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deadpresidents · 4 months

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As quite a few Presidents were Secretaries of State and so many politicians vied for the position, when and why did that stop being the "gateway" to the Presidency?

That is a really good question.

You're correct that being Secretary of State was seemingly a stepping-stone to the Presidency at one point early in American history. Five of the first eight Presidents were Secretary of State prior to being elected President (Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, J.Q. Adams, and Van Buren). Madison, Monroe, and John Quincy Adams were elected President directly from the State Department. But James Buchanan was the last President who had served as Secretary of State.

I think that one of the reasons that being Secretary of State was, as you said, a "gateway" to the Presidency in the early years of the republic was because it was one of the few positions in government that built obvious foreign policy experience for the holders of that job at a time when the country was still a pretty isolated, insular nation. The Secretary of State is basically the American version of a foreign minister, of course, but because it was the premiere Cabinet post (and still is), the Secretary of State often had higher name recognition nationally than anyone in government other than the President at a time when the Vice Presidency was an afterthought with very little influence. From the beginning of the federal government, the State Department was a very important part of the Executive Branch, so the early Secretaries of State also gained valuable administrative experience which only helped their cause when it came to running for President.

I think the reason that Secretaries of State stopped being viable candidates for President is because the the growth of the country meant that their were more-and-more qualified candidates who had gained the foreign policy or administrative experience through other means. The country started turning to military leaders and Governors, as well as candidates with more significant Congressional experience than was possible at the early stage of American history when Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, and J.Q. Adams were going from the State Department to the White House. After Buchanan's election, not only were there no other Secretaries of State elected President, but very few were even nominated. James G. Blaine briefly served as Secretary of State in 1881 until a few months after President Garfield died in office and was the Republican Presidential nominee in 1884 (he served as Secretary of State again from 1889-1892), but since then, the only major party Presidential nominee who had previously served as Secretary of State was Hillary Clinton (Secretary of State from 2009-2013) in 2016.

In fact, the reverse has been true more frequently in recent history. Since 1884, four major party nominees for President have served as Secretary of State AFTER losing Presidential elections. Blaine lost the 1884 election and served as President Harrison's Secretary of State from 1889-1892 (again, that was his second stint at the State Department after his brief 1881 service). William Jennings Bryan was the unsuccessful Democratic nominee for President in 1896, 1900, and 1908, and went on to serve as President Wilson's first Secretary of State (1913-1915). Charles Evans Hughes was the Democratic nominee in 1916 and lost to Wilson, but went on to serve as Secretary of State under Presidents Harding and Coolidge (1921-1925). And John Kerry was the Democratic nominee in 2004 and later served as President Obama's second Secretary of State (2013-2017).

It's really difficult today for any Cabinet member to be elected directly to the Presidency (or even get close to the nomination -- just ask Julián Castro about his 2020 campaign). While there is no job that can truly prepare someone for the modern Presidency, Governors tend to be in a better position than Cabinet secretaries or members of Congress. Only four incumbent members of Congress have been elected directly to the Presidency -- James Garfield (1880), Warren G. Harding (1920), John F. Kennedy (1960), and Barack Obama (2008). And Garfield is the only sitting member of the House of Representatives to have been elected President. While the position of Secretary of State remains the prime Cabinet post in the United States, the days of the Cabinet being the gateway to the Presidency seem to have gone away with powdered wigs and shoe buckles.

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troythecatfish · 5 months

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globalhappenings · 2 years

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Elections: Lotito "false and absurd news of Acerbi-seat exchange"

Elections: Lotito “false and absurd news of Acerbi-seat exchange”

(ANSA) – ROME, AUGUST 12 – “Some newspapers today read the news of an alleged negotiation underway between Lazio and Monza, concerning the sale of the player Acerbi, in exchange for the candidacy of President Lotito in the lists of Forza Italia in the next political elections. The news, in addition to being false, is absurd and should be considered as such by journalists who are also informed of…

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#Forza-Italy #Lazio #Lotito #negotiation #news #political elections #seat #Unripe

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nezreblogz · 22 days

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batboyblog · 3 months

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#Trump #Donald Trump #immigration #deportation #2024 election #alarming #stephen miller #fascisim #politics #us politics

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captainjonnitkessler · 3 months

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You know I used to think "tumblr's absolute refusal to actually engage with the Trolley Problem in favor of insisting that there must be a third, morally pure option that doesn't require them to make a hard decision and anyone who asks them to make a binary choice is just a short-sighted idiot is really fucking annoying, but I guess it's not actually doing any harm".

Anyway that was before we asked tumblr at large to decide between "guy aiding a genocide but making progress elsewhere" and "guy who would actively and enthusiastically participate in a genocide and would also make everything else much, much worse for everyone elsewhere" and the response was that there must be a third, morally pure option that doesn't require them to make a hard decision and that anyone who asks them to make a binary choice is a short-sighted idiot.

#there is not a third option. it is either trump OR biden #and one of those will be much MUCH worse for palestine #i'm really really sorry that these are the options. i wish they weren't.#but WHAT third option are you trying to take here? what on earth is your proposed outcome #that will actually make things better for palestine?#because letting trump win the election is NOT going to help them #i'm sorry but you need to set aside your feelings and take the option that will lead to less harm to palestine in the long run #you talk such a big game about how people need to be willing to make sacrifices to help palestine #but you yourself aren't even willing to hold your nose and vote to stop things from getting worse?#or did you think 'sacrifice' only meant not getting mcdonalds for a few months?#us politics

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hadeantaiga · 8 months

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This thread is incredibly important to read.

It is also extremely difficult to read. I don't know if I need to point this out, but the document itself is obviously full of bigotry so please take care of yourself if you choose to read it. Antisemitic phrases like "cultural marxism" and "global elites" appear before the document even really gets rolling, and are mixed in with transphobia, racism, and more.

If you want a taste of how this document starts in the first main section about "The Family", here is a taste:

"This starts with deleting the terms sexual orientation and gender identity (“SOGI”), diversity, equity, and inclusion (“DEI”), gender, gender equality, gender equity, gender awareness, gender-sensitive, abortion, reproductive health, reproductive rights, and any other term used to deprive Americans of their First Amendment rights out of every federal rule, agency regulation, contract, grant, regulation, and piece of legislation that exists."

It is all bad. ALL of this document is bad, and dangerous, and threatens the lives and the safety of everyone living in this country.

#uspol #us politics #election 2024 #lgbtq #queer #transgender #feminism #intersectional feminism #trans rights #queer rights #lgbtq rights #social justice #poc rights #racial justice #civil rights

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the-final-sif · 6 months

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Shoutout to all the people of Ohio who just passed abortion, contraception, and reproductive rights of all people into constitutional law by a fucking 12+ point margin despite the state legislature desperately trying to do everything they can to fuck up the vote. I'm so proud of y'all!!

Edit: Trans people fucking rule, sex work is cool and deserves respect, sex isn't a binary, gender critical theory is based on terrible disproven science and is just Phrenology for sex.

#sif speaks #us politics #election 2023 #it's very well written and extremely clear on it's inclusion #abortion mention #abortion rights #post editted for getting terfs to clear the fuck off

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a-method-in-it · 26 days

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You know that Chris Fleming line that goes "Call yourself a community organizer even though you're not on speaking terms with your roommates"?

I honestly think every leftist who talks about the "revolution" like Christians talk about the rapture needs to spend a year trying to organize their workplace. Anyone who sincerely talks about building a movement so vast and all-encompassing that it overwhelms all existing power structures needs the dose of humility that comes with realizing they can't even build a movement to get people paid better at a badly run AMC Theaters where everyone already hates the manager.

#method speaks #union stuff #politics #i guess #best case scenario in this plan we get some successful union drives #worst case people realize that movement building is hard #and also explicitly mentioning socialism is counterproductive #mostly i'm just venting #it's only april how is election discourse this unhinged already?

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poetry-protest-pornography · 11 months

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We are not going to let that fuckwad DeSantis gain a foothold in the 2024 election.

You are going to fucking vote for Joe Biden, and you are going to give us a fucking chance to save our country from fascism, and you aren't going to fucking complain about it, because there is literally no other choice.

We will not let another election be a close call. Are you listening?

Vote for Biden. Vote for whatever Democrat is most popular in your local elections. Our system sucks, but this is what we're working with. Just fucking vote.

#2024 election #us politics #vote blue #I'm fucking serious. just do it.

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deadpresidents · 5 months

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I found a box where I keep some of the political memorabilia I've collected over the years and this brought a smile to my face.

This badge is from 25 years ago (a quarter-century ago!) and it was for the victory party at California Democratic Party headquarters in Sacramento to celebrate the very first political campaign that I ever volunteered on: Gray Davis for Governor.

I was 18 years old and had been canvassing and phone banking all fall and was a precinct captain on Election Day. It was such a great experience (except phone banking -- phone banking is a necessary evil, but it sucks and I've always hated it) and that night was so exciting despite the fact that there wasn't much doubt that we would win the Governor's race. At one point, Sacramento's legendary Mayor -- the late, great Joe Serna -- stepped on my foot and nearly fell down but proceeded to quickly regain his balance, smoothly put his arm around my shoulders and confidently say, "You're doing the Lord's work." I had no clue what he was talking about, but it was a pretty badass way to recover from almost falling on your ass in the middle of a big party.

I volunteered on Governor Davis's successful 2002 re-election campaign, too, but there was just something so special about that very first Election Night in 1998. It was also the first time I was able to vote, which was obviously a big deal for a kid who was a political nerd from a very young age. I lost some of my enthusiasm for politics the next year when Governor Davis was unfairly forced out of office with the 2003 Recall, thanks in large part to monumentally corrupt energy companies like Enron that helped incite a statewide energy crisis that Gov. Davis ended up being the scapegoat for, and ultimately led to the election of Governor Schwarzenegger in October 2003 (less than a year after Davis had been re-elected). Then the Democrats fielded the incredibly uninspiring Presidential ticket of John Kerry and John "World's Greatest Husband" Edwards in 2004 and I understandably didn't regain my interest in getting politically involved until a guy named Barack Obama announced he was running for President on a freezing cold day in Springfield, Illinois in February 2007.

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estateofdanieljohnwalker · 5 months

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Check it out

Political Election/Runoff Election

#Political Elections

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troythecatfish · 5 months

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nezreblogz · 17 days

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dickgirlsdaily · 4 months

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Fundamentally, if the democrats lose the presidency in 2024, it will not be because of "voter apathy" or "the idealistic left" or Cornell West or whatever third party candidate the liberals end up blaming. It will be because the democrats have failed to meet the lowest standards of many Americans.

You can talk about strategic voting until you're blue in the face, but fundamentally, people need reasons to vote for a candidate. There are people in this country watching as their family members get slaughtered by American arms, sent to Israel by Joe Biden. The people watching their families get murdered in Palestine have no reason to support Joe Biden. How can you ask them to?

"Sorry your family got bombed, but I need you to vote for the man who is directly responsible, or *real* people are going to suffer too."

It was at this point While I was drafting this post that I heard he just started bombing Yemen. It's like he's doing everything in his power to sink his own fucking campaign, are you shitting me? This isn't a matter of "stupid commies not being realistic enough", he's not just working for the status quo; just about every action he has taken since October 7th has been an escalation of conflict in the Middle East and made it worse for everyone living there. This is exactly what I'm talking about.

You can scold people for voting wrong as much as you want, but fundamentally the way that democrats can win elections is by pursuing good policy. If the only argument you can come up with in favor of Joe Biden is that he won't do 1 or 2 of the terrible things that Trump wants to do, then that will simply not appeal to the people who are most intensely affected by Biden's failures (not to mention people who have moral objections to genocide, even when it doesn't affect them). You can scream and cry all you want, people are not going to just overlook his role in the ethnic cleansing of Gaza just because he is the Less Bad Genocider.

If a republican wins the presidency in November, you can blame the hundreds of thousands of voters/nonvoters who should've agreed with you and put aside every moral concern they ever had about the Biden administration... or you can blame the one fucking guy whose massive foreign policy failures are going to tank his re-election campaign.

#us politics #uspol #2024 elections #palestine #biden #yemen #jesus christ are you fucking kidding with attacking Yemen?

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reasonsforhope · 1 year

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It was a really, really good political news day today in the US (4/4/23)

For anyone who hasn't heard, not only did Trump get arrested, but also:

-We found out that the legal case against him in this prosecution (stormy daniels hush money case) is SIGNIFICANTLY stronger than people had speculated. Like, wow do they have receipts.

-In fact, the evidence was so entirely there that the new question on prime time news (well, at least on msnbc lol) is "Hey, why didn't the federal courts prosecute him for this already???)

-Trump FAILED UTTERLY in his attempts to rally mass protests and demands for "death and destruction" if he was arrested. There was no violence at the arrest at all, and as for Trump supporters? They failed to show up in any kind of numbers--reportedly only about a hundred people were protesting the arrest

-We (aka Judge Janet Protasiewicz) WON what is widely considered to be the most consequential election of 2023, a Wisconsin state supreme court election that handed control of the state supreme court to the left

-Because of that election win, it is now extremely likely that abortion will be legal in Wisconsin, and that Wisconsin won't be able to throw out electors in the 2024 presidential election

-ALSO bc of this, Wisconsin, the most gerrymandered state in the country, will probably get nonpartisan, accurate maps, which COULD FLIP THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES in 2024

-In Chicago, Brandon Johnson, union organizer and former teacher, won the election for mayor, in a decisive win progressives, esp for meaningful criminal justice reform and investment in mental health (whereas the other guy was campaigning on hiring hundreds of new cops and being super tough on crime)

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