Because of this high security and high profile life they have been elected into, presidents will never return to having a “normal life.” From the moment they are inaugurated to even after they take their final breath, they will be a high-profile figure who requires high security.
Many celebrities have the option to kind of lay low if they want to, but being a president and former president is different. They will never again be able to travel, shop, or eat out the way they used to before they were president, and nothing will ever be back to “normal.”
Even though they are technically retired after they leave the presidency, former presidents are still expected to serve as goodwill ambassadors for the United States and to continue actively engaging in international relations with other countries.
Because of this, former presidents, first ladies, and vice presidents are expected to travel all over the world where they are needed. Unfortunately, retirement for presidents is not the same luxury as retirement is for most Americans.
In the episode of Jerry Seinfeld’s Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee that guest starred Barack Obama, who at the time was the sitting president, President Obama said, “I would love to just be taking a walk, and I run into you, and you’re sitting on a bench. Right? And suddenly I say, ‘Hey, Jerry. How you doing?’”
Presidents and former presidents do not have the simple luxury of walking down the street as an anonymous passerby because every outing has to be a big deal, even when they don’t want it to be. Even if they didn’t have the Secret Service blocking off the entire street around them, people would still crowd around them to say hi or take a picture.
Another part of the security for former presidents is having their mail screened and scanned before they open it. It is a great threat to security to be able to receive whatever is postmarked to them at whatever time. The Secret Service must check the mail for something dangerous in every package and envelope to protect the former president.
The mail has long been a possible weapon of choice for many ill willers. From blackmail to government secrets to even packaged bombs, mail can be quite a dangerous threat to anybody, especially someone as high profile as a former president.
Secret Service protection doesn’t end when they're no longer president. Because former presidents are such high-profile people with a ton of influence, they're still targets for unwanted danger. Because of this, the FPA entitles all former presidents with lifetime Secret Service protection.
However, in 1994, a law passed that changed it to only 10 years after their term—but then Obama switched it back to lifetime protection in 2013. Because of this, former U.S. presidents are not allowed to be alone...basically ever. They can’t even go into Walmart without their security squad.
The nuclear family of the former president also has Secret Service protection, not only during the president’s term, but for a lifetime. This includes the president’s spouse and their children until they are 16 years old. This means the family has to follow many of the same rules the president has to follow under Secret Service protocol.
Before leaving office, President Trump signed a memorandum stating that the president can extend Secret Service protection to others. This ensured that 14 members of the Trump family would receive Secret Service protection for six months after he left office. After those six months, the normal regulations would apply to President Trump and former first lady Melania.
This type of rather invasive protection might by law have to be offered to the former president and their family, but the law does not say that they have to accept it. Since the FPA was passed in 1958, President Richard Nixon has been the only president to decline Secret Service protection once he was out of office. (He was made eligible for this protection because he did not end up being removed from office by Congress but instead willingly resigned and was pardoned by President Ford.)
President Nixon used the protection for 11 years until he declined, stating saving taxpayer dollars as his reason. It is true that the Secret Service is paid for by the taxpayers, just like any other government position. The Secret Service is highly trained and presidents rarely see the same agent twice because they rotate around very often. This type of protection is pricey, and Nixon felt like after 11 years of being watched, it wasn’t necessary anymore.
While they are president, they are highly encouraged to only take Air Force One for any flights they need to take, and most of them do because it is the easiest way for them to fly safely. However, they no longer have access to Air Force One after they leave office.
With that being said, that doesn’t mean that they choose to fly commercially either. Many former presidents use private jets. This is probably because they are so used to that luxury, but also it offers the same strong security that Air Force One has, which is very much necessary and not found on commercial flights.
This is not an official law that a president would break by bad-mouthing past or current presidents, but is a considerate, unspoken rule that all presidents should follow as the elected heads of the United States.
The character of a president is representative of the character of the people who voted for them, and people aren’t only watching their character while they are in office. Once you are president, you can’t avoid being a very public figure that everyone is always watching.
Any message the president sends or receives during their presidency is kept on public record and cannot be destroyed, even after they leave office. This is thanks to the Presidential Records Act from 1978.
This act has been a point of contention with the Trump administration because many meetings and conversations President Donald Trump had with foreign leaders were not recorded. This practice was traditionally upheld by both Republican and Democrat presidencies, and the Trump administration was sued by a group of historians for failure to create and keep these historical records.
This is all part of the presidential security that continues even after they leave office. Because hackers are so prevalent these days and can hack into nearly any computer or phone, it’s a real breach in security for a president or former president to go out and buy their own laptop or phone without thorough investigations.
This is also linked to the lack of privacy that presidents and former presidents have in regards to their communications. All messages, ingoing and outgoing, must be monitored to protect their security, and it makes it that much harder if the president isn’t careful.
Franklin D. Roosevelt was the first and only president to serve four terms as president of the United States. Before FDR, it was only a precedent, not a law, set by George Washington that the president should serve only two terms as president in order to balance executive power.
Because FDR was a Democrat, many Republicans at the time were very upset at the several terms that FDR was allowed to serve, so they drafted and passed the 22nd amendment in 1951 that stated that presidents are now by law only allowed to serve two terms max as president.
No matter what a president might want personally, a president, whether sitting or former, cannot have a private funeral. Well, they can have a private funeral, but they must also have a large public funeral in Washington D.C. This is what George H.W. Bush’s funeral was like.
President George Washington expected that once presidents left office, they would go back to their private lives in retirement until they were laid to rest on family property of their choice. While they don’t really have those same luxuries now with all of the high security risks and Secret Service protection, former presidents must also have a public funeral where the nation can collectively mourn the loss of their former leader.
While it's obvious that a former vice president can serve as president (as seen with President Joe Biden), the opposite cannot be true. President Barack Obama would not be able to serve as vice president because he has already served as president twice. However, they can serve in other positions in government, such as in Congress or on the Supreme Court.
This is because of the same 22nd amendment that prevents a president from running more than two terms. If President Biden were to have picked President Obama to serve as his vice president, and then if President Biden were to have gotten sick and not be able to finish his term as president, then President Obama would be president again for a third time, and that is not allowed.
One of the true benefits of being a former president is that they still have government-provided health insurance even after they are out of office. This is because they are still important figures of the United States, and if they were not able to have good health insurance, that would just look bad for America as a whole.
We need to make sure that the leaders of our country are healthy enough to be able to continue leading the country, and that is exactly what former presidents still do.
Just like the president and former presidents are not allowed to break a law, they are also not allowed to get away scot-free from breaking the law either. From the moment it is acknowledged that a president or former president has broken a law, they must be served for justice, just as any other citizen of the United States.
This also implies the same message as presidents breaking the law. The stakes are even higher for presidents and former presidents when it comes to breaking the law because they are required to have the utmost respect and consideration for it. They definitely can’t just get away with whatever.
Yet again, President Richard Nixon is the exception to this rule. The Watergate scandal was one of the biggest scandals in the history of the United States, and it was tied very heavily to President Nixon. Members of his committee attempted to steal top-secret information from his opponents running against him for president to attempt to guarantee another Nixon win.
Nixon has stated that this event was not acceptable, but never revealed whether or not he ordered for this to happen. He did, however, attempt to cover up this information. Because of this attempt at undermining democracy, Nixon was going to face harsh punishment—but once his vice president Gerald Ford stepped up as president after Nixon’s resignation, President Ford issued a complete unconditional pardon of Nixon, meaning all crimes Nixon might have been charged with from the Watergate scandal were forgotten in the eyes of the government.
One of the benefits of being the president is not having to wait in traffic, since you always have an entire caravan paving the way for you. This transfers over into out of office duties as well. Because of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the Secret Service makes sure to be extra careful when it comes to presidents and public roads.
It’s not a law that they can’t drive, rather it’s part of the protection protocols of the Secret Service team they have with them at all times. Many former presidents instead go for joyrides in the security of their own private land. President George W. Bush loves to drive his truck around his ranch in Texas, while President Barack Obama has only taken a few spins around the South Lawn at the White House since he became president.
Unfortunately, just because they are retired, doesn’t mean a president can leave the workforce totally behind. When a doctor retires from medicine, they don’t have to think about it another day in their life if they don’t want to. However, former presidents must attend certain events and security briefings for their own safety and information.
A president simply can’t stop being in government business once they're out of office; they have to constantly be informed about what is going on with the United States since they are technically experts in American politics.
A rumor in 2020 began when false information was spread that President Trump was going to revoke President Obama’s access to top-secret government information that the FPA allows former presidents to know. This would mean that President Obama could no longer be actively involved in American Politics.
However, this was just a rumor. It started from a satire article that circulated around Facebook, and people thought it was real information. President Trump tweeted that he did not have any intentions on revoking President Obama’s access to confidential information in response to this rumor that grew out of proportion.
Because so much communication happens through the internet, and all messages from current and former presidents must be monitored as a security precaution, former presidents are not allowed to have complete internet privacy and must be monitored for security purposes.
If YouTubers and Instagram personalities can receive death threats on social media, just imagine how it is being the president or a former president that is active on these platforms. The Secret Service must protect all living presidents, and this includes online as well.
Just like every other American, presidents and former presidents are not allowed to break the law. The law of the United States applies to every citizen, which includes the president. Just because they are the leader, does not mean that they are above the law.
If anything, the president is held to a higher standard than the average American when it comes to upholding the law. Because they are the leader, they are expected to carry out the law fully and intentionally. If they break the law, that is a sign of lack of respect for the laws that keep America a smooth running democracy.
As another part of the FPR, former presidents receive a stipend each year after they leave office, as long as it is because of the natural end of a term limit and not because of impeachment or other actions by Congress.
As of 2020, this yearly stipend is a little over $200,000, equal to the amount that the head of the executive department would be paid. While younger presidents like Obama didn’t necessarily have to retire after being president, with these kinds of benefits and working eight years in one of the most stressful jobs in the world, who wouldn’t retire early?!
The spouses of former presidents also get paid a yearly stipend. As of 2020, their stipend is equivalent to $20,000 every year. This pension for the spouses is conditional, though. The spouse of a former president cannot take on another role where they are paid by the state.
As long as they don’t work for the government again, they get $20,000 every year for the rest of their lives. For example, Hillary Clinton would not be able to receive this stipend because she has accepted jobs in the government since she was the first lady. However, she probably earns way more than $20,000 per year!
While many people love to be spontaneous and randomly decide to go out to eat for dinner, go on a trip that weekend, or even go to the gym to work out, former presidents do not have that same luxury.
Former presidents, even in their retired bliss, have to inform the Secret Service before going somewhere or doing something so they will be able to go ahead of them and make sure it's safe. If former president George W. Bush wanted to go eat a steak dinner with his family at a restaurant, the whole place would probably have to be cleared out. They have to limit their spontaneity to their private property and carefully plan to be safe.
All former presidents get a presidential library. This began with President Herbert Hoover and will continue through former president Donald Trump. The purpose of these presidents is to bring these administrations closer to the heart of the American people, so average Americans can have access to select documents and artifacts right in front of their eyes.
Because presidents are from many different states in the United States, these libraries are also more accessible to Americans than those who only have the luxury of being able to travel to Washington D.C. No matter the president’s party, each library aims to display their presidency in a non-partisan and factual way as a tool to educate.
This one is so obvious that we don’t really think about it often, but when a president leaves office, they can no longer live at the White House. Leaving the White House is synonymous with leaving the presidential office when we are talking about presidents.
When a president leaves the White House for the last time as president, it is reported as the end of their presidency—a clear marker that they are no longer president. The same goes for the incoming president. Once the new president enters the White House, that marks the beginning of their presidency.
This one is obvious. Presidents know some of the most confidential information in the United States, and the world, that many other people should never know. Presidents have a duty to keep confidential information private until it's time to reveal it to the public.
This duty continues after their presidency as well. Because there are many American secrets that do not end when their term ends, they must keep this information confidential for the safety of the United States.
It is currently up for debate as to whether or not it is constitutional to impeach a former president. Some people say that the Constitution states the purpose of impeachment is only to remove a high-ranking official from office, so it is useless to impeach a former president. Other people say that impeachment of a former president could be used so they will not be able to run for a second term if they have only served one term.
What is being debated is whether the act of removal from office is the only requirement for not being able to run for a second term, which is impossible with a former president because they are not in office when they are being impeached. Once this is decided, there will be a new rule added to what former presidents can and cannot do after they leave office.
