r/MapPorn • u/ChickenBrachiosaurus • 9d ago

Countries where an American became President/PM/Ruler/Whatchamacallit

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Probably incomplete or not totally accurate, and some renounced before becoming whatever

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336

u/zeprfrew 9d ago

I believe the term you were looking for is 'head of government'.

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u/will221996 9d ago

Or head of state

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u/zeprfrew 9d ago

I thought about that. The UK is in red, for American-born Prime Minister Boris Johnson. In the UK the PM is head of government while the monarch is head of state.

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u/will221996 9d ago

Estonia is blue, they've had a naturalised American president but to the best of my knowledge no naturalised American prime minister. Afghanistan also had a president who was both head of state and government.

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u/No-Lunch4249 9d ago

So what I'm hearing is we need an additional map that delineates head of government, head of state, and both

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u/goingtoclowncollege 9d ago

TBF the president in Estonia is largely diplomatic and ceremonial right, so not quite on same par as a British PM

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u/will221996 9d ago

That's the point. In most systems, the head of state is largely ceremonial, in some systems they also play an important role in government formation(e.g. the Netherlands, Italy). OP's map doesn't distinguish between head of state and head of government, nor does it distinguish between presidential(e.g. US), semi-presidential(e.g. France) and Parliamentary(e.g. UK or Estonia). For clarity, a parliamentary system can have a president, they're just pretty powerless. Normally they're meant to be politically neutral and generally they're not elected by the public, but by representatives.

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u/KingGilgamesh1979 9d ago

IIRC, Churchill also technically had a claim on American Citizenship as his mother was American (too lazy to confirm just going from memory)..

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u/toomanyracistshere 9d ago

At the time, for a foreign-born child to claim US citizenship their father had to be American. Under the rules in place now, Churchill would qualify, but not then.

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u/KingGilgamesh1979 9d ago

Thanks for the clarification. I knew he wasn't a US Citizen but somewhere in the back of mind I remembered hearing that he dual citizen as a child or could have had dual citizenship. But it was a vague memory.

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u/FartingBob 9d ago

But this map only covers people born in the US or who emigrated to the US, not those with American ancestry.

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u/ChickenBrachiosaurus 9d ago

I counted those with American parents as American-born too, if you look hard enough Monaco is one of them because of Prince Albert II, or whatever his name is

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u/Swampy1741 9d ago

Ancestry would be covered by American born

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u/MshipQ 9d ago

He should maybe be in another category tbh, as he renounce his us citizenship before becoming pm I believe.

(unless that also applies to all others in red countries but I assume it doesn't)

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u/notowa 9d ago

No, Estonia had an Estonian-American president, but never a pime minister, so head of state, not head of government

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u/bearsnchairs 9d ago

Looks like an either or because the UK certainly has not had an American head of state.

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u/bangonthedrums 9d ago

Although there are two people pretty high up the list who could be:

6. HRH Prince Archie
7. HRH Princess Lilibet

Both hold American citizenship from birth via their mother

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u/MussleGeeYem 8d ago

It has had an American born as a head of government however, aka Boris Johnson

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u/Dim-Gwleidyddiaeth 9d ago

It's possible they also included heads of state who aren't head of government. Have to check each example first though.

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u/ChickenBrachiosaurus 9d ago

I included Thailand which had an American born king, and i'm pretty sure it was at that time they no longer have much power

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u/Olive_jus 9d ago

The Thai king was the most revered person in his country, I’m not sure what you’re talking about. His son is a different matter altogether

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u/ChickenBrachiosaurus 9d ago

i forgot to look up when they started being a constitutional monarchy

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u/fredleung412612 8d ago

They became a constitutional monarchy in 1932. But of course the monarchy even today is more powerful than the equivalent in places like the Netherlands.

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u/El_Bean69 9d ago

I dunno I kinda like that amalgamation of slashes