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75 people have held either or both of the nation’s highest offices.
Eight lawyers became both Vice President and President: 4 Republicans, 2 Whigs, 1 Federalist, and 1 Democrat.
John Adams (F) Vice President 1789-1797; President 1797-1801 Martin Van Buren (D) 1833-1837; President 1837-1841 John Tyler (W) Vice President 1841; President 1841-1845 Millard Fillmore (W) Vice President 1849-1850; President 1850-1853 Chester Arthur (R) Vice President 1881; President 1881-1885 Calvin Coolidge (R) Vice President 1921-1923; President 1823-1929 Richard Nixon (R) Vice President 1953-1961; President 1969-1974 Gerald Ford (R) Vice President 1973-1974; President 1974-1977
If you include Grover Cleveland only once, fifteen lawyers have held the Presidency, but not the Vice Presidency: six Democrats, six Republicans, and three Democratic-Republicans.
James Madison (DR) 1809-1817 James Monroe (DR) 1817-1825 John Quincy Adams (DR) 1825-1829 James K. Polk (D) 1845-1849 Franklin Pierce (D) 1853-1857 James Buchanan (D) 1857-11861 Abraham Lincoln (R) 1861-1865 Rutherford B. Hayes (R) 1877-1881 James A. Garfield (R) 1881 Grover Cleveland (D) 1885-1889, 1893-1897 Benjamin Harrison (R) 1889-1893 William McKinley (R) 1897-1901 William H. Taft (R) 1909-1913 Franklin D. Roosevelt (D) 1933-1945 Bill Clinton (D) 1993-2001
Twenty lawyers became Vice President, but not Chief Executive: ten Democrats, eight Republicans, and three Democratic-Republicans. John Calhoun served as a Democratic-Republican and a Democrat.
Aaron Burr (DR) 1801-1805 Daniel D. Tompkins (DR)1817-1825 John Calhoun (DR/D)1825-1832 Richard M. Johnson (D) 1837-11841 George Dallas (D) 1845-1849 William R.D. King (D) 1853 John C. Breckenridge (D) 1857-1861 Hannibal Hamlin (R) 1861-1865 William Wheeler (R) 1877-1881 Thomas A. Hendricks (D) 1885 Adlai E. Stevenson (D) 1893-1897 Garret Hobart (R) 1897-1899 Charles W. Fairbanks (R) 1905-1909 James Sherman (R) 1909-1913 Thomas R. Marshall (D) 1913-1921 Charles G. Dawes (R) 125-1929 Charles Curtis (R) 1929-1933 John N. Garner (D) 1-1941) Alben W. Barkley (D) 1949-1953 Spiro T. Agnew (R) 1969-1973
43/75=~57%, so 57% of all the Presidents and Vice Presidents we have had in this country have been lawyers.
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