Some interesting facts on Presidential politics
 

First, Resumes. There have been 44 Presidents
17 held only 1 major position before becoming president. Only 1 had never held one of the following major positions.

General
Vice President
Senator
Governor
Secretary of State
House of Representatives
Speaker of the House
Senate Majority Leader

Only Herbert Hoover never held at least one of these positions. He was a top businessman and was Commerce Secretary at the time he was elected President.

Of those 18 who only held 1 major position
4 were Generals
2 were Vice Presidents
2 were Senators
8 were Governors
1 was a member of the House of Representatives (Abe Lincoln)

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Concerning the Generals

George Washington was the first.
Zachary Taylor was the second. He had an outstanding resume as a General and was among the most famous Americans alive at the time of his presidential election.
Ulysses S. Grant was third. As the winner of the Civil War, Grant was a shoe-in.
Dwight D. Eisenhower was the last and like Grant as winner of WW2 he was a virtual shoe-in.

In addition to these four, seven other former Generals have been President. Chester A. Author was the only one on this list to have not been elected president. He was Vice President at the time James Garfield was assassinated.

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Concerning Vice Presidents
There have been 15 Vice Presidents who have become President. 5 of those were never directly elected President in their own right. That list includes:
John Tyler
Millard Fillmore
Andrew Johnson
Chester A. Arthur
Gerald Ford

In addition to these Teddy Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge, Harry Truman, and Lyndon Johnson first took office at the death of the preceding president. Each won 1 additional term as president.

So only 6 of the 15 were elected President in their own right the first time they became President.

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Concerning Senators
There have been 16 former Senators to become President. This is the second longest list although that fact is misleading. Only 2 former Senators held no other major office before becoming President.

Warren G. Harding was the first. He died in office just short of two and a half years in office. Harding had been a very successful businessman and a Lt. Gov. before being elected to the Senate. Harding is listed as one of the worst Presidents in American History.

The second President who served in no other major office besides Senator, is Barak Obama.

All the other Senators held at least one other major office before becoming President.

From this list, Only John F. Kennedy served in only the House and Senate. He did however serve 6 years in the House before his 8 years in the Senate.

Harry S. Truman was a senator for 10 years then Vice President for 3 months before becoming president.

Benjamin Harrison was both a Senator and a General before becoming President.

The remainder of the senators all served in 3 or more major offices before becoming President.

Re: Some interesting facts on Presidential politic
 

MIKE PENCE!!!!!!!!!!

It can happen!!!!!!!

:cheer :cheer :cheer :cheer :cheer

Re: Some interesting facts on Presidential politic
 

Abe also argued before the Supreme Court of the United States. He was also one of the main founders of the Republican party...

Mike inst without his bonafides and I like the guy a lot... but.... errr.... uh...

Re: Some interesting facts on Presidential politic
 

:toofunny

Re: Some interesting facts on Presidential politic
 

Concerning Governors

Governors make up the largest group. 19 Governors have become President and Eight of those never held any other major position. Taft was provisional Governor of Cuba and Civil Governor of the Philippines. Both of these were political appointments but should qualify. It should also be noted that Taft became Chief Justice of the U. S. Supreme Court after he was president. He is the only member of the Court to have been president.

In modern history, Barak Obama is the first President since Richard Nixon who was not a Governor. Additionally 9 of the last 15 Presidents (going back to Teddy Roosevelt) have been governors.

Concerning Secretaries of State

6 Presidents served as Secretary of State. In the early years of the Republic the Secretary of State was as likely to become President as the Vice President. Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe and John Quincy Adams were all Secretary of State. Madison, Monroe and John Q. Adams were all sitting Secretaries of State when they were elected President.

James Buchanan was the last Secretary of State to become President.

Also on the list is Martin Van Buren. Van Buren is the only President for whom English was not his first language. Additionally Van Buren was the first President to be born a Citizen of the United States of America. All previous Presidents were born subjects of the British Crown.

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Concerning Members of the House of Representatives

18 Presidents of the United States have served in the House of Representatives. As with the list of Presidents who served in the Senate, this fact is misleading. Only 1 House member became president without serving in any other major capacity. That man was Abraham Lincoln.

Although Lincoln held no other major political position (either appointed or elected), He was a very prominent national figure. In his home state he was a prominent lawyer who had argued more than 100 cases before the Illinois Supreme Court and he had argued before the U. S. Supreme Court as well… and won…

Every other President who served in the House of Representatives also served in at least 1 other major office. Only 6 of these served in only 1 other major position.

James Garfield was a Civil War General
Millard Fillmore and Gerald Ford were Vice Presidents
John F. Kennedy was also a senator.
James Madison, beyond being one of the founding Fathers and a lead author of the Constitution and a third of the Federalist Papers was Secretary of State.
George H. W. Bush is the last on this list. However, besides being Vice President for 8 years under Reagan, he was also Director of the CIA and United States Ambassador to the United Nations.

The remaining 11 Presidents who served in the House of Representatives also served in at least a third other major capacity. All of the men who were House members before running for President were exceptional men with outstanding resumes beyond their House membership.

James K. Polk was the only Speaker of the House to become President. He was also a former Governor.

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Lyndon Johnson was Senate Majority Leader before being tapped by Kennedy to run as the Vice Presidential nominee.

Re: Some interesting facts on Presidential politic
 

Does this count as Presidential political facts? LOL! Just ran across this article written today.

Re: Some interesting facts on Presidential politic
 

A few other Presidential Facts

Herbert Hoover is the only president not to have held a major office as noted here. He was Secretary of Commerce and an international Businessman before there ever was such a thing.

William Henry Harrison was a famous General, a Governor, a member of the House of Representatives and a Senator. He took the oath of office on March 4th 1841 and died April 4th 1841. In 1889 his Grandson Benjamin Harrison became the 23rd president of the United States.

Re: Some interesting facts on Presidential politic
 

kinda lame if you ask me. all true however... what is left out about Jefferson and Hemmings is that it seems he actually loved her.

But there are others were were quite terrible.

Franklin Roosevelt and Jack Kennedy were dirtbags. Roosevelt got away with it because his wife had her own girlfriend.

Jackson actually killed one man in a duel... He fought 13 of them most over his wife who was previously married and not divorced when they began living together!

Re: Some interesting facts on Presidential politic
 

I have found it to be true in history, that many of these indiscretions were permissible in social circles - unless - you were caught. No one rallied around you for support. They would chastise you for not being careful in the indiscretion! Found that to be also true when I read the biography of Winston Churchill's mother. I wonder that anyone was faithful! I imagine if we were a fly on the wall, today, we would be sickened by what goes on, privately, in governmental circles!