[Alas Babylon!]

No president since Lincoln was a US Rep and no senator since Kennedy.

What about Gerald Ford? Wasn't he a Representative when Nixon tapped him?

[The Pack Knight]

He was the House Minority Leader, and I'd say he was more forced on Nixon than tapped by him. I assume Morgan was speaking about elected presidents, though.

Contrary to conventional wisdom, there's no office that's really a "stepping stone" to the Presidency. That includes the Vice Presidency, as only 4 incumbent VPs and 1 former VP have been elected President. The last incumbent before George H.W. Bush was Martin van Buren. The other two were John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, both of which were elected before the ratification of the 12th Amendment.

A lot of people think governors are the most likely to be elected, but only a minority of Presidents have ever been a governor.

A majority of Presidents were previously members of Congress. That's about the only office you can say that about.

[Morgan in Denver]

Ford was in the senate when asked to serve, I think. But, he was the VP first and he became president when Nixon resigned so technically he would be a VP who moved up.