Compensation
| Date established | Salary | Salary in 2009
dollars |
|---|---|---|
| September 24, 1789 | $25,000 | $566,000 |
| March 3, 1873 | $50,000 | $865,000 |
| March 4, 1909 | $75,000 | $1,714,000 |
| January 19, 1949 | $100,000 | $906,000 |
| January 20, 1969 | $200,000 | $1,175,000 |
| January 20, 2001 | $400,000 | $487,000 |
| Sources: | ||
The president earns a $400,000 annual salary, along with a $50,000 annual expense account, a $100,000 nontaxable travel account and $19,000 for entertainment. The most recent raise in salary was approved by Congress and President Bill Clinton in 1999 and went into effect in 2001.
The White House in Washington, D.C. serves as the official place of residence for the president; he is entitled to use its staff and facilities, including medical care, recreation, housekeeping, and security services. The government pays for state dinners and other official functions, but the president pays for dry cleaning and food that he, his family, and personal guests consume; the high food bill often amazes new residents. Naval Support Facility Thurmont, popularly known as Camp David, is a mountain-based military camp in Frederick County, Maryland used as a country retreat and for high alert protection of the president and his guests. Blair House, located next to the Old Executive Office Building at the White House Complex and Lafayette Park, is a complex of four connected townhouses exceeding 70,000 square feet (6,500 m2) of floor space which serves as the president's official guest house and as a secondary residence for the president if needed.
For ground travel, the president uses the presidential state car, which is an armored limousine built on a heavily modified Cadillac-based chassis. One of two identical Boeing VC-25 aircraft, which are extensively modified versions of Boeing 747-200B airliners, serve as long distance travel for the president, and are referred to as Air Force One while the president is on board. The president also uses a United States Marine Corps helicopter, designated Marine One when the president is aboard.
The United States Secret Service is charged with protecting the sitting president and the first family. As part of their protection, presidents, first ladies, their children and other immediate family members, and other prominent persons and locations are assigned Secret Service codenames. The use of such names was originally for security purposes and dates to a time when sensitive electronic communications were not routinely encrypted; today, the names simply serve for purposes of brevity, clarity and tradition.
- Presidential Amenities
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The White House
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Camp David
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Blair House
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Presidential State Car
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Air Force One
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Marine One
Read more about this topic: President Of The United States
Famous quotes containing the word compensation:
“Senators and presidents have climbed so high with pain enough, not because they think the place specially agreeable, but as an apology for real worth, and to vindicate their manhood in our eyes. This conspicuous chair is their compensation to themselves for being of a poor, cold, hard nature.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“I have everything in the world that is necessary to happiness, good faith, good friends and all the work I can possibly do. I think God’s greatest blessing to the human race was when He sent man forth into the world to earn his bread by the sweat of his face. I believe in toil, in the dignity of labor, but I also believe in adequate compensation for that toil.”
—Anna Howard Shaw (1847–1919)
“... the compensation for a death sentence is knowledge of the exact hour when one is to die. A great luxury, but one that is well earned.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)