Presidential experience
By TIMES STAFF
Published January 17, 2007
Voters say they want experienced presidents, but it’s a difficult thing to quantify.
Here are the top 10 and bottom 10 presidents by years of experience as a governor, in Congress, in a state legislature or as vice president when first elected.
Nineteen of the 43 presidents had more experience than Barack Obama would have if he were elected in 2008. This chart does not include other elected offices or military experience.
| Governor | Congress | State legislature | Vice president | Total | |
| Lyndon B. Johnson (36th) | 0 | 24 | 0 | 2 | 26 |
| Gerald R. Ford (38th) | 0 | 24 | 0 | 1 | 25 |
| William H. Harrison (9th) | 13 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 22 |
| John Tyler (10th) | 0 | 13 | 8 | 1 | 22 |
| James Buchanan (15th) | 0 | 21 | 1 | 0 | 22 |
| Andrew Johnson (17th) | 0 | 16 | 5 | 1 | 22 |
| James A. Garfield (20th) | 0 | 17 | 1 | 0 | 18 |
| James Madison (Fourth) | 0 | 13 | 4 | 0 | 17 |
| William McKinley (25th) | 4 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 17 |
| James K. Polk (11th) | 0 | 14 | 2 | 0 | 16 |
| Barack Obama* | 0 | 4 | 8 | 0 | 12 |
| Millard Filmore (13th) | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| George Washington (First)** | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Grover Cleveland (22nd and 24th) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Woodrow Wilson (28th) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Chester A. Arthur (21st) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Zachary Taylor (12th) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ulysses S. Grant (18th) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| William Howard Taft (27th) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Herbert Hoover (31st) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Dwight D. Eisenhower (34th) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Note: This analysis awarded years of service generously; in some cases one year of service does not equal 12 months.
* Assumes a 2008 candidacy
* * Includes Continental Congress service
Source: Facts about the Presidents, sixth edition, by Joseph Kane Compiled by Times researcher Angie Drobnic Holan