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To: Valin

Based on your list, I think James Garfield was the only sitting Congressman ever elected President. Of the others on your list:

James Madison - was Jefferson’s Secretary of State before becoming President
Andrew Jackson - was also a Senator from Tennessee until 1825, and not in elective office when elected in 1828
William Henry Harrison - was also a Senator from Ohio until 1828, and not in elective office when elected in 1840
John Tyler - was William Henry Harrison’s Vice President
James Polk - was governor from Tennessee immediately before the election
Millard Fillmore - was Zachary Taylor’s Vice President
Franklin Pierce - was Senator from New Hampshire until 1842 and a lawyer before his election in 1852.
James Buchanan - was a Senator and Secretary of State in the Polk administration, and a lawyer in private practice immediately before his election in 1856.
Abraham Lincoln - unsuccessful Senate candidate in 1858 and a lawyer before his election in 1860
Andrew Johnson - was Abraham Lincoln’s Vice President
Rutherford Hayes - was governor of Ohio
William McKinley - was governor of Ohio before running for election
John F. Kennedy - was a sitting Senator
Lyndon Johnson - was John Kennedy’s Vice President
Richard Nixon - was Dwight Eisenhower’s Vice President and in private legal practice before his election
Gerald Ford - was Richard Nixon’s Vice President
George Bush - was Ronald Reagan’s Vice President


10,720 posted on 04/25/2007 10:06:12 PM PDT by conservative in nyc
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To: conservative in nyc

James A. Garfield
http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/jg20.html

(snip)
In 1862, when Union military victories had been few, he successfully led a brigade at Middle Creek, Kentucky, against Confederate troops. At 31, Garfield became a brigadier general, two years later a major general of volunteers.

Meanwhile, in 1862, Ohioans elected him to Congress. President Lincoln persuaded him to resign his commission: It was easier to find major generals than to obtain effective Republicans for Congress. Garfield repeatedly won re-election for 18 years, and became the leading Republican in the House.

At the 1880 Republican Convention, Garfield failed to win the Presidential nomination for his friend John Sherman. Finally, on the 36th ballot, Garfield himself became the “dark horse” nominee.

By a margin of only 10,000 popular votes, Garfield defeated the Democratic nominee, Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock.


10,756 posted on 04/25/2007 10:19:09 PM PDT by Valin (History takes time. It is not an instant thing.)
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