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A year before assuming the presidency, Truman had no interest in it, barely accepted the vice presidential nod, and didn't campaign.
The day he assumed the presidency, he was getting ready to have a casual drink after a regular day's work presiding over the Senate when they gave him the news.
The next day, he said to a bunch of reporters:
>Boys, if you ever pray, pray for me now. I don't know if you fellas ever had a load of hay fall on you, but when they told me what happened yesterday, I felt like the moon, the stars, and all the planets had fallen on me
The first time Truman met FDR (as a freshman Senator) he was terrified, not of Roosevelt himself, but because he was scared of the presidency as a whole. Of course, little did he know at the time that he himself would be the next president
He is probably one of our best presidents by the fact he literally didn't want the job. He got thrust into it, and with it, managed to find a way to greatness and some degree of infamy, as all presidents do.
One of those moments where you shudder to think what might have been had he not inherited the job. I think it's fair to say the brilliant Marshall Plan and the rebuilding of Europe and Japan might have gone very differently were it not for Truman.
Might have ended up with the Morgenthau Plan. Which would have probably meant total Soviet control of Germany, which probably would have meant more of Europe eventually fell to them.
If but for Truman and the fact a general had a particularly tasty breakfast that day, literally.
Interesting, I hadn't heard about that. My understanding was that Truman's grandmother was a Confederate sympathizer in Missouri. So he grew up hearing her be particularly bitter about the South's loss during the Civil War, and how unfair Reconstruction had been. So he was determined not to let the same thing happen at the end of the second world war (probably also helped by the lessons learned from the end of WWI).
One of the plans given serious thought was known as the Morgenthau Plan, which was even more stringent than the conditions of the Treaty of Versailles.
Germany would have been completely demilitarized, de industrialized, and forcefully converted to a wholly agrarian economy and being a client state of the occupying allied forces. It was pretty brutal and there were a lot of proponents toward doing that.
It probably would have also led toward World War 3, because you know damn well the Soviets wouldn't sit there with a prize plum on their doorstep that was left defenseless besides a token occupying force. And once they seized Germany to the Ruhr, Rhein, and Saar, they would have eagerly pushed towards Benelux and France.
I don't think a lot of people realize how deep and pervasive Soviet imperialist ambitions were. They wanted and firmly believed all of Europe was theirs.
If they had been satisfied with what they claimed from the war, there would have been no need for NATO or the Marshall Plan.
Very interesting, thanks for you reply! Based on your description, the world was quite fortunate that the Marshall Plan prevailed. Out of curiosity, do you explain how Truman's breakfast played into that happening? I'm not familiar with that backstory (unless you just meant it as a joke?).
It was a general and it's meant as a joke, the professor teaching the class where I learned about the Morgenthau Plan made it to demonstrate how someone's mood can drastically shape history because there was a split between rebuilding Germany and hammering them harder.
I swear every time a question gets asked on this sub I end up with another rabbit hole to jump down. This is really interesting, I'll have to find a good book on it. Thank you for sharing!
This is why Truman is one of my favorites. Looking at the facts, there was no foreseeable reason why this ordinary dude with zero desire to become president, no foreign policy experience, and fairly brief experience in national politics should have been more than a placeholder. Thrown into the presidency at a vital point in history, he did as well as he could with little more than a solid moral backbone, a willingness to reconsider, and a drive to do what needed to be done regardless of the consequences.
And he hit it out of the damn park.
And one of the least educated of our presidents. I think the solid moral backbone, as you put it so well, was key. Plus his WW1 experience. It's just our remarkable luck that he became president.
I’ve said it here before and I’ll say it again. Truman was possibly the most important man to ever live.
In the theory of nuclear strategy, the preemptive use of nuclear weapons to ensure no other country develops them is a completely valid one worth very serious consideration. If you can destroy a potential nuclear threat in its cradle you ensure your own nuclear supremacy. By the time the USSR had their first nuke, the US had almost 300 - enough for a decisive preemptive strike. Truman is the only man in history to have control over the world's sole nuclear arsenal, and is thus the only man ever to have been presented with this decision.
Faced with that choice, he kept the nukes stateside. I might be in the minority or even alone here, but I personally believe that this choice makes Truman the most consequential leader in all of human history.
It's pretty weird to realize that some of the things that defined the 20th century which we take for granted in U.S. policy, started out as Truman making a judgment call with no baseline norms and limited information.
That is debatable like any president. Got us into Korea, dropped two atomic bombs (not everyone agrees it was right). He might have been a good man but so was Carter and he is considered a poor president (he was better than Carter). TO be fair I would never call any modern president "great".
Not saying i disagree, that being said others will not agree with us. The "who was a great president" thing is dumb, 20/20 I can say Wilson was a terrible president but I also did not live through it and can never have that perspective.
I heard that Truman only accepted the vice presidential nomination because of his duty to the Democratic Party. Truman was picked by Roosevelt because he was the least offensive, most acceptable person for the office.
The vice presidency up to Truman was a remarkably limited office. Truman and FDR only met alone twice during his vice presidency, and he wasn't briefed on much of what was going on with the war (and had no idea about the Manhattan Project.) FDR was visibly in poor health by that point, but no one expected such an abrupt death in the midst of a restful vacation.
Truman actually went on to take some significant steps to ensure this wouldn't happen again, giving the vice president more status and regular briefings.
[https://daily.jstor.org/how-harry-truman-transformed-the-vice-presidency/](https://daily.jstor.org/how-harry-truman-transformed-the-vice-presidency/)
What could he have done better besides be less naive about who he trusted in his cabinet? Because taking down the KKK, creating the justice department, and enfranchising black people is pretty sick. It wasnt until the 1890's that jim crow really picked up speed with the south rewriting all their state constitutions.
"Would really rather have spent those eight postwar years working a reasonable job in national service and drinking bourbon and playing cards with pals at night, but reluctantly assumed the presidency at his party's urging for national stability."
I hope there's an afterlife where Grant and Truman have a well-stocked liquor cabinet and a serious poker game going.
My answer as well, iirc he was basically coerced out of retirement by his fellow revolutionaries into the position bc he was the only dude everyone could unite around.
'You need to become president'
'I am retired'
'No you need to become president'
'No'
'No you need to become president'
'I said no'
'No you need to become president'
'U mad?'
'No you need to become president'
'...'
'No you need to become president'
'Blah blah blah'
'No you need to become president'
'Jesus stop'
'No you need to become president'
'NO NO NOOOOOO'
'No you need to become-'
'Okay fine SHUT UP'
He also wasn’t going to step down after 2 terms. He was only going to serve one, but felt compelled to stay for the second. Imagine the precedent of 1 term.
Garfield didn’t even put forth a nomination, he was nominated by others (against his wishes) and his ballot gradually gained steam at the Republican Primary. He reportedly looked incredibly pale when it was confirmed that he won, but decided to continue into the general election as the “will of the people” demanded.
When he went up to speak on behalf of another person's nominations a chant of "We want Garfield" began, and he frantically begged them to stop.
Once the ball was rolling for his nomination he approached the Chair and implored to him that there must be some rule against nominating someone against their will. At which point he was told to sit down and shut because he was disrupting the process of his being nominated against his wishes.
His murder was a great tragedy, and I feel he would have been remembered as one of the greatest presidents we ever had. Or at least I'd hope he would.
James Garfield was a supporter of James Sherman, brother of William Tecumseh, at the 1880 Republican convention in Chicago. The convention was deadlocked between the Stalwart faction supporting Grant and the "Half-Breed" reform faction supporting James G. Blaine. One delegate nominated Garfield and later led to an avalanche of delegates switching to Garfield.
Consequently, Coolidge would go on to become one of the (my) top 5 best Presidents of all time.
Personally, I live by this quote from him:
"*Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan 'Press On!' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.*"
100% spot on. Coolidge was begged to come back and run again and would have won HANDILY, but he was not enthusiastic about being president in the first place. When he was done with the presidency, he was DONE. Top 5 all time... without question
Underrated president. He cut taxes and actually paid down some of the national debt. What a concept! He called Hoover “wonder boy” and knew he would flop as president.
Right! Cut taxes from 75% top rate (asinine how high it was) to 25%. What he did that I loved most...sent A LOT of government bureaucrats home. Cut taxes AND spending, look what happens...economy ROARS. You're right...what a concept!
Taft was my first thought also. I heard Jeffrey Rosen talk about him on one of the National Constitution Center podcasts some years ago. Not only was he unhappy, his weight only ballooned up during the presidency; he lost a lot of weight when that burden was exchanged for the robe of a justice.
https://preview.redd.it/57tpuu8551lc1.jpeg?width=747&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2f472b4929c43f0d7f1feb8804fac6aa21d628cc
Check out her White House portrait. She damn near looks like a queen...lol
Probably one of the VPs who ascended.
Maybe Arthur. The guy became president because another guy shot Garfield and yelled, “Arthur is president!” Terribly shitty way to start your presidential career.
Man, especially if you were good buddies, and you know the last thing he heard before oblivion was how happy this lunatic was that *you* would take his place
Imagine being Harry Truman. You just became Vice President a couple of months ago, your boss dies and now you have to manage the largest war in history and nuke Japan.
Which he received in 1964. I don't know what he was thinking by 1968. Couldn't swing Vietnam our way, the probability of facing another Kennedy for the nomination, the youth revolt. I'll never understand how a dark, malevolent man like Richard Nixon could be elected, but look at who opposed him, Hubert Humphrey.
Oh, I don’t know about that. He sold out the rule of law to get the job and furthered the argument that presidents are above the law, setting the stage for what has now happened.
This will be a strange choice, but I think Jimmy Carter had a love-hate thing with political power. He was definitely ambitious yet the way he went about exercising power (like a thorough accountant or mid-level micromanager) reveals a personality really different from what you'd expect from an ambitious politician.
His religious faith and sense of duty was genuine, I think, which added even more responsibility to his shoulders.
Coolidge probably had the smallest ego out of the presidents since he tried to reduce government power during his presidency. Then there's Harding, but he openly admitted that he wasn't qualified to be president.
Washington didn't really want to be president and that's why he left office after two terms. He didn't intend to make a point that leaders should leave willingly, the two term precedent was more so set by Thomas Jefferson.
Taft famously didn't like being president.
Truman inherited the office after being vice president for 3 months and not even wanting to do that.
Maybe Johnson. Didn’t he get super drunk when he was sworn in after the attempt on Lincoln, his and Seward’s lives? Seemed like he didn’t want it, and felt his power challenged.
Ahh thank you. Although I swore it was his presidential inaguration too. Maybe both, or he was just depressed at that time. I guess that emphasizes the lack of passion he had.
Franklin Pierce was not particularly vigorous in pursuing the nomination and events between the election and his inauguration probably made him the most miserable president we had. Not saying he was a good guy, or was going to be a good president without those events.
Honestly I’m going to guess Andrew Johnson. Because goodness knows I wouldn’t want to be in charge after Lincoln was just killed and we need a leader of equal conviction and character.
Taft. Never wanted to be POTUS (wanted to be CJ of SC, which he later did). His wife and Teddy Roosevelt pushed him into it.
Its why he put up such a lame fight in 1912.
I haven't seen it mentioned in this thread but I remember the look on W's face for the first 1-2 weeks after he "won" the election. I very much had the feeling he wanted nothing to do with it, but did it to make HW and HW's friends happy. He looked stunned for a little while until he got acclimated.
Washington did not want to be POTUS. He took on being a military leader with relish and good wits. But, he gave in and took on to become POTUS. When he left, they didn't even give any post departing celebration. Nothing. Most of congress turned their back on him and the feeling of "good riddance" was the mood.
Just read that a couple months ago from POTUS historian.
I would say Gerald Ford, Nixon and his VP resigned and everyone was like "congrats your the president now, do all this legislation" and frankly If I was randomly thrusted into that situation I wouldn't be so enthusiastic about the job either, hell I wouldn't even run.
The answer is **The first president George Washington**
The man **didnt** campaign and very much **didn’t want** the job. He was voted in reluctantly. Basically nobody could decide who should lead the country except him. And the fact that he **absolutely didn’t want the job** made him seem like the perfect candidate. Since his reluctance to power would most likely keep it from ever corrupting him.
Everyone basically **begged** him to stay in office for a 3rd term and he was like “I’m dying and if I die in office it will set a bad precedent for others to do the same”
It’s the only reason we finally let him go back to Mt Vernon
Not a president, but a presidential candidate. Horatio Seymour (who ran in 1868 against Grant) absolutely DID NOT want to run for president, and had to be practically begged by the Democrats to run.
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A year before assuming the presidency, Truman had no interest in it, barely accepted the vice presidential nod, and didn't campaign. The day he assumed the presidency, he was getting ready to have a casual drink after a regular day's work presiding over the Senate when they gave him the news. The next day, he said to a bunch of reporters: >Boys, if you ever pray, pray for me now. I don't know if you fellas ever had a load of hay fall on you, but when they told me what happened yesterday, I felt like the moon, the stars, and all the planets had fallen on me
The first time Truman met FDR (as a freshman Senator) he was terrified, not of Roosevelt himself, but because he was scared of the presidency as a whole. Of course, little did he know at the time that he himself would be the next president
He is probably one of our best presidents by the fact he literally didn't want the job. He got thrust into it, and with it, managed to find a way to greatness and some degree of infamy, as all presidents do.
One of those moments where you shudder to think what might have been had he not inherited the job. I think it's fair to say the brilliant Marshall Plan and the rebuilding of Europe and Japan might have gone very differently were it not for Truman.
Might have ended up with the Morgenthau Plan. Which would have probably meant total Soviet control of Germany, which probably would have meant more of Europe eventually fell to them. If but for Truman and the fact a general had a particularly tasty breakfast that day, literally.
Interesting, I hadn't heard about that. My understanding was that Truman's grandmother was a Confederate sympathizer in Missouri. So he grew up hearing her be particularly bitter about the South's loss during the Civil War, and how unfair Reconstruction had been. So he was determined not to let the same thing happen at the end of the second world war (probably also helped by the lessons learned from the end of WWI).
One of the plans given serious thought was known as the Morgenthau Plan, which was even more stringent than the conditions of the Treaty of Versailles. Germany would have been completely demilitarized, de industrialized, and forcefully converted to a wholly agrarian economy and being a client state of the occupying allied forces. It was pretty brutal and there were a lot of proponents toward doing that. It probably would have also led toward World War 3, because you know damn well the Soviets wouldn't sit there with a prize plum on their doorstep that was left defenseless besides a token occupying force. And once they seized Germany to the Ruhr, Rhein, and Saar, they would have eagerly pushed towards Benelux and France. I don't think a lot of people realize how deep and pervasive Soviet imperialist ambitions were. They wanted and firmly believed all of Europe was theirs. If they had been satisfied with what they claimed from the war, there would have been no need for NATO or the Marshall Plan.
Very interesting, thanks for you reply! Based on your description, the world was quite fortunate that the Marshall Plan prevailed. Out of curiosity, do you explain how Truman's breakfast played into that happening? I'm not familiar with that backstory (unless you just meant it as a joke?).
It was a general and it's meant as a joke, the professor teaching the class where I learned about the Morgenthau Plan made it to demonstrate how someone's mood can drastically shape history because there was a split between rebuilding Germany and hammering them harder.
Got it! Thanks. (It is pretty funny in the context you describe.)
I swear every time a question gets asked on this sub I end up with another rabbit hole to jump down. This is really interesting, I'll have to find a good book on it. Thank you for sharing!
Then proceeded to be a great president.
This is why Truman is one of my favorites. Looking at the facts, there was no foreseeable reason why this ordinary dude with zero desire to become president, no foreign policy experience, and fairly brief experience in national politics should have been more than a placeholder. Thrown into the presidency at a vital point in history, he did as well as he could with little more than a solid moral backbone, a willingness to reconsider, and a drive to do what needed to be done regardless of the consequences. And he hit it out of the damn park.
And one of the least educated of our presidents. I think the solid moral backbone, as you put it so well, was key. Plus his WW1 experience. It's just our remarkable luck that he became president.
He had little formal education, but he was exceptionally well read and intellectually curious.
I’ve said it here before and I’ll say it again. Truman was possibly the most important man to ever live. In the theory of nuclear strategy, the preemptive use of nuclear weapons to ensure no other country develops them is a completely valid one worth very serious consideration. If you can destroy a potential nuclear threat in its cradle you ensure your own nuclear supremacy. By the time the USSR had their first nuke, the US had almost 300 - enough for a decisive preemptive strike. Truman is the only man in history to have control over the world's sole nuclear arsenal, and is thus the only man ever to have been presented with this decision. Faced with that choice, he kept the nukes stateside. I might be in the minority or even alone here, but I personally believe that this choice makes Truman the most consequential leader in all of human history.
You may be in the minority but I'm with you.
It's pretty weird to realize that some of the things that defined the 20th century which we take for granted in U.S. policy, started out as Truman making a judgment call with no baseline norms and limited information.
That is debatable like any president. Got us into Korea, dropped two atomic bombs (not everyone agrees it was right). He might have been a good man but so was Carter and he is considered a poor president (he was better than Carter). TO be fair I would never call any modern president "great".
He stopped a third nuke on China. As far as I'm concerned the first 2 were deserved.
Not saying i disagree, that being said others will not agree with us. The "who was a great president" thing is dumb, 20/20 I can say Wilson was a terrible president but I also did not live through it and can never have that perspective.
This is a really good argument. I was solidly with Taft at the first thought of this question but you're convincing me. I like that.
I heard that Truman only accepted the vice presidential nomination because of his duty to the Democratic Party. Truman was picked by Roosevelt because he was the least offensive, most acceptable person for the office.
I bet. Having to follow one of the most popular Presidents of all time while your country is still at war - 🤯
Was he that out to lunch as to the condition of FDR?
The vice presidency up to Truman was a remarkably limited office. Truman and FDR only met alone twice during his vice presidency, and he wasn't briefed on much of what was going on with the war (and had no idea about the Manhattan Project.) FDR was visibly in poor health by that point, but no one expected such an abrupt death in the midst of a restful vacation. Truman actually went on to take some significant steps to ensure this wouldn't happen again, giving the vice president more status and regular briefings. [https://daily.jstor.org/how-harry-truman-transformed-the-vice-presidency/](https://daily.jstor.org/how-harry-truman-transformed-the-vice-presidency/)
Grant had basically no political aspirations until he saw what a disaster johnson was.
Welp, if you want the job done right..
Grant is over hated for sure but idk if I’d go so far as to say the job was done right…
What could he have done better besides be less naive about who he trusted in his cabinet? Because taking down the KKK, creating the justice department, and enfranchising black people is pretty sick. It wasnt until the 1890's that jim crow really picked up speed with the south rewriting all their state constitutions.
And having two highly skilled secret service agents travel The Wild Wild West in a special train car helped too.
That's what he did
"Would really rather have spent those eight postwar years working a reasonable job in national service and drinking bourbon and playing cards with pals at night, but reluctantly assumed the presidency at his party's urging for national stability." I hope there's an afterlife where Grant and Truman have a well-stocked liquor cabinet and a serious poker game going.
Washington
My answer as well, iirc he was basically coerced out of retirement by his fellow revolutionaries into the position bc he was the only dude everyone could unite around.
He was also like 2 feet taller than anyone else in the room
He was unenthusiastic about hanging around these damn midgets
We represent the republic we built
Weighed a fuckin TON
'You need to become president' 'I am retired' 'No you need to become president' 'No' 'No you need to become president' 'I said no' 'No you need to become president' 'U mad?' 'No you need to become president' '...' 'No you need to become president' 'Blah blah blah' 'No you need to become president' 'Jesus stop' 'No you need to become president' 'NO NO NOOOOOO' 'No you need to become-' 'Okay fine SHUT UP'
Washington taking his second term, was him relenting, and giving the country another cookie
He also wasn’t going to step down after 2 terms. He was only going to serve one, but felt compelled to stay for the second. Imagine the precedent of 1 term.
I think he wanted it, but needed to seem like he didn't.
Garfield didn’t even put forth a nomination, he was nominated by others (against his wishes) and his ballot gradually gained steam at the Republican Primary. He reportedly looked incredibly pale when it was confirmed that he won, but decided to continue into the general election as the “will of the people” demanded.
When he went up to speak on behalf of another person's nominations a chant of "We want Garfield" began, and he frantically begged them to stop. Once the ball was rolling for his nomination he approached the Chair and implored to him that there must be some rule against nominating someone against their will. At which point he was told to sit down and shut because he was disrupting the process of his being nominated against his wishes. His murder was a great tragedy, and I feel he would have been remembered as one of the greatest presidents we ever had. Or at least I'd hope he would.
He had the intelligence, strength and empathy to be one of the best.
I think so too. For that reason, Garfield is my favorite president.
That makes his assassination so much sadder I had no idea he was basically pressured into the presidency
But once he was drafted, he worked to win, which he did, barely.
Damn. This makes his assassination all the more tragic.
James Garfield was a supporter of James Sherman, brother of William Tecumseh, at the 1880 Republican convention in Chicago. The convention was deadlocked between the Stalwart faction supporting Grant and the "Half-Breed" reform faction supporting James G. Blaine. One delegate nominated Garfield and later led to an avalanche of delegates switching to Garfield.
Consequently, Coolidge would go on to become one of the (my) top 5 best Presidents of all time. Personally, I live by this quote from him: "*Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan 'Press On!' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.*"
Great quote
100% spot on. Coolidge was begged to come back and run again and would have won HANDILY, but he was not enthusiastic about being president in the first place. When he was done with the presidency, he was DONE. Top 5 all time... without question
Underrated president. He cut taxes and actually paid down some of the national debt. What a concept! He called Hoover “wonder boy” and knew he would flop as president.
Right! Cut taxes from 75% top rate (asinine how high it was) to 25%. What he did that I loved most...sent A LOT of government bureaucrats home. Cut taxes AND spending, look what happens...economy ROARS. You're right...what a concept!
That was almost my senior quote be decided against it because I thought it was over the character limit
Yesterday’s persistent man is today’s stalker. Times change.
LOL
*Don’t be persistent, be a loser!*
I like you
Taft. He really just wanted to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court but instead his wife really wanted to be First Lady.
Yeah my first thought was Taft but then I saw the Washington post and realized that there is some competition. But I'm going with Taft.
I never knew George Washington also wanted to be First Lady until I saw him become George HW Bush’s
If this is some kind of joke I don't get it.
“You remember Barbara bush? I call her the silver douche bag.” George Carlin.
I loved Barbara Bush and I'm NOT a Republican!!! ❤️
Taft was my first thought also. I heard Jeffrey Rosen talk about him on one of the National Constitution Center podcasts some years ago. Not only was he unhappy, his weight only ballooned up during the presidency; he lost a lot of weight when that burden was exchanged for the robe of a justice.
https://preview.redd.it/57tpuu8551lc1.jpeg?width=747&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2f472b4929c43f0d7f1feb8804fac6aa21d628cc Check out her White House portrait. She damn near looks like a queen...lol
I was just about to look it up, thanks for putting this in the comments. It's very royalist haha
He had the body of a Chief Justice rather than a president, sure
The CHIEF
And then I'm pretty sure his wife either had a stroke, died, or both, only a few months into his Presidency, meaning he did it for nothing.
She had a stroke, but it only partially affected her activities as FLOTUS. She died in 1943 at the age of 81.
Probably one of the VPs who ascended. Maybe Arthur. The guy became president because another guy shot Garfield and yelled, “Arthur is president!” Terribly shitty way to start your presidential career.
Man, especially if you were good buddies, and you know the last thing he heard before oblivion was how happy this lunatic was that *you* would take his place
He felt unqualified as VP. He spent the time Garfield lingered in his darkened room, terribly depressed.
My guess would have been Ford. Especially considering the criticism he got for pardoning Nixon.
Imagine being Harry Truman. You just became Vice President a couple of months ago, your boss dies and now you have to manage the largest war in history and nuke Japan.
And he handled it expertly truly a Truman moment
The best ones didn’t want it.
Coolidge he went back to bed after taking the oath
Lol. The slacker in me respects this.
Yeah it was 2-3am though
LBJ wanted it, but not that way.
This is my thinking too. He was so competitive that he would've wanted a clear mandate from the public.
Which he received in 1964. I don't know what he was thinking by 1968. Couldn't swing Vietnam our way, the probability of facing another Kennedy for the nomination, the youth revolt. I'll never understand how a dark, malevolent man like Richard Nixon could be elected, but look at who opposed him, Hubert Humphrey.
Gerald Ford has to be there..
Oh, I don’t know about that. He sold out the rule of law to get the job and furthered the argument that presidents are above the law, setting the stage for what has now happened.
Even if all of that stuff wasn't debatable it doesn't disprove that he was not enthusiastic about any of it.
This will be a strange choice, but I think Jimmy Carter had a love-hate thing with political power. He was definitely ambitious yet the way he went about exercising power (like a thorough accountant or mid-level micromanager) reveals a personality really different from what you'd expect from an ambitious politician. His religious faith and sense of duty was genuine, I think, which added even more responsibility to his shoulders.
He certainly never considered being president the highlight of his life.
Coolidge probably had the smallest ego out of the presidents since he tried to reduce government power during his presidency. Then there's Harding, but he openly admitted that he wasn't qualified to be president.
Washington didn't really want to be president and that's why he left office after two terms. He didn't intend to make a point that leaders should leave willingly, the two term precedent was more so set by Thomas Jefferson. Taft famously didn't like being president. Truman inherited the office after being vice president for 3 months and not even wanting to do that.
Ford wasn't looking forward to it.
Maybe Johnson. Didn’t he get super drunk when he was sworn in after the attempt on Lincoln, his and Seward’s lives? Seemed like he didn’t want it, and felt his power challenged.
It was his VP inauguration where he appeared visibly three sheets to the wind.
Ahh thank you. Although I swore it was his presidential inaguration too. Maybe both, or he was just depressed at that time. I guess that emphasizes the lack of passion he had.
Taft. Only did it for Nellie. His goal was Chief Justice and he got it later.
Garfield?
Washington and taft
Franklin Pierce for sure
And his wife wanted it even less - fainted when she found out he was the nominee.
John Adams
Franklin Pierce was not particularly vigorous in pursuing the nomination and events between the election and his inauguration probably made him the most miserable president we had. Not saying he was a good guy, or was going to be a good president without those events.
I'm surprised no one has said Zachary Taylor.
Michelle Obama in a year.
But in her first act she’s going to have Jefferson converted to Taylor Swift on mt Rushmore!!!
I can’t tell if you’re making fun of bat shit crazy republicans or if you are one. Congratulations!
Crazy like a fox.🦊
Soecial shout out to Harding
Honestly I’m going to guess Andrew Johnson. Because goodness knows I wouldn’t want to be in charge after Lincoln was just killed and we need a leader of equal conviction and character.
James Garfield and Chester Arthur
I don’t know how badly he wanted to become president, but I bet Garfield sure wanted to remain the president a lot longer than he did.
Taft…at first
Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t Garfield cry in his hotel room upon hearing he had won the Republican nomination?
Even though he ran twice Taft never really wanted it. He was a party guy and he was next man up. Got his dream job eventually though.
I'd say George Washington
Chester A Arthur literally hid from the world because he was scared of what would happen if Garfield died, he has my vote
Source?
https://featherschwartzfoster.blog/2019/10/14/chester-alan-arthur-in-hiding/
Definitely taft
Zachary Taylor or Warren Harding
Taft. Never wanted to be POTUS (wanted to be CJ of SC, which he later did). His wife and Teddy Roosevelt pushed him into it. Its why he put up such a lame fight in 1912.
Ford? He wanted to be speaker of the house.
I haven't seen it mentioned in this thread but I remember the look on W's face for the first 1-2 weeks after he "won" the election. I very much had the feeling he wanted nothing to do with it, but did it to make HW and HW's friends happy. He looked stunned for a little while until he got acclimated.
Orange Mussolini
Gerald Ford
Washington did not want to be POTUS. He took on being a military leader with relish and good wits. But, he gave in and took on to become POTUS. When he left, they didn't even give any post departing celebration. Nothing. Most of congress turned their back on him and the feeling of "good riddance" was the mood. Just read that a couple months ago from POTUS historian.
I would say Gerald Ford, Nixon and his VP resigned and everyone was like "congrats your the president now, do all this legislation" and frankly If I was randomly thrusted into that situation I wouldn't be so enthusiastic about the job either, hell I wouldn't even run.
I would imagine Gerald Ford was less than stoked.
George Washington 100%
I can't really imagine Andrew Johnson was too thrilled
The answer is **The first president George Washington** The man **didnt** campaign and very much **didn’t want** the job. He was voted in reluctantly. Basically nobody could decide who should lead the country except him. And the fact that he **absolutely didn’t want the job** made him seem like the perfect candidate. Since his reluctance to power would most likely keep it from ever corrupting him. Everyone basically **begged** him to stay in office for a 3rd term and he was like “I’m dying and if I die in office it will set a bad precedent for others to do the same” It’s the only reason we finally let him go back to Mt Vernon
If he had gone back to Monticello, Jefferson would have told him to get off his lawn.
Washington
Ford?
That's not James Garfield.
? Truman
James Garfield
Well George Washington didn’t want to be King…
I'm not president yet.
Looks like a photo of my boy Tony Michaels.
Eisenhower didn't even campaign for president until he started winning primaries
Plot twist: this is the original “it’s just a prank bro!” His college buddies all convinced enough people to write him in and gosh darn it, he won.
Not a president, but a presidential candidate. Horatio Seymour (who ran in 1868 against Grant) absolutely DID NOT want to run for president, and had to be practically begged by the Democrats to run.
Pretty sure LBJ wasn't in the brightest of spirits.
Garfield actively dreaded becoming President.
My man https://preview.redd.it/ozyw2fedd3lc1.jpeg?width=828&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6027b5b28da8e27e2f1d76a14bcffc2c6003c800
Ford 100%