How many US presidents were vice presidents before they became the actual president? How many US presidents ran for president, lost, then came back years later and won. How many have doctoral degrees, how many have master degrees, how many have bachelor degrees. How many have military experience. What percentage of presidents have degrees in law and/or military experience?
I believe Woodrow Wilson was the only with a PhD.
I believe Woodrow Wilson was the only with a PhD.
Presidents who were VPs:
- Adams (Washington’s)
2)Jefferson (Adams’s) - Martin Van Buren (Jackson’s)
- Tyler (Harrison’s. Succeeded after his death)
5)Millard Filmore (Succeeded Taylor)
6)Andrew Johnson (Succeeded Lincoln)
7)Chester Arthur (Succeeded Garfield) - Teddy Roosevelt (Succeeded McKinley)
9)Calvin Coolidge (Succeeded Harding) - Harry Truman (Succeeded FDR)
- Richard Nixon (Eisenhower’s VP)
- LB Johnson (Succeeded Kennedy)
13)Gerald Ford (Nixon’s. Replaced after resignation) - George HW Bush (Reagan’s)
As you can see, a whole lot of VPs replaced presidents who died in office.
Wilson had a PhD but a law degree is also a doctorate and tons of presidents have had them.
Th candidates who ran for President, lost, but won in later tries:
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Richard Nixon lost to JFK in 1960, but ran again in 1968 and won.
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William Henry Harrison, a Whig, was the runner-up to Martin Van Buren in 1836, but won in 1840.
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Andrew Jackson “lost” in 1824 (he had the most popular votes AND the most electoral votes, but not a majority, so the race was decided in the House of Representatives) to John QUincy Adams, but beat Adams and became President in 1828.
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Thomas Jefferson narrowly lost the PResidency to John Adams in 1796, but won the Presidency in 1800.
You could also count Grover Cleveland, who won in 1884, lost in 1888, and then won again in 1892.
This highlights how rare it is for a sitting VP to be elected President. The last two were GHW Bush and Martin Van Buren.
Haj
We have no idea if Andrew Jackson won the popular vote. The popular vote meant nothing at that time and it was Jackson supporters that gave out popular vote results. Amazingly all of the popular vote results that were recorded were from states that Jackson won.
At the time though the U.S. did not split like it did today. In states where Jackson won he won at times 90%+ of the vote, and Adams won like 98% of the vote in New Hampshire IIRC.
The J.D. - Juris Doctor or Doctor of Law - degree was first suggested in 1906 but not adopted by most law schools until the 1960s. Most lawyer presidents would have gotten an LL.B or Bachelor of Law degree. I believe that few people consider a J.D. to be the equivalent of the Ph.D. in any case, but I’ll leave that for the lawyers to argue.
Wilson is the only president who received a doctorate.
Clinton was the last president to graduate from law school and he might be the only one that actually received a J.D. He graduated from Yale Law School in 1973.
The last president before Clinton to have graduated from law school was Gerald Ford, who graduated from… Yale Law School but in 1941.
Richard Nixon graduated from Duke Law School in 1937. Lyndon Johnson went to Georgetown Law School, but apparently didn’t graduate.
Harry Truman went to the University of Kansas City Law School, but didn’t go to any undergraduate college. Franklin Roosevelt attended Columbia Law School.
William Howard Taft received an LL.B from the Cincinnati Law School.
I believe all the other presidents with legal careers just “read” history privately as an apprentice as it were.
Prior to the late 19th century law training was done more on an apprenticeship system. It took a long time and a lot of work for the law schools to become both respected and eventually mandatory. Initially institutions like Harvard Law were not respected and most serious lawyers considered taking an apprenticeship to be a much better legal education. And it probably was considering the rudimentary nature of most early law schools.
And although several presidents have gone to Harvard, none have gone to Harvard Law.
The only president who has a graduate degree from Harvard is George W. Bush who has an MBA from Harvard Business.