Six periods with no living ex-presidents

Published January 17, 2017 2:59pm ET



I saw this on Twitter today: “US Grant and Theodore Roosevelt are the only presidents to serve during a period of no living ex-Presidents.”

Wrong. And not just for the obvious reason that there were no living ex-presidents during George Washington’s two terms (1789-97). Here is the whole list of presidents who served when there were no living ex-presidents:

  • John Adams (1799-1801), after George Washington died in 1799.
  • Ulysses S. Grant (1875-77), after Franklin Pierce died in 1869, Millard Fillmore died in 1874 and Andrew Johnson died in 1875.
  • Theodore Roosevelt (1908-09), after Grover Cleveland died in 1908.
  • Herbert Hoover (1933), after Calvin Coolidge died on Jan. 5, 1933, until Hoover left office on March 4, the last president to do so.
  • Richard Nixon (1973-74), after Dwight Eisenhower died in 1969, Harry Truman died in 1972 and Lyndon Johnson died in 1973. Nixon had no ex-presidents to turn to for advice during the Watergate scandal.