Ulysses S. Grant
Hiram Ulysses Grant is one of the few presidents who is actually better known for his earlier accomplishments. During the Civil War, Lincoln had been rotating through a number of generals for the Union army, trying to find one who could actually win battles. Eventually, he looked westward, to where a renegade General that few people liked was actually making progress. When it was protested that Grant was a drunk, Lincoln reportedly responded, “Send all my generals a case of whatever he’s drinking.” Drunk or not, Grant would go on to turn the tide of the war and accept the surrender of Robert E. Lee to effectively end the Civil War.
John Quincy Adams
The son of John Adams, one of the Founding Fathers, John Q. Adams was certainly going to be a major political figure. He served as a diplomat for several years before becoming president for only a single term. However, unlike most presidents who lose reelection, Adams did not retire from public life. He went on to become a member of the House of Representatives and a vocal opponent of slavery, in spite of House gag rules that forbade speaking on the subject.
George Washington
While we think of George Washington as a mythical figure now, we may forget that he was considered that way even in his own time. After a long career of military service, which had, of course, included nearly a decade of fighting against Great Britain in the Revolutionary War, Washington was President of the Constitutional Convention, presiding over the drafting of the rules which would eventually elect him president. According to James Madison, everyone in the room knew that Washington would be the first to hold that position, even John Hancock, who argued that it should be held for life.
King George III said that if Washington did not seize power “he would be the greatest man that ever lived.” When even your enemies will say things like that about you, you’re definitely a badass.