U.S. Presidents With No Political Experience

President Donald Trump is the only modern president who had no political experience before entering the White House. You'd have to go way back to Herbert Hoover and The Great Depression to find a president who had less experience in running for elected office than did Trump. Most presidents who lacked political experience had strong military backgrounds; they include Presidents Dwight Eisenhower and Zachary Taylor. Trump and Hoover had neither political nor military experience.

Political experience is not necessary, though, to make it to the White House. None of the requirements for being president set forth in the U.S. Constitution include having been elected to office before entering the White House. Some voters actually favor candidates who have no political experience; those outsider candidates have not been subject to corrupting influences in Washington, D.C. In fact, the 2016 presidential contest featured several candidates who had never held elected office: retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson and former tech executive Carly Fiorina.

Still, the number of people who have served in the White House without having previously served in an elected office is small. Even our most inexperienced presidents—Woodrow Wilson, Theodore Roosevelt, and George H.W. Bush—held office before entering the White House. The first six presidents in American history previously served as elected delegates to the Continental Congress. And since then most presidents have served as governors, U.S. senators or members of Congress—or all three.

Having held an elected position before serving in the White House certainly does not guarantee a president will perform well in the highest office in the land. Consider James Buchanan, a skilled politician who consistently ranks as the worst president in history among many, many historians because of his failure to take a position on slavery or negotiate during the Secession Crisis. Eisenhower, meantime, often performs well in surveys of American political scientists and historians even though he never held elected office before the White House. So, of course, does Abraham Lincoln, one of America's greatest presidents but someone who had little previous experience.

Having no experience can be a benefit. In modern elections, some presidential candidates have scored points among a disaffected and angry electorate by portraying themselves as outsiders or novices. Candidates who have intentionally distanced themselves from the so-called political "establishment" or elite include pizza-chain executive Herman Cain, wealthy magazine publisher Steve Forbes, and businessman Ross Perot, who ran one of the most successful independent campaigns in history. 

Most American presidents served in elected office before being elected president, though. Many presidents served as governors or U.S. senators first. A few were members of the U.S. House of Representatives before being elected president.

Here's a look at the presidents who had political experience before entering the White House.

The first five presidents all served as elected delegates to the Continental Congress. Two of the delegates also went on to serve in the U.S. Senate before running for president.

The five Continental Congress delegates who ascended to the presidency are:

• George Washington
• John Adams
• Thomas Jefferson
• James Madison
• James Monroe

Sixteen presidents served in the U.S. Senate first.

They are:

• James Monroe 
• John Quincy Adams
• Andrew Jackson 
• Martin Van Buren 
• William Henry Harrison 
• John Tyler 
• Franklin Pierce 
• James Buchanan 
• Andrew Johnson 
• Benjamin Harrison 
• Warren G. Harding
• Harry S. Truman 
• John F. Kennedy
• Lyndon B. Johnson 
• Richard M. Nixon 
• Barack Obama 

Seventeen presidents served as state governors first.

They are:

• Thomas Jefferson
• James Monroe
• Martin Van Buren
• John Tyler
• James K. Polk
• Andrew Johnson
• Rutherford B. Hayes
• Grover Cleveland
• William McKinley
• Theodore Roosevelt
• Woodrow Wilson
• Calvin Coolidge
• Franklin Roosevelt
• Jimmy Carter
• Ronald Reagan
• Bill Clinton
• George W. Bush

Nineteen members of the House have served as president, including four who were never elected to the White House but ascended to the office following death or resignation. Only one ascended directly from the House to the presidency, though, without gaining more experience in other elected offices.

They are:

• James Madison
• John Quincy Adams
• Andrew Jackson
• William Henry Harrison
• John Tyler
• James K. Polk
• Millard Fillmore
• Franklin Pierce
• James Buchanan
• Abraham Lincoln
• Andrew Johnson
• Rutherford B. Hayes
• James Garfield
• William McKinley
• John F. Kennedy
• Lyndon B. Johnson
• Richard M. Nixon
• Gerald Ford
• George H.W. Bush

Only four sitting vice presidents won election to president in the 57 presidential elections since 1789. One former vice president left office and later won election to president. Others tried and failed to ascend to the presidency.

The four sitting vice presidents who won election to the presidency are:

• George H.W. Bush
• Martin Van Buren
• Thomas Jefferson
• John Adams

The only president who left office and later won the presidency is Richard Nixon.

There are six presidents who had no political experience before entering the White House. Most of them were war generals and American heroes, but they had never held elected office before the presidency. They fared better than many big-city mayors including Rudy Giuliani of New York and state legislators in trying to run for the White House.

Here's a look at the presidents with the least political experience.