Nepotism president

A nepotism president is one who was selected by their party mainly on the grounds of their family name, regardless of their actual merit for the job. If they are then appointed to the job while contested ballots are being counted by a Supreme Court loaded with several appointees of their family, friends, and former employers, that seals the case.
==Background==
===General and ancient===
*Hereditary monarchy (where all pretence is cast aside).
*The Julio-Claudian dynasty of Roman emperors begun by Augustus Caesar who styled himself as simply "the first among equals" and kept up the facade of republicanism in the Roman Empire. (Many Roman emperors adopted a worthy candidate - sometimes not even a relative - as a prospective successor. Augustus himself had the advantage of being both a great-nephew and the adopted son of Big Julie.)
*Even with the whole celibacy thing, many , with some even having children. Some of these children would earlier or later in life be created cardinals, but with the pope claiming that the new cardinal was his brother's son rather than his own. Thus, the was born. (There were some cases where they actually were the pope's nephew, or a cousin or some other relative). This is where the word "nepotism" comes from, as the Italian for "nephew" is "nipote".
*Even when England briefly abolished its monarchy, was succeeded as Lord Protector by his son Richard.
===Similar concept: Wives and widows===
In many parts of the world, particularly the Americas, wives of popular or powerful politicians often run for office in their own right. This can be done either to circumvent term limits, or the wife can function as a "substitute" for her husband if he died (this later called ). Examples include:
* Cristina Fernández de"de" literally meaning "of" is the usual suffix between maiden name and married name in Latin America, in North American parlance she would be Cristina Kirchner (née Fernández) Kirchner — widow of former President Néstor Kirchner, started her first term as President of Argentina while her husband was alive
* Alabama: Lurleen Wallace, George Wallace's wife, served as governor when her husband ran up against a prohibition on serving consecutive terms as governor.
* The below-mentioned Corazon Aquino was mostly elected as a "replacement" for her murdered husband
* Violeta Barrios de Chamorro — President of Nicaragua, 1990-1996; widow of popular journalist Pedro Joaquín Chamorro, who was assassinatedEither on Somoza's orders, or by people believing to do him a favor or by agents provocateurs in 1978
* Isabel Martínez de Perón — third wife and widow of Juan Perón of Argentina, who was president before the shit really hit the fan
* Hillary Clinton — wife of Bill Clinton. Attempted on several occasions to serve as POTUS, most notably becoming the Democratic nominee in 2016, but ultimately could not find the support or cohesive political platform to succeed. Was however elected senator for New York (serving eight years), until being chosen as secretary of state by Barack Obama (serving four years).
==Examples==
===The United States===
* George Washington didn't have any children himself, but several of his relatives entered politics. His nephew (yes, really) was appointed to the Supreme Court, but he was nominated by George's successor John Adams, so at least the nepotism wasn't overt. George's grandnephew served four terms in the House, and was the vice presidential nominee of the Know Nothings in the 1852 election.
*The John Adams, John Quincy Adams.
*The William Henry Harrison, Benjamin Harrison.
*The Dead Kennedys Kennedys: John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy Ted Kennedy, pox-upon-the-landBobby's brain worms story is just more evidence he’s a terrible, terrible person by Jason Sattler (May 11, 2024) I Know How Much You Care. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Any Kennedy (plus, social climbing in-law Arnold Schwarzenegger).
*The Bushes: George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush (Jeb Bush tried, but failed).
*The Browns in California - Governor Moonbeam served four full terms, after already served two terms from 1959 to 1967He ran for a third after promising not to do so, which got him a close primary and a general election loss against one R. Wilson Reagan, a middling actor and union leader past his prime
*Andrew Cuomo became governor after his father, 
*Mike Huckabee and his daughter both governors of Arkansas
*Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump served as senior advising officials for Donald Trump
In addition, there are several US political dynasties that have produced presidents but are less clear-cut examples, e.g. the (William Howard Taft and Robert A. Taft) and the Roosevelts (Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, distant cousins of each other, and niece of the former and distant cousin/wife of the latter).
===Asia===
*Bangladesh: first president of the country, was killed in a 1975 military coup along with most of his family. Rahman was widely viewed to be an authoritarian. His daughter, was president from 2009-2024 when she was forced to flee the country because of violent suppression of popular protests. Her presidency became increasingly authoritarian.
*India: The (Indira, Rajiv, and Sonia Gandhi who are all related to Jawaharlal Nehru, the founding father and prime-minister of India, but none of them are related to the "real" Gandhi).
*Indonesia: Founding president and darling of the Non-Aligned Movement is the father of Indonesia's first female president There was a 34-year gap. As vice-president, she became president after President Abdurrahman Wahid was impeached and only served the remaining term, as she did not win re-election.
*Japan: When Shinzo Abe became prime minister, he went in his maternal grandfather footsteps. Shinzo's father and brother both served as ministers, and several other members of the family held prominent roles in politics.
*Malaysia: Former Prime Minister Najib Razak is the son of Malaysia's and nephew of the 
*North Korea: The Kims (Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong-il and Kim Jong-un).
*Pakistan: The ( and her husband Mr Ten Percent 
*The Philippines: Political dynasties have become a in the Philippines, with many provinces being controlled by the same family for generations. Some of these local dynasties have leveraged their influence to enter national politics. Prominent examples include the Aquinos ( and her son and Marcoses (actual dictator Ferdinand Marcos and his son who benefited from a disinformation campaign that covered up or whitewashed his father's cruelty when he became president in 2022).
*Singapore: Lee Kuan Yew led Singapore forever before his son Lee Hsien Loong took the reins. There was a place holder in between though.
*Sri Lanka: The first prime minister, Don Stephen Senanayake, was succeeded by his son Dudley Senanayake.
*Syria: The Assads (Bashar al-Assad).
===The rest of the world===
*Canada: The Trudeaus ( and Justin Trudeau).
*The Democratic Republic of the Congo: The Kabilas (
*Denmark: leader of the party Venstre and foreign minister during the 1980s and 1990s, had two children who went into politics. His son was the leader of Venstre 2019-2023, while his daughter was an MP and minister. Other political families in Denmark includes the Helvigs (founded by and the Hækkerups (founded by Hans Kristen Hækkerup). Former prime minister married into a British dynasty, as her husband is Stephen Kinnock (listed below).
*Haiti: The Duvaliers. The father was nicknamed "Papa Doc" and the son was "Baby Doc".
*Kenya: Fourth president is the son of first president Funnily, Uhuru's 2017 election opponent was the son of Jomo's vice president 
*Nicaragua: The Anastasio Somoza García (father), Luis Somoza Debayle (older son) and Anastasio Somoza Debayle (younger son) were all presidents/leaders of the national guard/unelected strongmen and de facto dictators of Nicaragua 1936-1979 and were pretty influential behind the scenes as early as the 1920s.
*Peru: imprisoned former dictator Alberto Fujimori and almost-president both are "
*Togo: Faure Gnassingbé, son of Gnassingbé Eyadéma. (Interestingly enough, long-time opposition head Gilchrist Olympio is also the son of first president Sylvanus Olympio.)
*United Kingdom: Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, whose father Joseph and uncle Austen both held important ministerial roles (Neville is now considered one of history's greatest villains for his appeasement policy). (son of Tony), (son of Neil), and Winston Churchill's grandson are other, more modest examples of hereditary legislators.
==See also==
*Nepotist president 
==Notes==
==References==
Category:United States politics