The Presidency / The First Year

Gold plate on back of chair that says "the president"

Joe Biden at one year

Presidential experts evaluate the 46th president's first year in office

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First Year 2017 logo

Donald Trump at one year

White House veterans and Miller Center scholars evaluate the 45th president's first 365 days

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Featured Video

First Year Project Introduction

Watch this overview of the First Year Project

Spilling oil forming US map

Energy and the Environment

The urgency of energy

Given the extent to which the energy landscape has shifted over the past decade, our nation’s energy policies are ripe for review and updating. With no new comprehensive energy legislation having passed during the Obama administration, the start of President Trump's term might appear to offer a new opportunity to propose comprehensive energy legislation to address our changing world.
Ronald E. Minsk
Columbia University
Cracked earth

Energy and the Environment

Changeup on climate change

The president can address climate change in the first year in a way that reaches across the aisle, speaks to all Americans, and brings us together. Although it may appear unlikely, Trump has a great opportunity to rethink how Americans frame climate change.
Deborah Lawrence
University of Virginia
Illustration of DNA made of bubbles

Science and Technology

The bioethical approach

In his first year, President Donald Trump should develop a charter for, assign priorities to, and establish by executive order a new presidential commission on bioethics.
James F. Childress
University of Virginia
Donald Trump with tight-lipped grin

Religion

The first citizen

Rather than uniting the nation, President Trump's first weeks in office seem to have deepened polarization and anxiety. How he responds to those expectations and anxieties will set the tone for his term of office.
Nichole M. Flores and Charles Mathewes
University of Virginia
A tree with clouds and rain

Energy and the Environment

Living in the Anthropocene

President Donald Trump rose to office amid cultural uneasiness about the pace and scope of social change. He has yet to signal, however, how he will address the changes rippling across life as natural systems are increasingly integrated within social systems.
Willis Jenkins
University of Virginia
Trump

The First Year

An 'entry level' presidency

With any new president, there's a learning curve. But for President Trump, it's been steeper than others. "Mount Everest" is how Barbara Perry, director of presidential studies at the Miller Center at the University of Virginia, described it ahead of Trump's 100th day in office.