John McCain to be 1st ‘Senate Lion’ POTUS?
Mr. Dodd acknowledged the oddity of a Senate lion — a 27-year veteran — endorsing a man who is just barely halfway through his first Senate term to be leader of the free world. But he implicitly acknowledged what history has made obvious: precious few of those Senate lions become president. –NYTimes
JFK was the last senator elected president while holding a senate seat but with one term under his belt he was hardly a senate lion. Who was the last “senate lion” to directly become president from the senate?
LBJ served about a decade in the senate but wasn’t elected straight from the senate. Nixon was in three years before his VP gig but a private citizen when elected POTUS. Truman was in 10 years but ascended from the veep spot. Harding and Ben Harrison both only served one term before seizing the presidency. Garfield served 3 terms in the House of Reps, but no senate experience. Johnson served a term in senate but achieved the presidency via his veep position. Buchanan served 11 years but was sec. of state then took a few years off and then won the presidency. Pierce was elected from the senate but only after serving one term. Tyler served 9 years in the Senate but then became a governor and VP before falling into the presidency. William was only in the senate 3 years before becoming POTUS. Van Buren served a term but became gov of ny, sec of state, and vp before… Jackson was a senator for one year before governing FL and then becoming president.
There you have it folks. Unless I missed something, a “senate lion” has NEVER jumped directly into the presidency. This precedent does not bode well for John McCain. Course a black person or woman has never been elected pres either. Needless to say, with the three most probable candidates, history will be made no matter what.
BTW, what got into Chris Dodd?
