Editor's Note: Dr. James M. Lindsay is a Senior Vice President at the Council on Foreign Relations and co-author of America Unbound: The Bush Revolution in Foreign Policy. Visit his blog here and follow him on Twitter.
By James M. Lindsay, CFR.org
A few presidents have loved the job. Teddy Roosevelt said “No president has ever enjoyed himself as much as I have enjoyed myself.” Most other presidents, though, have found the job demanding, perhaps too demanding. James K. Polk pretty much worked himself to exhaustion. Zachary Taylor, the hero of the Mexican-American War, found being president harder than leading men into battle. Dwight Eisenhower had a heart attack from the stress of leading the Free World.Many presidents express relief once they can be called “former president.” This trend started early. John Adams told his wife Abigail that George Washington looked too happy watching him take the oath of office. “Me–thought I heard him say, ‘Ay, I am fairly out and you fairly in! See which of us will be happiest!”
Andrew Johnson, who was impeached by the House but acquitted by the Senate, returned to Capitol Hill six years after leaving the White House as senator from Tennessee. When an acquaintance mentioned that his new accommodations were smaller than his old ones at the White House, he replied: “But they are more comfortable.” Rutherford B. Hayes longed to escape what he called a “life of bondage, responsibility, and toil.”
The only part of the job that Chester Arthur liked was giving parties. He apparently did that quite well. His nickname was the “prince of hospitality.” Grover Cleveland claimed there was “no happier man in the United States” when he lost his reelection bid in 1888. Time away from the White House apparently changed his mind. He ran again in 1892 and won, making him the only president to hold two non-consecutive terms.
Many modern presidents blame the media for making their lives miserable. But the complaint is as old as the Republic. Thomas Jefferson suggested that newspaper editors should divide their papers “into four chapters, heading the 1st, Truths. 2d, Probabilities. 3d, Possibilities. 4th, Lies.”
The Inaugural Address
Any elected president’s first official act is to deliver an inaugural address. The expectations and stakes are high. So high in fact that many presidents-elect channel their inner undergraduate and labor late into the night wordsmithing. James Garfield didn’t finish his speech until 2:30 am on Inauguration Day. Bill Clinton did him two hours better, fiddling with his speech until 4:30 am.
Some presidents rise to the occasion on Inaugural Day with soaring rhetoric that rings through the ages. Franklin Delano Roosevelt gave us “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” John F. Kennedy gave us: “Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.”
Alas, most inaugural addresses are forgettable. James Buchanan used his to complain that the country was so consumed in debating slavery that it was ignoring other, more important issues. That address tells us a lot about why Buchanan tops every list of the worst presidents in American history.
Ulysses S. Grant, a far better general than a president, used his inaugural address to complain that his critics were treating him unfairly. Most presidents share this sentiment, but they find better venues to share it.
Richard Nixon gave us the memorable line: “The American dream does not come to those who fall asleep.” Uh, okay.
Some presidents get right to the point in their inaugural address. Washington’s second inaugural address totaled only 135 words—or about the length of two recitations of the Lord’s Prayer.
William Henry Harrison, the hero of the Battle of Tippecanoe, went to the other extreme. He took two hours to deliver an 8,000-word speech. It was a bitterly cold day, but the 68-year-old Harrison spoke without a coat or hat. He caught a cold, which turned into pneumonia, and he died a month later. That made him the first president to die in office. (It also made John Tyler the first vice president to finish out a president’s term.)
Harrison holds two other distinctions. First, he was the last American president born as an English subject. Second, he was the first, and so far only president, to have his grandson become president. Benjamin Harrison, please take a bow.
When George Washington first took the oath of office in New York City on April 30, 1789, only people within the sound of his voice could hear what he had to say. Every president afterwards until Woodrow Wilson also spoke without the benefit of amplification. Which prompts the question: Did the people who spent two hours listening to William Henry Harrison drone on in the bitter cold actually hear him?
Warren Harding was the first president to deliver his inaugural address into a microphone. Calvin Coolidge was the first president to deliver his inaugural address over the radio. Harry Truman was the first to deliver his on television. Bill Clinton was the first to do so over the Internet.
Any president today who took the oath of office without laying his hand on a Bible would become an instantaneous political pariah. But apparently that was not always the case. Franklin Pierce declined to use a Bible during his swearing in. Barack Obama used Lincoln’s Bible.
Changes in technology have been matched by changes in fashion. Today we take it for granted that the president will wear a suitcoat with matching pants. However, the first five presidents - George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe – all wore knee britches. John Quincy Adams was the first to wear long pants, so we can consider him a fashionista of a sort.
Tradition today calls for a bunch of gala balls on the evening of Inauguration Day. Presidents go from Washington hotel to Washington hotel, dancing briefly and inspiring their supporters. In the good old days, however, festivities were more intimate and boisterous. Andrew Jackson threw a party for his well-wishers at the White House. Things got out of hand, however, in an Animal House kind of way. The White House was saved only when presidential servants carried tubs of ice cream and liquor onto the lawn to lure people out of the mansion.
Landing on Mount Rushmore
All presidents on Inauguration Day imagine that their presidency will be a great one. In the mind of the American public, Ronald Reagan tops the current list of best presidents, followed by Abraham Lincoln, Bill Clinton, John Kennedy, and George Washington. Professional historians and political scientists scoff at the public’s ranking because it is so obviously biased in favor of recent presidents. The professionals instead typically name George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and FDR as the three best presidents.
Alas, far too many presidents fail to impress either the public or the professionals. The saddest case may be Millard Fillmore. He couldn’t impress even his own father, who said that he belonged at home in Buffalo and not in Washington.
The poster child for presidential failure, however, is Herbert Hoover. He was a golden boy before becoming president. Born in West Branch, Iowa to humble origins, he was orphaned at a young age. He eventually became a member of the first class to enter Stanford University, where among other accomplishments he badgered former president Benjamin Harrison to pay the twenty-five cents he owed for admission to a Stanford baseball game. He graduated with a degree in geology, became a mining engineer, lived in Australia and China (where he learned Mandarin Chinese), survived the Boxer Rebellion, and became a wealthy man.
During World War I he entered public service and distinguished himself with his management of the European relief effort after the war ended. A young FDR marveled that Hoover “is certainly a wonder, and I wish we could make him President of the United States. There couldn’t be a better one.” The irony of that statement, of course, is that FDR ended up running against and defeating Hoover. FDR won because Hoover presided over the worst economic collapse in American history. The Great Depression may not have been Hoover’s fault, but he got the blame.
So what does it take for a president to succeed? One key is to be attuned to public opinion. It is perhaps wise, though, not to be as attuned to public opinion as William McKinley, of whom it was said that he kept his ear so close to the ground that it was full of grasshoppers.
A president also needs to know how to work with Congress. That was one skill that escaped Jimmy Carter, even though his fellow Democrats controlled both the House and Senate. “Carter,” said one member of Congress, “couldn’t get the Pledge of Allegiance through Congress.”
To succeed, a president needs to know when to compromise. The example to follow here isn’t Woodrow Wilson. He once said “I am sorry for those who disagree with me, because I know they are wrong.” Wilson’s reluctance to compromise led to the demise of his great project, the Treaty of Versailles.
Successful presidents must know how to say one thing and do another. Republicans today hail Ronald Reagan as a tax-cutting, deficit-busting, champion of smaller government. His actual record was different. He signed eleven tax increases into law, saw the federal budget deficit balloon during his presidency, and left America with a larger government than the one he inherited from Jimmy Carter. But what people remember matters more than what he did.
Presidents must also know how to deal with temperamental Cabinet secretaries. Few have faced a harder time than James Monroe. He once had to use a pair of fireplace tongs to fend off his cane-wielding secretary of the Treasury. Monroe also used his sword once to break up a fight at a White House dinner between visiting French and British ambassadors.
All presidents must be prepared to hit some bumps along the road. As a political science professor once told me, the people love you on the way in, they love you on the way out, and they grumble in between. The difference between the highs and lows can be breathtaking, as President George W. Bush discovered. He set the record for both the highest public approval ratings and the lowest.
The Men Who Held the Office
With public popularity a fleeting thing, Harry Truman may have gotten it right when he laid down the cardinal rule of Washington political life: If you want a friend, get a dog. Most presidents have lived by Truman’s maxim. At least half them had dogs. Their dogs’ names included Sweetlips (Washington), Satan (John Adams), Fido (Lincoln), Grim (Hayes), Veto (Garfield), Stubby (Wilson), Oh Boy (Harding), Fala (FDR), and J. Edgar (LBJ).
Some presidents dared to be different when it came to companion animals. Andrew Jackson had a parrot named Pol that he taught to swear as well as fighting cocks. Martin van Buren briefly had two tiger cubs. Benjamin Harrison had opossums named Mr. Reciprocity and Mr. Protection. McKinley had a parrot named Washington Post. Theodore Roosevelt had his own menagerie, including a garter snake named Emily Spinach, a rat named Jonathan, a macaw named Eli Yale, and a badger named Josiah. Calvin Coolidge apparently wanted to start his own zoo. His pets included a donkey, a black bear, a pygmy hippo, a wallaby, lion cubs, an antelope, raccoons, and a bobcat.
Everyone knows that John F. Kennedy was the first (and so far only) Roman Catholic president and that Barack Obama is the first African American president. But neither is our tallest president. Abraham Lincoln holds that distinction at 6’ 4”, with Lyndon Baines Johnson just a half inch behind. If you want to win a bet, ask a Republican friend: Who was taller, Ronald Reagan or George H.W. Bush? No, it wasn’t the Gipper.
A fair share of our presidents would have strained their necks looking up at Lincoln. James Madison, the father of the Constitution, is our shortest president. He was 5’ 4”. Martin Van Buren and Benjamin Harrison stand just behind him (above him?) at 5’ 6.” James K. Polkwas called “the Napoleon of the stump” and “a short man with a long program.”
Obama is among our thinnest presidents. The distinction for the heaviest president goes to William Howard Taft, who weighed between 300 and 350 pounds. He was so heavy that the White House had to install a special bathtub to accommodate his girth. Taft was also the last president to sport facial hair, in his case a mustache. Being a former president seems to have done wonders for Taft; he lost 80 pounds the year after he left the White House. The weight loss undoubtedly prolonged Taft’s life. It also allowed him to enjoy his favorite job—Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. He remains the only person ever to have been both president and a Supreme Court justice.
A bibliographic note: Many of the stories in this post come from Paul F. Boller, Jr.’s, wonderful book, Presidential Anecdotes. It is a great read. Among his other equally engaging books are: Presidential Campaigns: From George Washington to George W. Bush and Congressional Anecdotes. I highly recommend all three books.
The views expressed in this article are solely those of James M. Lindsay.
© 2012 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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First!!!
Bill Clinton liked a special brand of cigar that I can't remember the name of. It was a mellow, aromatic blend appropriate for an aging statemen, yet with a tangy aftertaste full of zesty youth. Or was yeasty youth?
Congratulations!! I am sure your parents are proud of this and all of you other "accomplishments".
Ronald Reagan first...really , plueeese..
Yeah, it should be Obama instead. Cause he's from our party. Right?
Partisan much?
How exactly do you get that he's being partisan by objecting to Reagan being at the top of the list? Projection much?
In retrospect, Reagan will be remembered for causing the collapse of the Soviet Union. Yes, he was a blockhead, but he was the right man at the right time.
Reagan did not "cause" the collapse of the Soviet Union. It fell when the Old Guard, the ones who had been in the Revolution in 1918 died off. Reagan can be credited, however, with doing nothing to stop the fall.
Longtooth – you're kidding, right ? All Reagan did was make his infamous speech – talking was all he did – he was an actor !
i know !! how crazy is that ??
" In the mind of the American public, Ronald Reagan tops the current list of best presidents, followed by Abraham Lincoln "
FOLLOWED BY Abraham Lincoln ??? OMG – just goes to show ya this country is full of a bunch of YAHOO's !!
When did "please", even with the extra e's, get a U in it?
SECOND!!!
Or not.
After the revolution, they wanted to make Washington King of America. He refused, and said he should be an elected leader. Washington, the Father of our Country, is truly the greatest president. How many after him would have done the same?
According to this essay, Ronald Reagan signed eleven tax increases and left a bigger government than he inherited from his predecessors. I am sure that many Republicans are not aware of this.
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
sieg: "According to this essay, Ronald Reagan signed eleven tax increases and left a bigger government than he inherited from his predecessors. I am sure that many Republicans are not aware of this."
First, whether he increased taxes is irrelevant. Republicans don't dispute the fact that taxes should exist, they dispute how high taxes should be and what they should be used for.
continued...
Typical republican-ignore the facts when they don't fit your paradigm
...continued
Second, merely saying he left the U.S. with a "bigger government" is useless without explaining what it means. When Republicans talk about "big government" they mean a government that has centralized power and can dictate what you eat in the morning. They do not mean a government that has a lot of people working in it, and they do not mean a government that merely makes or passes laws. It's a qualitative analysis.
When Republicans talk about "big government" they mean a government that has centralized power and can dictate what you eat in the morning- Ever hear of the War on Drugs?
Dictate what you eat in the morning? How about what you do in the bedroom, who you do it with, how many kids you have, and what god you believe in?
Or they do but choose to keep telling lies. Repeat lies enough and they start seeming not so untrue anymore...
Nah,
Rationalization.
Tax increases are tax increases. Bigger government is bigger government. Hypocrisy is hypocrisy.
RR raised taxes eleven times. I wonder what was the percentage for the 1%? I can tell you that the taxes for the middle class went way up under RR and that "Trickle Down" thing the GOP likes so much didn't work then and still will not work for the 99%. Works great for the 1% though and they are the one's that try to run the world.
The author stated that Herbert Hoover was a "poster child for presidential failure". Indeed Hoover couldn't solve the economic crisis as a result off the Great Depreesion and was beaten by FDR in his re-election campaign in 1932. He did a better job as Secretary of Trade under Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge,
j.von: "Indeed Hoover couldn't solve the economic crisis as a result off the Great Depreesion and was beaten by FDR in his re-election campaign in 1932."
Seems FDR didn't solve the crisis either. What finally got the U.S. out of the Depression was the second world war.
But it's okay. Merely thinking the government is solving the problem, when they're doing nothing at all, is better than being hopeless and despondent, isn't it?
Nah -
Better check your facts. FDR and the New Deal had, by Dec. 7, 1941, brought the unemployment rate from over 20% to under 10%. Being dragged into the war accelerated the recovery that would have happened anyway. Your statement is typical Historical Revisionism by those who cannot accept the government can be the solution as well as the cause of problems. Keynes, as it turned out, was right.
So WW II was what, evidence of the success of the private sector? When you say WW II brought us out of the Great Depression, all you're actually saying is that the Great Depression was ended by the largest, highest deficit, public works project in history. Simply take a look at the growth of the National Debt as a percentage of GDP in from 1942 through 1945, and compare that to today. Still want to argue that spending cuts are the way out of the current economic malaise?
In the early days, life must have been boring in the D.C. Many presidents travelled to New York and spent much of their free time at the old Waldorf-Astoria (where the Empire Building stands). Mckinley,Taft, Teddy Roosevelt, Wilson, Harding, Coolidge, Hoover etc were regular guests there, Taft was seen as genial. Weighing 300-350 lbs he must have loved food. But he didn't like dessert, but baked apples.
I thought John F. Kennedy's utilitarian priciple: " "Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country" was the highlight of his inaugural speech.
George Washington was probably unique in not only being our first president and our only president to not be part of a political party, but also in not wanting to be president!
Teddy Roosevelt rode a moose in a river – a supposedly "haunted" bar called Bullys in Deadwood is named after him
if instant communication that is available now was available then – I doubt some would be presidents would be elected
FDR never would have been elected in this climate. A disabled man in the white house? right...
president obama has the strange quirk of not understanding the economy at all. his new budget has 1.2 trillion in new spending.
if you spent $1 million dollars per day, it would take you almost 3,000 years to spend 1 trillion. yeah, talk about saddling our kids with debt, and selling this countries' future to the chinese
Fun stuff, but do you have something against Gerald Ford, the only President not mentioned in the article?
Gerald Ford was a president? Just kidding. He was a good man, and just what this country needed after Nixon.
Seriously. The best athlete ever to be president! He also was the longest lived of any president IIRC.
I guess because he was the only President not elected as either President or Vice President.
Reblogged this on The Potter Political Pickle and commented:
Happy Presidents' Day! I've yet to read this entire article, but the first half is interesting enough. Enjoy.
And then there's President GW Bush, who liked to fart in the bathtub and snap at the bubbles. I'm Hugh Jass, and I approved this message.
Obama is one of our thinnest presidents? You should say thin skinned.
"Keynes, as it turned out, was right."
When there are deficits, the government spends more to make up the difference and dips into savings. When there are surpluses, the government saves the money for times in need and cuts spending.
This is Keynes in a nutshell.
Maybe this is right, but if you think America has practiced this, you have to be telling a joke.
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Buchanan atop the wost list? He certainly is up there but I would have a good look at Pierce, a dreadful hack who had no business even sniffing the tires of the Whire House
.
Happy Prez day. A tough job, but someone has to do it...
I use to think that to... but Washington was never asked to be king, nor did he refuse... theidea was toyyed aroud with though. Check it out on snopes
Study Lincoln, study Lincoln, for he is the best of us all.
Extremely wonderful, excitingly immpressive.
have to disagree with one inclusion - that republicans don't want to do away with taxes. the tea party does not believe we should be paying taxes to the federal government. they don't believe the federal govt should be in our lives at all. i think we should go with that and then hear the yelling when the states have no money to spend on roads or other public facilities. then we might hear "oh, i wasn't talking about that stuff, we need that stuff." reagan was an actor and was really able to talk to the public and have them believe that whatever he did was for our good - whether or not it was. when washington/jackson/lincoln were president, there wasn't email/blogs/twitter where anyone with half a mind could go online and write something as if it were the god's truth, when in fact it had no basis in reality; and, PEOPLE BELIEVED IT. rather scary if you ask me. rather than going online, READ A BOOK OR TWO and not just books on the left or the right, but from both sides. even if it is painful for some, watch bill o'reilly (can't go as far as hannity, too much fiction involved in that show); then move over to msnbc and see what they have to say. the truth is somewhere in between.