Summary
Contents
This comprehensive guide is the definitive source for researchers seeking an understanding of those who have occupied the White House and on the institution of the U.S. presidency. Readers turn to Guide to the Presidency for its wealth of facts and analytical chapters that explain the structure, powers, and operations of the office and the president’s relationship with Congress and the Supreme Court. The work is divided into eight distinct subject areas covering every aspect of the U.S. presidency.
Chapter 34 Former Presidents
Chapter 34 Former Presidents
When the Framers of the Constitution rejected a proposal by Alexander Hamilton that the president be elected to a lifetime term, they unwittingly created an unofficial office: the ex-presidency. At noon on January 20, 2009, George W. Bush became the nation's thirty-fourth former president. (Eight presidents died in office, and one resigned.) Collectively, Bush's thirty-three predecessors lived more than a combined three hundred years after leaving the White House, including five—Gerald R. Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and Bill Clinton—who were former presidents during much of Bush's tenure in office, until Reagan died on June 5, 2004, and Ford died on December 26, 2006. (See Table 34-1, p. 1652.) Only twice before had that many ...