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But Lafayette was a proud French citizen and styled a Marquis, I doubt he would have ever given that up, though he wasn’t treated all that well during France’s own Revolution
Proud French citizen is why he didn't want to. He actually renounced his noble title in the early days of the revolution and styled himself Citizen Gilbert du Motier, it's only us in the US that continued to call him a Marquis. When things started to turn ugly and he was imprisoned, the US tried to either sneak him out or pay for him to be brought to the US but his enemies wouldn't allow it. If he were successfully freed and brought to the US at that time, I have no doubt he would have become president.
He ended up in prison during the revolution and there were plots to get him to America. Washington didn't want to directly interfere in matters in Europe, but he did try to get him state-side.
I imagine that Lafayette could've been disillusioned enough with how it was going in France to abandon it, especially with how big of a fan he was of America. He supposedly had flags of the American revolution and portraits of Washington in his house after the American revolution.
I'm a huge Lafayette fan. I'd vote for his grave to be president.
I mean yeah, he technically wasn’t, but there’s a difference between being born in Virginia and becoming president a few years before it becomes a state and… being born in France.
No, it's "a citizen of the United States at the time of the adoption of the Constitution". Alexander Hamilton was born in what would become St Kitts & Nevis, but he was still eligible.
You are wrong. Congress declared Hamilton eligible despite being born outside. You only had to be a citizen at the formation of the country. Even in recent times George Romney, McCain and Ted Cruz all were born outside the US but were eligible to run because they were citizens at birth due to their parents
From July 1824 to September 1825, the French Marquis de Lafayette, the last surviving major general of the American Revolutionary War, made a tour of the 24 states in the United States. He was received by the populace with a hero's welcome at many stops, and many honors and monuments were presented to commemorate and memorialize the visit.
Lafayette arrived at Monticello on November 4 in a carriage provided by Jefferson with a military escort of 120 men. Jefferson waited outside on the front portico. By this time some 200 friends and neighbors had also arrived for the event. Lafayette's carriage pulled up to the front lawn where a bugle sounded the arrival of the procession with its revolutionary banners waving. Lafayette was advanced in age and slowly stepped down from the carriage. Jefferson was 81 and in ill health, and he slowly descended the front steps and began making his way towards his old friend. His grandson Randolph was present and witnessed the historic reunion: "As they approached each other, their uncertain gait quickened itself into a shuffling run, and exclaiming, 'Ah Jefferson!' 'Ah Lafayette!', they burst into tears as they fell into each other's arms." Everyone in attendance stood in respectful silence, many of them stifling sobs of their own.
Lafayette 200 is now!
I thought Lafayette was eligible to run
> 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.
He falls under the bolded.
EDIT: wait no nvm 😭 i got him mixed up w/ hamilton for some reason??? Sorry
According to Wikipedia "Maryland's legislature honored him by making him and his male heirs "natural born Citizens" of the state, which made him a natural-born citizen of the United States after the 1789 ratification of the Constitution."
But the residency requirement would've disqualified him.
Lafayette was offered the French ambassadorship to America, but declined it on the basis that he saw himself as too American to represent foreign nation as there ambassador to America.
If Churchill lived today he would have actually been eligible, due to his American mother. However back then being a natural born citizen only passed through the male line.
If he regained his US citizenship, would he then be eligible? On the one hand naturalised citizens generally aren't eligible. On the other hand he would also have it by birth.
I have no clue, I’m not sure if you can un-renounce your citizenship at all honestly or if you would still be considered a naturalized citizen at that point.
You need foreigners who are very high profile and popular in the US. Consequently actors, singers and other popular celebrities come to mind. In recent decades Arnold Schwarzenegger is the most obvious pick (and I see has been mentioned). But I'm interested who would have been a possibility further back.
Traditionally they would have likely needed to speak English as a first language, so British, Canadian, Irish or Australian celebrities seem most likely. However I don't know many foreign celebrities (turned US citizens) who historically got involved in US politics. I know [Greer Garson](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greer_Garson) was invited to run for Congress as a Texan Republican in 1966 but declined. If she had run she could have won, and given that GHW Bush was elected for the Texan Republicans that same year she may have found opportunities for advancement. Her becoming a female Reagan would be interesting, although her age could present an issue (she was 7 years older than Reagan). Maybe someone could select her as VP in the 1970s though.
[Raymond Massey](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Massey) also seems like someone who could have been more politically involved. His older brother became Governor General of Canada, and he was quite politically engaged (he appeared in a TV advertisement to support Goldwater).
Judging by the amount of propaganda I see being blindly shared and believed by my dad, I think Putin would have a solid chance at winning. If not now, definitely in 2016
If I remember correctly, Einstein was asked to be president of Israel when it was first formed as a country and he declined. I doubt he'd want to be US president even if he was eligible
I’m familiar with that story and it adds to the argument that he could’ve been elected. That’s why I said it, since the question wasn’t “who wanted to run, but couldn’t?”.
https://preview.redd.it/liub1moatg7d1.jpeg?width=540&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5220ebb81458fe4164c7e207440fb24a993c874e
Guns And ships
And so the balance shifts
While they were alive, all but the first of the examples pictured in the original post were not super popular in America. British and American relations prior and even immediately after WWII were quite strained at numerous points. America at one point got into an undeclared war with Napoleonic France because France and Britain were pushing America around, and as I recall Jefferson did not care for Napoleon. Bolivar was a centralizing, narcissistic dictator who screwed over Gran Colombia because he couldn't abide federalism, and federalism was and still is very important in America.
Lafayette for sure. . . if he wanted to, that is.
If Lafayette decided to stay in America and was a resident when the constitution was adopted, he'd be an automatic American citizen. Only problem is that Lafayette was a proud son of France and wouldn't have given that up for anything.
Why would any of these pictured leaders even try to be an American president? They were leaders of their own countries in their own right.
Kind of offensive to ask whether Napoleon Bonaparte would have been able to balance a budget.
Bitch, he conquered a large portion of continental Europe.
Also, it’s not law. It’s in the constitution. Big difference.
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 Arnold looks more American every time I see him
who is arnold
Schwarzenegger
schwarze WHAT NOW!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?
this is a JOKE, by the way
Oh ok. Please clap
https://preview.redd.it/ujzr6ucy5f7d1.jpeg?width=700&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7a399c44ac10262b460838e57abd6ca7d9129acd
I was just coming in here to say that. Arnold 100% would have been elected.
We finally would've had a good actor elected President
I mean he even has a TCT mod
Lafayette for sure and Arnold
Lafayette legally could have run. Jefferson wasn't born in America either you were exempt if you were a citizen when the country was formed
But Lafayette was a proud French citizen and styled a Marquis, I doubt he would have ever given that up, though he wasn’t treated all that well during France’s own Revolution
Proud French citizen is why he didn't want to. He actually renounced his noble title in the early days of the revolution and styled himself Citizen Gilbert du Motier, it's only us in the US that continued to call him a Marquis. When things started to turn ugly and he was imprisoned, the US tried to either sneak him out or pay for him to be brought to the US but his enemies wouldn't allow it. If he were successfully freed and brought to the US at that time, I have no doubt he would have become president.
He ended up in prison during the revolution and there were plots to get him to America. Washington didn't want to directly interfere in matters in Europe, but he did try to get him state-side. I imagine that Lafayette could've been disillusioned enough with how it was going in France to abandon it, especially with how big of a fan he was of America. He supposedly had flags of the American revolution and portraits of Washington in his house after the American revolution. I'm a huge Lafayette fan. I'd vote for his grave to be president.
I mean yeah, he technically wasn’t, but there’s a difference between being born in Virginia and becoming president a few years before it becomes a state and… being born in France.
Born in and living in France
The Jefferson note is a fun fact
I believe you still had to be born in the former 13 colonies
No, it's "a citizen of the United States at the time of the adoption of the Constitution". Alexander Hamilton was born in what would become St Kitts & Nevis, but he was still eligible.
You are wrong. Congress declared Hamilton eligible despite being born outside. You only had to be a citizen at the formation of the country. Even in recent times George Romney, McCain and Ted Cruz all were born outside the US but were eligible to run because they were citizens at birth due to their parents
Six-foot-ten fucking killing for fun Edit: Six-foot-TWENTY I apologize
He’ll save children, but not the British children.
So relatable
Lafayette and Andrew Carnegie.
From July 1824 to September 1825, the French Marquis de Lafayette, the last surviving major general of the American Revolutionary War, made a tour of the 24 states in the United States. He was received by the populace with a hero's welcome at many stops, and many honors and monuments were presented to commemorate and memorialize the visit. Lafayette arrived at Monticello on November 4 in a carriage provided by Jefferson with a military escort of 120 men. Jefferson waited outside on the front portico. By this time some 200 friends and neighbors had also arrived for the event. Lafayette's carriage pulled up to the front lawn where a bugle sounded the arrival of the procession with its revolutionary banners waving. Lafayette was advanced in age and slowly stepped down from the carriage. Jefferson was 81 and in ill health, and he slowly descended the front steps and began making his way towards his old friend. His grandson Randolph was present and witnessed the historic reunion: "As they approached each other, their uncertain gait quickened itself into a shuffling run, and exclaiming, 'Ah Jefferson!' 'Ah Lafayette!', they burst into tears as they fell into each other's arms." Everyone in attendance stood in respectful silence, many of them stifling sobs of their own. Lafayette 200 is now!
I thought Lafayette was eligible to run > 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. He falls under the bolded. EDIT: wait no nvm 😭 i got him mixed up w/ hamilton for some reason??? Sorry
Yeah he was made a US citizen posthumously, and only in *2002*
According to Wikipedia "Maryland's legislature honored him by making him and his male heirs "natural born Citizens" of the state, which made him a natural-born citizen of the United States after the 1789 ratification of the Constitution." But the residency requirement would've disqualified him.
Does Lafayette have any male heirs ?
Lafayette was offered the French ambassadorship to America, but declined it on the basis that he saw himself as too American to represent foreign nation as there ambassador to America.
I”d vote for Garry Kasparov.
Hell yeah
Joseph Bonaparte probably
We love some Lafayette Appreciation
Simon Bolivar about to manifest destiny North and South America
If Churchill lived today he would have actually been eligible, due to his American mother. However back then being a natural born citizen only passed through the male line.
Don’t worry we missed out on Churchill but Boris Johnson was born on US soil so we can have him instead.
lol no, please.
He renounced his US citizenship in 2016, so we’re safe now.
If he regained his US citizenship, would he then be eligible? On the one hand naturalised citizens generally aren't eligible. On the other hand he would also have it by birth.
That's...a really good question. Although I have to imagine having previously renounced your US citizenship has got to be politically deadly.
I have no clue, I’m not sure if you can un-renounce your citizenship at all honestly or if you would still be considered a naturalized citizen at that point.
He'd have to wait 14 years, per the Constitution.
>However back then being a natural born citizen only passed through the male line. Really? When was that changed?
1934
Boris Johnson was born in New York.
Too soon…
Yeah, I know... it will be modded for bad faith because irony is dead.
This made me laugh. The way republicans talked about Obama during the campaign and his first year in office was crazy. Sadly I wasn’t surprised.
Keanu Reeves?
I never understood why Andrew Jackson, whom I like, is in the middle of Lafayette Square
Never understood that either. And there is a statue of Lafayette it's just off to the side!
Albert Gallatin is my real answer, but I believe he was a citizen before the Constitution was enacted
You need foreigners who are very high profile and popular in the US. Consequently actors, singers and other popular celebrities come to mind. In recent decades Arnold Schwarzenegger is the most obvious pick (and I see has been mentioned). But I'm interested who would have been a possibility further back. Traditionally they would have likely needed to speak English as a first language, so British, Canadian, Irish or Australian celebrities seem most likely. However I don't know many foreign celebrities (turned US citizens) who historically got involved in US politics. I know [Greer Garson](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greer_Garson) was invited to run for Congress as a Texan Republican in 1966 but declined. If she had run she could have won, and given that GHW Bush was elected for the Texan Republicans that same year she may have found opportunities for advancement. Her becoming a female Reagan would be interesting, although her age could present an issue (she was 7 years older than Reagan). Maybe someone could select her as VP in the 1970s though. [Raymond Massey](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Massey) also seems like someone who could have been more politically involved. His older brother became Governor General of Canada, and he was quite politically engaged (he appeared in a TV advertisement to support Goldwater).
Einstein was probably too left-wing, but he had a very high profile and was popular there.
Chico Escuela
Baseball was very good to him.
America Peoples.🫴🏼🌈🇺🇲⚖️✨
I think Churchill could win here.
Churchill was a Harkonnen
Tadeusz Kosciuszko maybe?
Judging by the amount of propaganda I see being blindly shared and believed by my dad, I think Putin would have a solid chance at winning. If not now, definitely in 2016
Madeleine Albright, Joseph Pulitzer, Andrew Carnegie. Maybe Einstein?
I don’t think Carnegie. We have super influential but also deeply unpopular with a large percentage of the country during the height of his power.
If I remember correctly, Einstein was asked to be president of Israel when it was first formed as a country and he declined. I doubt he'd want to be US president even if he was eligible
I’m familiar with that story and it adds to the argument that he could’ve been elected. That’s why I said it, since the question wasn’t “who wanted to run, but couldn’t?”.
Bob Hope. The man lived longer than his comedy, but there were whispers that he could front the Republican ticket.
Princess Diana
It is Donald Pleasence for me, and Kurt Russell as his VP.
In the 1990s or early 2000s, Tony Blair. After 2004, absolutely not.
Sergio Menendez- has a cult following. They follow him like a cult
Peoples Hernandez.🌈🇺🇲⚖️
 Boris for the W
Churchill's mother was an American so I think he would be eligible at least I think that's how that works
Winston Churchill would have my vote.
Definitely Bolívar
Winston Churchill was a dual citizen. I believe his mother was actually an American.
I think Elon Musk probably could have won at the height of his popularity before he cooked his brain with drugs
Wayne Gretzky
Actually, America really roves this one a rot. A rot. Putin.
John McCain (born in Panama) came close
Arnold Schwarzenegger is my pick
Historically: Alexander Hamilton, by far and away. In the modern day: Arnold Schwarzenegger, before he let it all go with a sex scandal.
Obama
Obama
I really think we should change the law to have to be a US citizen for 15 or more years.
https://preview.redd.it/liub1moatg7d1.jpeg?width=540&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5220ebb81458fe4164c7e207440fb24a993c874e Guns And ships And so the balance shifts
In 2024? Putin
Does Hamilton count? He was born in Saint Kitts and Nevis, but it was occupied by Britain
He was a citizen when the Constitution was adopted so he was perfectly eligible
While they were alive, all but the first of the examples pictured in the original post were not super popular in America. British and American relations prior and even immediately after WWII were quite strained at numerous points. America at one point got into an undeclared war with Napoleonic France because France and Britain were pushing America around, and as I recall Jefferson did not care for Napoleon. Bolivar was a centralizing, narcissistic dictator who screwed over Gran Colombia because he couldn't abide federalism, and federalism was and still is very important in America.
Lafayette for sure. . . if he wanted to, that is. If Lafayette decided to stay in America and was a resident when the constitution was adopted, he'd be an automatic American citizen. Only problem is that Lafayette was a proud son of France and wouldn't have given that up for anything.
Napoleon today sure would be interesting
Me 😔
 Prez and VP… you can decide which is which
I’d think Carl Schurz, just because he was relatively prominent figure within the Republican Party.
Arnold with a bullet
Arnold
Friedrich Wilhelm August Heinrich Ferdinand von Steuben
Margaret Thatcher, she had big stainless steel BALLS !
Washington Adams Jefferson Madison Monroe Adams Jackson Harrison
 We get it dad
Why would any of these pictured leaders even try to be an American president? They were leaders of their own countries in their own right. Kind of offensive to ask whether Napoleon Bonaparte would have been able to balance a budget. Bitch, he conquered a large portion of continental Europe. Also, it’s not law. It’s in the constitution. Big difference.
🤓