Presidents of the U.S.

Presidents of the U.S.

They Had the Right Stuff

Gerald Ford once commented on the early days of his troubled presidency, “I guess it just proves that in America anyone can be president.” Of course, it helps if you’re white, male and protestant. Following are some of the traits that America’s top executives have had in common, and a few that they haven’t.

Places of origin: The most fertile producer of American presidents is Virginia, where 8 presidents were born, followed by Ohio (7), Massachusetts (4), and New York (4). All together, 19 states conspired to produce the 42 presidents thus far elected. Where did successful presidential candidates live at the time of their election? New York leads with 8 candidates, followed by Ohio (6), and Virginia (5). Six presidents were born in log cabins – Andrew Jackson, Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, James Buchanan, James Garfield, and, of course, Abraham Lincoln.

Religion: Nearly all of the presidents were born Protestants. John Kennedy, the first Roman Catholic elected to the office, was the sole exception. The most common sect of presidents is Episcopalian (11), followed by Presbyterian (7) ad Unitarian (4). The four Baptist presidents (Warren Harding, Harry Truman, Jimmy Carter, and Bill Clinton) have all served in the 20th century. Thomas Jefferson was a Deist. Andrew Johnson and Abraham Lincoln had no affiliation with an organized religion.

Education: The president with the least formal education was Andrew Jackson (his wife taught him how to read). Woodrow Wilson was the only president with a Ph.D. – a degree in history from Johns Hopkins. Twelve presidents made it to the highest office with no college degree at all, but only one (Truman) served in the 20th century. Harvard boasts the greatest number of presidential alumni (5), followed by Yale, Princeton, and William and Mary, each of which claims two graduates.

Profession: Thirteen presidents were practicing lawyers, and over half of the 42 presidents had training in the law. Seven were former soldiers and 3 were professors, Andrew Johnson was a tailor, Herbert Hoover was an engineer, and Ronald Reagan was an actor. Two presidents served as university presidents – Woodrow Wilson at Princeton and Dwight Eisenhower at Columbia.

New York, Chamber of commerce. Photo by Elena

Marriage and Family: Nearly all of America’s presidents have been married; James Buchanan is the sole exception. Eight presidents, however, were widowed before or during their terms of office. Two presidents, Grover Cleveland and Woodrow Wilson, were married while in the White House. George Washington, James Madison, Andrew Jackson, James Polk, James Buchanan, and Warren Harding were the only presidents not to have children – although there is some evidence that Harding fathered an illegitimate child while in office and Jackson took a Native American child orphans following a raid on a Florida settlement when Jackson was a general. Grover Cleveland is the only president to admit to fathering an illegitimate child.

Elections: Two presidents won office despite losing the popular vote. In 1824, John Quincy Adams lost the electoral vote. He received 30 percent of the popular vote to Andrew Jackson’s 40 percent in a four-person race. The outcome was decided in the House of Representatives. In 1876, Rutherford B. Hayes lost the popular vote to Samuel Tilden by over 250,000 popular vote to Samuel Tilden by over 250,000 popular votes but squeaked into office by just one electoral vote.

John Kennedy beat Richard Nixon by a mere 118,000 votes in the 1960 election. In 1968, Nixon beat Humbert Humphrey by only 510,000 votes. The three biggest landslide went to Franklin Roosevelt in 1936, Richard Nixon in 1972, and Ronald Reagan in 1984. Both Nixon and Reagan carried all but one state and the District of Columbia.

Life after the White House: John Quincy Adams was elected to Congress, where he served for 17 years. Andrew Johnson was elected in the U.S. Senate. Jimmy Carter served as an international mediator.

Deaths: Three presidents, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Monroe, died on July 4, the anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, in which all three had taken part.

Eight presidents have died while still in office. Four of them – Abe Lincoln, James Garfield, William McKinley and John Kennedy – were assassinated. William Harrison, Zachary Taylor, Warren Harding, and Franklin Roosevelt all died of natural causes. Harrison died one month after taking office, from pneumonia that developed from a cold that he caught on Inauguration Day, after speaking for two hours in a freezing rainstorm.

Odds and Ends: Nine presidents owned slaves. Two presidents, Millard Fillmore and Andrew Johnson, were indentured servants during their childhoods. Fillmore was indentured to two different textile craftspeople, he bought his freedom at the age of 19.

Jefferson was perhaps the most inventive president. Among his many inventions: a dumbwaiter for moving food into rooms from the kitchen, the lazy susan; swivel chairs, and a pedometer. John Adams swam in the Potomac, John Quincy Adams produced a small volume of poetry in 1832. Zachary Taylor’s warhorse. Old Whitey, wandered around on the White House lawn.

So far (for 1995) there have been 42 presidents and 45 vice presidents of the United States. Sixteen of the presidents served more than one term.