Am I completely off base for situating the title in an American context? The short answer is yes. Longer answer is: Was it a professional term that bled into politics, or vice versa? Were corporatists evoking a political slant or were politicians invoking a corporate angle, or something else entirely? Word itself comes from Latin prae+sedere (before+to sit) and denotes someone who, well.. sit in front of the others while leading a meeting or debates of some sort. It is, however not a Latin, but medieval term, first recorded in academic circles circa mid 15 century. The presidents of colleges in Oxford are the original presidents, so to say (oldest running post of the president is the one of Corpus Christi College). Politicians, businessmen and clergy borrowed the term to name a head of collective body. Did Americans coin it as a political title? No, the first were- again- English. Since 15th century president was used to denote heads of the two provincial ruling bodies- the Council of the North and the Council of Wales. Fun fact- Richard III was Lord President (of the Council of the North) before becoming King. During Elizabethan era, military governors of provinces in Ireland also had title of Lord President. And off course since the time of Henry VIII there is position of Lord President of the Privy Council.

John Bradshaw could claim the honor to be first head of the state with this title as he was Lord President of the Council of State, but there is one but- entire Council of State was head of state in corpore, so if nothing else USA was the first nation to use this title for a head of the state. was it internationally adopted before America's ascendancy as a post World War II superpower? Yes, but its still USA's fault. As Spanish empire fell apart in early 19th century, a number of new republics sprung-up in Central and South America and they look up to USA as example of republican model and named they own heads of states presidents too, thus solidifying the new meaning of the word.