Senators as President of the United States

[k_jerome]

Presidents that were Senators:

James Monroe 1817-1825
John Quincy Adams 1825-1829
Andrew Jackson 1829-1837
Martin Van Buren 1837-1841
William Henry Harrison 1841
John Tyler 1841-1845
Franklin Pierce 1853-1857
James Buchanan 1857-1861
Andrew Johnson 1865-1869
Benjamin Harrison 1889-1893
Warren G. Harding 1921-1923
Harry S. Truman 1945-1953
John F. Kennedy 1961-1963
Lyndon B. Johnson 1963-1969
Richard M. Nixon 1969-1974

Presidents that were generals (asterisk indicates also Senators):

George Washington
Andrew Jackson*
William Henry Harrison*
Zachary Taylor
Franklin Pierce*
Andrew Johnson*
Ulysses Simpson Grant
Rutherford Birchard Hayes
James Abram Garfield
Chester Allan Arthur
Benjamin Harrison*
Dwight David Eisenhower


I would add Al Gore to the list of Senators that won the Presidency, and a strong case could be made that John Kerry did the same.

Now, unless theres a general out there that won World War II in Europe or was the father of our country running , I'll take the three qualified Senators running for President, one of whom will CONTINUE the trend of Senators being elected to the office of President. One trend that I hope will be bucked is white dudes being elected. Lot of those...kind of a streak if you will.

[whistle]

1. That accounts for 22 of our 42 presidents, what political position

...were the other 20 presidents prior prior to winning the presidency? Clinton, Bush II, Ronnie Reagan and Jimmy Carter were governors, while Bush I held no elected position prior to becoming president except to be Ronnie Reagan's running mate which was an appointment really. Then there wer FDR, Hoover, Cooledge and Wilson who I believe were all governors. Gerry Ford was a senator before being selected by Nixon to be VP and then never was elected. The other presidents I don't recall their poltical credentials.

[Tom Rinaldo]

3. Gerald Ford was Minority Leader of the House, not a Senator. n/t

[CarbonDate]

4. VP is as much an elected position as President.

The Vice President is selected by the Electoral College after the President is selected. Neither is selected by the people.

[whistle]

9. I'll never fully understand the electoral college process which basically

...takes the popular vote of the people and flushes it down the toilet:hide: :yoiks:

Is the vice president listed seperately on the voting ballot? No, he or she is picked by the candidate for president, then voters get to vote for the party pair

[CarbonDate]

5. Also, George H.W. Bush was twice elected to the House....

...before losing to Lloyd Bentsen in the 1970 Texas senate race and being appointed by Nixon to serve as Ambassador to the U.N.

[Tom Rinaldo]

2. JFK last Senator to go directly to the White House - 1960-1963

IKE last General to go directly to the White House 1952- 1960.

Edwards would be an interesting case. Though Truman, Johnson, and Nixon (and Gore) transitioned into being elected President via being elected Vice President first, Edwards has been out of office since 2004 and a quasi case can be made that he would not be going directly from the Senate to the White House if elected also.

[k_jerome]

6. it is an interesting question....

how is "go directly" defined? is it a time period? Ike retired in '48, presided over Columbia and returned to service in '50, before resigning his command in '52 to campaign for President. He had a very short period between his service in the military and election.

[Tom Rinaldo]

8. It is an interesting question in general (pun intended)

By my definition being elected to a higher position than Senator, VP, before becoming President is a very significant way station on the journey. Since a high military position and a sucessful stint in Academia, in IKE's case, are both non elected positions, it's a little different. Ike's time at Columbia may have filled out his resume a little, and helped reassure voters that Ike knew about something other than the military. Maybe had he gone straight from a military career to seeking the White House within the same year, with no time or accomplishments as a civilian under his belt, it could have been problematic for Ike. Or maybe not, it was a different time and he was a national hero.

Of course Nixon had an 8 year stint outside of elected office before he became President also. Two years out of office, like with Jimmy Carter for example, seems like a non issue. People get that politicians can leave office and devote themselves full time to building a presidential campaign. Mark Warner would have been another example of that.

Now Mike Gavel has been out of the Senate long enough that it sort of almost doesn't count that he is an ex Senator, he doesn't have a recent Senate record to stand on or run away from.

[CarbonDate]

7. Trends?

There is no "trend" of Senators being elected directly to the White House. There was Jackson, Benjamin Harrison, Harding, and Kennedy.

Monroe was Secretary of State before he became President.

Adams was Secretary of State before he became President.

Van Buren was VP before he became President.

William Harrison was elected President a full twelve years after he left the senate, serving as Minister to Colombia and running a failed Presidential campaign in the interim. When he was elected, it was on his war record, not his senate record.

Tyler was VP before he became President.

Pierce was a general after he was a senator and before he became President.

Buchanan was Secretary of State and Minister to Great Britain before he became President.

Johnson was VP before he became President.

Truman was VP before he became President.

Johnson was VP before he became President.

Nixon was VP before he became President.

The true historical trend seems to be that of senators becoming Vice President before assuming the Presidency. This may be Sen. Obama's path, since I think many Democrats will conclude that he's too inexperienced to become President but that they'd like him to be President eventually, and he's young enough that he could easily run in 2016.

As far as Sen. Clinton is concerned, the support she's already garnered is all the support she's ever going to have. She's way too well known of a commodity to have any real up side.

Gen. Clark, on the other hand, is still an unknown commodity. He could surprise.

My dream ticket right now would be Gore/Obama. Gore fits historical trends for actually winning the Presidency and having Obama as VP would create new historical trends that would allow the "white male" trend you mentioned to be broken.

On another note, I would love to see a woman elected President, but I would prefer it be a woman who is running on her own accomplishments rather than her husband's. She just reminds me of all the officers' spouses I've encountered who think being married to a general makes them one.