25 of the 44 U.S. Presidents were lawyers, and some were arguably Presidential Shysters.
Presidential Shysters?
Taking the law into their own hands
shy ster [shahy-ster] noun Informal.
1. A lawyer who uses unprofessional or questionable methods.
25 of the 44 U.S. Presidents Have Been Lawyers
- #2 – John Adams
- (Harvard, then apprenticed as a lawyer)
- #3 – Thomas Jefferson
- (College of William & Mary, then apprenticed as a lawyer)
- #4 – James Madison
- (College of New Jersey – now Princeton – then read law)
- #6 – John Quincy Adams
- (Harvard, then apprenticed as a lawyer)
- #7 – Andrew Jackson
- (self-taught lawyer)
- #8 – Martin Van Buren
- (Kinderhook Academy, then apprenticed as a lawyer)
- #10 – John Tyler
- (College of William & Mary, then apprenticed as a lawyer)
- #11 – James Polk
- (University of North Carolina, then apprenticed as a lawyer)
- #13 – Millard Fillmore
- (clerked for and studied under New York Judge Walter Wood)
- #14 – Franklin Pierce
- (Bowdoin College, then studied law)
- #15 – James Buchanan
- (Dickinson College, then studied law)
- #16 – Abraham Lincoln
- (No formal education, a self-taught lawyer)
- #19 – Rutherford Hayes
- (Kenyon College, Harvard Law)
- #21 – Chester Arthur
- (Union College, then studied law)
- #22 – Grover Cleveland
- (apprenticed as a lawyer)
- #23 – Benjamin Harrison
- (Miami University in Ohio, then studied law)
- #25 – William McKinley
- (Allegheny College, Albany law)
- #27 – William Howard Taft
- (Yale, Cincinnati Law)
- #28 – Woodrow Wilson
- (College of New Jersey – now Princeton – then UVA Law)
- #30 – Calvin Coolidge
- (Amherst, then apprenticed as a lawyer)
- #32 – Franklin Roosevelt
- (Harvard, Columbia Law)
- #37 – Richard Nixon
- (Whittier College, Duke Law)
Nixon’s Watergate scandal put a permanent stain of the office of president
- Not only did he order the break-in at Watergate, but his administration then tried to cover up their illegal actions
- Nixon refused to answer questions directly or to submit evidence requested during the investigation
- In lieu of his inevitable impeachment, Nixon became the first and only president to resign from office
- #38 – Gerald Ford
- (University of Michigan, Yale Law)
Ford took the office of president following Nixon’s resignation
- One of his first actions was to pardon Nixon completely
- Nixon was released from any obligation to stand trial for the Watergate scandal
- Going around the law made Ford very unpopular with both the right and the left
- #42 – Bill Clinton
- (Georgetown University, Yale Law)
Clinton did a lot of good during his presidency, but is marked by sexual scandal
- In court, Clinton denied having a sexual relationship with House intern, Monica Lewinsky
- After finally admitting to “improper physical relationship”, Clinton was impeached for perjury and obstruction of justice
- The impeachment trial was acquitted and charges dropped after 21 days
- Clinton was also investigated for illegal real estate dealings in Arkansas
