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This article is about a group, project, or location which also exists outside the The Last Ship universe. |
| President of the United States of America | |
|---|---|
 Presidential Seal | |
 Presidential Standard | |
| Residence |
St. Louis White House Old Courthouse, St. Louis, Missouri |
| Term length |
Four years renewable once |
| Formation |
United States Constitution March 4, 1789 |
| First holder |
George Washington April 30, 1789 |
| Preceded by | Howard Oliver |
| Website | The White House |
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces.
Article II of the U.S. Constitution vests the executive power of the United States in the president and charges him with the execution of federal law, alongside the responsibility of appointing federal executive, diplomatic, regulatory, and judicial officers, and concluding treaties with foreign powers, with the advice and consent of the Senate. The president is further empowered to grant federal pardons and reprieves, and to convene and adjourn either or both houses of Congress under extraordinary circumstances. Since the founding of the United States, the power of the president and the federal government have grown substantially and each modern president, despite possessing no formal legislative powers beyond signing or vetoing congressionally passed bills, is largely responsible for dictating the legislative agenda of his party and the foreign and domestic policy of the United States. The president is frequently described as the most powerful person in the world.
The president is indirectly elected by the people through the Electoral College to a four-year term and is one of only two nationally elected federal officers, the other being the Vice President of the United States. The Twenty-second Amendment, adopted in 1951, prohibits anyone from ever being elected to the presidency for a third full term. It also prohibits a person from being elected to the presidency more than once if that person previously had served as president, or acting president, for more than two years of another person's term as president.
Events of The Last Ship[]
The President died during the Red Flu pandemic and was succeeded by his Vice President, who was - according to the webcomic - evacuated to Camp David with his wife, who had unbeknownst to escorting Secret Service agents, contracted the virus and passed it to her husband who subsequently died a week after his predecessor. The Speaker of the House Kelly Geller then took over as Acting President and was secured in the White House bunker. The bunker was somehow compromised by the virus forcing Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Jeffrey Michener to assume the presidency, being the only survivor in the Presidential line of succession.
President Michener was murdered in the season 3 episode "In the Dark," with his death staged to look like suicide. He was succeeded by Vice President Howard Oliver.
President Oliver is stripped of his powers and becomes a puppet leader after Chief of Staff Allison Shaw and four of the regional leaders stage a quiet coup d'etat in the episode "Paradise."
President Oliver regains his presidential powers and returns to St. Louis during the Season 3 finale "Don't Look Back."
In Season 5, Joshua Reiss is President.