OT - B1G Presidential Jinx
Interesting little "fun" column over at CNN talking about the fact that no elected presidents have attended a B1G University - obviously Gerald Ford was president but never elected.
The column and its relationship to politics is only tangential - its purely a fun attempt to figure out why none of the 12 B1G University's have given us a POTUS and doesn't discuss political viewpoints of any kind. As such, hopefully the mods can keep this one up because its a short and interesting read. And hopefully you all can behave and keep the discussion free from any sort of Beltway rabble rabble.
http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/15/opinion/greene-presidents-big-ten-jinx/index.html?iid=article_sidebar
P.S. I know I'm forever biased and probably wouldn't recognize anything he said as intelligent, but Gordon Gee comes off, once again, like a total buffoon.
Has every other major conference had a president? ACC, SEC, Big12, Big East, and Pac12? I suppose maybe I should be flattered that they think highly enough of our conference academically to single us out, but I didn't really get why. Has a B1G presidential candidate lost in each of the last 5 presidential races or something?
I think you nailed it when you said you should be flattered. The B1G is a group of prestigious institutions unlike anything in the country, sans the Ivy League, of course. Nobody is shocked we haven't had a President elected from South Carolina or Arizona State, but from Michigan or Northwestern - that is a bit of a shocker.
A bit more info on colleges attended by the POTUS, by conference....you'd think by sheer luck we'd have at least one!
5- Ivy League: Columbia (T. Roosevelt, FDR, Obama), Harvard (Adams, JQ Adams,Hayes, T. Roosevelt, FDR, JFK, GW Bush, Obama), Pennsylvania (WH Harrison), Princeton (Madison, Wilson), Yale (Taft, GHW Bush, Clinton, GW Bush)
4 - Atlantic Coast: Duke (Nixon), Georgia Tech (Carter), UNC (Polk), Virginia (Wilson)
3- North Coast Athletic Conference (DIII): Allegheny College (McKinley), Hiram (Garfield), Kenyon (Hayes)
2- Big East: Cincinnati (Taft), Georgetown (Clinton)
2- Centennial Conference (DIII): Dickinson (Buchanan), Johns Hopkins (Wilson)
2- Colonial: Davidson (Wilson), William & Mary (Jefferson, Monroe, Tyler)
2- Eastern College Athletic Conference (DIII): Amherst (Coolidge), Union (Arthur)
2- New England Small College Athletic Conference (DIII): Bowdoin (Pierce), Williams (Garfield)
2- Patriot League: US Military Academy (Grant, Eisenhower), US Naval Academy (Carter)
2- Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (DIII): Occidental (Obama), Whittier (Nixon)
1- MAC: Miami of Ohio (B. Harrison)
1- Northwest Conference (DIII): George Fox (Hoover)
1- Ohio Athletic Conference (DIII): Ohio Central (Harding)
1- Old Dominion Athletic Conference (DIII): Hampden-Sydney (WH Harrison)
1- Pac 12: Stanford (Hoover)
1- Peach Belt Conference (DII): Georgia Southwestern State (Carter)
1- Southland: Southwest Texas State Teacher's College - now Texas State (LBJ)
1- St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (DIII): Eureka (Reagan)
April 17th, 2012 at 11:24 AM ^
Hamden-Sydney loves that Harrison reference, but the poor bastard died after a very short time in office. I suppose I shouldn't find that funny but I do. I say with a ton of fondness for ol;' H-SC.
Is proud not only of B. Harrison, but also that President Washington signed the act of Congress that established it just eight years before Michigan was founded in the wilderness. BTY, I propose the use of (YTM) and (NTM) to eliminate annoying redundancies like the RenCen Center and the HIV virus.
Ohio Athletic Conference should also have Mount Union (McKinley) listed. He attended Allegheny, but graduated from Mount Union after he was thrown out of Allegheny.
If that's true, you need to edit McKinley's wikipedia page ASAP! Mt. Union is getting no respect.... It also says he left Allegheny because he was depressed, not that he was expelled for what it's worth.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_McKinley
What this list really seems to show, if anything, is a general bias toward private-school graduates. There aren't a lot of public schools represented here.
The presidents from the SEC must have come from Vanderbilt. If they came from any other school, I'd be afraid.
No SEC presidents - shocker, I know.
Of the 34 Presidents who graduated from college, only 7 got their undergraduate degrees from FBS schools. The list:
Michigan - Gerald Ford (obvs.)
West Point - Ulysses Grant, Dwight Eisenhower
US Naval Academy - Jimmy Carter
North Carolina - James K. Polk
Stanford - Herbert Hoover
Miami (OH) - Benjamin Harrison
If you count all BCS conference schools regardless of sport, Georgetown alum Bill Clinton also goes on the list.
Nixon went to Duke Law, Carter graduated from Navy. Taft went to Cincinati for law.
FWIW law schools are not undergraduate schools.
Note I said "undergraduate degree." Nixon graduated from Whittier College before going to Duke Law and Taft graduated from Yale before going to law school at the University of Cincinnati. And I didn't miss Carter, he's right there in the middle after US Naval Academy.
My bad. Same with Carter.
LBJ's alma mater, Southwest Texas State Teachers College (now Texas State) begins FBS play in the WAC this year. So we can make that 8 in a few months.....
Less than 20 have served in the 20th and 21st century, which is when college really becomes something that leads to rising in society and becomes something people outside of the elite strived for. The fact that we have one is pretty amazing.
I think this could be partially because of the general big 10 attitude, as opposed to the Ivy League (especially Harvard). Generally, I feel that the general big 10 attitude towards life is that hard work, living a balanced life, and family are important. Obviously there are vairations, but most of the people i meet here at Michigan are not the type of people who would run for president. Maybe congress or other public office. It's not that we won't go on to do great things, but being POTUS requires reduculous sacrafices, and I believe that we are conditioned to not make those sacrafices.
I'll take stereotyping for 300 please Alex!
Oh, big mistake. I bet the Daily Double was hiding behind Atrocious Spelling for $1000.
If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say it was behind "The Pen is Mightier" or "Therapists".
April 17th, 2012 at 12:30 AM ^
A real embarassment. I'll see to it that I win the next available Presidential election to right this wrong.
The state of Ohio has produced eight presidents, and none of them attended tOSU. Interesting.
April 17th, 2012 at 11:27 AM ^
You misspelled that last word; did you mean "Understandable" or "Unsurprising"?
Edit: misplaced post (see above).
What is the point of the "elected" caveat? Gerald Ford was a U-M grad and became President. The House of Representatives confirmed him as Vice President and then he succeeded as President, through constitutional means. It's not like he staged a coup d'etat.