Presidents and experience

[nancylebov]

It seems to me that nothing can be much like being president of the United States. The nearest thing would be running a major country, but no one with that experience is likely to become POTUS.

Second best, and a distant second it is, would be governing a major state. I think being mayor of a major city would be close, but the voters, or possibly the parties, don't seem to think so. Maybe the lack of significant agriculture in cities is the deal-killer.

After that, we have being in the legislature. This strikes me as really different--you just don't make decisions on as large a scale, though you learn a lot about how things work and make a lot of contacts. Being first lady strikes me as falling into the knowledge/contacts category, and trying to get a health care plan through is definitely political experience.

Being a general is political experience of a sort, but I don't have a feeling for how it compares to being in the government.

Anyway, of the presidents consider the best, how much experience did they have? What about the worst presidents?

Addendum:Thanks for the answers.

There was a typo-- I meant to ask about the presidents you consider best and worst, but left the "you" out.

Comments

[nwhyte]

It's on WikiPedia so it must be true...

Best five presidents:

1) Lincoln: 8 years as state legislator in Illinois, 2 years in US House of Representatives, unsuccessful candidate for US Senate
2) FD Roosevelt: 2 years in NY state senate, 7 years as Asst Secretary of the navy, unsuccessful candidate for VP of the US, 4 years as governor of New York
3) Washington: member of the Virginia House of Burgesses, not sure how long for; general during Revolutionary War
4) Jefferson: Also member of House of Burgesses, not sure how long for, and of its successor the Virginia House of Delegates for three years; governor of Virginia for three years; Secretary of State for four years; Vice-President for 4 years.
5) T Roosevelt: 3 years in New York state legislature, 1 year as Assistant Secretary of the Navy, 2 years as governor of New York, six months as Vice-President of the United States.

Worst five:

1) Harding: 4 years in state senate, 2 years as governor of Ohio, six as US Senator.
2) Buchanan: 4 years in state legislature, 10 in US House of Representatives, 11 in US Senate, 4 as Secretary of State
3) Pierce: 4 years in US House of Representatives, 5 in US Senate, successful military figure
4) A Johnson: state legislature, not sure how long; 5 years as governor of Tennessee and three as military governor; six weeks as Vice President of the United States
5) WH Harrison: successful military figure, 3 years in US House of Representatives, 3 years in state senate, 4 years in US Senate, unsuccessful candidate for President of the United States

Striking how similar the careers of the best (Lincoln) and the worst (Harding) are. Indeed, if you had to choose betwen them based on experience, you would probably choose Harding.

[malkingrey.livejournal.com]

It looks like legislative experience on the state level is somewhere between a neutral factor and a mild plus, that cabinet-level experience helps a bit more than it hinders, and that legislative experience on the federal level is a downright drag, especially in the Senate.

[madfilkentist]

There isn't going to be much agreement on which presidents were "best" or "worst," but I'd put both Roosevelts closer to worst than best. I'm inclined to put Woodrow Wilson at the absolute bottom. His experience was mostly in academia, if I recall.

[nwhyte]

Do you mean worst/best in terms of their pre-Presidential experience, or their performance in office?

Wilson was governor of New Jersey for two years. He also wrote textbooks on the Constitutional Government of the United States.

[stevemb.livejournal.com]

He also wrote textbooks on the Constitutional Government of the United States.

Given Wilson's conduct in office, this is something like Osama bin Laden writing a textbook on religious tolerance.

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

Wikipedia has a list of US presidents sorted by average rank by scholars (whatever that means).

The top ten are; Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt (x2), Jefferson, Truman, Eisenhower, Polk, Jackson and Wilson.

The bottom ten are; Harding, Pierce, Buchanan, Johnson, Harrison, Grant, Filmore, Tyler, Taylor and Nixon.

Of the top 10, 6 made their claim to fame primarily as a state governor, 2 as senators and 3 as generals (counting Jackson as both senator and general).

In the bottom 10, only 1 was a governor, 2 were generals, 1 was basically just VP and 6 were senators.

It does seem that a track record as a state governor is quite a strong predictor of success.

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

Posted before I saw nhw's analysis but similar conclusions I think.