America's Lawyer-Presidents: From Law Office to Oval Office
By Norman Gross

Of our nation's 43 presidents, 25 have been lawyers. The first was John Adams; the most recent was William Jefferson Clinton. Adams had a thriving 20-year law practice, which included landmark colonial cases, such as the Boston Massacre trial. Also, his writings and oratory provided the legal and political bases for independence from Great Britain, and his draft of the Massachusetts Constitution influenced the U.S. Constitution and other state constitutions.

In contrast, Clinton viewed legal training primarily as a steppingstone to political life. Though known to possess a sharp legal mind, he always had his sights set on public office rather than legal practice. In many ways, Adams and Clinton represent the wide variety of legal careers among America's lawyer-presidents.

The details of such legal careers, however, are not widely known, as presidential historians, scholars, and biographers have been interested primarily in the political and personal histories of our nation's chief executives. To help fill that void, the ABA Museum of Law is producing a new exhibit, companion book, educational materials, and related programming on America's lawyer-presidents. The focus is on both the legal careers of the presidents and the impact, if any, on their political lives and presidencies. This article provides a snapshot of those fascinating stories.

Which Lawyer-Presidents Were the Best Lawyers?
In a five-part series that appeared in the ABA Journal over 25 years ago, Harry Lambeth offered his selections of "an all-star law firm" from among the lawyer-presidents. His choices were John Adams, Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison, and Martin Van Buren.
Harrison, notes Lambeth, may have been the best lawyer, as he possessed a "brilliant mind, extraordinary memory, unusual power of analysis, and great speaking ability." Over 25 years of law practice-which included periods before and after his presidency-Harrison had many notable cases. Early in his career (1854), he helped prosecute a hotel employee charged with poisoning a guest's coffee. After having but a brief time to learn about poisons, he carried the day in court with his successful cross-examination of expert witnesses. More than a decade later, President Grant called upon Harrison to defend Grant and others in a civil damages suit that was brought by Lambdin Milligan after the U.S. Supreme Court delivered its landmark 1866 ruling bearing his name (Ex parte Milligan). Harrison, knowing the law was not an ally in the case, displayed his considerable oratorical skills in swaying the jury, which found for Milligan but awarded him a meager $5.00 in damages.
Even though Harrison had gained legal prominence before his presidency, having argued many other prominent trials and U.S. Supreme Court cases prior to 1888, his legal fame (and legal fees) increased after his failed 1892 reelection campaign against Grover Cleveland. High-profile cases, including appearances before the U.S. Supreme Court, then became the norm for Harrison, his fees sometimes totaling $25,000 and more. His representation of Venezuela in a territorial boundary dispute with Great Britain and his election as the first president of the Indiana State Bar Association are among the highlights of this period of his legal career.

As noted earlier, John Adams excelled as both a practicing lawyer and a legal scholar. He rode circuit throughout Massachusetts (including what is now Maine), quickly building the largest legal practice in his province. From his classical education, wrote the editors of the Legal Papers of John Adams, "came the appreciation of law as politics, law as philosophy, and law as jurisprudence which so colored Adams' later approach to the problems of his times . . . and their solutions." Clearly, his legal scholarship served him and the emerging nation well, as reflected in his high-profile colonial cases, his arguments for independence, and his contributions to our nation's founding charters.

Martin Van Buren and Grover Cleveland also had legal careers that spanned more than 20 years. While one might argue whether they earned a partnership in the "all-star law firm," they certainly had distinguished legal careers.

Most of Van Buren's career was spent in private practice. With a series of law partners-including future U.S. Attorney General Benjamin Butler-Van Buren developed a highly lucrative practice that included a large appellate caseload in which his success rate was nearly 90 percent. He also served as New York attorney general from 1815-19, during which time he won 254 cases.

Van Buren had honed his legal skills at an early age, earning the moniker "Boy Lawyer" for his trial oratory as a teenaged legal apprentice to a Kinderhook, New York, lawyer. One of nine children of a hardscrabble farmer, Van Buren had only a meager education, his legal training providing what one historian called "the principal discipline for his mind." In 1814, the U.S. Senate chose Van Buren to serve as special prosecutor in the successful court martial of General William Hull. Even political rivals recognized his abilities. Said John Randolph of Virginia, "Give him time to collect the requisite information, and no man can produce an abler argument."

Grover Cleveland's practice is not as well known, in part because the Buffalo, New York, lawyer preferred practice outside of the courtroom. One of his trials, however, garnered his client a verdict of $274,000, then the largest award in western New York State. Another saw Cleveland volunteer his services in successfully defending Irish nationalists against charges resulting from their ill-fated invasion of Canada in the 1866 Battle of Limestone Ridge. Cleveland was known as a forceful, deliberate, genial, knowledgeable, and indefatigable advocate. His law career included a stint as assistant district attorney, a series of law partnerships, and service as president of the local bar association. His most successful firm represented such high profile clients as Standard Oil, and although the New York Central Railroad offered him the post of general counsel, Cleveland declined, preferring instead to have a variety of clients and cases. In between his presidencies, Cleveland argued a case before the U.S. Supreme Court, which included two justices he had appointed. Following his second presidency, he was in demand as a referee in business disputes, as lawyers appreciated his honesty and knew his decisions would be based on the law.

Lawyer Lincoln
Perhaps the first lawyer-president that comes to most people's minds is Abraham Lincoln, and deservedly so. Lincoln's 25-year law practice involved over 5,100 cases, including hundreds of appearances before the Illinois supreme court and one before the U. S. Supreme Court, where he also was involved in about five other cases. From his early days as a struggling lawyer in 1837, Lincoln's legal reputation steadily grew to the point that he was representing railroads and other business interests before his election to the presidency.
Lincoln's legal practice in many ways reflected his personality and character. William Herndon offered this description of his law partner's approach to legal practice: "He had a keen sense of justice, and struggled for it, throwing aside forms, methods, and rules, until it appeared pure as a ray of light flashing through a fog-bank." Others, including Judge David Davis, Lincoln's riding companion on Illinois' eighth judicial circuit and later his appointee to the U.S. Supreme Court, indicated that "The framework of his mental and moral being was honesty, and a wrong case was poorly defended by him." However, Lincoln did not hesitate to "split hairs" or otherwise employ technical or procedural measures that served his clients' interests.

Lincoln's strengths were in getting to the heart of the matter and being able to convey his client's argument to the jury in a manner they could appreciate and understand. Lincoln performed best when he had time to prepare for a case, as reflected in his large appellate caseload.

Perhaps more than any other president, Lincoln carried his legal training and experiences into his presidential administration. The most obvious example is the Emancipation Proclamation, which one historian derided as having "all the moral grandeur of a bill of lading." Clearly, Lincoln had an extraordinary talent in crafting powerful statements, which he determined would not serve his purposes in this instance. Instead, lawyer Lincoln's concern about constitutional challenges to the Proclamation led him to draft a precise, legalistic document with limited scope and effect. Interestingly, history has proven the document's extraordinary impact, as it, rather than the Thirteenth Amendment, has been widely regarded as the death-knell of institutionalized slavery in the United States.

Other Notable Tidbits
There are many more fascinating facts and stories about our nation's lawyer-presidents, including the following:

" John Quincy Adams was the first lawyer-president to argue a U.S. Supreme Court case, both before and after his presidency. His first such argument was in the landmark 1810 case of Fletcher v. Peck, and his fifth and final High Court appearance was in the famous Amistad case in 1841.

" Eight lawyer-presidents have argued cases before the U. S. Supreme Court: John Quincy Adams, James Polk, Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, Benjamin Harrison, Grover Cleveland, William Howard Taft, and Richard Nixon (for further details, see Allen Sharp's article on "Presidents as Supreme Court Advocates" in the July 2003 issue of the Journal of Supreme Court History).

" Thomas Jefferson's dealings with a batture controversy in New Orleans provide a fascinating study of presidential law practice, and his post-presidential legal activities involving this dispute provide further insight about Jefferson the lawyer (and the man).

" Rutherford B. Hayes is the only U.S. President to have graduated from Harvard Law School.

" Chester Arthur was part of a landmark civil rights case in New York City that led to the integration of the city's railroad cars.

" Gerald Ford attended three law schools-Michigan, North Carolina, and Yale.

Lawyer and Nonlawyer Presidents
A sidebar to this article lists America's 25 lawyer-presidents. In researching the topic, there were some recurring misconceptions about which presidents were and were not lawyers. Thus, it seems worthwhile to address such issues.

James Madison, the "Father of the Constitution," was not a lawyer. While he took scattered courses on the law, he never seriously pursued a legal career. This also was the case with Teddy Roosevelt, who briefly attended Columbia Law School before moving on to other pursuits. And John F. Kennedy's road to the White House did not include a stop at any law school.

On the other hand, Andrew Jackson established a successful law practice and served as a Tennessee superior court justice before gaining fame on the battlefield and in the political arena. James Garfield's first case was before the United States Supreme Court, where he provided the prevailing argument in Ex parte Milligan. Garfield would argue a dozen more cases before the High Court, many against preeminent lawyers of the day (e.g., David Dudley Field, Benjamin Bristow, and others). And Woodrow Wilson failed in a brief attempt to establish a law practice in Atlanta before pursuing successful careers in academe and politics.

The America's Lawyer-Presidents Project
In September, the ABA Museum of Law will premiere the "America's Lawyer-Presidents" exhibit in its new facilities at 321 North Clark Street in Chicago. In August, a companion book-published by Northwestern University Press-will make its first appearance at the ABA Annual Meeting in Atlanta. Additional project components include a website, educational materials, and public programming. Museum facilities will also be available for guided tours, meetings, and special events (the SOC reception on September 9 will be held there). In 2006, after its showing in Chicago, the exhibit will travel to other cities throughout the country.

SIDEBAR
America's Lawyer-Presidents
John Adams James A. Garfield
Thomas Jefferson Chester A. Arthur
James Monroe Grover Cleveland
John Quincy Adams Benjamin Harrison
Andrew Jackson William McKinley
Martin Van Buren William Howard Taft
John Tyler Woodrow Wilson
James K. Polk Calvin Coolidge
Millard Fillmore Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Franklin Pierce Richard M. Nixon
James Buchanan Gerald R. Ford
Abraham Lincoln William Jefferson Clinton
Rutherford B. Hayes

SIDEBAR ON BOOK (WITH COVER PHOTO)
The 350-page America's Lawyer-Presidents book can be secured through major bookstores, libraries, and electronic outlets, including those of the ABA. It will be available in August 2004 (it will first appear at the ABA Annual Meeting in Atlanta) at a retail price of $39.95. Containing more than 150 photos and images, the book includes articles on each lawyer-president written by historians and presidential scholars. ABA Museum of Law Director Norman Gross edited the volume, which includes a foreword by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

Biographical Statement
Gross is the director of the ABA Museum of Law.

Display Quotations
Clinton viewed legal training primarily as a steppingstone to political life.

Lincoln did not hesitate to "split hairs" or otherwise employ technical or procedural measures that served his clients' interests.

John F. Kennedy's road to the White House did not include a stop at any law school.

In contrast, Clinton was a law school professor for 3 years (during which time he lost his bid for a congressional seat) before he was elected Arkansas attorney general and then governor. And except for a brief period as of counsel following a defeat in his reelection campaign, Clinton set his sights on public office rather than law practice. In many ways, Adams and Clinton represent the wide variety of legal careers among America's lawyer-presidents.