46 men have been US presidents.
In America’s relatively short history a considerable array of individuals has risen from a variety of backgrounds and circumstance to hold the highest office in the land.
Sixteen presidents were farmers.
Twelve were generals.
Seventeen had once served as governor.
Sixteen were senators at one time.
One was even an actor! (He was also a governor, as many of the above served multiple occupations before ascending to the presidency.
Couple that with the given era and the times during which they occupied the Oval Office, the implications of their leadership became as uniquely singular as the person that sat behind the desk.
Each, through their response to world events and personal decision-making prowess, left an indelible mark on the nation and history.
Every election, cycle pundits and consultants counsel and peddle the variety of criteria and qualities necessary for a person to be an successful chief executive.
But does anyone truly know? Or are there just too many unknowns, often volatile, that make such predications and prognostications as unreliable and unpredictable as attempting to forecast the future.
Presidents are placed in office by the electoral college system created by our founders. It was not to be a popularity contest, but one that forces a candidate to run equally for the farmer in rural Iowa as much as the millionaire in Chicago Illinois.
History records the outcomes and results of decisions made by those who were fortunate enough to be president and be tasked with those supreme judgment calls.
One will never know how circumstances would have been different had a Thomas Dewy, George McGovern, or even William Seward had been elected over their opponents.
Nor does it matter.
America’s history, and that of the world, along with their futures have been irrevocably imprinted, in part, by the men who resided in the West Wing of the White House for better or worse.
Who can say which?
What qualities do you believe make for a great president?
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