By Gary Bennett
The most humble of federal holidays falls annually on the third Monday of February. It’s commonly known as Presidents’ Day – but it technically isn’t.
In 1971 Congress passed a measure that redirected many holidays to a Monday date, so that workers could enjoy several long holiday weekends throughout the year.
As part of this bill, Washington’s Birthday (Feb. 22), which had been celebrated as a federal holiday since the 1880s, was to be renamed Presidents’ Day to also honor Abraham Lincoln’s birthday (Feb. 12).
After much debate the name change failed but lived on as Presidents’ Day when retailers embraced the term for monetary and commercial reasons.
This year Presidents’Day in Monday., Feb. 19.
Presidents 45 and 46 (Trump and Biden) dominate the news cycle now, but it is quite interesting to look back and consider what an odd lot these presidents have been.
There are founding fathers, scallywags, scholars, and simpletons. And, for an office so sought after, more than a few were accidental presidents. Even a few more never wanted the job in the first place.
George Washington falls into this category.
He never wanted the job but took it at the urging of the other founders. He wanted nothing more than to retire to his plantation after leading the nation to independence. It’s hard to believe now, but it is well documented that he was largely reviled as president. No wonder. He was constantly charting new territory in this strange new job, to the consternation of most at the time.
But he gave a gift to the young republic struggling to disassociate itself from the English monarchy that cannot be repaid and has been brought into sharp focus on Jan. 6, 2021. He voluntarily and peacefully gave up power after eight years in office. This astounded not only the other founders but also most U.S. citizens and the world who assumed he would rule until death.
The behavior of presidents proves there is nothing new under the sun.
John Adams served one term and was so upset about his one vote loss to Thomas Jefferson in the House of Representatives in 1800 for his second term that he skipped Jefferson’s swearing in. Sound familiar?
Besides Mr. Trump and Mr. Adams, John Quincy Adams (sixth president and John’s son) and Andrew Johnson (17th president, Lincoln’s successor, and the first to be impeached) also skipped their successor’s inauguration. Each was a one-term president who lost a bitter re-election bid.
Then there is the enigma known as Thomas Jefferson.
He was a proud member of Virginia’s upper crust but also lived most of his life in heavy debt to the point of near poverty. He was a quintessential introvert. He wrote and reasoned brilliantly but had such a soft, unassuming voice that he struggled to be heard.
He was an eloquent defender of independence and liberty but was also an unabashed slaveholder. He was mostly aloof but was also the mentor of both Madison and Monroe, and helped usher in 28 years of what today would be called liberal Democratic policies.
Mr. Trump’s decision to run again in 2024 put him in sparce, but pretty good, company. Ex-presidents Grover Cleveland and Teddy Roosevelt ran again years after completing their terms. Cleveland (22nd and 24th president) actually won a second time and is the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms.
Roosevelt split his party in 1912 with the incumbent president William Howard Taft, thereby handing the presidency to Democrat Woodrow Wilson, a stuffy scholar who ignored the pandemic of the day.
The case can be made that Taft actually went on to an even better job. After his presidency ended in 1913, he eventually became chief justice of the Supreme Court, the only former president to do so. John Quincy Adams was no slouch either. He went on to serve several terms in the House after his presidency, which would be unthinkable today.
Joe Biden is a healthy 81-year-old but has surpassed the life expectancy of males in the U.S. If he were to die in office, it would be sad but not unusual. Several accidental presidents assumed office upon the death of the president.
John Tyler assumed office in 1841 upon the death of William Henry Harrison, who died after only one month in office, reportedly from pneumonia suffered after giving an exceedingly long inaugural address in bitterly cold weather.
Harry S. Truman and Andrew Johnson assumed office in similar manners, ascending after Franklin Roosevelt died just one month into his fourth term in 1945 and after Abraham Lincoln was assassinated just a month into his second term in 1865.
Millard Fillmore became president in 1850 upon the death of Zachary Taylor. Chester Arthur assumed the presidency in 1881 after James Garfield was assassinated just months into his first term. Teddy Roosevelt became president the same way, after William McKinley was shot in 1901 and lingered on for days dying excruciatingly of an infection from the bullet wounds.
Warren G. Harding died in office of a heart attack in 1923 midway through his first term propelling Calvin Coolidge to the presidency. And, Lyndon B. Johnson became president in 1963 after John F. Kennedy was assassinated.
Of these accidental presidents, modern day chiefs Teddy Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge, Harry Truman, and Lyndon Johnson all won terms of their own.
Only one incumbent president was denied the nomination of his party to run for re-election. Franklin Pierce was held in such low regard and was so inept as president that the Democratic Party in 1856 went with James Buchanan as its standard bearer instead of the sitting president.
That could not happen today. Buchanan won after all this chaos that would have shaken even the most hard-bitten of modern political operatives, and is renowned for only one thing: he was our only bachelor president.
Dwight Eisenhower was such a national hero in 1948 after leading the Allies to victory in World War II, both parties courted him to run for president. Incumbent president Harry Truman even offered to step aside if Ike would agree to run as a Democrat. Imagine that today. Instead, he waited four years and ran and won twice by landslides as a Republican.
Richard Nixon was the only president to resign the presidency, doing so in 1974 at the height of the Watergate scandal. His successor, Gerald R. Ford, was the only president not elected to either vice president or president and never wanted to be president.
Besides Ford, Jimmy Carter in 1977 may have been the most unlikely modern president. His Southern, born-again Christian and plain-folks demeanor was the perfect elixir at the time (and probably no other) for a reeling nation after Nixon resigned and was pardoned by Ford.
Modern presidents George W. Bush (2001) and Donald Trump (2017) won the presidency despite not winning the popular vote. Exhilarating or shocking, depending on your point of view, this was nothing new for the U.S.
Under the Electoral College system, five presidents have been elected despite the fact that their opponent won more popular votes. Along with Bush and Trump, John Quincy Adams won in 1824 over Andrew Jackson, who went on to win in a rematch four years later, as did Rutherford B. Hayes (1877) and Benjamin Harrison (1889) with the help of some Congressional deal-making shenanigans.
Andrew Jackson was the first president to use the power of personality to propel his ascension. He portrayed himself as the hero of the common man. He was gruff, flamboyant and downright mean at times. Again, sound familiar?
Gary Bennett of Frederick is an amateur presidential historian.
