Presidents Ranked by Their Post-Presidency

Jimmy Carter

No ex-president reshaped the job itself like Carter, who spent over four decades building homes with Habitat for Humanity, monitoring elections worldwide, and winning the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize for work he intensified after leaving office. He turned a one-term, low-approval presi

Years Lived Post-Presidency (higher is b: 43 yrsNobel Peace Prize (awarded post-presiden: ✓Books Published After Leaving Office (hi: 30 booksHeld Public Office Again: —Post-Presidency Legacy Rating (higher is: 10/10Age at Death (higher is better): 100 yrs

added by IJRin 6 rankings

John Quincy Adams

Rejecting typical retirement, Adams won a House seat in 1830 and spent 17 years as 'Old Man Eloquent,' fighting the gag rule on antislavery petitions and arguing the Amistad case before the Supreme Court. His second act arguably outshone his single presidential term, making him t

Years Lived Post-Presidency (higher is b: 19 yrsNobel Peace Prize (awarded post-presiden: —Books Published After Leaving Office (hi: 2 booksHeld Public Office Again: ✓Post-Presidency Legacy Rating (higher is: 9/10Age at Death (higher is better): 80 yrs

added by IJRin 4 rankings

William Howard Taft

Taft landed the job he always wanted more than the presidency itself: Chief Justice of the United States, a post he held from 1921 until shortly before his death. He remains the only person to lead both the executive and judicial branches, reshaping the Court's operations and sec

Years Lived Post-Presidency (higher is b: 17 yrsNobel Peace Prize (awarded post-presiden: —Books Published After Leaving Office (hi: 3 booksHeld Public Office Again: ✓Post-Presidency Legacy Rating (higher is: 8.5/10Age at Death (higher is better): 72 yrs

added by IJRin 4 rankingsWilliam Howard Taft

George H.W. Bush

Bush turned a bruising 1992 election loss into a model of bipartisan grace, teaming with the man who beat him, Bill Clinton, to raise millions for tsunami and Katrina relief. His famous skydiving birthdays and 'Points of Light' volunteerism campaign kept him beloved for 25 years

Years Lived Post-Presidency (higher is b: 25 yrsNobel Peace Prize (awarded post-presiden: —Books Published After Leaving Office (hi: 2 booksHeld Public Office Again: —Post-Presidency Legacy Rating (higher is: 8/10Age at Death (higher is better): 94 yrs

added by IJRin 5 rankingsGeorge H.W. Bush

Bill Clinton

The Clinton Foundation's global health work, including negotiating discounted HIV drugs for millions, gave Clinton one of the most operationally ambitious post-presidencies ever attempted. He's remained a fixture of Democratic politics and global conferences for over two decades.

Years Lived Post-Presidency (higher is b: 23 yrsNobel Peace Prize (awarded post-presiden: —Books Published After Leaving Office (hi: 5 booksHeld Public Office Again: —Post-Presidency Legacy Rating (higher is: 7.5/10Age at Death (higher is better): —

added by IJRin 11 rankingsBill Clinton

Theodore Roosevelt

Restless as ever, TR charged into the Amazon on a near-fatal mapping expedition, then split the Republican Party by running as a third-party 'Bull Moose' candidate in 1912. His post-presidency was pure Roosevelt: adventurous, combative, and consequential, even if it helped hand t

Years Lived Post-Presidency (higher is b: 10 yrsNobel Peace Prize (awarded post-presiden: —Books Published After Leaving Office (hi: 5 booksHeld Public Office Again: —Post-Presidency Legacy Rating (higher is: 7/10Age at Death (higher is better): 60 yrs

added by IJRin 12 rankingsTheodore Roosevelt

Herbert Hoover

Blamed for the Depression and driven from office in a landslide, Hoover spent three decades rehabilitating his reputation through global food relief efforts and two presidentially-appointed commissions reorganizing the federal government. By his 1964 death, he'd outlived the stig

Years Lived Post-Presidency (higher is b: 31 yrsNobel Peace Prize (awarded post-presiden: —Books Published After Leaving Office (hi: 10 booksHeld Public Office Again: ✓Post-Presidency Legacy Rating (higher is: 7.5/10Age at Death (higher is better): 90 yrs

added by IJRin 5 rankingsHerbert Hoover

Barack Obama

Obama's foundation and presidential center focus on training a new generation of leaders worldwide, while his bestselling memoirs and production deals have kept him culturally relevant. Still relatively early in his post-presidency, he's already set a template mixing philanthropy

Years Lived Post-Presidency (higher is b: 7 yrsNobel Peace Prize (awarded post-presiden: —Books Published After Leaving Office (hi: 2 booksHeld Public Office Again: —Post-Presidency Legacy Rating (higher is: 7/10Age at Death (higher is better): —

added by IJRin 12 rankingsBarack Obama

Gerald Ford

Ford never sought the spotlight after pardoning Nixon cost him the 1976 election, instead settling into corporate boardrooms, golf, and a quietly respected role as party elder. He and Jimmy Carter, one-time rivals, became close friends who each asked the other to deliver their eu

Years Lived Post-Presidency (higher is b: 29 yrsNobel Peace Prize (awarded post-presiden: —Books Published After Leaving Office (hi: 2 booksHeld Public Office Again: —Post-Presidency Legacy Rating (higher is: 7/10Age at Death (higher is better): 93 yrs

added by IJRin 2 rankingsGerald Ford

Harry Truman

Truman returned to a modest house in Independence, Missouri, refused corporate board seats on principle, and wrote candid memoirs to fund his retirement after leaving office with dismal approval ratings. History's reassessment of him as a decisive, underrated president happened a

Years Lived Post-Presidency (higher is b: 19 yrsNobel Peace Prize (awarded post-presiden: —Books Published After Leaving Office (hi: 2 booksHeld Public Office Again: —Post-Presidency Legacy Rating (higher is: 6.5/10Age at Death (higher is better): 88 yrs

added by IJRin 7 rankingsHarry Truman

Ulysses S. Grant

Financially ruined by a Ponzi scheme and dying of throat cancer, Grant raced the clock to finish his Personal Memoirs, widely regarded as the finest presidential autobiography ever written. Mark Twain published the book, which sold enough copies to rescue Grant's family from pove

Years Lived Post-Presidency (higher is b: 8 yrsNobel Peace Prize (awarded post-presiden: —Books Published After Leaving Office (hi: 1 booksHeld Public Office Again: —Post-Presidency Legacy Rating (higher is: 7/10Age at Death (higher is better): 63 yrs

added by IJRin 8 rankingsUlysses S. Grant

Andrew Johnson

Impeached and nearly removed from office, Johnson spent years seeking political vindication before Tennessee voters sent him back to the U.S. Senate in 1875, making him the only ex-president to serve there. He died just months into that term, having proven his enemies couldn't fi

Years Lived Post-Presidency (higher is b: 6 yrsNobel Peace Prize (awarded post-presiden: —Books Published After Leaving Office (hi: 0 booksHeld Public Office Again: ✓Post-Presidency Legacy Rating (higher is: 5/10Age at Death (higher is better): 66 yrs

added by IJRin 6 rankings

Richard Nixon

Disgraced by Watergate and forced to resign, Nixon spent two decades writing foreign policy books and quietly advising presidents of both parties, gradually rebuilding a reputation as a shrewd geopolitical thinker. He never fully escaped Watergate's shadow, but by his 1994 death

Years Lived Post-Presidency (higher is b: 20 yrsNobel Peace Prize (awarded post-presiden: —Books Published After Leaving Office (hi: 10 booksHeld Public Office Again: —Post-Presidency Legacy Rating (higher is: 5.5/10Age at Death (higher is better): 81 yrs

added by IJRin 13 rankings

Rutherford B. Hayes

Having pledged to serve only one term, Hayes retired to Ohio and became a surprisingly energetic reformer, championing public education, prison reform, and early civil rights causes through the National Prison Association. His retirement outshone his contested, scandal-tinged 187

Years Lived Post-Presidency (higher is b: 12 yrsNobel Peace Prize (awarded post-presiden: —Books Published After Leaving Office (hi: 0 booksHeld Public Office Again: —Post-Presidency Legacy Rating (higher is: 6/10Age at Death (higher is better): 70 yrs

added by IJRin 3 rankingsRutherford B. Hayes

George W. Bush

Bush largely vanished from politics to take up oil painting, producing surprisingly earnest portraits of veterans and world leaders published in bestselling books. His low-key Texas retirement and occasional bipartisan appearances with Michelle Obama softened his image over time.

Years Lived Post-Presidency (higher is b: 15 yrsNobel Peace Prize (awarded post-presiden: —Books Published After Leaving Office (hi: 3 booksHeld Public Office Again: —Post-Presidency Legacy Rating (higher is: 6/10Age at Death (higher is better): —

added by IJRin 8 rankingsGeorge W. Bush

Grover Cleveland

After his non-consecutive terms ended in 1897, Cleveland settled into Princeton, New Jersey, serving as a university trustee and writing occasional essays, a fittingly understated coda to a famously blunt political career. He avoided the spotlight almost entirely until his death

Years Lived Post-Presidency (higher is b: 11 yrsNobel Peace Prize (awarded post-presiden: —Books Published After Leaving Office (hi: 1 booksHeld Public Office Again: —Post-Presidency Legacy Rating (higher is: 5/10Age at Death (higher is better): 71 yrs

added by IJRin 6 rankingsGrover Cleveland

Woodrow Wilson

A stroke suffered while campaigning for the League of Nations left Wilson largely incapacitated for the rest of his life, and he lived just three quiet, diminished years after leaving office in 1921. His post-presidency became a sad coda to the global vision he'd fought so hard,

Years Lived Post-Presidency (higher is b: 3 yrsNobel Peace Prize (awarded post-presiden: —Books Published After Leaving Office (hi: 0 booksHeld Public Office Again: —Post-Presidency Legacy Rating (higher is: 3/10Age at Death (higher is better): 67 yrs

added by IJRin 11 rankings

Franklin Pierce

Widely blamed for accelerating the country toward civil war, Pierce returned to New Hampshire to a chilly public reception, sank into alcoholism, and reportedly remarked he had 'nothing left to do but get drunk.' He publicly opposed the Union war effort, further isolating himself

Years Lived Post-Presidency (higher is b: 12 yrsNobel Peace Prize (awarded post-presiden: —Books Published After Leaving Office (hi: 0 booksHeld Public Office Again: —Post-Presidency Legacy Rating (higher is: 2/10Age at Death (higher is better): 64 yrs

added by IJRin 5 rankingsFranklin Pierce