The presidential transition this month from George Bush to Bill Clinton calls attention to a historical anomaly that has only occurred once before. Not since Civil War times have there been as many as five living former presidents. George Bush will join the select circle of Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford and Richard Nixon.
Part of the reason for the increase is the corresponding increase of one-term presidents. Be that as it may, five living ex-presidents puts a whopping cost on the heads of taxpayers.In the first place, it will take $1.5 million for Bush to shut down his administration and move to Texas. Then he will receive $150,000 a year in staff allowances for the first two-and-a-half years he is out of office.
Like the others, Bush will receive an annual pension of $153,000 and enjoy a six-figure package of travel, office and personal benefits. Reagan is expected to receive $770,000 in such allowances during this fiscal year; Carter, Nixon and Ford about $500,000 each.
The biggest cost to the taxpayer is Secret Service protection for Reagan, Ford, Carter and Lady Bird Johnson, which already costs $15 million a year, and which will increase when Bush is added to the list. Nixon has wisely taken himself out of that circle and now pays his own security costs.
It was Harry Truman, the ex-president receiving only an Army pension of $112.56 and no government-provided expense money, who implored Congress to do better by the country's former chief executives. He was right about the need for improvement, and he got his wish for his successors; but now, in an era of economic hardship, it is time to re-evaluate the practice.
Certainly every former president deserves a pension, but it is much harder to justify the travel, office and personal benefits that go with it. It would make good sense to either eliminate the extra benefits entirely or phase them out after a certain time-period, say four years - just enough time to add another former president to the list of recipients.
Former presidents do require Secret Service protection, especially when they travel frequently - but a time limit here too would make sense, since they become less well-known each year. If, after four years, a former president still felt the need for security protection, he could follow Nixon's lead and hire his own.
After all, former presidents are not nearly as likely to end their lives in poverty as did such early notables as Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe.
Former presidents today sit on corporate boards, write successful books, do TV commentary, give speeches and even commercial endorsements. While some of this may seem inappropriate to the image of the presidency, the taxpayer should not have to add several hundred thousand more dollars to the package.
It is time to bring the list of post-presidential perks down to a reasonable level - both for the good of the presidency and the economy.