Presidents Closely Related

George W. Bush isn't the first American president to be related to a previous president. Many former presidents were distant cousins, especially during the first 100 years of the Republic when the country's population (and the pool of likely candidates) was much smaller than today. Even Herbert Hoover and Richard Nixon were distant cousins.

Bush and his father George Bush, however, are one of few combinations to share close blood ties. Here's a closer look at that select group.

JOHN ADAMS (1797-1801) and JOHN QUINCY ADAMS (1825-1829) were, like the Bushes, father and son. The elder Adams was the nation's second president, having served as vice president under George Washington. He was also a second cousin to Revolutionary firebrand Samuel Adams. John Quincy Adams was elected to the House of Representatives in 1830, becoming the only president to serve in Congress after his term as chief executive. His eldest son, George Washington Adams, is the only presidential child ever named after George Washington; he makes an appearance in our loop Death By Yacht. John and John Quincy Adams were also great-grandfather and grandfather (respectively) of the historian and author Henry Adams.

WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON (1841-1841) and BENJAMIN HARRISON (1889-1893) were grandfather and grandson. The elder Harrison is famous for the brevity of his term: he died after one month in office, the victim of a bad cold contracted at his inaugural. 13 other men held the office of president between the two Harrisons -- the largest span for any of the closely-related presidents. The younger Harrison also has the distinction of serving his one term between the two terms of Grover Cleveland (1885-1889 and 1893-1897).

THEODORE ROOSEVELT (1901-1909) and FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT (1933-1945) share a famous name but were only distantly related: they were fifth cousins. Teddy Roosevelt was more closely related to Franklin's wife Eleanor, who was his niece. (She was the daughter of Teddy's brother Elliot.) Bonus relatives: Martin Van Buren was a third cousin twice removed to Theodore Roosevelt, and Zachary Taylor (1849-1850) was a fourth cousin thrice removed to FDR. The Roosevelts were the only two presidents in this loop (to date) to serve more than one term.

GEORGE BUSH (1989-1993) and GEORGE W. BUSH (2001-) are separated only by the two terms of Bill Clinton, who defeated the elder Bush in the elections of 1992. The two Bush administrations are close enough to have some advisors and officials in common, including Dick Cheney (secretary of defense under the elder Bush, vice president under George W. Bush.) There's also a canine connection: George W. Bush's springer spaniel Spot is a daughter of Millie, famous "First Dog" under Bush the elder.

Close Call #1: WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT (1909-1913) was the father of Robert Taft, who became a powerful Republican senator from Ohio. Robert Taft was a leading candidate for the GOP nomination in 1952, but he was narrowly beaten by war hero Dwight Eisenhower. Thus was a Taft dynasty denied. Eisenhower went on to win the presidency in a landslide. (Bonus connection: Eisenhower's Democratic opponent was Adlai Stevenson, whose grandfather was vice president under Grover Cleveland.)

Close Call #2: JOHN F. KENNEDY was assassinated in 1963 and succeeded by Lyndon Baines Johnson (1963-69). In 1968 Johnson announced that he would not seek another term, throwing the Democratic nomination open to other challengers. Kennedy's younger brother Robert F. Kennedy jumped into the race. RFK won Democratic primaries in California, Indiana and Nebraska before he too was shot by an assassin, Sirhan Sirhan, in June 1968. (The November election eventually was won by GOP candidate Richard Nixon.) Had the younger Kennedy's candidacy succeeded, he and John Kennedy would have been the first brothers to be president.

Close Call #3: Kansas senator BOB DOLE won the Republican nomination for president in 1996. He stepped down from the Senate to press his campaign, but was defeated in the general election by incumbent Bill Clinton. Three years later his wife ELIZABETH DOLE threw her own hat into the ring, forming an exploratory committee for a run at the GOP nomination. She gave up the race even before the New Hampshire primaries, succumbing to eventual president George W. Bush. But the Doles became the first husband and wife to run for president.

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