# Does John McCain meet the requirements to be President?? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 1, 2008, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-john-mccain-meet-the-requirements-to-be-president/435802 "2008-02-01T01:49:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Nostradamus411](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f19dbf/32.png) [@Nostradamus411](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nostradamus411)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2008, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-john-mccain-meet-the-requirements-to-be-president/435802/1 "2008-02-01T01:49:47Z")
Article Two, Section 1, Clause 5 of the US Constitution states: No person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty-five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States. Wikipedia, concerning John McCain, states: McCain was born on August 29, 1936 at the Coco Solo Air Base in the then American-controlled Panama Canal Zone. So if he was born in the Panama Canal Zone is he eligible to be President of the United States? ---
**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2008, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-john-mccain-meet-the-requirements-to-be-president/435802/2 "2008-02-01T01:51:45Z")
Yes. You are still a natural born citizen if you are born on foreign soil if one of your parents is an American citizen. ---
**Author:** ![Nostradamus411](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f19dbf/32.png) [@Nostradamus411](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nostradamus411)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2008, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-john-mccain-meet-the-requirements-to-be-president/435802/3 "2008-02-01T01:52:24Z")
Does John McCain \*\*meet \*\*the requirements to be President?? ---
**Author:** ![kdeus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b487fb/32.png) [@kdeus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kdeus)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2008, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-john-mccain-meet-the-requirements-to-be-president/435802/4 "2008-02-01T01:53:40Z")
Yes. The United States grants citizenship based on where you were born (born here, you’re in) and/ or to whom you’re born (kids of citizens are citizens, no matter where the birth happens). John McCain’s dad was, IIRC, an officer in the Navy. Commissioned officers must be citizens. Kids of citizens are citizens. ---
**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2008, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-john-mccain-meet-the-requirements-to-be-president/435802/5 "2008-02-01T01:53:41Z")
Yes. You are still a natural born citizen if you are born on foreign soil if one of your parents is an American citizen. ---
**Author:** ![Rico](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rico/32/3582_2.png) [@Rico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rico)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2008, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-john-mccain-meet-the-requirements-to-be-president/435802/6 "2008-02-01T01:56:05Z")
\ Fixed the thread title for ya \ ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2008, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-john-mccain-meet-the-requirements-to-be-president/435802/7 "2008-02-01T02:00:13Z")
“Natural born citizen” means “citizen by virtue of the circumstances of your birth”. Being born on American soil (or hopefully in a hospital, because being born on soil would be unhygienic) is the most common way to be a natural-born US citizen, but it’s not the only way. ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2008, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-john-mccain-meet-the-requirements-to-be-president/435802/8 "2008-02-01T02:00:45Z")
Also, if he didn’t meet the requirements, his running for the position would be downright silly. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2008, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-john-mccain-meet-the-requirements-to-be-president/435802/9 "2008-02-01T02:47:29Z")
Mitt Romney’s father, George, ran for president in 1968 and he was considered to be a valid candidate despite being born in Mexico. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2008, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-john-mccain-meet-the-requirements-to-be-president/435802/10 "2008-02-01T03:03:20Z")
I’m honestly surprised that someone may not know being born to an American parent makes one an American. But even if McCain’s parents had been, say, local employees at the base, for the sake of argument, would that still count as “American soil”? Being a US military base and/or the US-controlled Canal Zone? What about embassy grounds? ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2008, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-john-mccain-meet-the-requirements-to-be-president/435802/11 "2008-02-01T03:25:44Z")
The “natural born citizen” qualification set in the constitution is a little murky: [Wikipedia says:](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_nationality_law) > [@](#): > > the Naturalization Act of 1790, that “the children of citizens of the United States that may be born beyond the sea, or out of the limits of the United States, shall be considered as natural born citizens”, which does not draw a distinction between biological children and adopted children, even though the process of adoption was certainly well known at the time. > > In fact, the phrase “natural born Citizen” is not defined anywhere in the Constitution itself and its interpretation has never been the subject of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling. Thus, some argue that even those born abroad to US citizens are not eligible to ascend to the Presidency, since an act of the United States Congress such as the Naturalization Act may not overrule the Constitution (see “Natural born citizen” as presidential qualification). Thus far, presidential candidates George W. Romney (born in Mexico), and Barry Goldwater and John McCain (born in U.S. territories), were never seriously challenged on the basis of their “natural-born” citizenship, but no candidate falling under this classification has ever actually become President, and therefore the question must be regarded as not having been finally decided. Perhaps this is a case where primacy must be accorded to the text, structure, and history of the constitution, rather than any modern day notions about what constitutes ‘natural’. How hard can it be to ask judge Scalia for _his_ opinion? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2008, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-john-mccain-meet-the-requirements-to-be-president/435802/12 "2008-02-01T04:45:05Z")
I believe that strictly speaking a child born abroad of at least one US citizen parent has to apply to be recognized as a natural born citizen. There is something called the “Consular Report of Birth Abroad” that needs to be duly processed. Eg, it ain’t official until you have done the paperwork. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2008, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-john-mccain-meet-the-requirements-to-be-president/435802/13 "2008-02-01T04:45:50Z")
I’m certain this was brought up when he ran before, and it wasn’t anything close to an issue back then, either. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2008, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-john-mccain-meet-the-requirements-to-be-president/435802/14 "2008-02-01T04:51:53Z")
[QUOTE=China Guy] I believe that strictly speaking a child born abroad of at least one US citizen parent has to apply to be recognized as a natural born citizen. There is something called the “Consular Report of Birth Abroad” that needs to be duly processed. Eg, it ain’t official until you have done the paperwork. [/QUOTE] True, but it’s not applying to be a citizen, it’s merely registering that you are one. I know many farangs who simply take a record of the hospital birth of their child here to the embassy and voila! The baby gets a passport and accepted as a citizen. Just about any Western embassy, not only for the US. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2008, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-john-mccain-meet-the-requirements-to-be-president/435802/15 "2008-02-01T05:22:52Z")
Never mind - I was responding to a point that wasn’t made. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2008, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-john-mccain-meet-the-requirements-to-be-president/435802/16 "2008-02-01T09:58:44Z")
Of course he is! After all, our first eight Presidents (George Washington, Adams, Jefferson, etc .) weren’t born in the United States, but in a British Colony. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2008, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-john-mccain-meet-the-requirements-to-be-president/435802/17 "2008-02-01T11:09:30Z")
[QUOTE=t-bonham@scc.net] Of course he is! After all, our first eight Presidents (George Washington, Adams, Jefferson, etc .) weren’t born in the United States, but in a British Colony. [/QUOTE] However, they are covered by the other part of the provision: > [@](#): > > a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2008, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-john-mccain-meet-the-requirements-to-be-president/435802/18 "2008-02-19T21:16:29Z")
Sorry to bump an old thread, but I don’t think people gave this question due consideration. This is currently a hot debate among constitutional law professors. There really is something to this, even if prudentially no court would ever touch it. The Constitutional requirement of “natural-born” citizenship is separate from the statutory scheme which provides citizenship to people like John McCain. It isn’t at all settled that the way Congress currently defines “natural-born” is consistent with what the framers meant by “natural-born” in Article II. Indeed, there are good arguments for why the framers did not intend \*jus sanguins \*citizenship (that is, citizenship by blood) as a means of becoming “natural-born”–after all, their intention was that no one born abroad except those already in the US at the time of adoption could become citizens. The question, academic though it may be, might come down to the status of the Canal Zone at the time of his birth. Maybe this is Huckabee’s miracle? ---
**Author:** ![KSO](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@KSO](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KSO)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2008, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-john-mccain-meet-the-requirements-to-be-president/435802/19 "2008-02-19T21:44:19Z")
Where is this debate occuring? Link? ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2008, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-john-mccain-meet-the-requirements-to-be-president/435802/20 "2008-02-19T21:44:35Z")
Yes we did give it due consideration. It is not a topic of hot debate among constitutional law professors, it is a settled issue. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-john-mccain-meet-the-requirements-to-be-president/435802.md?page=2)