Career Advice for Future Presidents
Since we have been talking about it in the comments today, and because I’m a bit bored at work, I figured I’d try and figure out what constitutes a good resume for someone running for president. I’m going to limit this to people who won the major party nominations and start in 1952 since that is the first true post-war election and what I’d call the start of the modern presidency. So here we go:
1952 Nominees:
Ike: no elected office, Supreme Allied Commander Europe, Chief of Staff of the Army, Military Governor of US Zone of Germany
Adlai Stevenson: 1 term governor of Illinois
1956 Nominees:
This was a rematch of 1952, so the only difference was that Ike had played a lot of golf as president.
1960 Nominees:
Kennedy: 3 terms in the House, one term in the Senate
Nixon: 2 terms in the House, 3 years in the Senate, two terms as VP (arguably the first modern VP)
1964 Nominees:
LBJ: 6 terms in the House, 2 terms in the Senate (including stints as Senate Minority and then Majority Leader), 2 and a half years as VP, and a year and a half as president
Goldwater: 2 years on the Phoenix City Council, 12 years in the Senate
1968 Nominees:
Nixon: see above, plus a failed run for California governor (the famous “you won’t have Nixon to kick around anymore”)
Humphrey: 4 years as mayor of Minneapolis, 15 years in the Senate (he’d serve again in the 70s), VP for one term
George Wallace (I didn’t want to include him but he’s the last third party candidate to win electoral votes): 6 years in the Alabama House of Representatives, 4 years as governor of Alabama
1972 Nominees:
Nixon: now four years as president.
McGovern: 2 terms in the House, 9 years in the Senate
1976 Nominees:
Ford: 24 years in the House, appointed VP (held that office for 9 months), then president from August 1974
Carter: 4 years in the Georgia State Senate, 4 years as governor of Georgia
1980 Nominees:
Carter, add 4 years as president
Reagan: 8 years as governor of California
1984 Nominees
Reagan: add 4 years as president
Mondale: 4 years as Minnesota AG, 12 years as a Senator, 4 years as VP
1988 Nominees
GHW Bush: 4 years in the House, 2 years as UN Ambassador, a year and a half as Chief Liaison to China (basically ambassador before relations were fully normalized), a year as director of central intelligence, 8 years as VP
Dukakis: 8 years in the Mass House of Representatives, 2 and a half terms as governor
1992 Nominees:
GHW Bush: see above, add a term as president
B Clinton: 2 years as Arkansas AG, 11 years as governor of Arkansas (served a two year term, lost re-election in 1980, won it back in 1982)
Perot never held public office, he also didn’t win any states.
1996 Nominees:
B Clinton: add four years as president
Dole: 2 years in the Kansas House of Representatives, 8 years as a county attorney in Kansas, 8 years in the House, 28 years in the Senate
2000 Nominees:
GW Bush: a term and a half as governor of Texas
Gore: 8 years in the House, 8 years in the Senate, 8 years as VP
2004 Nominees:
GW Bush: add a term as president
Kerry: 2 years as Lt Gov of Massachusetts, 19 years in the Senate
2008 Nominees:
Obama: 7 years in the Illinois State Senate, half a term in the Senate
McCain: 4 years in the House, 21 years in the Senate
2012 Nominees:
Obama: add a term as president
Romney: one term as governor of Massachusetts
2016 Nominees:
Trump: NA
H Clinton: 8 years in the Senate, 4 years as Secretary of State
2020 Nominees:
Trump: we all remember that shitshow
Biden: 2 years on New Castle County Council, 36 years in the Senate, 8 years as VP
Presidential nominees tend to be (current or former) governors, senators, or VP. And as a general rule, it seems like more time in government tends to not help the case in the general, and incumbents obviously have a major advantage. Not sure what any of this means, but food for thought if you’re already bored by 2024 and want to project to 2028.