The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-07-04
Ex-Presidents of U. S. Have
sl.
Little Trouble These Days.
Most of Our Chiefs Have Re-
tired From Office.
MANY EXCEPTIONS TO RULE
Chief Justice Taft Latest to
Re-enter Public Life.
George Washington Was First
to Set Example.

ment by President Harding of
William Howard Taft as chief justice
of TIE supreme court has added an
other of the names of ex-presidents
of the United States to the list of
those who have refused to retire to
private life after they left the White
House.
Former presidents of the United
States, after laying down the heavy
burdens Of their office, ordinarily
have retired to the quiet of private
life. There are notable exceptions to
this rule, however.
One former president was later
commander-in-chief of the armies of
the nation, another was a leader in
the lower house of congress for a con-
siderable period, a third was elected
to the United States senate, another
was prominent in the congress of the
Confederate states, and several others
remained active in politics after re-
linquishing their posts.
Washington Chief of Armies.
George Washington retired in 1897,
after serving two terms. In 1913,
however, the French under Napoleon
had become so oVerbearing and in
sulting to the young American repub-
lie that state of war existed. The
great Washington was induced to be-
come the command r-in- chief of the
provisional army which was formed
to fight the French, and he re-
entered public life for a season. He
died the next year, on December IA,
1893.
When John Adams retired from
the presidency he withdrew --om pub
lie life for all time. Adams was
great scholar and his last years were
spent with his books. He lived for
quarter of a century after leaving the
White House and saw the day when
his son was inaugurated president.
Strangely, he died on the fiftieth an
nix Of a rat nf
dependence, and on the precise day
when his great political foe. Thomas
Jefferson, passed away.
1t was on March 4, 1903, that JEFF
ferson left the White House after
forty years of public service. JEFF
ferson in his declining years founded
the University of Virginia, and he re-
garded this work as so important that
on his tomb he had written the fol-
lowing words: Here was buried
Thomas Jefferson, author of the Dec
laration of American Independence,
OF the statute of Virginia for religious
Freedom, and father of the University
Of Virginia"
James Madison retired to his Mont
pelier estate in Virginia in 1917, and
his home became a rendezvous for
literary folk. He emerged into pub
lie life for a season when in 1929 he
became a leading member of the Vir-
ginia constitutional convention. He
tained by a president of the United
States.
Monroe Held Two offices.
After his retirement in 1925 James
Monroe held two public posts, one as
regent of the University of Virginia
and the other as delegate to the Vir-
ginia constitutional convention OF
1929. He was the third president 10
die on July 4, the year of his death
1921
1t remained for John Quincy Adams
to demonstrate that a man can actual
" come into more fame as member
Of congress than as president. Adams
was defeated for reelection by An
drew jackson and he retired in 1873:
In the following year he was elected
to the naional house of representa-
tives from his Massachusetts, district.
In congress he became leader,
especially of the anti-slavery move
ment He died in the public service,
dropping dead in the house in 1S4S.
q Andrew Jackson on his retirement
in.1SS7. withdrew to the Hermitage at
Nashville, Tenn. He continued to take
an active interest in his party, but helo
no public office and died in 1915 at
the age of IS.
Martin Van Buren, was in politics
from his earliest years, and he re-
manned in the public eye long atter
his retirement from the White House
10
1910. in 1914 he again sought the
Democratic nomination. he had a
ma iority of the votes on eight ballots,
but seeing the impossibility of mar
shalling the necessary two-thirds, he
withdrew from the contest. In 1S4S
he was the presidential nominee of tho
Free Sellers, but he failed to get a
single electoral vote. He died in 1852
at the age of so.
Death removed William Henry Har-
rison soon after his inauguration, and
he was succeeded by John Tyler. who
failed to obtain nomination from his
party and left the presidency in 1S45.
TYLER was against diSunion in 1850 and
he presided over the peace confer
ence" in Washington in February.
1861. He was elected to the Virginia
secession convention and he there ad-
vocated secession as the only logical
course for the south to take. He
served in the provisional Confederate
congress and was elected to the per-
manent congress, but he died in 1862
before it convened. He was the only
former president to support the Con-
federacy.
James K. Polk died in the June fol-
lowing his REIMBURSEMENT of the presi-
dency in 1S49, ard Zachary Taylor
his successor. died in office.
Fillmore Went To Europe.
Willard Fillmore failed to win re-
Nomination at the hands of the Wings
and in 1858 he left the White House
TO travel in Europe. While absent, ir
1856, he was nominated for the presi.
dency by combination of Wings anC
Know Nothings, but Maryland was the
only state he carried. He died in 1874
Franklin Pierce laid down the
presidential duties in 1857 and after
Shree years of travel in Europe ht
retired to his New Hampshire home
and died in 1863.
James Buchanan took no part II
public affairs after he turned his of
flee over to Lincoln in 1863. He wa:
the only bachelor president. and HI
lived at his Pennsylvania home unit
his death in 1868.
Abraham Lincoln passed away II
his prime as the result of the assas
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