Ranker

Anime Underground

Button Mash

Graveyard Shift

Total Nerd

Unspeakable Times

Weird History

Weird Nature

Weirdly Interesting

Sports

Music

Entertainment

Living

Culture

Food

Makeup

Halloween

Thanksgiving

Holidays

Watchworthy

HBO Max

Everything you didn't know about the so-called leaders of the free world, from their favorite foods to their pets' names.

America

George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln are larger-than-life historical figures, but they, along with&nbsp;more contemporary notables like JFK and Ronald Reagan, were all ordinary human beings before they held the office of the presidency, and that means they all had favorite foods. Even world leaders need to consume calories to survive, but what actually goes in each presidential mouth can vary wildly depending on the administration.

Presidential personalities have ranged greatly over the decade, and their individual palates reflect this, with favorite foodstuffs fluctuating as frequently as foreign policy. Each POTUS has made special requests from the <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/white-house-kitchen-rules-and-regulations/ryan-sargent" target="_blank">White House kitchen</a>&nbsp;or the <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/presidents-first-ladies-best-recipes/setareh-janda" target="_blank">recipe file of the first lady</a>. That&rsquo;s why certain portions of the White House record read&nbsp;more like a recipe book than an <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/weird-but-true-food-history-facts/genevieve-carlton" target="_blank">archive of history</a>.&nbsp;

John F. Kennedy

You may not realize it, but&nbsp;there are official portraits of <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/all-the-ailments-of-every-us-president/melissa-sartore?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">every US president</a>. This tradition started with George Washington and has continued into modern times, even with the advent of photography. These official paintings of US presidents have not always been the most attractive or dynamic images you will ever see, but all of the US president portraits were commissioned from the best artists of their day and provide a unique insight into each leader.When you look&nbsp;through this list of portraits of American presidents, some trends become immediately obvious. In the early paintings, with the ironic exception&nbsp;of&nbsp;Washington himself, the presidents are often painted from the bust up in the classic European portrait style. As the years have gone on, however, all the US president portraits have developed and turned more into works of art than straight depictions.The best US presidential portraits capture the president as you remember them. Some are iconic, like John F. Kennedy's portrait, while others are seriously weird (is that really what Andrew Jackson looked like? Yikes.)&nbsp;Take a look through this official US president portraits gallery and vote on your favorites.

The death of a president is always a big deal, whether it is unexpected - such as John F. Kennedy&#39;s assassination - or predictable, like Ronald Reagan&#39;s death after suffering from Alzheimer&#39;s disease for ten years. While former presidents always get the full memorial Monty, the death of a sitting president can cause political upheaval as the successor takes the reigns. But just <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/two-term-presidents/mel-judson?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">how many US presidents</a> have died? Sure, you probably have a rough idea, but do you know the circumstances of their deaths and the legacy they left behind?&nbsp;

Looking to the past is crucial to understanding the present. And knowing how all the US presidents died - especially the ones that died in office - can shed some light on our current political situation. In total, 39 US presidents have passed on. Keep reading to learn about all the US president deaths that have happened since the inception of our country.

An intelligence quotient test (IQ test)&nbsp;is a series of standardized tests used to gauge and assess a person&#39;s intelligence. While most people will never take a formal IQ test,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/crazy-things-people-do-to-boost-iqs/cynthia-griffith" target="_blank">high IQs</a> have nevertheless always been a topic of public interest.

In recent history, US president IQs have been the&nbsp;subject of debate and discussion. This is in part due to&nbsp;Donald Trump&#39;s perpetual tweeting about his high IQ during the <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/controversial-american-elections/kellen-perry" target="_blank">controversial election cycle</a> of 2016. This led people to wonder who the smartest and dumbest presidents were throughout history.&nbsp;

A president&#39;s IQ is rarely made public, and many United States presidents were born before the modern IQ test was invented. Nevertheless, many psychological studies have provided educated guesses of presidential IQ based on a variety of factors. When it comes to IQ scores, a score <a href="http://www.wilderdom.com/intelligence/IQWhatScoresMean.html" target="_blank">over 140 </a>is considered genius level.

Research indicates most presidents fall somewhere around 130, but&nbsp;that doesn&#39;t mean America has never had a genius in the Oval Office. There are outliers on either side, with many presidents&#39;&nbsp;IQs being higher or lower than average. If you&#39;re curious to learn where our presidents rank in terms of intellectual prowess, browse the list below.

Weird

Let’s face it, it takes a pretty uncommon person to become president. That probably means that there are going to be more than a few US&nbsp;presidents with weird hobbies. Given that a good <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/presidents-investigated-by-fbi/stephanroget?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">number of presidents</a> didn’t have television or even radio, they had to find something to do with all their time. Some of the&nbsp;hobbies of US presidents were more ordinary, like playing piano or collecting stamps. But some great men just can’t have regular hobbies. No, those men have to do things to the extreme. Some take up recreational violence (sports like boxing and wrestling)&nbsp;on the side, or eccentric rituals, or even creative pursuits. Sometimes, great men need great hobbies to occupy their time.So, if you’re curious check out the list of weird hobbies of US presidents&nbsp;below and vote up your favorite presidential hobby. Just keep one thing in mind: no one, president or otherwise, will ever be able to match the pastimes of Teddy Roosevelt.&nbsp;

US History

Presidents of the United States have a lot of distinctive characteristics, mannerisms, and claims to fame. One president may be known for a <a href="/list/list-of-us-president-nicknames/reference" target="_blank">distinct nickname</a> - given in his own time or acquired through history - or for a specific event that took place while in office. Often, the path to a successful presidential campaign itself features strongly in what people remember about a commander-in-chief.&nbsp;

Alongside presidential campaign slogans, candidates for the highest office in the United States distinguish themselves through debate, statements along the campaign trail, and, in more modern contexts, social media posts. Winning slogans, however, play a large role in garnering national attention, sometimes playing on emotions or hearkening&nbsp;back to an earlier time.

Here&#39;s a list of some political slogans used by presidential candidates since the mid-19th century. Which ones have&nbsp;the pith, intelligence, and pure brilliance to make you want to go back in time and place your vote?

Politics

Franklin Pierce

Ladies and gentlemen: It&#39;s time to rank the hottest US Presidents of all time. The leader of the free world is a powerful man, and sure, power is attractive. But which of these guys would be sexy without the the ability to veto laws? This gallery will show you pictures of all of the POTUSes of the past, with photos when available and oil paintings when not. It also features each President in his prime, before the tolls of the job claimed his metabolism, youthful glow, and lustrous hair (unless he was one of the guys who always wore a powdered wig, in which case he looks old in all of his portraits). Who was the hottest American President? Vote up the ones who get your red white and blue blood flowing and your pantaloons in a twist.

While it may be difficult to separate personal politics from lusts of the flesh, try to be objective here. This list is only about raw physical appearance, not anyone&#39;s stance on abortion or the Tea Act of 1773. Consider that many of these brilliant and charming men were also athletes and military veterans. Actor-turned-politician Ronald Reagan was even nicknamed &quot;The Gipper&quot; after playing a strapping young football star in a 1940 film. At 42, JFK was famously the youngest man ever elected to the White House, but did you know that Theodore Roosevelt was 86 days younger when he assumed office following the assassination of William McKinley? Did you?? Also, 47-year-old Grover Cleveland - who was both the 22nd and 24th President - married a 21-year-old while in office, so make of that what you will.

Rutherford B. Hayes looked like he could break your heart. A colored photograph of Ulysses S. Grant shows him looking a little like Michael Fassbender. College-age Richard Nixon is a dead ringer for Harvey Keitel. On the other end of the spectrum are some pretty doughy old dudes who may not have ever made it if their faces had been plastered all over magazines and TV (cough Martin Van Buren). Vote and rerank to make a definitive list of all the US Presidents, ranked most handsome to fugliest.

Out of all of those to serve as president of the United States, <a href="http://www.va.gov/HEALTH/NewsFeatures/2015/February/List-Of-Presidents-Who-Were-Veterans.asp" target="_blank">31 served in the military</a> in some capacity. But have you ever wondered which US presidents saw combat in the military? Only 17 presidents actually actively fought&nbsp;in wars and other conflicts&nbsp;during their time in service.&nbsp;

All presidents who served in the military, regardless of whether they fought in the battlefield, provided vital service to their country. It&nbsp;may surprise you that one of the presidents most associated with war, Dwight D. Eisenhower,&nbsp;never saw combat, but his role as an advisor and logistical planner was invaluable.&nbsp;However, there are also plenty of presidents who saw combat. Many early presidents, like George Washington and James Monroe, fought in the Revolutionary War. More contemporary presidents, like John Kennedy and George H.W. Bush, served in World War II.&nbsp;

To learn more about the military service of United States presidents, read the list below.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Several famous actors have played real U.S. presidents in films, either while they were in office and before they became famous politicians. Some of the best times presidents were on screen they were portrayed by Academy Award-winning actors. There are even actors who played the same American president multiple times or different presidents in multiple films.Who has played Presidents? Daniel Day-Lewis won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Abraham Lincoln in Steven Spielberg's 2012 film, Lincoln. Day-Lewis originally turned down the role but revisited the project after Liam Neeson dropped out. Bill Murray played Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 2012 film, Hyde Park on the Hudson.Jeff Daniels portrayed George Washington in 1999's The Crossing. Other famous actors who played American presidents include Anthony Hopkins and Sam Rockwell.Which actors do you think were the most presidential? You may not be able to vote them into office, but you can vote the best performances up to the top of this list.

Warren G. Harding

The worst U.S. presidents of all time, measured by their negative impact on the nation, its citizens health and happiness, and its future prosperity. (In some cases – such as the popular selections of Warren G. Harding and Richard Nixon – the negative view of the president and his administration is due to various scandals and perceived corruption within its ranks. Nixon, of course, remains the only president to step down from the office amidst threats of impeachment.)Much of a president's job – including serving as the figurative head of the American state and setting the nation's general legislative and diplomatic agenda – is sort of intangible and hard to evaluate in strict &quot;good vs. bad&quot; terms. This makes any list of the &quot;best&quot; or &quot;worst&quot; US presidents essentially subjective, and though there were administrations with a significant series of positive or negative outcomes, it's rarely clear just how much these had to do with the person in office and how many were simply due to accidents of fate or circumstance. Nonetheless, in particularly extraordinary cases – such as the administration of Abraham Lincoln, which kept the nation intact during the Civil War crisis, or the administration of Andrew Johnson immediately after that threatened the entire success of the Reconstruction project – it is clear which presidents did an overall good or bad job.So who were the worst presidents of all time? We're ranking them here, based on your votes! When you've had enough political negativity, be sure to check out Ranker's ultimate uplifting presidential list: <a href="http://www.ranker.com/crowdranked-list/the-u-s-presidents-from-best-to-worst">The Best US Presidents</a>.

Here are the greatest United States Vice Presidents, ranked from best to worst. Vote up on the good VPs, and vote down on the bad ones.&nbsp;When America remembers&nbsp;the best&nbsp;vice presidents, names like Lyndon Johnson and Al Gore often come up. Although they had their mistakes, these VPs contributed much to their nation. Of course, there were U.S. Vice Presidents who utterly failed at their jobs. George H.W. Bush's Vice President Dan Quayle often made a fool of himself in the media (the &quot;potatoe&quot; incident).&nbsp;On November 8, 2016, Governor of Indiana Mike Pence was elected as the 48th&nbsp;Vice President. Appointed chairman of President Donald Trump's transition team, Vice President Mike Pence&nbsp;serves an important role as a mediator between the President and congressional Republicans.&nbsp;Don't forget to rerank this list and make your own version of the greatest U.S. Vice Presidents.

Lyndon Johnson

The Greatest United States Presidents in history, ranked from best to worst. Who&#39;s the greatest U.S. president? Anyone can vote on or make their own version of this collaborative list of the men who shaped American policy - a fascinating insight into all the US Presidents and how their presidencies were perceived. Who were the best presidents? We expect this list of the Chief Executives to change over time as history&#39;s perceptions also change.

And be sure to check out Ranker&#39;s ultimate list of the <a href="http://www.ranker.com/crowdranked-list/the-10-worst-u-s-presidents">Worst-Ever US Presidents</a> as well, for comparison&#39;s sake.

Make your voice heard for the 2020 election. <a href="https://headcount.turbovote.org/?r=ranker" target="_blank">REGISTER TO VOTE</a>!

The Butler

The highest-ranking American is the President of the United States. We absolutely love hearing stories from <a href="http://www.ranker.com/tags/behind-the-scenes?ref=internalCrossLinking_tag">behind the scenes</a> about events based on what happened in the White House and get a thrill out of the controversies involving the government. Other President movies are about fictional occurances like having the President get kidnapped or the movies are about the President&#39;s daughter. It makes perfect sense that so many thrillers&nbsp;and action movies involve stories about our <a href="http://www.ranker.com/crowdranked-list/the-u-s-presidents-from-best-to-worst">greatest Presidents</a> and the Oval Office in one way or another. What are the <a href="http://www.ranker.com/crowdranked-list/the-best-movies-of-all-time?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">best movies</a> about presidents? Vote up the best films below and see where your favorite presidential films rank!

The movies on this list have been ranked as the best that tell a presidential story, whether the film focuses on a heroic aspect of a presidency or President, discusses the assassination of a President, or takes a completely fictional approach to the White House. There are many different stories that have been told in film about the office of the president plus, many <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/actors-who-played-presidents/celebrity-lists" target="_blank">great actors have played the president</a>, and this list has the best of the best.

This list has the best movies about Presidents including, Independence Day, Nixon, The American President, Lincoln, White House Down, Olympus Has Fallen, Amistad, The Butler, Death of a President, and Air Force One. Vote up the best presidential films below or add one you love that isn&#39;t already on the list.

This list features the colleges attended by US presidents. Did you know that John F. Kennedy attended both Princeton University and Harvard University? Below you&rsquo;ll find even more about US presidents and their colleges.

If you&rsquo;ve ever wondered, &ldquo;Where did US presidents go to college?&rdquo; then this is the perfect list for you. The list of US presidents colleges features a lot of Ivy League schools, which is likely not surprising. Harvard appears quite a bit on this guide of the colleges of US presidents.

Read below for each US president by college.&nbsp;

Gary Sinise - Harry S. Truman

There have been countless movies about presidents, including many about the men who have served as President of the United States, and many of the best actors in film (or TV) have portrayed them. This list compiles the best actors who played presidents, not including fake presidents, (though we wish Jed Bartlet from&nbsp;The West Wing&nbsp;had actually held office). Instead, this list ranks the depictions of real-life Presidents of the United States by these top Hollywood actors. These A-list actors (unfortunately there are no actresses here, as America has yet to elect a female president) turned in good performances from both movies anf television. So whether it is a mini-series about the Kennedy family, a TV show about George W. Bush, or a movie about one of the Roosevelts, it will be ranked here.Make sure to vote for your favorite onscreen portrayal of real U.S. presidents. Both <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/young-dennis-quaid/cari-fortier?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">Randy Quaid and Dennis Quaid</a> make the list, as popular actors like Bill Murray and Daniel Day-Lewis. Plus, fathers and sons not only just become presidents like the Bushes - but they actually play presidents in movies and on TV. For instance, James Brolin's Ronald Reagan makes the cut while his son Josh Brolin's George W. Bush is also featured on this list. Upvote your favorite American presidential portrayals below, then be sure to cast your votes for the <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/fictional-political-candidates-you_d-cast-your-ballot-for/ariel-kana">fictional politicians</a> you wish would run for office, and let the world know which Presidents of the United States of America you think are <a href="http://www.ranker.com/crowdranked-list/the-u-s-presidents-from-best-to-worst">the greatest</a> in US history.

This list of Vice President of the United States trivia facts features all the Vice Presidential tidbits you could ever want. This list of fun facts about what it's like to be Vice President of the USA is sure to entertain and enlighten. From the origins of the word &quot;veep&quot; to the official theme song of the US Vice Presidents, plus shocking VP scandals, there's all kinds of interesting info for your enjoyment. And then there's the <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/the-greatest-u-s-vice-presidents-of-all-time/datrlykewlfreekinguymandood" target="_blank">debate over the greatest VP in history</a>.&nbsp;Vice Presidents often fly under the radar. Most people don't know which US vice presidents were accused of treason, or which one hid in Cuba.&nbsp;And did you know that multiple VPS won Nobel Peace Prizes?All these questions and more are answered on this fun list about the Vice President of the United States. See where Vice Presidents used to live.&nbsp;Find out what the US Vice Presidents make in terms of salary and how low it used to be.

It goes without saying that the President of the United States of America looms large in this nation's&nbsp;day-to-day life. In some cases, that was very much the case physically. Abraham Lincoln, <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/world-leaders-ranked-by-height/katia-kleyman?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">the tallest president</a>, towered over his contemporaries at 6’3&quot;. William Howard Taft, the heaviest president, was a physical force at 340 pounds. Beyond those standouts, though, how much do you really know about the physical lives of the presidents?These men have run the gamut in size and stature from Lincoln to little James Madison, who was just a pint-sized 5’4&quot;. How tall were the presidents? What were the presidential shoe sizes? How much did they weigh? The POTUS&nbsp;owes&nbsp;part of their character to their physical size, just like they owe&nbsp;a bit of themselves to the <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/all-the-ailments-of-every-us-president/melissa-sartore" target="_blank">diseases they battled</a> or their <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/us-president-first-100-days/stephanroget" target="_blank">accomplishments in office in the first 100 days</a>. If you have ever wanted to know how big or small each of the Presidents were, your wait is over. Here’s a list with just those facts.&nbsp;

Money

If you are one of the millions of Americans currently struggling with the consequences of bad financial decision making, you can take some comfort in the fact that you are not alone. We all make mistakes with money; teachers, plumbers, lawyers, even presidents. You might find this hard to believe, but there are many <a href="http://www.ranker.com/crowdranked-list/the-u-s-presidents-from-best-to-worst">US presidents</a> who went broke.This list is going to cover presidents who lost their money in the most egregious ways. Spoiler alert: it turns out most of the guys who are on money were absolutely terrible with it.

Slavery represents one of the darkest eras in American history. Like all deep historical blemishes, however, it's important to be as educated as possible about slavery in the <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/tags/united-states?ref=internalCrossLinking_tag">United States</a>, both to commemorate the suffering of victims and to learn about the roots of prejudice and oppression. While it's hard to believe, there were many US presidents who owned slaves and even actively participated in the slave trade.&nbsp;In fact, George Washington himself was a slave owner, among many other much-praised figures in American history.&nbsp;How many presidents owned slaves? During the course of history, 12 US presidents were slave owners.&nbsp;Thomas Jefferson owned hundreds of slaves at his plantation, and even fathered children with his&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/thomas-jefferson-sally-hemings-descendants/genevieve-carlton" target="_blank">slave Sally Hemings</a>. While some presidents openly advocated for the end of the practice, or at least to slow its expansion throughout the country, they nevertheless openly participated by being slave owners themselves. While many presidents,&nbsp;like Ulysses S. Grant, came around and eventually and liberated their slaves, it does not change the fact they participated in a terrible act of oppression.&nbsp;While we cannot change the past, we can learn from it going forward. To inform yourself on the history of slavery, you'll find a <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/illuminati-presidents/mike-rothschild?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">list of presidents</a> who owned slaves below.&nbsp;

History

On the campaign trail in 2016, Trump commented during a Michigan rally that, “if Hillary is elected, she will be under protracted criminal investigation likely followed by the trial of a sitting president... This is just what we need.” Considering the FBI investigation launched against Trump during the dawn of <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/every-wtf-week-of-the-trump-administration/jacob-shelton" target="_blank">his presidency</a>, the statement now reads as painfully ironic.However, it may surprise you to know Trump's situation is far from unique.&nbsp;How many presidents have been under investigation for federal political scandals while occupying the Oval Office? As it turns out, the list of presidents investigated by the FBI is frighteningly long, with a history of FBI investigations into sitting presidents going back to <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/drunk-richard-nixon-stories/stephanroget" target="_blank">Richard Nixon</a>.The number of US presidents investigated while in office leads one to believe that such a thing is almost routine, and that the current scandal embroiling the Trump presidency is just business as usual. In fact, Trump himself would likely be dismayed to learn that <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-nixon-trump-russia-independent-investigation-2017-10" target="_blank">Barack Obama</a> is the sole president since Nixon to not be subject to a major investigation. Here, you'll find a closer look at presidents who have been under criminal investigation, how they responded to it, and the political&nbsp;fallout - or lack thereof - that ensued.&nbsp;

U.S. Presidents

pageType

X_AMP

mod_neutered

longtail_search

cb_u-s-presidents

This list is of the best former potential Presidents this nation might have missed out on. It includes those popular Presidential candidates who never made it to the White House, because of defeat, death, or other reasons.

Best Presidential Candidates Who Lost 

The Best Presidential Candidates Who Never Won

The Best Politics Lists - Find or Make a Politicians List  | Ranker  | Ranker - A World of Lists

Politician

Politics & History

Best Rankings of Politicians and Historical Figures with Interesting Historical and Political Facts

politics--and--history

United States

Drcynic

Gender

Millenials

Age under 50

Gen Zs

Women

Gen Xers

Baby Boomers

Region

West Coast US

Mountain US

Midwest US

Southern US

Northeastern US

International

Al Gore

Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American politician and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Gore was Bill Clinton's running mate in their successful campaign in 1992, and the pair was re-elected in 1996. Near the end of Clinton's second term, Gore was selected as the Democratic nominee for the 2000 presidential election but lost the election in a very close race after a Florida recount. After his term as vice-president ended in 2001, Gore remained prominent as an author and environmental activist, whose work in climate change activism earned him (jointly with the IPCC) the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007.
Gore was an elected official for 24 years. He was a representative from Tennessee (1977–1985) and from 1985 to 1993 served as a senator from that state. He served as vice president during the Clinton administration from 1993 to 2001. The 2000 presidential election was one of the closest presidential races in history. Gore won the popular vote, but after a controversial election dispute over a Florida recount (settled by the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled 5–4 in favor of Bush), he lost the election to Republican opponent George W. Bush in the Electoral College.
Gore is the founder and current chair of the The Climate Reality Project, the co-founder and chair of Generation Investment Management and the now-defunct Current TV network, a member of the Board of Directors of Apple Inc., and a senior adviser to Google. Gore is also a partner in the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins, heading its climate change solutions group. He has served as a visiting professor at Middle Tennessee State University, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, Fisk University, and the University of California, Los Angeles. He served on the Board of Directors of World Resources Institute.Gore has received a number of awards that include the Nobel Peace Prize (joint award with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2007), a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album (2009) for his book An Inconvenient Truth, a Primetime Emmy Award for Current TV (2007), and a Webby Award (2005). Gore was also the subject of the Academy Award-winning (2007) documentary An Inconvenient Truth in 2006. In 2007, he was named a runner-up for Time's 2007 Person of the Year.

Dave_7672

Robert F. Kennedy

Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925 – June 6, 1968) was an American politician and lawyer who served as the 64th United States Attorney General from January 1961 to September 1964, and as a U.S. Senator from New York from January 1965 until his assassination in June 1968. Kennedy, like his brothers John and Edward, was a prominent member of the Democratic Party and has come to be viewed by some historians as an icon of modern American liberalism.Kennedy was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, the seventh child of Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. and Rose Kennedy. After serving in the U.S. Naval Reserve as a seaman apprentice from 1944 to 1946, Kennedy returned to Harvard University and graduated in 1948. He received his law degree from the University of Virginia, and was admitted to the Massachusetts bar in 1951. He began his career as a lawyer at the Justice Department but later resigned to manage his brother John's successful campaign for the U.S. Senate in 1952. The following year, he worked as an assistant counsel to the Senate committee chaired by Senator Joseph McCarthy. He gained national attention as the chief counsel of the Senate Labor Rackets Committee from 1957 to 1959, where he publicly challenged Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa over the corrupt practices of the union and authored The Enemy Within, a book about corruption in organized labor. Kennedy resigned from the committee to conduct his brother's campaign in the 1960 presidential election. He was appointed United States Attorney General after the successful election and served as the closest advisor to the President from 1961 to 1963.His tenure is best known for its advocacy for the civil rights movement, the fight against organized crime and the Mafia, and involvement in U.S. foreign policy related to Cuba. After his brother's assassination, he remained in office in the Johnson Administration for several months. He left to run for the United States Senate from New York in 1964 and defeated Republican incumbent Kenneth Keating. In office, Kennedy opposed racial discrimination and U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. He was an advocate for issues related to human rights and social justice and formed relationships with Martin Luther King Jr. and Cesar Chavez.
In 1968 Kennedy became a leading candidate for the Democratic nomination for the presidency by appealing to poor, African American, Hispanic, Catholic, and young voters. His main challenger in the race was Senator Eugene McCarthy. Shortly after winning the California primary around midnight on June 5, 1968, Kennedy was mortally wounded when shot with a pistol by Sirhan Sirhan, a 24-year-old Palestinian, allegedly in retaliation for his support of Israel following the 1967 Six-Day War. Kennedy died the following day. Sirhan was arrested, tried, and convicted, though Kennedy's assassination, like his brother's, continues to be the subject of widespread analysis and numerous conspiracy theories.

Henry Clay

Henry Clay Sr. (April 12, 1777 – June 29, 1852) was an American attorney and statesman who represented Kentucky in both the United States Senate and United States House of Representatives, served as 7th speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, and served as the 9th U.S. secretary of state. He received electoral votes for president in the 1824, 1832, and 1844 presidential elections and helped found both the National Republican Party and the Whig Party. For his role in defusing sectional crises, he earned the appellation of the "Great Compromiser."
Clay was born in Hanover County, Virginia in 1777 and launched a legal career in Lexington, Kentucky in 1797. As a member of the Democratic-Republican Party, Clay won election to the Kentucky state legislature in 1803 and to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1810. He was chosen as speaker of the House in early 1811 and, along with President James Madison, led the United States into the War of 1812 against Britain. In 1814, he helped negotiate the Treaty of Ghent, which brought an end to the War of 1812. After the war, Clay returned to his position as speaker of the House and developed the American System, which called for federal infrastructure investments, support for the national bank, and protective tariff rates. In 1820, he helped bring an end to a sectional crisis over slavery by leading the passage of the Missouri Compromise.
Clay finished with the fourth-most electoral votes in the multi-candidate 1824 presidential election, and he helped John Quincy Adams win the contingent election held to select the president. President Adams appointed Clay to the prestigious position of secretary of state; critics alleged that the two had agreed to a "corrupt bargain." Despite receiving support from Clay and other National Republicans, Adams was defeated by Democrat Andrew Jackson in the 1828 presidential election. Clay won election to the Senate in 1831 and ran as the National Republican nominee in the 1832 presidential election, but he was defeated by President Jackson. After the 1832 election, Clay helped bring an end to the Nullification Crisis by leading passage of the Tariff of 1833. During Jackson's second term, opponents of the president coalesced into the Whig Party, and Clay became a leading congressional Whig. 
Clay sought the presidency in the 1840 election but was defeated at the Whig National Convention by William Henry Harrison. He clashed with Harrison's running mate and successor, John Tyler, who broke with Clay and other congressional Whigs after taking office in 1841. Clay resigned from the Senate in 1842 and won the 1844 Whig presidential nomination, but he was defeated in the general election by Democrat James K. Polk, who made the annexation of the Republic of Texas his key issue. Clay strongly criticized the subsequent Mexican–American War and sought the Whig presidential nomination in 1848, but was defeated by General Zachary Taylor. After returning to the Senate in 1849, Clay played a key role in passing the Compromise of 1850, which resolved a crisis over the status of slavery in the territories. Clay is generally regarded as one of the most important and influential political figures of his era. He was also an advocate of the extermination and extinction of Native Americans. As Secretary of State he predicted that Indians would be gone within 50 years and “their disappearance from the human family (would) be no great loss to the world.”

Hubert Humphrey

Hubert Horatio Humphrey Jr. (May 27, 1911 – January 13, 1978) was an American politician who served as the 38th vice president of the United States from 1965 to 1969. He twice served in the United States Senate, representing Minnesota from 1949 to 1964 and 1971 to 1978. He was the Democratic Party's nominee in the 1968 presidential election, losing to Republican nominee Richard Nixon.
Born in Wallace, South Dakota, Humphrey attended the University of Minnesota.  At one point he helped run his father's pharmacy. He earned a master's degree from Louisiana State University and worked for the Works Progress Administration, the Minnesota war service program, and the War Manpower Commission. In 1943, he became a professor of political science at Macalester College and ran a failed campaign for mayor of Minneapolis. He helped found the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL) in 1944. In 1945, he won election as mayor of Minneapolis, serving until 1948 and co-founding the liberal anti-communist group Americans for Democratic Action in 1947. In 1948, he was elected to the U.S. Senate and successfully advocated for the inclusion of a proposal to end racial segregation in the 1948 Democratic National Convention's party platform.Humphrey served three terms in the Senate from 1949 to 1964. He was the Senate Majority Whip from 1961 to 1964. During his tenure, he was the lead author of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, introduced the first initiative to create the Peace Corps, sponsored the clause of the McCarran Act that threatened concentration camps for "subversives", proposed making Communist Party membership a felony, and chaired the Select Committee on Disarmament. He unsuccessfully sought his party's presidential nomination in 1952 and 1960. After Lyndon B. Johnson acceded to the presidency, he chose Humphrey as his running mate, and the Democratic ticket was elected in the landslide 1964 election.
In March 1968, Johnson made his surprise announcement that he would not seek reelection, and Humphrey launched his campaign for the presidency. Loyal to the Johnson administration's policies on the Vietnam War, he saw opposition from many within his own party and avoided the primaries to focus on winning the delegates of non-primary states at the Democratic Convention. His delegate strategy succeeded in clinching the nomination, and he chose Senator Edmund Muskie as his running mate. In the general election, he nearly matched Nixon's tally in the popular vote but lost the electoral vote by a wide margin. After the defeat, he returned to the Senate until his death in 1978.

This list is of the best former potential Presidents this nation might have missed out on. It includes those popular Presidential candidates who never made it ...