Donald Trump is the presumptive Republican presidential nominee despite never having held elected office. Though unusual, it is not unprecedented in United States history. The following is a compilation of candidates who received a major party nomination for the presidency without having previously served in an elected office. For the purposes of this list, individuals with military experience or service in a cabinet position were included, because neither are elected positions.
Zachary Taylor: Year: 1848 Party: Whig
Zachary Taylor won the presidency with 163 electoral votes. (AP Photo)
Bio: Major General Zachary Taylor gained the nickname “Old Rough and Ready” through his dedicated decades-long military service. Beloved by the public as a war hero, he was nominated by the then-prominent Whig Party despite frequently diverging from leadership. Taylor ran in a three-candidate race, defeating Democrat Lewis Cass and Free Soil nominee Martin Van Buren. Taylor had little time to celebrate his political success. He died after a sudden illness a mere sixteen months into his term, shortly after attending lengthy July 4 ceremonies at the Washington Monument on a sweltering DC summer day.
Results: Taylor won the presidency with 163 electoral votes to Cass’s 127, with third party candidate Van Buren failing to gain a single vote. Taylor earned 47 percent of the popular vote to Cass’s 42.5 percent, with Van Buren a carrying a mere 10 percent.
Winfield Scott: Year: 1852 Party: Whig
Bio: Becoming a national hero after his battlefield successes during the War of 1812, Winfield Scott rose to the rank of commanding general of the U.S. Army in 1841. He held this office for twenty years and remains the longest serving active duty general in our country’s history.
Winfield Scott became a national hero after his battlefield successes during the War of 1812. (Charles Fredricks & Company, via Wikimedia Commons)
A well-known Whig, he was selected as their presidential nominee in 1852 but was resoundingly defeated by Democrat Franklin Pierce. The populist mood of the country led to many dismissing him as a pompous aristocrat. His vocal opposition to the then-divisive slavery issue cost him votes to Pierce, who saw the abolitionist movement as a threat to domestic peace. Widely mocked upon the end of his career for his strategy to win the Civil War by dividing the Confederacy, the so-called “Anaconda Plan” was successfully implemented by the Union army. His advanced age and poor health led to him retiring in 1861.
Results: Pierce won the election with with 254 electoral votes to Scott’s 42, gaining 50.8 of the popular vote to Scott’s 43.9. Pierce was an unpopular president and failed to gain the nomination of his own party for a second term.
George McClellan: Year: 1864 Party: Democrat
Major General George McClellan served in the Union Army during the Civil War. (AP Photo)
Bio: Major General George McClellan served in the Union Army during the Civil War. His battlefield caution earned him widespread criticism that limited his political and military ambitions, despite being a capable strategist beloved by many of the men he led.
In 1864 McClellan was nominated as the Democratic candidate for president, running against former supervisor Abraham Lincoln. Still a U.S. general on active duty, he confused voters as he rejected the anti-war platform of his own party and a series of Union successes convinced many that war was ending. McClellan resigned his commission on Election Day, only for Lincoln to be elected for a second term. He later served as governor of New Jersey, defending his controversial decisions during the Civil War in a memoir published after his death.
Results: The electorate rewarded Lincoln’s leadership during the Civil War with 55 percent supporting the sitting president in the polls. Lincoln sealed his victory with 212 electoral votes to McClellan’s 21.
Ulysses S. Grant: Year: 1868 Party: Republican
Ulysses Grant was one of the most popular men in the country after having led the Union to victory. (AP Photo)
Bio: Commanding General of the United States Army during the Civil War, Grant was one of the most popular men in the country after having led the Union to victory. He campaigned as a Republican in the 1868 presidential race against Democrat Horatio Seymour. Seymour was decisively defeated in the Electoral College, but the popular vote was more competitive. Grant served two terms as president, completing his memoirs days before he died of throat cancer.
Results: The beloved general won the presidency with 52.6 percent of the popular vote to Seymour’s 47.3 percent, gaining 214 electoral votes to Seymour’s 80.
Winfield S. Hancock: Year: 1880 Party: Democrat
Bio: Long-serving Union war hero Major General Winfield Hancock was selected by the Democratic Party as the nominee for the 1880 presidential election. Republican James Garfield defeated Hancock in one of the closest popular vote elections in United States history, but won the White House with a comfortable lead from the support of the Electoral College. Garfield was assassinated only 200 days into his term, succeeded by Chester Arthur. Hancock served in the military until his dying day despite increasingly poor health stemming from diabetes, his final office being the commander of the Division of the Atlantic.
Results: Hancock lost the election to his opponent by less than one-tenth of one percent, 48.25 percent to Garfield’s 48.27 percent of the popular vote. The Electoral College supported Garfield with a much clearer majority, giving him 214 votes to Hancock’s 155.
Herbert Hoover: Year: 1928 Party: Republican
Herbert Hoover began his career as a mining engineer. (AP Photo)
Bio: Beginning his career as a mining engineer, Hoover was lauded as a humanitarian hero for helping to relieve hunger and rescuing stranded American tourists in Europe during World War I.
Appointed head of the Food Administration by President Woodrow Wilson, he served as secretary of Commerce under Harding and Coolidge. He accepted the Republican presidential nomination in 1928, running against Governor of New York Democrat Alfred Smith.
Results: Hoover won a landslide victory over New York Gov. Al Smith, carrying the popular vote 58 percent to 41 percent, and winning 444 electoral votes to Smith’s 87. Hoover would lose the presidency four years later to Franklin Roosevelt, who succeeded Smith as New York governor.
Wendell L. Wilkie: Year: 1940 Party: Republican
Bio: The lawyer turned president of a utility holding company, Willike fought to compete against the experimental federal program the Tennessee Valley Authority to provide power in the region. Though he eventually settled by selling off his company’s assets to the TVA, Willkie’s opposition to one of the New Deal’s signature initiatives made him a national figure.
A dedicated Democrat who believed President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Great Depression policies were anti-business, Willkie became a Republican in 1940. Despite announcing his upstart campaign with vocal opposition from many party leaders, he gained the Republican presidential nomination. Though he won only 10 states, he won more popular votes than any other previous GOP politician.
Results: Roosevelt carried 55 percent of the popular vote to Wilkie’s 45 percent, dominating the Electoral College with 449 electoral votes to a mere 82 for his Republican opponent. Wilkie made another attempt for the Oval Office in 1944, but his service as a personal representative for Roosevelt upon the outbreak of WWII and defense of his former opponent’s later policies alienated him from his Republican base. He dropped out of the race after failing to earn a single delegate in the Wisconsin Republican primary.
Dwight D. Eisenhower: Year: 1952 Party: Republican
Dwight Eisenhower was elected a total of two terms as president, retiring to his Pennsylvania farm but remaining politically active. (AP Photo)
Bio: A five-star general for the United States Army during World War II, Dwight D. Eisenhower played a central role in organizing an Allied victory in Europe and then went on to become supreme commander of NATO after the war. Reluctant to run at first, Eisenhower, who had become a hero at home and an international figure, was convinced to challenge non-interventionist Sen. Robert Taft for the Republican nomination and then went on to face Illinois Gov. Adlai Stevenson in the general election.
Results: Dwight Eisenhower sailed to victory with 55 percent of the popular vote to Stevenson’s 44 percent, gaining 442 electoral votes to his opponent’s 89. The military man was elected a total of two terms, retiring to his Pennsylvania farm but remaining politically active.
