I can’t recall any modern ex-president speaking out about his successor. It makes sense that modern presidents leave office quietly and avoid any distracting public statements while the new administration assumes power. Clearing the stage so that there is no public confusion or divided loyalties within the country. The US has one definitive leader at any given time.
Can history identify a specific ex president that set this precedent?
I know Teddy Roosevelt clashed with his hand picked successor (Taft). But I don’t recall if he waited a year or two before speaking out.
George Washington went back to Mt Vernon and lived a private life for a little while. He was asked later to return and help with the army, hard to say if that was his desire.
If you’re not picky about the orientation, Harrison, Taylor, Lincoln, Garfield, Mckinley, Harding, FDR and JFK were all pretty quiet after leaving office…
Washington left office in 1797 and was succeeded by his own Vice President, John Adams, who shared most of his political views. Washington died in 1799 having never had to see a President from an opposing party.
Adams had it tougher. He was beaten by Jefferson in 1800. He was bitter and went off to retire at his home before the inauguration. But he never spoke out publicly against Jefferson. The two men, who had been close friends, eventually reconciled after Jefferson also retired from politics.
John Adams also mostly kept his mouth shut whille Thomas Jefferson was in office, although he increased his critiques after Jefferson left office. Jefferson, in turn, was pretty much burned out when he left office, and turned his energies toward other pursuits. Madison and Monroe also mostly withdrew from public life.
It wasn’t until John Quincy Adams that a president didn’t retire from public life after leaving office.
Others have given good answers so I’ll just mention the former president that would come in last place for this question. It would have to be Grover Cleveland
Jefferson, like Washington, had no real reason to rail against his successors. Both Madison and Monroe had been members of his political group. They were essentially carrying on Jefferson’s agenda.
No, I’d actually rate Theodore Roosevelt as dead last. Cleveland did of course run again after leaving office, as did Van Buren, Fillmore, and Grant. But all of those individuals adhered to the more genteel Nineteenth Century tradition, in which the office sought the man, and the candidate said little and let surrogates do the dirty work.
Theodore Roosevelt was one of the first to campaign in modern style, hitting the campaign trail, making speech after speech, and ripping Taft a new asshole at every opportunity. Later on, even though he wasn’t running, he was equally disapproving of Wilson.
There is no doubt, Teddy was the Former President from Hell.
I agree with others, in general this is a tradition that goes back to Washington with Roosevelt an exception. The tradition was re-enforced, I dare say, during the Cold War, when it was more important for the country to speak with one voice on foreign policy. I get the feeling also, that as the burdens of the office grew, partly because of the US as superpower and partly because of omnipresent media, that Presidents are reluctant to criticize one another because they understand one another. They know the office is difficult enough without your predecessors sniping away.
The only counter-example that I can think of, in my lifetime, is that Harry Truman said some pretty unkind things about Richard Nixon toward the end of his (Truman’s) life. Nixon had a way of making people do that.
A better question is, which president started the trend of NOT staying out of the spotlight?
I’d say Nixon. Unlike Truman, Ike and LBJ, Nixon wrote books, did interviews, offered critiques of sitting presidents, and tried to remake himself as an elder statesman.
It makes sense, though. If you’re a former president, why would you go around antagonizing the person who could open investigations into all the shenanigans you pulled while you were in office?
A more interesting tact might be to see what defeated presidents did.
Carter, Ford, Nixon(sort of),Bush sr., Hoover
It’s one thing to have spent your time on the stage and exit on cue, it’s another to lose when you could have won. I understand, if one had been the “leader of the free world” and head of the biggest, richest country on earth - what could you possibly do for an encore?
Plus, odds are the president who lost an election with the advantage of incumbency would need some serious “told ya so” to expect to be the candidate again.
It’s not that. If a sitting President investigated his predecessor without a REALLY good reason, the next time the White House changed political parties, chickens would come home to roost with a vengeance.
