# What does an former US President get? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 4, 2007, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-an-former-us-president-get/398667 "2007-04-04T02:39:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2007, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-an-former-us-president-get/398667/1 "2007-04-04T02:39:21Z")
I know former Presidents get a pension, Secret Service protection (10 yrs, formerly for life), and funding for their presidential libraries. What else? What was denied to Nixon? Does resigning in and of itself make a former POTUS ineligible for benifits or was did Congress pass an act specifically to punish Nixon? ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2007, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-an-former-us-president-get/398667/2 "2007-04-04T02:48:49Z")
Presidential libraries are funded by private donations and then turned over to NARA when it’s done. (Except for Nixon’s which remains privately run.) According to a [HowStuffWorks article](http://people.howstuffworks.com/question449.htm) on high-falutin’ gummint salaries: > [@](#): > > Retired president: $150,000 pension; plus $150,000 to maintain staff Not bad compared to the $400,000 salary. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2007, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-an-former-us-president-get/398667/3 "2007-04-04T03:01:13Z")
> [@](#): > > **Presidential Retirement and Maintenance** > Former President Clinton will get an annual pension of $151,800 plus up to $150,000 a year to maintain an office and staff. Had Hillary Clinton not been elected to the U.S. Senate, she would have received $20,000 per year as a former First Lady. > > Retired Presidents and First Ladies also receive Civil Service protection for 10 years after leaving office. Children of retired Presidents receive protection until they are 16 years old. (3 U.S.C. Chapter 3) Source: [http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/weekly/aa011600a.htm](http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/weekly/aa011600a.htm) > [@](#): > > Former president Bill Clinton, who came to the White House with modest means and left deeply in debt, has collected nearly $40 million in speaking fees over the past six years, according to interviews and financial disclosure statements filed by his wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.). > > Last year, one of his most lucrative since he left the presidency, Clinton earned $9 million to $10 million on the lecture circuit. He averaged almost a speech a day – 352 for the year – but only about 20 percent were for personal income. The others were given for no fee or for donations to the William J. Clinton Foundation, the nonprofit group he founded to pursue causes such as the fight against AIDS. Source: [Washington Post - 23 Feb 2007](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/22/AR2007022202189_pf.html) ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2007, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-an-former-us-president-get/398667/4 "2007-04-04T03:18:30Z")
See, I just don’t get why Congress limited SS protection for former Presidents to ten years after leaving office. It’s not as if it’s that expensive, since there are now only two living ex-Presidents (though in a year and ten months there’ll be three), and I for one don’t begrudge the cost of trying to protect the Clinton and Bush families. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2007, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-an-former-us-president-get/398667/5 "2007-04-04T03:21:26Z")
[QUOTE=Captain Carrot] It’s not as if it’s that expensive, since there are now only two living ex-Presidents (though in a year and ten months there’ll be three), and I for one don’t begrudge the cost of trying to protect the Clinton and Bush families. [/QUOTE] Only two? I count three: Carter, Bush41 and Clinton. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2007, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-an-former-us-president-get/398667/6 "2007-04-04T03:41:36Z")
[QUOTE=Captain Carrot] See, I just don’t get why Congress limited SS protection for former Presidents to ten years after leaving office. It’s not as if it’s that expensive [/QUOTE] The major expense was that they had to protect not only the President, but also the widow and minor children until the age of 18. Widows can outlast their husband by a long time, and as Presidents were elected at younger ages, they also had younger children. I believe the most expensive\* President in this sense was John Kennedy. Jackie survived him by 31 years, plus his children Caroline and John Jr. were quite young (6 and 4, I think) when he died, so they received Secret Service protection for 12 and 14 years after that. \*The actual dollar amounts might be less, given the prices back then. But the length of time that his family received these benefits was quite long, since at that time they were lifetime. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2007, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-an-former-us-president-get/398667/7 "2007-04-04T03:55:23Z")
[QUOTE=alphaboi867] did Congress pass an act specifically to punish Nixon? [/QUOTE] No, this is incorrect. The changes in Presidential pension & benefits law were made **after** Nixon had left office, and was already collecting his benefits. And the changes applied only to future retired Presidents – it did not retroactively change the benefits already awarded. (I don’t think such changes would even be legal.) If Congress had wanted to ‘punish’ Nixon, all they would have had to do was to move a bit faster on the Bill of Impeachment that had been distributed to the House of Representatives. Nixon resigned very quickly after that, and so was able to keep his presidential pension and benefits. Had he been convicted by the Senate, he would have lost all these benefits. Had he resigned while the impeachment process was in progress, it’s likely that he would have also lost these benefits. (The law isn’t very clear on this, and the feeling of the country at that time would have been against him.) ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2007, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-an-former-us-president-get/398667/8 "2007-04-04T14:48:31Z")
The 10 year Secret Service protection law was enacted in 1994 (during the Democratic Congress) and became effective in 1997. I’m looking for some reason for the change, but have come up empty so far. The two other benefits I would add to the list are entitlements to a state funeral (including burial at Arlington National Cemetery) and ability to receive treatment at military hospitals. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2007, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-an-former-us-president-get/398667/9 "2007-04-04T19:20:24Z")
Don’t they also get free postage, or is that a myth? ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2007, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-an-former-us-president-get/398667/10 "2007-04-05T02:32:02Z")
They get a stipend for postage, about $15,000 or so IIRC. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2007, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-an-former-us-president-get/398667/11 "2007-04-05T03:48:18Z")
[QUOTE=Bryan Ekers] Only two? I count three: Carter, Bush41 and Clinton. [/QUOTE] My bad. I was thinking that since Nixon, Ford, and Reagan were all dead, Carter surely should be as well. At least subconsciously I must have been, since I never even thought of him. ---
**Author:** ![IAmNotSpartacus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@IAmNotSpartacus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IAmNotSpartacus)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2007, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-an-former-us-president-get/398667/12 "2007-04-05T05:46:40Z")
What about the other fringe benefits the sitting prez gets, like unlimited free travel on Air Force 1? ---
**Author:** ![bcullman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bcullman/32/8207_2.png) [@bcullman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bcullman)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2007, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-an-former-us-president-get/398667/13 "2007-04-05T06:05:34Z")
[QUOTE=IAmNotSpartacus] What about the other fringe benefits the sitting prez gets, like unlimited free travel on Air Force 1? [/QUOTE] cite? ---
**Author:** ![IAmNotSpartacus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@IAmNotSpartacus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IAmNotSpartacus)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2007, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-an-former-us-president-get/398667/14 "2007-04-05T08:03:51Z")
[QUOTE=bcullman] cite? [/QUOTE] I was not aware that stating something like ‘the President flies around in Air Force 1’ needed a cite. I suppose you might take issue with the fringe benefit reference, and if so then I’ll point out I have never heard of the President flying on Southwest or Jet Blue when he goes on vacation or goes on the stump for fellow political candidates on the campaign trail. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2007, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-an-former-us-president-get/398667/15 "2007-04-05T08:24:01Z")
[QUOTE=IAmNotSpartacus] I was not aware that stating something like ‘the President flies around in Air Force 1’ needed a cite. I suppose you might take issue with the fringe benefit reference, and if so then I’ll point out I have never heard of the President flying on Southwest or Jet Blue when he goes on vacation or goes on the stump for fellow political candidates on the campaign trail. [/QUOTE] You didn’t say “he President flies around in Air Force 1”, you said “unlimited free travel on Air Force 1”. Which is not correct. The President gets free travel on Air Force 1 only while acting as Chief Executive of the country. When the President flies somewhere for a political event, he does so on Air Force 1, but his political party or his campaign committee pays for it. (There is a loophole in this, which has been heavily used by the current President. If he flies to some city to give a public speech, the government pays for the flight. And even if he just happens to hold a couple of fundraising events for his political party while in that city, the political party does not pay anything for that – because he was in town anyway, on public business.) However, to get back to the OP’s question, former Presidents do not get to travel on Air Force 1, unless they happen to be invited by the current President to accompany him on a flight. ---
**Author:** ![Mathochist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c89c15/32.png) [@Mathochist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mathochist)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2007, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-an-former-us-president-get/398667/16 "2007-04-07T05:12:55Z")
[QUOTE=t-bonham@scc.net] However, to get back to the OP’s question, former Presidents do not get to travel on Air Force 1, unless they happen to be invited by the current President to accompany him on a flight. [/QUOTE] To put a finer point on it: there is no “Air Force 1”. Air Force 1 is a callsign used for _whatever_ plane the current POTUS happens to be on. Put Dubya in a twin-engine Cessna and it’s Air Force 1. Bill Clinton may or may not ride in the jets that most commonly carry that callsign, but unless George W. Bush is on it, it’s not Air Force 1. ---
**Author:** ![ScoobyTX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@ScoobyTX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ScoobyTX)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2007, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-an-former-us-president-get/398667/17 "2007-04-07T05:38:17Z")
[QUOTE=t-bonham@scc.net] I believe the most expensive\* President in this sense was John Kennedy. Jackie survived him by 31 years [/QUOTE] Lady Bird Johnson is still alive (though no longer very active in public), more than 34 years after Lyndon kicked. Also, Jackie gave up SS protection when she married Aristotle Onassis in 1968, so she was only covered for about 5 years after JFK shuffled off this mortal coil. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2007, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-an-former-us-president-get/398667/18 "2007-04-07T05:41:01Z")
[QUOTE=Mathochist] To put a finer point on it: there is no “Air Force 1”. Air Force 1 is a callsign used for _whatever_ plane the current POTUS happens to be on. Put Dubya in a twin-engine Cessna and it’s Air Force 1. Bill Clinton may or may not ride in the jets that most commonly carry that callsign, but unless George W. Bush is on it, it’s not Air Force 1. [/QUOTE] Strictly speaking, this only applies to Air Force aircraft. For instance, the S-3 Viking he flew on to the USS Abraham Lincoln back in 2003 was Navy One. His personel helicopters are Marine One and (formerly) Army One. If he’s riding in a Cessna, unless it’s a T-37, it very well might not be Air Force One. ---
**Author:** ![ScoobyTX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@ScoobyTX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ScoobyTX)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2007, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-an-former-us-president-get/398667/19 "2007-04-07T05:56:56Z")
[QUOTE=Raguleader] If he’s riding in a Cessna, unless it’s a T-37, it very well might not be Air Force One. [/QUOTE] The call sign would be “Executive One” for a non-military aircraft carrying the president. ---
**Author:** ![brianmelendez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/65b543/32.png) [@brianmelendez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianmelendez)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2007, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-an-former-us-president-get/398667/20 "2007-04-07T08:38:11Z")
The [Former Presidents Act](http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode03/usc_sec_03_00000102----000-notes.html%5B/url) is set out as a note to 3 U.S.C. § 102: > [@](#): > > (a) Each former President shall be entitled for the remainder of his life to receive from the United States a monetary allowance at a rate per annum, payable monthly by the Secretary of the Treasury, which is equal to the annual rate of basic pay, as in effect from time to time, of the head of an executive department, as defined in section 101 of title 5, United States Code. However, such allowance shall not be paid for any period during which such former President holds an appointive or elective office or position in or under the Federal Government or the government of the District of Columbia to which is attached a rate of pay other than a nominal rate. > > (b) The Administrator of General Services shall, without regard to the civil-service and classification laws, provide for each former President an office staff. Persons employed under this subsection shall be selected by the former President and shall be responsible only to him for the performance of their duties. Each former President shall fix basic rates of compensation for persons employed for him under this paragraph which in the aggregate shall not exceed $96,000 per annum except that for the first 30-month period during which a former President is entitled to staff assistance under this subsection, such rates of compensation in the aggregate shall not exceed $150,000 per annum. The annual rate of compensation payable to any such person shall not exceed the highest annual rate of basic pay now or hereafter provided by law for positions at level II of the Executive Schedule under section 5313 of title 5, United States Code. Amounts provided for ‘Allowances and Office Staff for Former Presidents’ may be used to pay fees of an independent contractor who is not a member of the staff of the office of a former President for the review of Presidential records of a former President in connection with the transfer of such records to the National Archives and Records Administration or a Presidential Library without regard to the limitation on staff compensation set forth herein. > > (c) The Administrator of General Services shall furnish for each former President suitable office space appropriately furnished and equipped, as determined by the Administrator, at such place within the United States as the former President shall specify. > > … > > (e) The widow of each former President shall be entitled to receive from the United States a monetary allowance at a rate of $20,000 per annum, payable monthly by the Secretary of the Treasury, if such widow shall waive the right to each other annuity or pension to which she is entitled under any other Act of Congress. The monetary allowance of such widow— > (1) commences on the day after the former President dies; > (2) terminates on the last day of the month before such widow— > (A) dies; or > (B) remarries before becoming 60 years of age; and > (3) is not payable for any period during which such widow holds an appointive or elective office or position in or under the Federal Government or the government of the District of Columbia to which is attached a rate of pay other than a nominal rate. > > (f) As used in this section, the term ‘former President’ means a person— > (1) who shall have held the office of President of the United States of America; > (2) whose service in such office shall have terminated other than by removal pursuant to section 4 of article II of the Constitution of the United States of America; and > (3) who does not then currently hold such office. > > (g) There are authorized to be appropriated to the Administrator of General Services up to $1,000,000 for each former President and up to $500,000 for the spouse of each former President each fiscal year for security and travel related expenses: Provided, That under the provisions set forth in section 3056, paragraph (a), subparagraph (3) of title 18, United States Code, the former President and/or spouse was not receiving protection for a lifetime provided by the United States Secret Service under section 3056 paragraph (a) subparagraph (3) of title 18, United States Code; the protection provided by the United States Secret Service expired at its designated time; or the protection provided by the United States Secret Service was declined prior to authorized expiration in lieu of these funds.