# Historically, have any former presidents gone back to a "real job" after they served? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 16, 2012, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-have-any-former-presidents-gone-back-to-a-real-job-after-they-served/641239 "2012-11-16T20:53:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-have-any-former-presidents-gone-back-to-a-real-job-after-they-served/641239/1 "2012-11-16T20:53:46Z")
Maybe this is a poorly worded question. When I think of modern former presidents, I think of them doing speaking gigs, maybe serving a little on institutional boards, maybe working with non-profits. In other words, stuff that is more due to their former office than what a great manager or intelligent person they are. Pansy jobs, ya know. I imagine historical former presidents (Washington, Jefferson, etc) went back to running their farming estate. I guess this is real work, but it is aristocratic and self employed, so I don’t think of this as counting. Have any former presidents gone back to a “real job?” Maybe for a corporation? Any that worked 8 to 5 and got a paycheck? ---
**Author:** ![Turpentine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@Turpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turpentine)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-have-any-former-presidents-gone-back-to-a-real-job-after-they-served/641239/2 "2012-11-16T20:56:52Z")
Lots of ex presidents have. Off the top of my head I know that William Howard Taft was Chief Justice of the Supreme Court after his presidency. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-have-any-former-presidents-gone-back-to-a-real-job-after-they-served/641239/3 "2012-11-16T20:57:05Z")
Taft, if you call being a Supreme Court Justice a real job. Not that it isn’t, I can just see where someone might pooh-pooh it. Oh, and I think Washington and maybe some of the other early ones went back to being farmers and lawyers and whatever they were before being elected. ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-have-any-former-presidents-gone-back-to-a-real-job-after-they-served/641239/4 "2012-11-16T21:04:43Z")
Grant became an author - I believe quite a few others wrote autobiographies or memoirs. A few ran universities. Teddy R. killed a bunch of large animals. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-have-any-former-presidents-gone-back-to-a-real-job-after-they-served/641239/5 "2012-11-16T21:06:24Z")
John Quincy Adams served eight terms in the House of Representatives after his presidency. ---
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-have-any-former-presidents-gone-back-to-a-real-job-after-they-served/641239/6 "2012-11-16T21:08:12Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > Taft, if you call being a Supreme Court Justice a real job. > > Not that it isn’t, I can just see where someone might pooh-pooh it. I would consider that a real job. > [@KneadToKnow](#): > > Oh, and I think Washington and maybe some of the other early ones went back to being farmers and lawyers and whatever they were before being elected. I addressed this in the OP. Since they were wealthy aristocratic plantation owners, I didn’t consider that a “real job.” ---
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-have-any-former-presidents-gone-back-to-a-real-job-after-they-served/641239/7 "2012-11-16T21:09:47Z")
> [@pravnik](#): > > John Quincy Adams served eight terms in the House of Representatives after his presidency. That is a big drop in power. I can’t imagine any modern president doing that. ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-have-any-former-presidents-gone-back-to-a-real-job-after-they-served/641239/8 "2012-11-16T21:17:31Z")
[Chester A. Arthur](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chester_A._Arthur#Retirement.2C_death.2C_and_memorials) went back to being a lawyer after his term in office. He was rather ill, though, and died about two years after leaving office. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-have-any-former-presidents-gone-back-to-a-real-job-after-they-served/641239/9 "2012-11-16T21:18:20Z")
> [@Hermitian](#): > > That is a big drop in power. I can’t imagine any modern president doing that. Yeah, me either. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-have-any-former-presidents-gone-back-to-a-real-job-after-they-served/641239/10 "2012-11-16T21:18:39Z")
[Harry Truman’s post-presidency](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_S._Truman#Post-presidency) may be of interest: > [@](#): > > Upon leaving the presidency, Truman returned to Independence, Missouri, to live at the Wallace home he and Bess had shared for years with her mother. Once out of office, Truman quickly decided that he did not wish to be on any corporate payroll, believing that taking advantage of such financial opportunities would diminish the integrity of the nation’s highest office. He also turned down numerous offers for commercial endorsements. Since his earlier business ventures had proved unsuccessful, he had no personal savings. As a result, he faced financial challenges. Once Truman left the White House, his only income was his old army pension: $112.56 per month. Former members of Congress and the federal courts received a federal retirement package; President Truman himself ensured that former servants of the executive branch of government received similar support. In 1953, however, there was no such benefit package for former presidents, and he received no pension for his Senate service. > Truman took out a personal loan from a Missouri bank shortly after leaving office, and then set about establishing another precedent for future former chief executives: a book deal for his memoirs of his time in office. Ulysses S. Grant had overcome similar financial issues with his own memoirs, but the book had been published posthumously, and he had declined to write about life in the White House in any detail. For the memoirs, Truman received only a flat payment of $670,000, and had to pay two-thirds of that in tax; he calculated he got $37,000 after he paid his assistants.[171] However, the memoirs were a commercial and critical success; they were published in two volumes in 1955 and 1956 by Doubleday (Garden City, N.Y) and Hodder & Stoughton (London): \*Memoirs by Harry S. Truman: Year of Decisions \*and _Memoirs by Harry S. Truman: Years of Trial and Hope_. > > … > > Truman’s predecessor, Franklin D. Roosevelt, had organized his own presidential library, but legislation to enable future presidents to do something similar had not been enacted. Truman worked to garner private donations to build a presidential library, which he donated to the federal government to maintain and operate—a practice adopted by his successors. He testified before Congress to have money appropriated to have presidential papers copied and organized, and was proud of the bill’s passage in 1957. Max Skidmore, in his book on the life of former presidents, notes that Truman was a well-read man, especially in history. Skidmore notes that the presidential papers legislation and the founding of his library “was the culmination of his interest in history. Together they constitute an enormous contribution to the United States—one of the greatest of any former president.” ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-have-any-former-presidents-gone-back-to-a-real-job-after-they-served/641239/11 "2012-11-16T21:20:09Z")
> [@MikeS](#): > > [Chester A. Arthur](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chester_A._Arthur#Retirement.2C_death.2C_and_memorials) went back to being a lawyer after his term in office. He was rather ill, though, and died about two years after leaving office. Wasn’t that the disease they named after him? Chester A. Arthritis? ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-have-any-former-presidents-gone-back-to-a-real-job-after-they-served/641239/12 "2012-11-16T21:24:01Z")
Not quite the same thing, but Sam Houston served as a U.S. Senator and Governor of Texas after serving as President of Texas. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-have-any-former-presidents-gone-back-to-a-real-job-after-they-served/641239/13 "2012-11-16T21:28:06Z")
Andrew Johnson, who had been a Senator before being picked to be Lincoln’s VP in 1864, went back to his old Senate seat. But he only served four months of his term before his death. John Tyler also went back into Congress. But not the United States Congress, which is why we don’t talk about John Tyler. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-have-any-former-presidents-gone-back-to-a-real-job-after-they-served/641239/14 "2012-11-16T21:30:18Z")
> [@Hermitian](#): > > That is a big drop in power. I can’t imagine any modern president doing that. Representatives had more relative stature in John Quincy Adams’ day. It was still a drop in station, but more like returning to the Senate in modern day terms. Of course, that would be unusual, too. Only Adams and Andrew Johnson served in congress after leaving the Presidency (Johnson was a Senator). ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-have-any-former-presidents-gone-back-to-a-real-job-after-they-served/641239/15 "2012-11-16T21:39:58Z")
There’s a book on Carter that mentions his early struggles after leaving office. His farm and business had been put into a blind trust. It was badly managed while Carter was in office. There was a lot of debt. Carter would have needed years of work to set things right. Friends came together and cleared the debt. Freeing Carter to focus on the Carter Center and charity work. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-have-any-former-presidents-gone-back-to-a-real-job-after-they-served/641239/16 "2012-11-16T22:22:57Z")
Not quite the same… Richard Nixon was a lawyer IIRC between his VP and P jobs. I’m sure any big law firm would be happy to add “former VP” to their list of partners. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2012, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-have-any-former-presidents-gone-back-to-a-real-job-after-they-served/641239/17 "2012-11-17T00:00:15Z")
Gerald Ford was on the board of several companies after his presidency, including the one my dad worked for. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2012, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-have-any-former-presidents-gone-back-to-a-real-job-after-they-served/641239/18 "2012-11-17T02:26:22Z")
> [@Hermitian](#): > > That is a big drop in power. I can’t imagine any modern president doing that. I think he was an incredibly powerful and influential Representative, though, since he had been President. ---
**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:** [November 17, 2012, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-have-any-former-presidents-gone-back-to-a-real-job-after-they-served/641239/19 "2012-11-17T03:12:28Z")
[Grover Cleveland went back to practicing law](http://millercenter.org/president/cleveland/essays/biography/6), although it may have been his playing the stock market that enabled him to achieve financial success after he left office. ---
**Author:** ![Hershele\_Ostropoler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e47c2d/32.png) [@Hershele\_Ostropoler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hershele_Ostropoler)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2012, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-have-any-former-presidents-gone-back-to-a-real-job-after-they-served/641239/20 "2012-11-17T03:40:27Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I think he was an incredibly powerful and influential Representative, though, since he had been President. Though he couldn’t get slavery banned. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-have-any-former-presidents-gone-back-to-a-real-job-after-they-served/641239.md?page=2)