia, Tenissee & Kentucky in favor of Mr. Pinkney, which is altogether contrary to the best information.”</p>
</blockquote>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377796/original/file-20210108-15-1thse2z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="James Madison" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377796/original/file-20210108-15-1thse2z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377796/original/file-20210108-15-1thse2z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=730&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377796/original/file-20210108-15-1thse2z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=730&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377796/original/file-20210108-15-1thse2z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=730&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377796/original/file-20210108-15-1thse2z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=918&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377796/original/file-20210108-15-1thse2z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=918&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377796/original/file-20210108-15-1thse2z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=918&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">In a 1796 letter, James Madison asserted that John Adams could be considered president-elect.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/portrait-of-james-madison-by-unknown-artist-oil-on-canvas-news-photo/544176434?adppopup=true">VCG Wilson/Corbis via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>The letter provides insight into how the term “president-elect” was understood at that time. Madison asserts that John Adams can be considered the president-elect, even though the results from at least four states – Vermont, Georgia, Tennessee and Kentucky – do not appear to have been known to Madison yet. </p>
<p>Madison’s comments suggest that it was appropriate at that time to consider someone president-elect once it appeared likely that they had secured enough votes to win the Electoral College. </p>
<p>Madison’s use of the term was similar to its use in a <a href="https://founders.archives.gov/?q=president-elect&s=1111311111&sa=&r=13&sr=">letter that John Adams wrote to Abigail Adams</a> five days earlier, on Dec. 20, 1796. </p>
<p>John Adams suggests people have been toasting him “under the Title” of “The President elect.” The letter was written two-and-a-half months prior to Adams’ inauguration, which took place on March 4, 1797.</p>
<h2>19th- and 20th-century news media used it</h2>
<p>Beginning in the latter half of the 1800s, major news outlets regularly referred to the person who appeared to have won the presidency as “president-elect” soon after popular elections were complete. </p>
<p>In a post-election story published on Nov. 20, 1880, a New York Times article bore the headline “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1880/11/20/archives/gen-garfield-at-home-an-hour-with-the-president-elect-at-mentor.html">Gen. Garfield at Home: An Hour with the President-Elect at Mentor</a>.” </p>
<p>In subsequent years, the Times referred to apparent election victors as “president-elect” even sooner, including <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1892/11/13/archives/advice-to-office-seekers-commissioner-lyman-advises-them-not-to.html">Grover Cleveland on Nov. 13, 1892</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1896/11/19/archives/dingley-bill-doomed-republicans-oppose-tariff-legislation-this.html">William McKinley on Nov. 19, 1896</a>.</p>
<p>Other longstanding U.S. publications behaved similarly. The <a href="https://www.thenation.com/archive/">Nation</a> magazine called William Howard Taft the “president-elect” on Nov. 12, 1908, and did the same with Woodrow Wilson on Nov. 21, 1912.</p>
<p>Significantly, all these references were made <a href="https://www.loc.gov/law/help/statutes-at-large/49th-congress/session-2/c49s2ch90.pdf">back when electors did not formally cast their votes for president until the second Monday in January</a> and presidential inaugurations did not happen until early March. This shows that there is a lengthy history of using the term “president-elect” long before electors cast their votes. </p>
<p>In the 1930s, Inauguration Day was moved into January and electors began casting their votes in December, but this does not seem to have had much effect on when and how the term “president-elect” was used by the public.</p>
<p>For example, Time magazine ran a <a href="http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,928183,00.html">story on “President-elect” Herbert Hoover on Nov. 19, 1928</a> (before Inauguration Day was changed), and a <a href="http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,756879,00.html">story on “President-elect” Franklin Delano Roosevelt on Nov. 16, 1936</a> (after Inauguration Day was changed). </p>
<h2>Congress used it</h2>
<p>While the term “president-elect” is not defined in federal law, Congress eventually incorporated it into the U.S. Constitution with the adoption of the <a href="https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/amendment/amendment-xx">20th Amendment</a> in 1933. That amendment states that “If, at the time fixed for the beginning of the term of the President, the President elect shall have died, the Vice President elect shall become President.” </p>
<p>[<em>Get facts about coronavirus and the latest research.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=coronavirus-facts">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter.</a>]</p>
<p>When Congress does not define a term used in its legislation, it is <a href="https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/97-589.pdf">customary for courts to interpret that word in accordance with its ordinary meaning</a>. Thus, Congress’ decision not to define the term “president-elect” gives us reason to interpret it in accordance with its customary meaning throughout U.S. history.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/378029/original/file-20210111-13-v5761p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Joe Biden giving a speech under a sign that says 'President Elect.'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/378029/original/file-20210111-13-v5761p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/378029/original/file-20210111-13-v5761p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378029/original/file-20210111-13-v5761p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378029/original/file-20210111-13-v5761p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378029/original/file-20210111-13-v5761p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378029/original/file-20210111-13-v5761p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378029/original/file-20210111-13-v5761p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The sign above Joe Biden’s head says it all.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/president-elect-joe-biden-delivers-remarks-after-he-news-photo/1295354417?adppopup=true">Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>Everybody uses it</h2>
<p>In recent years, it has remained customary for news outlets and politicians to refer to a presidential candidate as president-elect as soon as it appears that the candidate has gained enough Electoral College votes to become president. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2016/11/09/politics/moment-cnn-projects-trump-u-s-president-cnntv/index.html">CNN</a>, The <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/09/us/politics/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-president.html">New York Times</a> and <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/2016-election-day/2016-election-donald-trump-wins-white-house-upset-n679936">then-President Barack Obama</a> all referred to Donald Trump as president-elect by Nov. 9, 2016, just a day after the 2016 general election.</p>
<p>In 2020, by the Saturday after the general election, Nov. 7, 2020, many major news sources, including the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-wins-white-house-ap-fd58df73aa677acb74fce2a69adb71f9">Associated Press</a> and <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-harris-victory-speech-46th-president-united-states">Fox News</a>, had declared Joe Biden president-elect, thus adding to the long history of the term.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/152215/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Satta does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The term can be traced back to the Founding Fathers.Mark Satta, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Wayne State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1519242021-01-05T20:11:44Z2021-01-05T20:11:44ZOnce Donald Trump is out of the White House, Americans should write him out of history too<p>Since the US presidential election on November 3 2020, Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn the result and deny president-elect Joe Biden his victory have grown ever more desperate. Most recently a <a href="https://theconversation.com/trumps-smoking-gun-tape-is-worse-than-nixons-but-congressional-republicans-have-less-incentive-to-do-anything-about-it-152643">recording of a phone call</a> to the secretary of the state of Georgia, Brad Raffensperger, on January 2, <a href="https://theconversation.com/trumps-smoking-gun-tape-is-worse-than-nixons-but-congressional-republicans-have-less-incentive-to-do-anything-about-it-152643">has revealed</a> that Trump pressured Raffensperger to “find” more than 11,000 votes to tip the state’s result his way.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/trumps-smoking-gun-tape-is-worse-than-nixons-but-congressional-republicans-have-less-incentive-to-do-anything-about-it-152643">Trump's 'smoking gun' tape is worse than Nixon's, but congressional Republicans have less incentive to do anything about it</a>
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<p>The call, which was <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-raffensperger-call-georgia-vote/2021/01/03/d45acb92-4dc4-11eb-bda4-615aaefd0555_story.html">published by the Washington Post</a>, prompted senior Biden adviser Bob Bauer <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/03/trump-georgia-raffensperger-call-biden-washington-post">to remark</a>: “We now have irrefutable proof of a president pressuring and threatening an official of his own party to get him to rescind a state’s lawful, certified vote count and fabricate another in its place.”</p>
<p>Concern at Trump’s refusal to concede the election, meanwhile, has led ten former defence secretaries to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/04/leave-military-out-of-it-former-defence-secretaries-tell-trump">publish a letter</a> in the Washington Post warning Trump against using the military in a last-ditch attempt to retain power. </p>
<p>A line has been crossed, perhaps into sedition. It seems unthinkable, but an American president is threatening the peaceful transfer of power – the cornerstone of any democracy. It seems <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-trumps-senate-supporters-cant-overturn-electoral-college-results-they-dont-like-heres-how-the-law-actually-works-152665">inevitable that he will go</a>, but then America will be forced to deal with the question: what to do with former President Trump?</p>
<p>The central tenet of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0263395719889563">republican philosophy and government is liberty</a> – of the country as a whole and of the citizens individually. One is free only when one is free from arbitrary interference from the state or private persons. This is possible only when the powerful are constrained by the rule of law and are accountable to the people.</p>
<p>For all his talk of freedom, this is something Trump and his followers appear to have misunderstood. Is it that they think <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/05/trumps-warped-definition-free-speech/612316/">liberty is simply the right to do what they want</a>? This is what seems evident in Trump’s willingness to discard the votes of millions of Americans in order to cling to power and then claim that that is democracy. This is the sort of hypocritical double-think that kills republics.</p>
<p>It seems unlikely that Biden will prosecute Trump – the president-elect and his team have been stressing the importance of <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/14/biden-calls-for-unity-and-healing-after-electoral-college-cements-his-victory.html">healing and unity</a>. But there must be consequences for Mr. Trump.</p>
<h2>Vanishing act</h2>
<p>What should they be? We can look to American history for the answer. When people think of malfeasance in the Oval Office, their minds probably turn to former president Richard Nixon, who after his resignation and pardon in 1974 <a href="https://millercenter.org/president/nixon/life-after-the-presidency">spent some time as a social and political pariah</a>. But Nixon is not the right parallel, in no small part because he fell on his own sword. Trump will never do this.</p>
<p>The better comparison is Benedict Arnold, the arch-traitor of the American Revolution. Before turning his coat for the British, Arnold fought gallantly for the Americans, especially at Saratoga. There are two memorials to him on that battlefield. One is of <a href="https://www.nps.gov/places/boot-monument.htm">a boot</a>, commemorating the spot where Arnold received a terrible wound to his leg. It describes him as the “most brilliant” soldier in the army, but does not name him. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Statue of a boot hanging on a post in a park," src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377199/original/file-20210105-15-ei63g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377199/original/file-20210105-15-ei63g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377199/original/file-20210105-15-ei63g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377199/original/file-20210105-15-ei63g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377199/original/file-20210105-15-ei63g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377199/original/file-20210105-15-ei63g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377199/original/file-20210105-15-ei63g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Benedict Arnold’s ‘boot’, in Saratoga National Park in Stillwater NY, recognises his valour at the Battle of Saratoga where where his leg was severely wounded.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">P. Marchetti via Shutterstock.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The second memorial is the <a href="https://www.nps.gov/sara/planyourvisit/saratoga-monument.htm">Saratoga Monument</a>, where four niches commemorate the American commanders, but Arnold’s stands empty. He is not erased from history – like the Old Bolsheviks in Stalin’s Russia – but he is known through his absence, which stands as a warning.</p>
<p>You might think that writing a public figure out of history is not in keeping with American tradition. After all, the architects of the Confederacy have enjoyed public commemoration. Yet, these statues, mostly erected during the Jim Crow era as a way to strengthen segregation against the challenge of the civil rights movement, are being swept away. Someone like Robert E. Lee may have been an admirable general and “Southern gentleman”, but he took arms against his own country in defence of slavery. Many Americans feel that he <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-confederate-statue-graveyard-could-help-bury-the-old-south-118034">does not merit a public memorial</a>.</p>
<p>This is not uniquely American either. In Venice, the <a href="https://palazzoducale.visitmuve.it/en/the-museum/layout-and-collections/institutional-chambers/first-floor/">Great Council Chamber</a> of the Palazzo Ducale is lined with portraits of the doges of that city’s great republic, a position comparable to the American presidency. However, one portrait is simply a black shroud. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Framed painting of a black shroud with Latin inscription." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377201/original/file-20210105-19-197awh4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377201/original/file-20210105-19-197awh4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377201/original/file-20210105-19-197awh4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377201/original/file-20210105-19-197awh4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377201/original/file-20210105-19-197awh4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377201/original/file-20210105-19-197awh4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377201/original/file-20210105-19-197awh4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Marino Faliero’s picture in the Doge’s Palace in Venice. The black shroud painted in its place bears the Latin phrase, ‘This is the space for Marino Faliero, beheaded for crimes.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pedro Q via Wikimedia Commons</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This commemorates Marino Faliero, who plotted to overthrow the republic and establish a dictatorship. He was beheaded for treason, but death was not enough. He was condemned to <em>damnatio memoriae</em>, a practice that scrubs the memory of someone from society. The citizen who tries to destroy the republic has no place in the public memory of the state except by their absence.</p>
<h2>Empty niche</h2>
<p>Trump’s refusal to concede, the intimidation of governors, senators and other public officials, and his flirtation with sedition makes denying Trump the usual honours an appropriate punishment. It doesn’t mean he ought to be consigned to some Orwellian memory hole. He should still appear in textbooks and histories, but all the public commemoration that former presidents receive through custom should not be granted to him.</p>
<p>He should lose the honorific of “President” and should not be invited to official functions with other former presidents. There should be no portrait in the White House or any other public building, no military base or warship named in his honour, no presidential library. These honours should be stripped from him for the damage he has done to democracy, the rule of law and, ultimately, the freedom of every American citizen. </p>
<p>This is the fate that ought to await President Trump: to be an empty niche in the hall of presidents is the most fitting punishment for a man who valued his own ego and self-glorification over the stability and freedom of the republic that he swore to serve. Of course, given that <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/12/30/fact-check-fals-president-than-were-registered-u-s/4010087001/">more than 74 million Americans voted</a> for him in 2020 makes this an unlikely prospect.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/151924/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gwilym David Blunt does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The outgoing president has threatened US democracy. There must be consequences.Gwilym David Blunt, Lecturer in International Politics, City, University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.