Former Presidents Act
The Former Presidents Act is a US federal law from 1958 that regulates the salaries and other benefits for former presidents of the United States .
history
Since the establishment of the office of US president with the entry into force of the American constitution in 1789, no statutory pension rights have been provided for presidents. This meant that no US president was entitled to any further remuneration after his term of office had expired. In the 19th century, for example, it was not uncommon for presidents to leave the White House poorer than they had entered it. Since many presidents lived in solid financial circumstances and were wealthy even after their term in office, a discussion about a possible entitlement to pension payments did not seem necessary. A law introduced in 1912 that provided pension payments for ex-presidents was rejected in Congress. The matter did not move into public focus until the mid-1950s, when the economic circumstances of President Harry S. Truman , who had left office in 1953, became known. Truman's limited financial resources did not allow him to maintain an office of his own. After the end of his presidency, he had received just over $ 100 in pension payments from his time in the armed forces. After this became known, a law on the remuneration of former presidents was discussed again in Congress.
The bill was adopted by both houses of the US Congress in 1958 and signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower . It provided compensation for former presidents and granted them services such as setting up an office, health insurance and personal protection through the Secret Service for life. Children under the age of 16 and the presidents' spouses are also entitled to personal protection. This also applies after the death of a former president.For example, the former first lady Bird Johnson was protected by the Secret Service until her death in 2007, although her husband Lyndon B. Johnson , who was divorced from the presidency in 1969, died in 1973.
After its entry into force, the still living Presidents Harry S. Truman and Herbert Hoover fell under the law. Dwight D. Eisenhower became the first president to be entitled to retirement benefits immediately after the end of his term. Since then, all subsequent presidents, apart from John F. Kennedy , who was assassinated in office , have received the benefits provided for in the Former Presidents Act .
In 2012, according to the US Treasury Department , the amount of pension compensation was $ 199,700 per year.
Modifications
In 1994 an amendment to the law was passed, which limited personal protection to a period of ten years after the end of the presidency. Since this modification did not come into force until 1997, it did not apply to President Bill Clinton , who was in office from 1993 to 2001 , as Clinton was already president before 1997. However, this change in the law was reversed in 2013 when President Barack Obama signed a bill to this effect in January 2013. This means that both Obama and his predecessor George W. Bush are entitled to lifelong personal protection.
In 1985, however, Richard Nixon, eleven years after the end of his presidency, was the only ex-president to voluntarily renounce personal protection.
Web links
- Original text (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Congressional Research Service: Former Presidents: Federal Pension and Retirement Benefits (PDF; 73 kB)
- ↑ Congressional Research Service: President of the United States: Compensation (PDF; 248 kB)
- ↑ theHill: Obama signs bill Extending lifetime Secret Service protection for former presidents from the 10 January 2013
- ^ The New York Times : FOLLOW-UP ON THE NEWS; NIXON GUARDS dated July 28, 1985