The only way has been by voting. That is only in the USA. Some countries have monarchs or tyrants who inherit the throne or seize it by force.
No U. S. President was elected before 1789.
He ran a newspaper and then was elected US Senator from Ohio before he was elected president.
Bill Clinton was governor of Arkansas before he was elected president.
They are elected by the people before the president.
No, Obama was a Senator before being elected president
Presidents who did not hold elected office before they were President are Zachary Taylor, Ulysses Grant, Herbert Hoover and Dwight Eisenhower.
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John F. Kennedy was a naval officer,author,congressman and senator before being elected as president.
Harding was a US Senator from Ohio and the Lieutenant Governor of Ohio before he was elected President.
That was President Carter.
He was the first elected President, several men held the office of President before him but none of them were elected.
Franklin D. Roosevelt ran for vice-president in 1920 but lost. He was elected President in 1932,1936,1940 and 1944.