Teddy Roosevelt was pretty unlikely. He was very independent, and clashed with enough of his own party that it's unlikely that he could have ever won the Republican Presidential nomination. During the 1900 election he was serving as Governor of New York, and investigating a number of politicians of both parties for corruption which rustled some Republican feathers. One reason McKinley made him his VP, after refusing to make him the Secretary of War, was that VP was seen as a powerless job. Teddy Roosevelt was considering going to law school during his time as VP, until McKinley was assassinated and TR became President. Source - Sagamore Hill Museum.
Richard Nixon's path has one big wrinkle in it which I find fascinating. After serving as Vice President under Eisenhower for 8 years, Nixon ran for President in 1960, narrowly losing to JFK. After that loss, he ran for Governor of California in 1962. To this point, California was generally a Republican stronghold: Ike carried it in '52 and '56, and Nixon carried it in '60.
The Republican Party felt that they could re-take the governorship from Pat Brown and the Democrats in '62. Who could be a better candidate than California native and the most high-profile name in the CA Republican Party, Richard Nixon?
After the campaign, Nixon was favored to win a narrow election, but after the votes were counted, Nixon was stunned, having lost the vote by 5%. Nixon famously followed up his defeat with his "Last Press Conference."
After this speech, Richard Nixon's political career was presumed to be effectively over. As the article states, a frustrated and angry Nixon was quoted as saying "you don't have Nixon to kick around any more, because, gentlemen, this is my last press conference." In Nixon's NYT obituary, they noyed that the press conference was a violation of a cardinal rule of politics, and that it basically signaled the end of his political career.
By 1968, Nixon had completed one of the most remarkable turnarounds in the history of American politics, basically rising from the ashes to win the highest office in the land. Of course, he was helped by the collapse of the New Deal Coalition and the general strife and conflict within the Democratic party as a result of Vietnam and the Civil Rights movement, not to mention the assassination of the Democrat's presumptive nominee, RFK, but it is an incredible comeback regardless.
Jimmy Carter was the only president to live in public housing. He did so for a year - along with his wife and children - before his peanut farm became successful.
Source: nps.gov
Surprised nobody has said Woodrow Wilson. In 1910 he was President of a prestigious, but small, university: Princeton. In 1911 he assumed office as Governor of New Jersey. In 1912 he Captured the Democratic nomination for President. Think of it this say : January 1, 1911, he was President of Princeton and on November 5th 1912 he was elected president. Less than 2 years in politics. It took him about 18 months in politics to become a frontrunner for the Democratic nomination. Even someone considered a fast-rising star like Obama took 10 years in politics. (http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/woodrowwilson, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodrow_Wilson)
I'm now curious, what is so odd about Gerald Ford's rise?
James Garfield was a relatively unknown Representative and Senator-elect from Ohio that gave a speech in support of John Sherman at the Republican convention and somehow walked out as the candidate.
Franklin Pierce.
Was a candidate nominated by the Democrats after 49 ballots at their convention. He wasn't even seen as a potential candidate until they basically needed anyone at that point to be on the ballot that would not tick off the north and south party factions.
The Whigs ran Winfield Scott, and should have been an easy win if it wasn't for the general disarray of that party that year.
Wouldn't U.S. Grant be a pretty strong contender for this? From complete obscurity in 1860, to winning the presidency in 1868?
Hi all. Just a reminder to restrict your responses to events prior to 1995, per this sub's 20 year rule. Thanks!