CQ TODAY MIDDAY UPDATE
July 18, 2008 – 5:14 a.m.
Political Trivia for July 18
By Bob Benenson
How many presidents were formerly New York state legislators?
a) 1
b) 2
c) 3
d) 4
Answer: d) According to the New York legislature’s Web site, four former state lawmakers went on to serve as president:
• Martin Van Buren, who was elected to a single term as president in 1836.
• Millard Fillmore, who was elected vice president in 1848 and succeeded to the presidency when Zachary Taylor died in office in 1850.
• Theodore Roosevelt, who was elected vice president in 1900, became president upon the 1901 assassination of William McKinley, and was re-elected in 1904.
• Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was elected president in 1932, 1936, 1940 and 1944 before dying in office in 1945.
They also are the only four presidents born in New York: Van Buren in Kinderhook and FDR in Hyde Park, both in the Hudson Valley; Fillmore in the upstate town of Summerhill; and Theodore Roosevelt in Manhattan.
Other references show that four presidents were born in other states but relocated and served in the office as residents of New York:
• Chester Alan Arthur, a Vermont native, was elected vice president in 1880 and moved up to fill out the unexpired term of President James A. Garfield, who died in September 1881 after being shot by an assassin two months earlier.
Political Trivia for July 18
• Grover Cleveland, a New Jersey native, was elected president in 1884, lost to Benjamin Harrison in 1888, then won the office back from Harrison in 1892. Cleveland is the only president who has served non-consecutive terms.
• Dwight D. Eisenhower, a Texas native, was the Army general who commanded the Allied forces in Europe during World War II, then settled in New York City as president of Columbia University. He listed New York as his home state when he won for president in 1952, but switched his residency to his farm in Gettysburg, Pa., when he won re-election in 1956.
• Richard M. Nixon, a California native, served two terms as Eisenhower’s vice president before losing the 1960 presidential election narrowly to John F. Kennedy. After losing a 1962 bid for governor of California, Nixon moved to New York City to practice law. He staged a remarkable comeback by winning the 1968 race for president, in which he ran as a New York resident. But when he was re-elected in 1972, he ran as a resident of his native state of California.
New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton , a native of Illinois, tried to add her name to the latter list this year, but fell short in her bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Comments
Please recheck. As I remeber it, your question asked how many presidents were formerly New York state legislators. You gave the names of Presidents who were NY state natives. They were both governors, but did the Roosevelts serve as legislators? Otherwise, you do a good job on these q's. (You do have to deal with a demanding [nitpicking] audience.)
Well, that's what I get for trusting the government. After receiving the inquiry from "Don," I re-checked the names that are listed on the New York state legislature's site, and can't find any evidence that either Martin Van Buren or Teddy Roosevelt served in the state legislature (FDR actually did, serving two years in the state Senate in the early 1910s.) If anyone knows of any research that vindicates the NYS legislature's claims that these men served, please send it and we'll post it. My bad, anyway. This was one of a very few sites that I have relied on for the trivia feature rather than doing my own homework. Won't do it again, unless I check their facts first. Thanks for raising the question, Don. Bob Benenson Editor
TR did serve in the legilature: ROOSEVELT, Theodore, (great-great-grandson of Archibald Bulloch, nephew of Robert Barnwell Roosevelt, father-in-law of Nicholas Longworth), a Vice President and 26th President of the United States; born in New York City, October 27, 1858; privately tutored; graduated from Harvard University in 1880; studied law; traveled abroad; member, New York State Assembly 1882-1884; moved to North Dakota and lived on his ranch; returned to New York City in 1886; appointed by President Benjamin Harrison a member of the United States Civil Service Commission 1889-1895, when he resigned to become president of the New York Board of Police Commissioners; resigned this position upon his appointment by President William McKinley as Assistant Secretary of the Navy 1897-1898, when he resigned to enter the war with Spain; organized the First Regiment, United States Volunteer Cavalry, popularly known as Roosevelt's Rough Riders; Governor of New York 1899-1900; elected Vice President of the United States on the Republican ticket headed by William McKinley in 1900 and was inaugurated March 4, 1901; upon the death of President McKinley on September 14, 1901, became President of the United States; elected President of the United States in 1904, inaugurated March 4, 1905, and served until March 3, 1909; unsuccessful candidate of the Progressive Party for President of the United States in 1912 and 1916; engaged in literary pursuits; died at Oyster Bay, Nassau County, N.Y., January 6, 1919; interment in Young's Memorial Cemetery.
New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton , a native of Illinois, tried to add her name to the latter list this year, but fell short in her bid for the Democratic presidential nomination... so far...
Dewie is correct, TR did serve in the NY State Legislature. I read The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt last year and recall that he served three one year terms in the Assembly, including one as the Minority Leader. Here's Wikipedia on the subject: When offered a chance to run for New York Assemblyman in 1881, he dropped out of law school to pursue his new goal of entering public life. Roosevelt was a Republican activist during his years in the Assembly, writing more bills than any other New York state legislator. Already a major player in state politics, he attended the Republican National Convention in 1884 and fought alongside the Mugwump reformers; they lost to the Stalwart faction that nominated James G. Blaine.
If we are counting Senator as a State legislator (a la Hilary), why is JFK not counted?
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