“Unprecedented” is a word frequently heard these days in our national political discussions. We thought it might be interesting to see what other times “unprecedented” has been applied to our Presidents. “Unpresidented,” if you will, although it isn’t a real word.
It was unprecedented when the nation selected its first President who was not a member of an organized political party. He also was the first President unanimously elected, a truly unprecedented feat: George Washington.
The idea that a President would never veto a bill while in office was unprecedented when John Adams did, or didn’t, do it. Adams had a lot of “not” precedents: the first President who did not own slaves; the first President who was a lawyer; the first President to lose a re-election bid and the first President who did not attend the inauguration of his successor.
Thomas Jefferson’s defeat of an incumbent President (Adams) was unprecedented. (So was the method of his election. In those days the President and Vice-President each accumulated electoral votes. Jefferson and his running mate, Aaron Burr, each got 73 electoral votes. Incumbent John Adams had 65 but his running mate, Charles Pinkney, only had 64. The House of Representatives cast 36 ballots before Jefferson won 10 of the 16 state ballots. Burr had four and Maryland and Vermont delegations tied within the delegation. All of this was unprecedented, too, of course.)
James Madison took the unprecedented step of asking Congress for a declaration of war.
The election of Senator James Monroe to the presidency was unprecedented.
John Quincy Adams’ election was unprecedented because he was the first President who lost the popular vote. (None of the candidates got a majority of the electoral vote, throwing the election into the House of Representatives under the 12th Amendment. Thirteen state delegations favored Adams, seven favored Andrew Jackson and four favored William H. Crawford.)
Andrew Jackson’s administration was the first administration to pay off the entire national debt.
Martin Van Buren’s presidency was unprecedented because he was the first President who was born an American citizen (all of his predecessors had been born as British subjects).
The death of William Henry Harrisons while in office was unprecedented.
The House of Representatives took an unprecedented vote to impeach President John Tyler. It failed.
James K. Polk took the unprecedented step of refusing to seek a second term.
Zachary Taylor had never held a public office before becoming President, an unprecedented event.
Millard Fillmore took the unprecedented step of installing a kitchen stove in the White House.
His successor, Franklin Pierce, took the unprecedented step of installing central heating in the White House.
James Buchanan was our first bachelor president. Historians debate whether he was gay.
No president had been murdered until John Wilkes Booth took the unprecedented step with Abraham Lincoln, who is the only president to hold a United States patent.
The House of Representatives held a successful unprecedented impeachment vote against Andrew Johnson. The Senate held an unprecedented trial and failed to convict him.
U. S. Grant vetoed more than fifty bills, an unprecedented number.
It was unprecedented in modern election history when Rutherford B. Hayes won the electoral vote but not the popular vote.
James Garfield was an unprecedented President because he was left-handed or ambidextrous.
Chester Arthur took the unprecedented step of having an elevator installed in the White House.
Grover Cleveland set several precedents—the first President married in the White House; the first to have a child while President, and the first President to veto more than 100 bills.
Benjamin Harrison set a precedent by being the first President to have his voice recorded.
William McKinley was the first president to ride in an automobile.
Teddy Roosevelt set a precedent by becoming the first president to ride an airplane. (He got aboard a Wright Brothers airplane piloted by Arch Hoxsey and flew for about four minutes at Kinloch Field in St. Louis. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaFulqGGkwk). He also took an unprecedented trip on a submarine.
The first president to throw out the first ceremonial pitch of the baseball season: William Howard Taft.
The first president to hold regular news briefings was Woodrow Wilson. He also took the unprecedented stop of appointing a Jew to the U.S. Supreme Court, Louis Brandeis.
Warren G. Harding learned of his election in an unprecedented way—he heard about it on the radio.
In 1927 the Lakota Sioux tribe took the unprecedented step of adopting a U.S. President as a member of the Lakota nation. Calvin Coolidge.
Herbert Hoover took the unprecedented step of having a telephone installed on his desk.
Franklin D. Roosevelt set a precedent by serving more than two terms. Among his other precedents—the first to fly across the Atlantic and the first to establish 100 days as the first benchmark for accomplishments in office.
The Secret Service set a precedent when it made Harry Truman the first President to have a code name (General). Television set a precedent by televising his 1949 inauguration.
Television set a precedent when it gave one of its Emmy Awards to President Eisenhower who was the first President to appear on color television.
First President who was a Catholic: John F. Kennedy. He also set a precedent by being the first former Boy Scout elected to the office.
The first President to be inaugurated on an airplane was Lyndon Johnson. He also set precedents by appointing the first African-American to the U.S. Supreme Court and appointing the first African-American to serve in a cabinet position
Richard Nixon set a precedent when he attended a National Football League game. Also: First President o resign.
First President never elected to the office or to the office of Vice-President: Gerald Ford.
Jimmy Carter broke precedent when he went by a nickname instead of the formal James E. Carter Jr. As we write this, he moves into unprecedented territory by living longer than 97 years and being married for more than 75 of them.
Ronald Reagan set a precedent when he was re-elected, the first President re-elected older than 70 (73 at the time). He also set a precedent by nominating a woman to the U.S. Supreme Court.
George H. W. Bush set a precedent when he became the first President to pardon a Thanksgiving turkey.
First President who was a Rhodes Scholar, to have an official White House website, and to perform at a jazz festival (saxophone): Bill Clinton
First President to achieve a 90% approval rating in modern polling: George W. Bush.
America set a precedent by electing African-American Barack Obama, who was the first president born outside the 48 continental United States (Hawaii) and who was the first to endorse same-sex marriage.
First President with no prior public service experience, first to be impeached twice, first president to never see an approval rating above 50%, first president to refuse to publicly acknowledge re-election defeat: Donald Trump.
Joe Biden has set a precedent by being in office past his 77th birthday. He’s the first President to get more than 80-million votes.
First President to be indicted by a grand jury? The first President to be brought to trial on criminal charges? The first President to wear a prison uniform? These are unprecedented possibilities that many hope never come to pass while many others hope come true.
That’s because we are living in unprecedented times.