The meaning of the word president

President is a common title for the head of state in most republics. The president of a nation is, generally speaking, the head of the government and the fundamental leader of the country or the ceremonial head of state.

The functions exercised by a president vary according to the form of government. In parliamentary republics, they are usually, but not always, limited to those of the head of state and are thus largely ceremonial. In presidential, selected parliamentary (e.g. Botswana and South Africa),^[1][2] and semi-presidential republics, the role of the president is more prominent, encompassing also (in most cases) the functions of the head of government.^[3] In authoritarian regimes, a dictator or leader of a one-party state may also be called a president.^[4]

The titles «Mr. President«^[5][6] and Madam President may apply to a person holding the title of president or presiding over certain other governmental bodies.^[7] «Mr. President» has subsequently been used by governments to refer to their heads of state. It is the conventional translation of non-English titles such as Monsieur le Président for the president of the French Republic. It also has a long history of usage as the title of the presiding officers of legislative and judicial bodies. The speaker of the House of Commons of Canada is addressed as président de la Chambre des communes in French and as Mr. Speaker in English.

History

In the United States

The 1787 Constitution of the United States did not specify the manner of address for the president. When George Washington was sworn in as the first president of the United States on April 30, 1789, the administering of the oath of office ended with the proclamation: «Long live George Washington, President of the United States.»^[8] No title other than the name of the office of the executive was officially used at the inauguration. The question of a presidential title was being debated in Congress at the time, however, having become official legislative business with Richard Henry Lee’s motion of April 23, 1789. Lee’s motion asked congress to consider «what titles it will be proper to annex to the offices of President and Vice President of the United States – if any other than those given in the Constitution».^[9] Vice President John Adams, in his role as President of the United States Senate, organized a congressional committee. There Adams agitated for the adoption of the style of Highness (as well as the title of Protector of Their [the United States’] Liberties) for the President.^[10] Adams and Lee were among the most outspoken proponents of an exalted presidential title.^[9]

Others favored the variant of Electoral Highness or the lesser Excellency, the latter of which was vociferously opposed by Adams, who contended that it was far beneath the presidential dignity, as the executives of the states, some of which were also titled «President» (e.g. the President of Pennsylvania), at that time often enjoyed the style of Excellency; Adams said the president «would be leveled with colonial governors or with functionaries from German princedoms» if he were to use the style of Excellency. Adams and Richard Henry Lee both feared that cabals of powerful senators would unduly influence a weak executive, and saw an exalted title as a way of strengthening the presidency.^[11] On further consideration, Adams deemed even Highness insufficient and instead proposed that the executive, both the president and the vice president (i.e., himself), be styled Majesty to prevent the «great danger» of an executive with insufficient dignity.^[10] Adams’ efforts were met with widespread derision and perplexion; Thomas Jefferson called them «the most superlatively ridiculous thing I ever heard of», while Benjamin Franklin considered it «absolutely mad».^[10]

Washington consented to the demands of James Madison and the United States House of Representatives that the title be altered to «Mr. President».^{[12][13][14][15]} Nonetheless, later «The Honorable» became the standard title of the President in formal address, and «His/Her Excellency» became the title of the President when addressed formally internationally.

Historically, the title was reserved for the incumbent president only, and was not to be used for former presidents, holding that it was not proper to use the title as a courtesy title when addressing a former president.^{[16][17][18][19][20]} According to the official website of the United States of America, the correct way to address a letter is to use «The Honorable John Doe» and the correct salutation is «Mr. Doe».^[21]

In the United States, the title «Mr. President» is used in a number of formal instances as well: for example anyone presiding over the United States Senate is addressed as «Mr./Madam President», especially the Vice President, who is the President of the Senate. Other uses of the title include presidents of state and local legislatures, however only the president of the United States uses the title outside of formal sessions.

In other countries

Thomas Hungerford, who became the first speaker of the English House of Commons in 1376, used the title, «Mr. Speaker», a precedent followed by subsequent speakers of the House of Commons. This influenced parliamentary usage in France.

By the 18th century, the president of a French parlement was addressed as «Monsieur le Président». In Pierre Choderlos de Laclos’s 1782 novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses («Dangerous Liaisons»), the wife of a magistrate in a parlement is referred to as Madame la Présidente de Tourvel («Madam President of Tourvel»). When the Second French Republic was established in 1848, «Monsieur le Président» became the title of the president of the French Republic.

The speaker of the House of Commons of Canada, established in 1867, is also addressed as «Monsieur le Président» or «Madame la Présidente» in French.

Description

The title president is derived from the Latin prae- «before» + sedere «to sit». As such, it originally designated the officer who presides over or «sits before» a gathering and ensures that debate is conducted according to the rules of order (see also chairman and speaker), but today it most commonly refers to an executive official in any social organization. Early examples are from the universities of Oxford and Cambridge (from 1464) and the founding president of the Royal Society William Brouncker in 1660. This usage survives today in the title of such offices as «President of the Board of Trade» and «Lord President of the Council» in the United Kingdom, as well as «President of the Senate» in the United States (one of the roles constitutionally assigned to the vice president). The officiating priest at certain Anglican religious services, too, is sometimes called the «president» in this sense. However, the most common modern usage is as the title of a head of state in a republic.

In pre-revolutionary France, the president of a Parlement evolved into a powerful magistrate, a member of the so-called noblesse de robe («nobility of the gown»), with considerable judicial as well as administrative authority. The name referred to his primary role of presiding over trials and other hearings. In the 17th and 18th centuries, seats in the Parlements, including presidencies, became effectively hereditary, since the holder of the office could ensure that it would pass to an heir by paying the crown a special tax known as the paulette. The post of «first president» (premier président), however, could be held by only the King’s nominees. The Parlements were abolished by the French Revolution. In modern France the chief judge of a court is known as its president (président de la cour).

The word «presidents» is also used in the King James Bible at Daniel 6:2 to translate the Aramaic term סָרְכִ֣ין (sā·rə·ḵîn), a word of likely Persian origin, meaning «officials», «commissioners», «overseers» or «chiefs».

The first usage of the word president to denote the highest official in a government was during the Commonwealth of England. After the abolition of the monarchy the English Council of State, whose members were elected by the House of Commons, became the executive government of the Commonwealth. The Council of State was the successor of the Privy Council, which had previously been headed by the lord president; its successor the Council of State was also headed by a lord president, the first of which was John Bradshaw. However, the lord president alone was not head of state, because that office was vested in the council as a whole.

The modern usage of the term president to designate a single person who is the head of state of a republic can be traced directly to the United States Constitution of 1787, which created the office of President of the United States. Previous American governments had included «presidents» (such as the president of the Continental Congress or the president of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress), but these were presiding officers in the older sense, with no executive authority. It has been suggested that the executive use of the term was borrowed from early American colleges and universities, which were usually headed by a president. British universities were headed by an official called the «Chancellor» (typically a ceremonial position) while the chief administrator held the title of «Vice-Chancellor». But America’s first institutions of higher learning (such as Harvard University and Yale University) didn’t resemble a full-sized university so much as one of its constituent colleges. A number of colleges at Cambridge University featured an official called the «president». The head, for instance, of Magdalene College, Cambridge was called the master and his second the president. The first president of Harvard, Henry Dunster, had been educated at Magdalene. Some have speculated that he borrowed the term out of a sense of humility, considering himself only a temporary place-holder. The presiding official of Yale College, originally a «rector» (after the usage of continental European universities), became «president» in 1745.

A common style of address for presidents, Mr/Mrs. President», is borrowed from British Parliamentary tradition, in which the presiding Speaker of the House of Commons is referred to as «Mr/Mrs. Speaker». Coincidentally, this usage resembles the older French custom of referring to the president of a parlement as «Monsieur/Madame le Président«, a form of address that in modern France applies to both the president of the Republic and to chief judges. Similarly, the Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada is addressed by francophone parliamentarians as «Monsieur/Madame le/la Président(e)«. In Pierre Choderlos de Laclos’s novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses of 1782, the character identified as Madame la Présidente de Tourvel («Madam President of Tourvel») is the wife of a magistrate in a parlement. The fictional name Tourvel refers not to the parlement in which the magistrate sits, but rather, in imitation of an aristocratic title, to his private estate.

Once the United States adopted the title of «president» for its republican head of state, many other nations followed suit. Haiti became the first presidential republic in Latin America when Henri Christophe assumed the title in 1807. Almost all the American nations that became independent from Spain in the early 1810s and 1820s chose a US-style president as their chief executive. The first European president was the president of the Italian Republic of 1802, a client state of revolutionary France, in the person of Napoleon Bonaparte. The first African president was the president of Liberia (1848),^[22] while the first Asian president was the president of the Republic of China (1912).^[23]

In the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, the powers of presidencies have varied from country to country. The spectrum of power has included presidents-for-life and hereditary presidencies to ceremonial heads of state.

Presidents in the countries with a democratic or representative form of government are usually elected for a specified period of time and in some cases may be re-elected by the same process by which they are appointed, i.e. in many nations, periodic popular elections. The powers vested in such presidents vary considerably. Some presidencies, such as that of Ireland, are largely ceremonial, whereas other systems vest the president with substantive powers such as the appointment and dismissal of prime ministers or cabinets, the power to declare war, and powers of veto on legislation. In many nations the president is also the commander-in-chief of the nation’s armed forces, though once again this can range from a ceremonial role to one with considerable authority.

Presidential systems

In almost all states with a presidential system of government, the president exercises the functions of head of state and head of government, i.e. the president directs the executive branch of government. When a president is not only head of state, but also head of government, this is known in Europe as a President of the Council (from the French Président du Conseil), used 1871–1940 and 1944–1958 in the Third and Fourth French Republics. In the United States the president has always been both Head of State and Head of Government and has always had the title of President.

Presidents in this system are either directly elected by popular vote or indirectly elected by an electoral college or some other democratically elected body.

In the United States, the president is indirectly elected by the Electoral College made up of electors chosen by voters in the presidential election. In most states of the United States, each elector is committed to voting for a specified candidate determined by the popular vote in each state, so that the people, in voting for each elector, are in effect voting for the candidate. However, for various reasons the numbers of electors in favour of each candidate are unlikely to be proportional to the popular vote. Thus, in five close United States elections (1824, 1876, 1888, 2000, and 2016), the candidate with the most popular votes still lost the election.

In Mexico, the president is directly elected for a six-year term by popular vote. The candidate who wins the most votes is elected president even without an absolute majority. The president is allowed to serve only one term.

In Brazil, the president is directly elected for a four-year term by popular vote. A candidate has to have more than 50% of the valid votes. If no candidates achieve a majority of the votes, there is a runoff election between the two candidates with most votes. Again, a candidate needs a majority of the vote to be elected. In Brazil, a president cannot be elected to more than two consecutive terms, but there is no limit on the number of terms a president can serve.

Many South American, Central American, African and some Asian nations follow the presidential model.

Semi-presidential systems

A second system is the semi-presidential system, also known as the French model. In this system, as in the parliamentary system, there are both a president and a prime minister; but unlike the parliamentary system, the president may have significant day-to-day power. For example, in France, when their party controls the majority of seats in the National Assembly, the president can operate closely with the parliament and prime minister, and work towards a common agenda. When the National Assembly is controlled by their opponents, however, the president can find themselves marginalized with the opposition party prime minister exercising most of the power. Though the prime minister remains an appointee of the president, the president must obey the rules of parliament, and select a leader from the house’s majority holding party. Thus, sometimes the president and prime minister can be allies, sometimes rivals; the latter situation is known in France as cohabitation. Variants of the French semi-presidential system, developed at the beginning of the Fifth Republic by Charles de Gaulle, are used in France, Portugal, Romania, Sri Lanka and several post-colonial countries which have emulated the French model. In Finland, although the 2000 constitution moved towards a ceremonial presidency, the system is still formally semi-presidential, with the president of Finland retaining e.g. foreign policy and appointment powers.

Parliamentary republics

The parliamentary republic, is a parliamentary system in which the presidency is largely ceremonial with either de facto or no significant executive authority (such as the president of Austria) or de jure no significant executive power (such as the president of Ireland), and the executive powers rests with the prime minister who automatically assumes the post as head of a majority party or coalition, but takes oath of office administered by the president. However, the president is head of the civil service, commander in chief of the armed forces and in some cases can dissolve parliament. Countries using this system include Austria, Armenia, Albania, Bangladesh, Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy,^[24] Malta, Pakistan, and Singapore.

A variation of the parliamentary republic is a system with an executive president in which the president is the head of state and the government but unlike a presidential system, is elected by and accountable to a parliament, and referred to as president. Countries using this system include Botswana, Nauru and South Africa.

Dictatorships

In dictatorships, the title of president is frequently taken by self-appointed or military-backed leaders. Such is the case in many states: Idi Amin in Uganda, Mobutu Sese Seko in Zaire, Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines, Suharto in Indonesia, and Saddam Hussein in Iraq are some examples. Other presidents in authoritarian states have wielded only symbolic or no power such as Craveiro Lopes in Portugal and Joaquín Balaguer under the «Trujillo Era» of the Dominican Republic.

President for Life is a title assumed by some dictators to try to ensure their authority or legitimacy is never questioned. Presidents like Alexandre Pétion, Rafael Carrera, Josip Broz Tito and François Duvalier died in office. Kim Il-sung was named Eternal President of the Republic after his death.

Collective presidency

Only a tiny minority of modern republics do not have a single head of state. Some examples of this are:

• Switzerland, where the headship of state is collectively vested in the seven-member Swiss Federal Council, although there is also a president of the Confederation, who is a member of the Federal Council elected by the Federal Assembly (the Swiss parliament) for a year (constitutional convention mandates that the post rotates every New Year’s Day).
• The Captains Regent of San Marino elected by the Grand and General Council.
• In the former Soviet Union from 1922 until 1938 there existed an office of collective head of state known as the Central Executive Committee of the Soviet Union that consisted of four and later seven chairmen representing the central executive committees of all union republics from Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Trans-Caucasusia and from 1925 Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan. From 1927 until 1989 however, real power was exercised by the General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party. After 1938, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet executed powers of a collective head of state, and its chairman was often called «president» in the West, though a singular head of state named «president» was later established in 1990.
• Yugoslavia after the death of Josip Broz Tito, where a presidency consisting of members from each federal unit ruled the country until its breakup.
• Ukraine, in 1918–1920 there existed Directorate composed of seven leaders of parliamentary factions and served as a collective head of state.
• The three-member Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina contains a member from each of the country’s largest ethnic groups and serves as the collective head of state of Bosnia and Herzegovina
• National Council of Government in Uruguay from 1952 until 1967
• Junta of National Reconstruction in Nicaragua from 1979 until 1985

One-party states

The President of China is the head of state of the People’s Republic of China. Under the country’s constitution, the presidency is a largely ceremonial office with limited power. However, since 1993, as a matter of convention, the presidency has been held simultaneously by the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, the top leader in the single-party system.

In China between 1982 and 2018, the constitution stipulated that the president could not serve more than two consecutive terms. During the Mao era and also since 2018, there were no term limits attached to this office. In 2018, the term limits of the presidency were abolished, but its powers and ceremonial role were unchanged.

Presidential symbols

As the country’s head of state, in most countries the president is entitled to certain perquisites, and may have a prestigious residence, often a lavish mansion or palace, sometimes more than one (e.g. summer and winter residences, or a country retreat) Customary symbols of office may include an official uniform, decorations, a presidential seal, coat of arms, flag and other visible accessories, as well as military honours such as gun salutes, ruffles and flourishes, and a presidential guard. A common presidential symbol is the presidential sash worn most often by presidents in Latin America and Africa as a symbol of the continuity of the office.^[25]

Presidential chronologies

United Nations member countries in columns, other entities at the beginning:

• European Commission
• List of presidents of European Union institutions
• List of presidents of the Soviet Union (Leaders)

Titles for non-heads of state

As head of government

Some countries with parliamentary systems use a term meaning/translating as «president» (in some languages indistinguishable from chairman) for the head of parliamentary government, often as President of the Government, President of the Council of Ministers or President of the Executive Council.

However, such an official is explicitly not the president of the country. These officials are called «president» using an older sense of the word, to denote the fact that the official heads the cabinet. A separate head of state generally exists in their country who instead serves as the president or monarch of the country.

Thus, such officials are really premiers, and to avoid confusion are often described simply as ‘prime minister’ when being mentioned internationally.

There are several examples for this kind of presidency:

• The Prime Minister of Spain is officially referred to as the president of the Government of Spain, and informally known as the «president». Spain is also a kingdom with a reigning king.
• The official title of the Italian Prime Minister is President of the Council of Ministers (Italian Presidente del Consiglio dei Ministri)
• Under the French Third and the Fourth Republics, the «President of the Council» (of ministers – a prime minister) was the head of government, with the President of the Republic a largely symbolic figurehead.
• From 1963 until 1992, the head of government of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the President of the Federal Executive Council after the 1963 Constitution abolished the office of Prime Minister of Yugoslavia and transferred its functions to the President of the Federal Executive Council. Despite this, foreign media sources continued to refer to individuals holding the office of President of the Federal Executive Council as being the «Prime Minister of Yugoslavia».
• The Prime minister of the Irish Free State from 1922 to 1937 was titled President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State. At the same time, the Irish Free State was a constitutional monarchy with a reigning monarch, the King of Ireland, as well as a resident Governor-General carrying out many head of state functions.
• Under the constitutional monarchies of Brazil and Portugal, the president of the Council of Ministers (Portuguese Presidente do Conselho de Ministros) was the head of government, with the Monarch being the head of State. Under the Portuguese First and Second Republics, the head of government was the president of the Ministry (Portuguese Presidente do Ministério) and then the president of the Council of Ministers, with the president of the Republic as the head of State.
• The official title of the Croatian prime minister is President of the Government of the Republic of Croatia (Croatian: Predsjednik Vlade Republike Hrvatske).
• The official title of the Polish prime minister is President of the Council of Ministers (Polish Prezes Rady Ministrów).
• In British constitutional practice, the chairman of an Executive Council, acting in such a capacity, is known as a president of the Executive Council. Usually this person is the Governor and it always stays like that.
• Between 1918 and 1934, Estonia had no separate head of state. Both prime ministers (1918–1920) and state elders (1920–1934) often translated as «presidents») were elected by the parliament.
• The head of government of Iran is styled as the «President». The Iranian head of state is the Supreme Leader, to whom the president is subordinate.

Other executive positions

Sub-national

President can also be the title of the chief executive at a lower administrative level, such as the parish presidents of the parishes of the U.S. state of Louisiana, the presiding member of city council for villages in the U.S. state of Illinois, or the municipal presidents of Mexico’s municipalities. Perhaps the best known sub-national presidents are the borough presidents of the five boroughs of New York City.

Poland

In Poland the President of the City (Polish: Prezydent miasta) is the executive authority of the municipality elected in direct elections, the equivalent of the mayor. The Office of the President (Mayor) is also found in Germany and Switzerland.

Russia

Governors of ethnic republics in the Russian Federation used to have the title of President, occasionally alongside other, secondary titles such as Chairman of the Government (also used by Prime Minister of Russia). This likely reflects the origin of Russian republics as homelands for various ethnic groups: while all federal subjects of Russia are currently de jure equal, their predecessors, the ASSRs, used to enjoy more privileges than the ordinary krais and oblasts of the RSFSR (such as greater representation in the Soviet of Nationalities). Thus, the ASSRs and their eventual successors would have more in common with nation-states than with ordinary administrative divisions, at least in spirit, and would choose titles accordingly.

Over the course of the 2010s the presidents of Russian republics would progressively change their title to that of Head (Russian: глава), a proposition suggested by the president of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov and later made law by the Parliament of Russia and President Dmitriy Medvedev in 2010. Despite this, however, presidents of Tatarstan would reject this change and, as of 2017, retain their title in defiance of Russian law. The new title did not result in any changes in the powers wielded by the governors.

United Kingdom

The lord president of the Council is one of the Great Officers of State in the United Kingdom who presides over meetings of British Privy Council; the Cabinet headed by the prime minister is technically a committee of the Council, and all decisions of the Cabinet are formally approved through Orders in Council. Although the lord president is a member of the Cabinet, the position is largely a ceremonial one and is traditionally given to either the leader of the House of Commons or the leader of the House of Lords.

Historically the president of the Board of Trade was a cabinet member.

Dependencies

In Alderney, the elected head of government is called the president of the States of Alderney.

In the Isle of Man, there is a president of Tynwald.

Spain

In Spain, the executive leaders of the autonomous communities (regions) are called presidents. In each community, they can be called Presidente de la Comunidad or Presidente del Consejo among others. They are elected by their respective regional assemblies and have similar powers to a state president or governor.

Deputies

Below a president, there can be a number of or «vice presidents» (or occasionally «deputy presidents») and sometimes several «assistant presidents» or «assistant vice presidents», depending on the organisation and its size. These posts do not hold the same power but more of a subordinate position to the president. However, power can be transferred in special circumstances to the deputy or vice president. Normally vice presidents hold some power and special responsibilities below that of the president. The difference between vice/deputy presidents and assistant/associate vice presidents is the former are legally allowed to run an organisation, exercising the same powers (as well as being second in command) whereas the latter are not.

Legislatures

In some countries the speaker of their unicameral legislatures, or of one or both houses of bicameral legislatures, the speakers have the title of president of «the body», as in the case of Spain, where the Speaker of the Congress is the president of the Congress of Deputies and the Speaker of the Senate is the president of the Senate.

Judiciary

The term ‘President’ is usually used in judiciary as chief justice of constitutional courts.

France

In French legal terminology, the president of a court consisting of multiple judges is the foremost judge; he chairs the meeting of the court and directs the debates (and is thus addressed as «Mrs President», «Madame la Présidente», «Mr President», or Monsieur le Président. In general, a court comprises several chambers, each with its own president; thus the most senior of these is called the «first president» (as in: «the First President of the Court of Cassation is the most senior judge in France»). Similarly in English legal practice the most senior judge in each division uses this title (e.g. President of the Family Division, President of the Court of Appeal).

Spain

In the Spanish Judiciary, the leader of a court of multiples judges is called President of the Court. The same happens with the different bodies of the Spanish judicial system, where we can find a president of the Supreme Court, a president of the National Court and presidents in the Regional High Courts of Justice and in the Provincial Courts. The body that rules over the Judiciary in Spain is the General Council of the Judiciary, and its president is the president of the Supreme Court, which is normally called President of the Supreme Court and of the GCJ.

The Constitutional Court is not part of the Judiciary, but the leader of it is called President of the Constitutional Court.

United Kingdom

In the recently established Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, the most senior judge is called the president of the Supreme Court. The lady/lord president of the Court of Session is head of the judiciary in Scotland, and presiding judge (and Senator) of the College of Justice and Court of Session, as well as being Lady/Lord Justice General of Scotland and head of the High Court of Justiciary, the offices having been combined in 1784.

Spousal or female titles

Titles for a president’s spouse, if female, have ranged from «Marquise» to «Lady» to simply «Mrs.» (or «Ms.»).^[14] If male the title of the president’s spouse may be «Marquis», «Lord», or merely «Mr.».

United States

President George Washington’s wife, Martha Washington, was often called «Lady Washington». By the 1850s in the United States, the term «lady» had changed from a title of nobility to a term of address for a respected and well-mannered woman. The use of «First Lady» to refer to the wife of the president of the United States was popularized about the time of the US Civil War. Dolley Madison, the wife of President James Madison, was remembered after her death in 1849 by President Zachary Taylor as «truly our First Lady for a half a century».^[26] First ladies are usually referred to simply as «Mrs. [last name]» ^[27]

In the media

On 8 November 2016, the night of the 2016 presidential election in the United States, images of leaked pre-printed copies of Newsweek magazine showed the magazine celebrating the win of the Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, with the cover titled «Madam President». It is common for Newsweek to prepare for the eventuality of either candidate winning, though it was unusual that it was both published and distributed; the cover was pulled from newsstands after it became clear that Donald Trump had secured a majority of electoral votes, winning the election.^[28]

See also

• Eternal President of the Republic
• Presidential system
• Presidents Day
• Requirements for becoming a president
• Vice president
• First Lady

Head of state

• Governor-General
• Head of state
• List of state leaders
• Monarch
• Supreme Leader

Other head of government

• Minister-President (a head of government, not of state)
• Prime minister

References

The etymology of the word president has its origin in Latin, it is formed by the prefix “prae” which means in front, plus the verb “sedere” which is a synonym of “sitting down”, this means that the word president can be translated as » sitting in front.» The position or designation of president is used in different institutions such as: president of the Republic or Nation, of the university or university centers, of clubs, among others.

Table of Contents

A president is a leader of an organization, company, community, club, union, university, country, a division or part of any of these, or, generally, anything else. Etymologically, a president is the one who presides.

Originally, the term referred to the president of a ceremony or meeting, but today it more commonly refers to an official. Among other things, «President» today is a common title for the heads of state of most republics, whether popularly elected, elected by the legislature, or by a special electoral college.

In politics, a president is usually an elected official, who presides over a republic or a nation governed by the people. Now, in the business world, a president is the main member of an organization, such as a corporation or institution. That president’s job responsibilities include guiding the direction of the body and administering its policies.

Requirements to be president

Each country or nation has its own requirements to be president, each Constitution makes it clear who is eligible to be a candidate for the office of president, and establishes the regulations that must be met to carry out this position.

In general terms the requirements are:

• Be a citizen born in that country.
• Be over 30 years of age.
• Be resident in the country, the minimum time required by the Constitution.

In the case of the United States, the legal requirements to exercise the presidency remain the same since G. Washington, first president of this nation and established in Article II, Section I of the Constitution of this country:

• Age limit: must be over 35 years old.
• Citizenship: must have been born within the borders of the USA, if not, at least one of the parents must be or have been a citizen.
• Have resided in the country for at least 14 years.

The requirements to be president of Mexico, according to what is established in Article 82 of the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States, are the following:

• Be Mexican by birth and in full enjoyment of rights, also the son of Mexican parents.
• Have resided in that country for at least 20 years and especially the year before the elections.
• Be over 35 years old.
• Not be a minister of any religious cult.
• Not be on active duty in the Army, or cease to be at least 90 days before the elections.
• Not being the head of some of the bodies to which the Constitution grants autonomy. Not to exercise the position of Secretary or Undersecretary of State, Attorney General of the Republic, or head of the executive power of any federative entity, unless they leave their position six months before the day of the election.

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To be president of France, the following requirements must be met:

• Be of French nationality.
• Be 18 years of age or older.
• Not be disqualified from holding public office.
• Be registered in the Electoral Registry.
• Have at least 500 endorsements of elected positions.

The requirements to be president of Venezuela, according to Article 227 of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela are:

• Being Venezuelan or Venezuelan by birth, being in full enjoyment of their rights.
• Be over 30 years old.
• Not to hold any religious office, that is, to be from a secular state.
• Not to exercise the position of Vice President of the Republic, as well as of State Governors or Mayor, on the day of their nomination for the election.

Presidential election

It is the technique used by the electoral medium to choose a president, generally this is different from that used to choose legislatures. Presidencies are almost always unipersonal positions and, therefore, proportionality between the majority and minorities cannot be claimed. The office of the executive also carries various powers and commitments.

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Functions of a president

1. It is the president who must comply with the Constitution and also enforce it, in addition to the various laws. It is he who must provide for the defense and security of the nation.

2. The President of the Republic is in charge of exercising command of the Armed Forces of the Nation. Besides this, it must also sanction and enforce the laws.

3. Among its obligations, it must also present bills to the Congress of the Republic, which has the right of veto with respect to the laws issued by it.

In the case of the President of Mexico and according to the Constitution of that country, the presidential functions are the following:

• The promulgation and execution of the laws made by the deputies and senators.
• Appoint the consuls or colonels, who must have the approval of the Senate.
• Appoint and remove members of the cabinet.
• After ratification by the Senate, appoint the Attorney General of the Republic.
• Declare war and activate the Armed Forces on behalf of Mexico, to maintain national security and peace.
• Call for extraordinary elections of Congress.
• Grant pardons to inmates, as well as privileges to inventors or discoverers.
• Send the Income Law initiative to congress, as well as the Federation Expenditure Budget Project.
• Regulate the use and extraction of groundwater and establish which are the reserved areas.
• Grant concessions for the use and exploitation of resources that are the domain of the nation, except for telecommunications and radio broadcasting.
• Prosecute crimes, exercise criminal action and intervene as part of amparo trials.

In the case of Croatia, this is a sovereign state using a parliamentary system of government, with the powers of the national government divided between its executive, legislative and judicial branches.

The president of Croatia is elected for a maximum period of two to five years through popular votes in accordance with the constitution and these are some of his functions:

• He or she is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and ambassadors.
• The Croatian president is also responsible for coordinating the operations of the national government and safeguarding the independence and territorial integrity of the country.
• In addition to leading the government, the president can call Croatian parliamentary elections and referendum on an agreement with the prime minister he designates.
• The president, in consultation with the prime minister, appoints the security and intelligence agency. Since their independence, six presidents have served the Croats.

Presidents of Mexico

The independence processes aroused a wave of enthusiasm in many Mexican and Caribbean citizens, but their hopes had to face, throughout the 19th century, numerous problems inherited from the colony.

After the signing of independence, Mexico has gone through various stages, in total it has had approximately 65 presidents who have been in charge of this country.

Some of these presidents are:

1. Guadalupe Victoria. 1824 — 1833

In 1824 Mexico was endowed with a Republican Constitution that, inspired by the French and American models and devised by representatives of the middle class, established the separation of the three powers and structured the country according to a federal model that divided Mexico into 19 states, each one with its own constitution and governing body.

Shortly after, the constituent congress called for presidential elections, resulting in the winner and first president of Mexico, Guadalupe Victoria, who obtained the support of the United States and Great Britain.

Immediately the centralist and federalist political parties emerged, agglutinated in Masonic lodges, and political instability continued at a growing rate until 1833 when López de Santa Anna became president.

2. Antonio López de Santa Anna 1833 — 1846

He acted as a true caudillo, controlling Mexican policies between the years 1833 and 1846, at which time he was exiled after the final loss of Texas, New Mexico and California, which passed to the United States. between 1853 and 1855 he returned to power as dictator until he was dismissed by the Ayutla junta.

3. Benito Juarez. 1858 — 1872 and Lerdo de Tejada 1872 — 1876

These presidents set out to modernize the country after so many years of war. Among his plans were the diversification of agriculture, the establishment of industry, the construction of a single communications infrastructure, and above all the generalization of education.

The economic plans did not materialize in their entirety, although the construction of the railway line began and the country was partially pacified. The servitude of agricultural laborers was stopped, workers’ associations were promoted, and elementary, free, compulsory and secular education was established.

4. Porfirio Díaz 1876 — 1911

The liberal stage ended abruptly with the rise of General Porfirio Díaz, whose dictatorial government continued until the revolution of 1910. His authoritarian regime was characterized by the repression of freedoms and insurrectionary attempts, the persecution of banditry and the crushing of the indigenous peoples who claimed the right to possess their lands.

5. Plutarco Elías Calles 1924-1928

In 1893 he obtained the title of teacher of primary instruction. Between 1899 and 1903 he devoted much of his time to journalism. In 1911 he was appointed commissioner of Agua Prieta and in 1912 he fought the Orozco rebellion. The following year he joined the constitutional revolution under Álvaro Obregón.

During the government of Venustiano Carranza he held the Secretariat of Industry, Commerce and Labor. He led the rebellion in Agua Prieta in 1920. During the government of Álvaro Obregón he held the Ministry of the Interior and from there he became president of the Republic in 1924.

He tried to consolidate the political life of the country and promote economic activities. His reform plan caused pressure from the US government and led to the Cristero rebellion. In 1928 he supported Obregonist reelection and also participated in armed uprisings that he managed to quell.

When Obregón died and his presidential term ended, he became the most important political figure in the country: controlling successive governments until 1934, when he founded the National Revolutionary Party.

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6. Cárdenas, Lázaro 1934-1940

He joined the revolutionary forces in 1913 and rose to become a general. He was governor of his native state, Michoacán, in 1928, and held other political positions before being, with the support of Plutarco E. Calles, president-elect. After a bitter conflict, Cárdenas, in 1936, sent Calles into exile and organized a vigorous campaign of socialization of industry and agriculture based on the constitution of 1917. The large properties were divided and distributed to the small farmers of the ejido system and many foreign properties, especially oil fields, were expropriated.

Cárdenas, determined to make Mexico a modern democracy, became a problem for large landowners, industrialists and foreign investors, but, himself a mestizo, he became a hero for the native peoples and the Mexican working classes.

He resigned from his post at the end of his term, acting in accordance with his desire for democratic and orderly constitutional processes. He was called up to public service as Minister of National Defense. His political influence as the leader of the Mexican left continued in the years after World War II.

7. Adolfo López Mateos, 1958 — 1964

A lawyer, he became active in the government party. He served as Senator in 1946 and as Minister of Labor in 1952, during this time he resolved more than 13,000 disputes. As president, he fostered industrial growth and diversification, attracted large amounts of foreign capital, and presided over an economic boom.

He instituted profit distribution for workers and promoted land reform. Maintaining close relations with the United States, he negotiated the return to Mexico of a 437-acre (177-hectare) border strip along the Texas border. After retiring as president, he headed the committee that organized the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City.

8. Carlos Salinas de Gortari 1988 –1994

A Harvard-educated political economist, he became minister of planning and budget (1982–87) and succeeded Miguel de la Madrid Hurtado as president in 1988. A member of the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) since his student days, he became the first PRI presidential candidate to face competitive elections.

Although the Salinas government was praised for its economic reforms, it lost some of its luster when his brother Raúl was arrested and convicted in 1995 for the murder of an Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) official in 1994 and then 1996 accused of massive misappropriations.. After Carlos Salinas responded by criticizing the Mexican government, he was pressured into exile, only returning to Mexico in 2000. Raül’s 1995 conviction was overturned in 2005, and in 2006 he was acquitted (in Switzerland) of money laundering charges.

9. Vicente Fox. 2000 — 2006

The candidate of the National Action Party (PAN), Vicente Fox Quesada, was elected the 62nd president of Mexico on July 2, 2000, defeating Francisco Labastida of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). Fox entered politics in the 1980s and in 1995 he was elected governor of the central state of Guanajuato.

His personal charisma and his promises of change and economic development led to his easy election as president in what was called the «fairest» election in Mexican history. After his mandate, he was replaced by President Felipe Calderón on December 1, 2006. The 2000 elections were the first in seven decades in which the PRI candidate did not win the presidency.

10. Enrique Peña Nieto 2012 — 2018

He was elected on July 1, 2012 and assumed the position of 57th president of Mexico on December 1, 2012. He grew up in the State of Mexico in a politically connected family, joined the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) at age 18, he studied law and business and went to work in politics.

During his ascent, Nieto served in different administrative areas for the State of Mexico, ending as a close aid to Governor Carlos Salinas de Gortari. When Gortari left office, Nieto was elected to succeed him in 2005, and he held that position until 2011.

As the popular governor of the State of Mexico, he was pushed onto the national stage, and as soon as his term ended, Nieto announced his candidacy for the presidency. Nieto won with 37.6% of the votes, despite talking about his infidelities during his first marriage, his verbal errors throughout the campaign and his critics who ridiculed him as a pretty face with more hairstyle than intellect.

He succeeded as Felipe Calderón’s successor in December 2012, promising to take a new course in Mexico’s drug war and promising economic development.

Frequently Asked Questions about President

What is the president of the republic in charge of?

It is in charge of taking the leadership of a nation, of complying with and enforcing the constitution and the norms that go beyond it, for example, human rights. These are the main functions of a president, in addition to commanding the armed forces.

What are the requirements to be a presidential candidate?

The requirements change according to the nation, but the most common are to be over 30 years of age, to be from a secular state, to be born in the country in which you are a candidate for the presidency, and if you have been in another country then stay in the nation the time stipulated by the constitution.

Who was the first president of Mexico?

The first president of this Latin American country was Guadalupe Victoria, whose real name was José Miguel Ramón Adaucto Fernández y Félix. He is remembered for being the only president to serve his constitutional term during the first 35 years of the nation’s independence.

What was the second president of Mexico?

His name was Vicente Guerrero Saldaña. His period was constitutional and he fought so that the Spanish did not conquer Mexico again, because at the time, they sought to reconquer the nation and make it totally dependent.

Who was the first president of the United States?

The first president of this nation was George Washington, he is also considered the father of the country of that country and commanded the armed forces for the war of independence of the United States.

Last Updated:
4 Apr 2023
— Updated example sentences

English[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

• President (honorifically)
• præsident (archaic)

Etymology[edit]

From Old French president, from Latin praesidēns (“presiding over; president, leader”) (accusative: praesidentem). The Latin word is the substantivized present active participle of the verb praesideō (“preside over”). The verb is composed from prae (“before”) and sedeō (“sit”). The original meaning of the verb is ‘to sit before’ in the sense of presiding at a meeting. A secondary meaning of the verb is ‘to command, to govern’. So praesidēns means ‘the presiding one on a meeting’ or ‘governor, commander’.

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɛzɪdənt/
• Hyphenation: pre‧si‧dent

Noun[edit]

president (plural presidents, feminine presidentess)

1. The head of state of a republic.

   • 1965, Truman, Harry S., MP2002-401 Former President Truman Discusses «The Buck Stops Here»‎^[1], Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives Identifier: 595162, 0:20 from the start:

     Well, nobody else can make a decision but me because I was the President and the final decision comes to the President, you know. I used to have a sign on my desk that said, «The Buck Stops Here.» The buck stops at the president’s desk when he’s president of the United States, and he either makes the decisions or he lets them go by default, and you can’t afford to do that when you’re president.

   • 2007, Benjamin Camins, Hillary Is the Best Choice, Page 144

     […] to change the pattern of the last 220 years of only voting for a white male president, and elect a woman president […]

   The vast majority of presidents have been male.

2. In presidential republics, the head of government and head of state.
3. Primary leader of a corporation. Not to be confused with CEO, which is a related but separate position that is sometimes held by a different person.
4. A person presiding over a meeting; a chair, presiding officer, presider.
5. Obsolete form of precedent.

   • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], part 1, 2nd edition, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene vii:

     The thirſt of raigne and ſweetnes of a crowne,
     That cauſd the eldeſt ſonne of heauenly Ops,
     To thruſt his doting father from his chaire,
     And place himſelfe in the Emperiall heauen,
     Moou’d me to menage armes againſt thy ſtate.
     What better preſident than mightie Ioue?

Synonyms[edit]

• (American head of state): POTUS
• (head of a college or university): provost (UK)
• (head of various specific bodies): prepositus
• (informal, jocular): prexy, prez

Derived terms[edit]

• presidenthood
• presidential
• vice president

Translations[edit]

Adjective[edit]

president (not comparable)

1. (archaic) Occupying the first rank or chief place; having the highest authority; presiding.

Verb[edit]

president (third-person singular simple present presidents, present participle presidenting, simple past and past participle presidented)

1. To act as president; to do presidential duties.

References[edit]

• president at OneLook Dictionary Search
• “president”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Catalan[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

• (Balearic) IPA^(key): /pɾə.ziˈdent/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /pɾə.ziˈden/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /pɾe.ziˈdent/

Noun[edit]

president m (plural presidents)

1. president

[edit]

• presidència
• presidencial
• presidir

Further reading[edit]

• “president” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “president”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2023
• “president” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “president” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Czech[edit]

Noun[edit]

president m

1. Alternative spelling of prezident

Dutch[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

• Hyphenation: pre‧si‧dent
• Rhymes: -ɛnt

Noun[edit]

president m (plural presidenten, diminutive presidentje n)

1. president

Derived terms[edit]

• vicepresident

Descendants[edit]

• Afrikaans: president
• → Caribbean Javanese: présidhèn
• → Indonesian: presiden
• → Papiamentu: presidènt

Ladin[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

• presidënt

Noun[edit]

president m (plural presidenc)

1. president

Middle French[edit]

Noun[edit]

president m (plural presidens)

1. president (leader of an organization)

Norwegian Bokmål[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Latin praesidens.

Pronunciation[edit]

• Hyphenation: pre‧si‧dent

Noun[edit]

president m (definite singular presidenten, indefinite plural presidenter, definite plural presidentene)

1. a president

Derived terms[edit]

• presidentvalg

References[edit]

• “president” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Latin praesidens.

Noun[edit]

president m (definite singular presidenten, indefinite plural presidentar, definite plural presidentane)

1. a president

References[edit]

• “president” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Occitan[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

president m (plural presidents)

1. president

Spanish[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Catalan president. Doublet of presidente.

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): /pɾesiˈden(d)/ [pɾe.siˈð̞ẽn(ð̞)]
• Rhymes: -en(d)

Noun[edit]

president m (plural presidents)

1. president of Catalonia

Swedish[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

president c

1. a chairman, presiding member of an assembly, e.g. a court of law
2. a president, head of state in a republic

Declension[edit]

Declension of president
	Singular	Plural
Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	president	presidenten	presidenter	presidenterna
Genitive	presidents	presidentens	presidenters	presidenternas

[edit]

References[edit]

• president in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)