History of teachers in White House

Carmine A. DiFazio, 
North Las Vegas

Friday, Sept. 28, 2012 | 2:02 a.m.

Seven of the 44 U.S. presidents were teachers. It’s interesting, although unscientific, to look at these presidents and their terms.

They are, in presidential order, Franklin Pierce (14), James Garfield (20), Chester Arthur (21), William McKinley (25), Woodrow Wilson (28), Lyndon Johnson (36) and Barack Obama (44).

All, except Wilson and not counting Obama, served one term or less. Garfield and McKinley, both Republicans, were assassinated.

Arthur became president after Garfield’s death but didn’t run for a full term due to his health.

James Blaine, the Republican Party presidential nominee, lost to Grover Cleveland, a Democrat, in November 1884.

Wilson, a Democrat, supposedly one of the better 44, was anti-civil rights and women’s suffrage, casting suspicion on him as a “progressive.”

Wilson’s physical disabilities resulted in his wife serving as de facto president for most of the second term. She doesn’t share in his legacy but surely was the reason for passage of the 25th Amendment.

Johnson, a Democrat and noted Texas legislator, was sworn in as president after John Kennedy, a Democrat, was assassinated.

Johnson won election the following year but decided not to run for another term, some opine, because he would have lost.

That left the path open for Richard Nixon, a Republican, to win the election in 1968.

Based on the history for teachers as presidents, draw your own conclusions for President Obama’s success for a second term and/or a presidential legacy of note.