Eighty individuals have stood a heartbeat away from the U.S. presidency. Seven did so twice. They were vice presidents or, when that office was vacant, Presidents Pro Tempore of the Senate, Speakers of the House, Secretaries of State, and Secretary of the Treasury. On three brief occasions, there was no one at all in the line of succession.
These 80 included:
A general who won the Nobel Peace Prize and also wrote a musical piece performed by classical masters. Fifty years later, with lyrics added, it topped the Billboard charts for six weeks, making an R&B singer the first African American with a #1 hit. Other recordings featured Louis Armstrong, Art Garfunkel, Van Morrison, Merle Haggard, Cass Elliot, Freddy Fender, and countless others. (Videos below.)
A person of color who predated Barack Obama and Kamala Harris by nearly a century.
A Jewish Christmas tree farmer who lived next-door to a future president who also grew Christmas trees.
A man whose friends claimed (almost certainly wrongly) that he was actually President of the U.S. for one day.
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