From Law Office to Oval Office

Every four years, Americans go to the polls to elect the individual who will serve as our chief executive officer, commander in chief of the armed forces, head of state, and who, since the Truman administration, is known by the acronym, POTUS – President of the United States.  These individuals have brought numerous skills and diverse experiences to our highest office.  These experiences have included: architect, soldier, diplomat, Secretary of State, governor, postmaster, ordained Minister, school teacher, sheriff, journalist, U.S. Solicitor General, judge and vice president of the United States.

Significantly, of our 44 presidents (if one counts Grover Cleveland twice), there have been 25 individuals who were lawyers before becoming presidents, including William Howard Taft who became Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court after he served as President.  In addition to Taft, who argued before justices he had appointed, seven other lawyer-presidents have appeared before the United States Supreme Court.  The most recent lawyer-president to do so was Richard Nixon when he argued the case of Time v. Hill in 1966.

Some individuals actively practiced law.  John Adams combined a lengthy career as an attorney with major contributions to the founding of a new nation.  His son, John Quincy Adams, successfully argued that the kidnapped and sold-as-slaves Africans should be treated as free men and released in Amistad [Part of our audio/visual collection available on display].   Rutherford Hayes and Benjamin Harrison handled several high profile cases, including sensational murder trials.   Abraham Lincoln was involved in more than 5000 cases, spanning his 25 year career.   He was also a postmaster and a captain in the Black Hawk war.  Lincoln was a skilled draftsman.  He utilized this skill in crafting a legally binding executive order, the Emancipation Proclamation.

Some presidents studied the law to further political aspirations.  Some, such as Lincoln and James Garfield, set their own course of study and read the law before being admitted to the bar.  Garfield is better known as a teacher, college professor and president, soldier, congressman and a Minister of the Disciples of Christ.  Others took the more traditional approach and attended law schools.  President Gerald Ford, in fact, attended three including a summer spent at the University of North Carolina School of Law.  Norman Gross has profiled the men who were both lawyers and president of the United States in his treatise,  America’s Lawyer-Presidents: From Law Office to Oval Office [Available at on display - Call No. KF353 .A46 2004 ]. 

Test your knowledge of America’s Lawyer-Presidents by taking the quiz sponsored by the American Bar Association.

 - Susan Catterall -

“Law Day USA” – Celebrating Traditions and Embracing Challenges

Ever since 1958, when President Dwight D. Eisenhower first dedicated May 1^st as “Law Day”,  every American President has issued an annual proclamation recognizing “Law Day USA” as the day on which we celebrate the rule of law and the freedoms assured to us by our legal system.   In 1961, Congress formalized “Law Day” by passing Joint Resolution, Pub. L. 87-20, 75 Stat. 43, now codified in Title 36, Section 113 of the United States Code.  The law requests the President to issue an annual proclamation and also, in part, provides that:

Law Day, U.S.A., is a special day of celebration by the people of the United States—

(1) in appreciation of their liberties and the reaffirmation of their loyalty to the United States and of their rededication to the ideals of equality and justice under law in their relations with each other and with other countries; and

(2) for the cultivation of the respect for law that is so vital to the democratic way of life.

North Carolina native, Charles S. Rhyne, a former President of the American Bar Association, had envisioned the idea of a special day which would recognize the contributions made by our legal system.  It is on this day that we not only honor our legal and judicial systems, but also recognize that this legacy emanated from countless individuals’ struggle for justice.  Upon the occasion of the first “Law Day,” then Governor of New York, Averell Harriman stated:

“Adherence to law has enabled commerce and industry to build upon a firm foundation.  The whole complex of our social order has been erected on a framework of law and justice.  Without this recognition of law as the base of our free society, individual liberties would be impaired, if not destroyed.  In our country, we must recognize that the preservation of equal justice under law in a personal responsibility.”

This year, the ABA has chosen “Law in the 21^st Century: Enduring Traditions, Emerging Challenges” as a theme which were permits us to look forward as well as recognizing past contributions. This theme is significant as our legal system is being shaped by new technologies and a mobile society.  Global transactions have introduced shared concerns and have required that we adapt to new cultures and become knowledgeable about other legal systems.  We are being challenged to new understandings and partnerships.

Challenge yourself by taking the President’s Day trivia quiz and learn more about the contributions our leaders have made to our legal system.

-Susan Catterall-