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In order to be elected president, a person must meet the eligibility requirements laid out in the Constitution. After that, the person must secure his or her party’s nomination. Finally, he or she must face a demanding campaign and election process.

Eligibility

According to the Constitution anyone who wishes to become president must be:

  • At least thirty-five years old
  • A resident of the United States for at least fourteen years
  • A natural-born citizen

The last requirement has caused some confusion and controversy. According to U.S. law, a child born abroad to parents who are American citizens is also a citizen, but it is not clear from the Constitution whether such a person could be president. As of 2006, the courts have not ruled on whether an American citizen born outside of the United States may be president. A variety of people have tried to amend the Constitution to allow citizens born abroad to be president, but so far they have had no success.

America’s Youngest President

Even though the Constitution allows anyone at least thirty-five years old to be president, every American president thus far has been much older: The average age of presidents at inauguration is fifty-four. Most people think that John F. Kennedy was the nation’s youngest president—he was forty-three when elected in 1960—but that’s not accurate. In reality, Kennedy was the youngest person to be elected president. The youngest person to be president, however, was Theodore Roosevelt, who was forty-two when he became president following the assassination of William McKinley in 1901.

Demographics of the Presidents

The Constitution allows women and members of any ethnic, racial, or religious group to be president, but for most of the country’s history all of the presidents have been Protestant white men. Barack Obama is the first non-white person to serve as president and John F. Kennedy, a Catholic, is the only non-Protestant to hold the office.

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