From Andrew Johnson, who ran a successful tailor shop, to George H.W. Bush, the owner of an oil development company, America has had its share of businessmen make it to the highest elected office in the land. This election cycle, there are two candidates running who hail from the world of business: Carly Fiorina and Donald Trump.
In recent years, we’ve seen a few CEO candidates. Ross Perot was a successful tech tycoon who started out at IBM before starting his own company, Electronic Data Systems. He eventually turned into a billionaire and was one of the most successful independent candidates in the history of our nation when he ran in 1992, ending up with about 19 percent of the vote. In a New York Times article about his candidacy, Perot’s campaign was described as “unorthodox,” further noting that he “offered voters only himself and an outlet for their anger.” Some have invoked the spectre of the campaign in Trump’s run for the White House.
Only last election cycle, businessman and CEO Herman Cain threw his hat into the ring in for the Republican presidential nomination. Cain had clawed his way up the ladder at Pillsbury in the Burger King division, where he started out flipping burgers and ended up regional vice president. After that, he went to another subsidiary of Pillsbury, Godfather’s Pizza, which was in dire straits, and pulled it back from the brink. By the account of The Washington Post, his debate performances were “impressive,” but his sexual assault scandal and propensity for gaffes quickly sunk his briefly successful campaign.
Historically, most of our presidents have been lawyers and career politicians. But Trump and Fiorina are only the latest in a succession of candidates to emerge from the business sphere.