# Has anyone ever admitted to turning down the Presidency/VP?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-admitted-to-turning-down-the-presidency-vp/458714>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 3, 2008, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-admitted-to-turning-down-the-presidency-vp/458714 "2008-08-03T17:18:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\
**Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-admitted-to-turning-down-the-presidency-vp/458714/21 "2008-08-05T20:24:16Z")

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Colin Powell is famous for violating the [Colin] Powell Doctrine. That’s pretty much the definition of _not_ having your integrity intact.

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**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\
**Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-admitted-to-turning-down-the-presidency-vp/458714/22 "2008-08-05T21:07:13Z")

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[QUOTE=Darth Nader]  
Wait… Ford was pretty much total poison for pardoning Nixon, and nobody had ever actually voted for him, and he was made fun of as a klutz. GHWB ran the CIA and _made shit happen_ around the same time. So, I gotta do it. Cite?  
[/QUOTE]

Here’s a Q&A with Washington Post columnist [David Brodeur](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2006/12/27/DI2006122700663.html) that talks about it.

Here’s something by former Regan aide [Edwin Meese](http://www.hoover.org/publications/digest/4510241.html)

And here’s one about a former [NBC News executive](http://www.depauw.edu/library/archives/ijhof/inductees/bode.htm) that touches on it as well.

Consensus: it was discussed but not genuinely offered.

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**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\
**Post date:** [August 7, 2008, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-admitted-to-turning-down-the-presidency-vp/458714/23 "2008-08-07T01:28:48Z")

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As I heard it, Colin Powell’s family talked him out of running, primarily because his wife had undergone treatment for depression, and they feared (not unreasonably) her problems would become a major campaign issue.

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