A Brief History Of: The Post-Presidency

For George W. Bush, the bucks start here. On March 17, before about 1,500 Calgary business leaders, Bush will give his first post–White House address and set the going rate for an audience with a former leader of the free world: a reported $150,000 per speech. That may seem like a lot for a man who left Washington with a record-low 22% approval rating. But it’s far from exorbitant on the world’s most lucrative lecture circuit–one of the perks that prompted John Updike to dismiss the presidency as “a way station en route to the blessed condition of being an ex-President.”

It wasn’t always so blessed. Out of office, Thomas Jefferson found himself buried under crippling debts; James Monroe died destitute; and Ulysses S. Grant, scammed by a Wall Street grifter and battling cancer, hawked his memoirs to Mark Twain to keep his family afloat. Not until 1958 did the Former Presidents Act award ex–Chief Executives a pension and staff.

But beginning with Gerald Ford, former Presidents have each earned hefty fees for speeches, memoirs or corporate advice–despite criticism that cashing in on their service sullies the office. In 1989, Ronald Reagan raked in a whopping $2 million (plus $5 million for his entourage and expenses) for a pair of 20-minute talks in Japan. Bill Clinton has amassed tens of millions on the podium–a fact that briefly imperiled his wife’s nomination to be Secretary of State. Senior staffers like Henry Kissinger and presidential also-rans Al Gore and Rudy Giuliani have also parlayed political power into riches. Bob Dole, in lesser demand after getting trounced by Clinton in 1996, became a TV pitchman for everything from debit cards to erectile-dysfunction pills. Further evidence, perhaps, that it’s good to be the boss.