Presidential Review
It is the last Sunday of the month meaning it’s time for our next President, only, I’ve run out of presidents! Last month we wrapped with President Barack Obama. After him was Trump…who is once again president, becoming the second man in US History to serve a split term presidency. And I won’t read a book on a sitting president, because we don’t know what all he will accomplish or fumble in the next four years. And President Biden JUST stepped down. We won’t have a decent book regarding his presidency for at least a decade. So I’ve decided I’m done with the presidents. But, I wanted to do a quick recap of generalities I’ve learned.
Let’s go with in our nation was founded in 1787, and from that time to today we have had 47 presidents. In that same time, England has only had 10 monarchs. Our presidents have served between 30 days and 12 years, with the average being 5 years. The monarchy has served an average of 23.5 years. The average monarchy is much more common than he American. Which is why American politics confuses the fuck out of the rest of the planet. I am completely fine with keeping the other world powers on their toes, as they have no idea what to expect from America every four to eight years.
Our shortest serving president was William Henry Harrison, who died 30 days after taking office from pneumonia, contracted during his inaugural address. Longest serving was FDR, who served 12 years before dying in office, or he would have served 16. This was an extreme outlier. Our very first president, George Washington, had set the standard at 8 years and literally every other president accepted that until FDR decided he needed more power. I really dislike FDR.
Of our 47 presidents, 21 have served only one term of four years and 15 have served two- eight year terms. We’ve had 8 presidents die in office, four from natural causes, four from assassination. The four who died in office were William Henry Harrison: pneumonia; Zachary Taylor: cholera; Warren G Harding: stroke; FDR: cerebral hemorrhage. The four who were assassinated were Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, William McKinley, and JFK.
Because of the deaths in office, people assume the vice-presidency is the path to the presidency. Only over the literal dead bodies…and in one case, Nixon, the figurative dead body. Nixon was so disgraced he was forced to resign with political pressure, making way for Vice President Ford to step into the Oval office. So we’ve only had nine VP become president after their predecessor’s did not complete their terms.
Of the remaining VP’s, only two have become president on an immediate campaign after their predecessor decided not to run again: Martin van Buren, when Andrew Jackson decided not to run for a third term. And George HW Bush, after Reagan’s allotted 8 years were completed. We’ve had two other VP’s ascend to the presidency after an interim of a different president: Richard Nixon was VP for Eisenhauer, and became president after JFK and LBJ. Joseph Biden was VP for Obama, and became president after Trump served.
So statistically, the VP is only a pathway to power when someone dies. Otherwise, you only have a…what, 8% chance of being elected in your own right? Not exactly rousing odds. Unless the president dies, and you happen to be the VP. Then again, for president dying in office, you only have a 17% chance. So, really, VP is not a pathway to power. And up until Harding, who really embraced Coolidge and invited him to sit in on cabinet meetings, VP was a do-nothing position.
As far as party representation goes, we’ve had two presidents without any party: George Washington and John Tyler, although Tyler started out as a Whig. We’ve had three Whigs (four if you count Tyler), William Henry Harrison, Zachary Taylor, and Millard Fillmore. One Federalist, John Adams. Four who were Democratic-Republicans: Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, and John Quincy Adams. The Democratic party is actually older than the Grand Old Party, aka The Republicans, and we have had 15 Democratic presidents: Andrew Jackson, Martin van Buren, James K. Polk, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D Roosevelt, Harry S Truman, John F Kennedy, Lyndon B Johnson, James Carter, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Joe Biden and Grover Cleveland—twice. Since Cleveland is one of our two who served a split presidency, I guess that makes it 16 Democratic presidents.
We’ve had 20 Republican presidents, Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, Ulysses S Grant, Rutherford B Hayes, James Garfield, Chester A Arthur, Benjamin Harrison, William Mc Kinley, Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, Dwight D. Eisenhowr, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George HW Bush, George Bush, and Donald Trump…twice, so call it 21 Republican presidents.
How about wars?
James Madison had the War of 1812. Thirty years of peace later, James K Polk declared the Mexican American War in 1846. McKinley got Congress to agree to declare war against Spain in 1898. Wilson pulled us into global conflict in 1917. And FDR brought us into WWII in 1941. Those are our only declared wars. Not our only conflicts. We had the Civil War, the Indian Wars, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan…none of those are declared wars. Which means technically, they are all illegal. So good times there. Although the Civil War was technically an insurrection, so no war was declared there.
Out of all our presidents, we’ve had exactly two who returned to public office after the presidency. John Quincy Adams, who returned to the House of Representatives and became the first representative to die on the house floor. And Andrew Johnson, who returned to the Senate and died not too long after, although not on the Senate floor.
Which means the vast majority of our presidents effectively retired and did not work again. Most of them had money from investments or inheritance. At least up until 1958 when the The Former Presidents Act was passed, which pays retirement to our former presidents. Who now all make millions in public speaking. And off THEIR investments. The Former Presidents Act is hinky as shit and since we know former presidents CAN work…witness John Qunicy Adams and Andrew Johnson, as well as all those excellent public speakers, I don’t believe we should be paying retirement to former presidents. Or congressmen or senators, for that matter.
And to that end, I learned in the Obama book last month that “Over time, this conception of presidential power gave way to an entirely different one, in which former presidents became increasingly public figures and an “office of postpresident” (something never imagined by the founding founders) emerged, complete with generous pensions for ex-presidents and their wives, substantial office space, free postage, funds to hire staff and maintain an office, and discretionary funds for the former presidents.”
Now, I did not include that quote in my review of the Obama book last month, because Obama is not the only president to benefit from this bullshit. We’ve paid out pensions for the president, their respective wives, office space for all and for their post presidential staffing, since 1958. So, even when they are clearly capable of footing the bill themselves…like say, Jackie Kennedy, who went on to marry billionaire Aristotle Onassis, this on top of whatever inheritance she received from the millionaire Kennedy’s….we paid for her office staff. And on and on to present.
Historically, there have been individual public figures that were voted public funds to pay their pensions, most famously Dolly Madison was voted a stipend after James died. But really….they get paid between $100k and $500K for speaking engagements. One public speech a year would pay the expenses of most people for the year. So why are we the people still funding their retirement? About the only public expense I could get behind having to pay in support of former presidents would be secret service. Because whether you love or hate a former president, he served. And you are not the only person on the planet to love or hate his former policies. So to that end, I do believe their service merits protection.
We learned about the Office of Legal Counsel which basically exists to create legal justification for anything the president wants to do. Also at taxpayer expense. We learned that starting with the creation of the Federal Reserve in 1913, every president from Woodrow Wilson through Joe Biden, with the exception of Calvin Coolidge, has overseen massive expansions of the federal government, all at our expense.
I learned that the first 120 years were golden, as far as the Constitutionally required checks and balances. And those checks and balances were decimated by Woodrow Wilson, when he oversaw passage of the 17th amendment. See, senators were initially the States representative to Congress…meaning the State as a body politic, the legislative bodies of the individual states. When the Constitution was written and passed, the ONLY officials elected directly by we the people were our Congressmen. This made congress the most powerful house. Then in 1913, Congress decided Senators should ALSO be elected on directly by the people.
The first 120 years were so glorious because the federal government was kept small via starvation. Then in 1913, as he left office, William Howard Taft ratified the 16th amendment, legalizing income tax. And the government has grown apace ever since.
But the number one thing I’ve learned since starting to read about the presidents is that ultimately, they are all only human. Since JFK we’ve tended to put them on pedestals and treat them like celebrity. They are not. They are just people. They experience heartache and loss like all of us do. And more importantly….while the little people scream at each other via social media about Trump, Obama, Biden, and Bush….they’re all colleagues. Who get along with each other. And respect each other.
While we the people squabble in the streets like what we think actually matters. It does not. The deep state is running amok, despite any current politicians attempts to roll it back. And like the idiot children we all are, we rally to “our” candidates, like it’s life and death. Rather than doing what sensible people should do. Talk to your damn neighbors. The guy you KNOW voted for your hated competition, and invite him to dinner. Talk about anything BUT politics. Find out about his kids, his grandkids, what he does on the weekends, what he does to train his dog. These deep divisions do nothing to hurt our “elected officials.” But they do tear we the people into little shreds, resulting in families who no longer speak to each other.
