President of United Earth

The President of United Earth is the head of state for United Earth. (The Future Begins, Starfleet: Year One.)

In the early 2160s, Lydia Littlejohn was the President of United Earth, and was in office when the Articles of the Federation were signed, establishing the United Federation of Planets. (The Future Begins, Starfleet: Year One.)

At first glance, The Future Begins 's use of a United Earth presidency seems to contradict "Eleven Hours Out," the short story in Tales of the Dominion War'' that establishes the Prime Minister of United Earth. However, many parliamentary systems of government have both presidencies and prime ministerships, with the president serving a mostly ceremonial role as head of state while the prime minister typically serves as the head of government and person actually exercising political power. The president's primary duty in such systems is to designate a member of parliament able to command a majority in the legislature as the prime minister and to charge him/her to form a new cabinet; they often serve as nonpartisan representatives of the state at formal events, much as monarchs in constitutional monarchies do. President Littlejohn may have been particularly famous for spiritual leadership during the Earth-Romulan War, though this contradicts Year One 's depiction of her as being in charge of negotations with Romulus and thus as being head of government.''