Look at the tyranny of party—at what is called party allegiance, party loyalty—a snare invented by designing men for selfish purposes—and which turns voters into chattles, slaves, rabbits, and all the while their masters, and they themselves are shouting rubbish about liberty, independence, freedom of opinion, freedom of speech, honestly unconscious of the fantastic contradiction; and forgetting or ignoring that their fathers and the churches shouted the same blasphemies a generation earlier when they were closing their doors against the hunted slave, beating his handful of humane defenders with Bible texts and billies, and pocketing the insults and licking the shoes of his Southern master.

— Mark Twain

To download a copy of the course syllabus for Fall 2016, click here.

Deborah L. Guber
Associate Professor
Department of Political Science
The University of Vermont
Old Mill, Room 532
94 University Place
Burlington, VT 05405-0114
 
E-mail: Deborah.Guber@uvm.edu
Phone: 802-656-4062
Fax: 802-656-0758

Office hours: Mondays and Wednesdays, 10:45-11:45 AM, 1:00-2:00 PM, and by appointment

Dates to Remember

• Friday, October 14:  Exam #1

• Friday, December 2:  Exam #2

• Monday, December 12:  Final paper due by 1:30 PM

Article II, Section 1, Clause 5 of the U.S. Constitution has only three requirements for a president. (1) Must be at least 35 years old, (2) have lived in the United States at least 14 years, and (3) be a natural-born citizen.

John Kennedy is the youngest elected U.S. President at 43.
Ronald Reagan is the oldest elected U.S. President at 73. (second term)

The only President and Vice President to never be elected to the office was Gerald Ford. He became vice president when Spiro Agnew resigned and became president when Nixon resigned.

The tallest U.S. President was Abraham Lincoln at 6'4". The shortest U.S. President was James Madison at 5'4".

Percent wise, the 1992 election was the biggest turnout since 1972 with 61.3 percent off the voter age population heading to the polls.

James Buchanan is the only bachelor to be elected president.