Fun facts about ex-Presidents of the United States
Ex-Presidential Facts
This is a list of facts about all ex-presidents. You can change how the list is sorted by clicking on the column headers.
| Ex-President | Dates | Description |
|---|---|---|
| George Washington | March 4, 1797 | Became the first ex-President of the United States (millercenter.org) |
| George Washington | July 4, 1798 | Commissioned lieutenant general and Commander-in-Chief by President Adams for service in a possible war with France (boundarystones.weta.org) |
| George Washington | July 13, 1798 to December 14, 1799 | Served as the senior officer of the United States Army (armyhistory.org) |
| Thomas Jefferson | 1819 | Founded the University of Virginia |
| John Adams | March 4, 1825 | Became the first ex-president to have a son become President of the United States |
| James Madison | 1826 | Became the second Rector of the University of Virginia |
| James Monroe | 1826 to 1831 | Served on the Board of Visitors of the University of Virginia |
| James Madison | 1829 | Served as a representative to the constitutional convention for the revising of the Virginia state constitution |
| John Quincy Adams | March 4, 1831 to February 23, 1848 | Served in the U.S. House of Representatives for 17 years |
| John Quincy Adams | 1834 | Unsuccessfully ran for Governor of Massachusetts |
| Andrew Jackson | 1840 | Campaigned for the re-election of President Van Buren |
| John Quincy Adams | 1841 | Represented the defendants in United States v. The Amistad Africans in the Supreme Court of the United States |
| Andrew Jackson | 1844 | Was instrumental in securing the Democratic presidential nomination for the dark-horse candidate, James Polk |
| Martin Van Buren | 1844 | Made an unsuccessful bid for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States |
| Martin Van Buren | 1848 | Ran for President of the United States as the Free Soil Party nominee |
| James Polk | March 4, 1849 to June 15, 1849 | Had the shortest ex-Presidency of any ex-President |
| Millard Fillmore | 1855 | Turned down an honorary Doctor of Civil Law degree from the University of Oxford, saying "no man should accept a degree he cannot read", referring to the latin text |
| Millard Fillmore | 1856 | Ran for President of the United States as the nominee of the American Party, receiving 21.6% of the popular vote |
| John Tyler | 1859 to 1862 | Served as Chancellor of the College of William and Mary |
| John Tyler | 1861 to 1862 | Served as a delegate to the Provisional Confederate Congress |
| Millard Fillmore | 1861 to 1865 | Commanded the Union Continentals, a corps of home guards in Upstate New York |
| John Tyler | February, 1861 | Served as chair of the Virginia Peace Convention |
| John Tyler | November 6, 1861 | Elected to the House of Representatives of the Confederate Congress, but died before he could assume office |
| Millard Fillmore | 1862 to 1867 | Served as the first president of the Buffalo Historical Society |
| Franklin Pierce | 1862 | Accused by Secretary of State William Seward of being a member of the seditious Knights of the Golden Circle, which he denied |
| James Buchanan | 1866 | Published the first published presidential memoir |
| Andrew Johnson | 1872 | Unsuccessfully ran for U.S. House of Representatives |
| Andrew Johnson | March 4, 1875 to July 31, 1875 | Served as U.S. Senator from Tennessee until his death |
| Ulysses S. Grant | 1879 | Arbitrated a dispute between Japan and China over the Ryukyu Islands, ruling in favor of Japan |
| Ulysses S. Grant | 1880 | Made an unsuccessful bid for the Republican nomination for President of the United States |
| Rutherford B. Hayes | 1881 to 1893 | Served on the Board of Trustees of The Ohio State University |
| Chester A. Arthur | 1885 | Attempted to resume his law practice, but his ill health prevented him from doing much work |
| Ulysses S. Grant | March 4, 1885 | Commissioned General of the Army by President Cleveland so he would receive much needed retirement pay |
| Ulysses S. Grant | July, 1885 | Just a few days before his death, finished his memoir, which is regarded as one of the finest works of its kind ever written |
| Grover Cleveland | 1889 | Took a position with the law firm of Bangs, Stetson, Tracy, and MacVeigh in New York City |
| Grover Cleveland | November 8, 1892 | Elected President of the United States |
| Benjamin Harrison | 1894 | Lectured law at Stanford University |
| Benjamin Harrison | July, 1895 to March, 1901 | Served on the Board of Trustees of Purdue University |
| Benjamin Harrison | 1896 | Married the niece of his deceased wife, 25 years his junior |
| Benjamin Harrison | 1897 | Published a book about the Federal government and the presidency, This Country of Ours |
| Benjamin Harrison | February 21, 1897 | His daughter Elizabeth was born |
| Benjamin Harrison | 1899 | Attended the First Peace Conference at The Hague |
| Benjamin Harrison | 1900 | Served as an attorney for the Republic of Venezuela in their boundary dispute with the United Kingdom, losing the case |
| Grover Cleveland | 1901 to 1908 | Served as a trustee of Princeton University |
| Grover Cleveland | 1902 | Offered chairmanship of the commission handling the Coal Strike, but declined |
| Theodore Roosevelt | 1909 | Went on a safari in east and central Africa, which killed or trapped more than 11,397 animals |
| Theodore Roosevelt | 1912 | Served as president of the American Historical Association |
| Theodore Roosevelt | 1912 | Ran for President of the United States as the Progressive Party nominee |
| Theodore Roosevelt | October 14, 1912 | Shot in the chest while campaigning in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, but decided to deliver his scheduled speech, with blood seeping into his shirt, speaking for 90 minutes |
| Theodore Roosevelt | 1913 to 1914 | Went on an expedition into the Brazilian jungle, exploring the uncharted 1000-mile long Rio da Duvida (River of Doubt) |
| William Howard Taft | 1913 | Appointed as the Chancellor Kent Professor of Law and Legal History at Yale Law School |
| William Howard Taft | 1913 | Elected president of the American Bar Association |
| William Howard Taft | 1914 | Founded the League to Enforce Peace |
| William Howard Taft | 1917 to 1918 | Was co-chairman of the National War Labor Board |
| William Howard Taft | June 30, 1921 to February 3, 1930 | Served as Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court |
| Woodrow Wilson | 1924 | Served as president of the American Historical Association |
| Calvin Coolidge | 1929 to 1933 | Served as president of the American Antiquarian Society |
| Calvin Coolidge | 1929 | Published his autobiography |
| Calvin Coolidge | April 10, 1929 to January 5, 1933 | Served as a director of New York Life Insurance Company |
| Calvin Coolidge | 1930 to 1931 | Wrote a syndicated newspaper column |
| Calvin Coolidge | September 27, 1932 to January 5, 1933 | Appointed by President Hoover to chair the National Transportation Committee |
| Herbert Hoover | 1946 | Selected by President Truman to tour Germany to ascertain the food status of the occupied nation |
| Herbert Hoover | 1947 | Appointed by President Truman to chair the Commission on Organization of the Executive Branch of the Government |
| Herbert Hoover | 1949 | Offered an appointment to a vacant U.S. Senate seat by New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey, but he declined it |
| Herbert Hoover | 1953 | Appointed by President Eisenhower to chair the Second Commission on Organization of the Executive Branch of the Government |
| Harry S. Truman | 1955 to 1956 | Published his memoirs in two volumes |
| Harry S. Truman | 1956 | Received an honorary degree in Civic Law from the University of Oxford |
| Dwight D. Eisenhower | 1967 | Donated his farm near Gettysburg, PA, to the National Park Service |
| Lyndon B. Johnson | 1971 | Published his memoirs, The Vantage Point |
| Richard Nixon | February, 1976 | Traveled to China at the invitation of Mao Zedong |
| Gerald Ford | 1977 to 2006 | Served as a distinguished fellow with the American Enterprise Institute |
| Richard Nixon | August, 1977 | Met with British commentator David Frost, who paid him $600,000 for a series of interviews |
| Gerald Ford | 1979 | Published his autobiography, A Time to Heal |
| Gerald Ford | 1980 | At the Republican National Convention, Ronald Reagan considered him as a potential vice-presidential running mate, but negotiations were unsuccessful |
| Gerald Ford | 1982 | Founded the annual AEI World Forum |
| Ronald Reagan | 1989 | Made an honorary Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath by Queen Elizabeth II |
| Ronald Reagan | 1992 | Delivered a well-received speech at the Republican National Convention |
| George H. W. Bush | 1993 | Made an honorary Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath by Queen Elizabeth II |
| Jimmy Carter | 1994 | Sent by President Clinton on a peace mission to North Korea |
| Jimmy Carter | 1994 | Led a mission to Haiti to avert a US-led multinational invasion and restore to power the democratically elected president Jean-Bertrand Aristide |
| Jimmy Carter | 1995 to 1996 | Held summits in Egypt and Tunisia to address violence in the Great Lakes region of Africa |
| Gerald Ford | 1999 | Awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Bill Clinton |
| Jimmy Carter | 1999 | Played a key role in negotiation of the Nairobi Agreement between Sudan and Uganda |
| Gerald Ford | 2001 | Received the John F. Kennedy Profiles in Courage Award |
| Gerald Ford | 2001 | Served with Jimmy Carter as honorary co-chairs of the National Commission on Federal Election Reform |
| Jimmy Carter | 2001 | Served with Gerald Ford as honorary co-chairs of the National Commission on Federal Election Reform |
| Jimmy Carter | 2002 | Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize |
| Jimmy Carter | 2002 to 2003 | Assisted unofficial Israeli and Palestinian negotiators in designing a model agreement for peace |
| Bill Clinton | 2004 | Published an autobiography, My Life |
| Bill Clinton | 2009 | Traveled to North Korea on behalf of two American journalists imprisoned in North Korea, securing their pardon |
| George W. Bush | September 20, 2009 | Performed the coin toss for the first regular season game at the new Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, TX |
| Jimmy Carter | August, 2010 | Traveled to North Korea and negotiated the release of Aijalon Mahli Gomes, a U.S. citizen |
| Barack Obama | May 7, 2017 | Awarded the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award |
| Barack Obama | 2018 | Founded Higher Ground Productions with Michelle Obama, producing films and series for Netflix |
| Barack Obama | November 17, 2020 | Published memoir A Promised Land |
| Donald Trump | November 5, 2024 | Elected President of the United States |