The Family Business

February 16, 2010 10:27 AM

In honor of Senator Evan Bayh, son of former Senator Birch Bayh, not seeking re-election, Talking Points Memo provides a slideshow of sitting congresspeople whose familial connections may (or may not) have helped them get where they are today. Everybody knows about the Bushes and the Kennedys, but family political dynasties are even more common than most people realize, with most U.S. presidents being related and hundreds of local, state and national offices currently or previously held by children, grandchildren, cousins, etc. of the original politicians.
posted by shaun uh (49 comments total)

Must be some sort of genetic defect.
posted by The White Hat at 10:52 AM on February 16, 2010 [3 favorites]

Good thing we fought that fucking revolution, you know, the one against monarchy.
posted by Lutoslawski at 10:53 AM on February 16, 2010 [1 favorite]

Wow, that's creepy.
posted by octothorpe at 10:55 AM on February 16, 2010

It's surprising how interrelated Obama is with former presidents, especially considering that his father was an immigrant from Kenya.
posted by Pastabagel at 10:56 AM on February 16, 2010

I'm not sure I find that information about how US presidents are related to be anything big - after all, everyone is related at some level. Is there anything meaningful to listing sixth, seventh, or eighth cousins? How would that compare connections between two average people? Does someone have information on that?

If I were to track my genealogy out that far, should I expect to find I'm related to some number of presidents? How many?
posted by evilangela at 10:56 AM on February 16, 2010 [3 favorites]

Jenna in 2028!
posted by longsleeves at 10:57 AM on February 16, 2010

reminds me of an old Chesterton quote to effect that all you have to do to determine if you're ruled by an aristocracy is to compare the last names office holders fifty years ago with those of today.
posted by nangua at 11:01 AM on February 16, 2010 [4 favorites]

Um, what percentage of the current population of doctors is comprised of the offspring of doctors?
...or lawyers?

I suspect that it's non-trivial. Being in public life is, in many ways, kind of a shitty gig, and not something the average person wants to foist upon their family.
posted by leotrotsky at 11:06 AM on February 16, 2010

Oh! I thought up a good quip for this douche.

"When the going gets tough, the quitters get quitting!"

posted by delmoi at 11:06 AM on February 16, 2010 [1 favorite]

Just yesterday, there was an AskMe about how everyone is related to everyone else.
posted by MrMoonPie at 11:15 AM on February 16, 2010

"When the going gets tough, the quitters get quitting!"

So Bayh is a distant genetic relation to Palin?
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 11:17 AM on February 16, 2010 [1 favorite]

Apparently he actually timed this to make it basically impossible for anyone to sign up for a primary to replace him. The filing deadline was 36 hours after his announcement. So the state party brass gets to pick a replacement, which means Indiana Dem voters won't even have the chance to find someone they actually like. Of course at this point, it's unlikely that the state will elect a democrat anyway. Still, an extra slap in the face to "the people"

Now people are saying he wants to run for president or something. I don't know if he means in 2012 or what. That's hilarious if it's the case, because obviously what the country wants right now is a "bipartisan centrist" who's main passion in the senate was getting rid of the inheritance tax, which cost the government hundreds of billions of dollars over the past 10 years.

I suspect that it's non-trivial. Being in public life is, in many ways, kind of a shitty gig, and not something the average person wants to foist upon their family.

Yeah it's practically like being a janitor or something! *rolls eyes*
posted by delmoi at 11:18 AM on February 16, 2010 [3 favorites]

Um, what percentage of the current population of doctors is comprised of the offspring of doctors? ...or lawyers?

We like to consider the medieval practice of sons inheriting jobs from their fathers as antiquated and fantastical, but this story is not the least bit interesting if only because it fails to recognize that the vast majority of people do end up in "the family business."
posted by jefficator at 11:19 AM on February 16, 2010

Um, what percentage of the current population of doctors is comprised of the offspring of doctors?...or lawyers?

It's one thing to follow in your mom or dad's footsteps, it's another to use their influence and name recognition to get ahead in front of more qualified candidates.
posted by octothorpe at 11:20 AM on February 16, 2010 [1 favorite]

Is there anything meaningful to listing sixth, seventh, or eighth cousins? How would that compare connections between two average people? Does someone have information on that?

This is a key question. I found myself looking at those lists of eight cousins etc. with a skeptical eye, and in fact being surprised there weren't a lot MORE cousin connections listed between generations of elected officials mostly from from the moneyed American upper-class.
posted by aught at 11:21 AM on February 16, 2010

Birch? Rich people have ridiculous names.

Um, what percentage of the current population of doctors is comprised of the offspring of doctors?...or lawyers?

It's one thing to have to do well on the MCATs and pass your boards, but it's another to be given a job that doesn't even require much knowledge and mainly allows a person to advance through sheer charisma. This is pretty much why we're extremely fortunate to have Obama as our president. He's got everything it takes.
posted by anniecat at 11:25 AM on February 16, 2010

Evilangela - the wikipedia article on the Presidents that I linked includes this near the bottom:

The list above includes the closer, more significant relationships. Family trees, particularly those in a limited geographic area, tend to converge relatively rapidly and many family trees going back ten generations or more will connect to more than one dozen U.S. Presidents, if all female ancestors and their descendants are traced... There are also numerous relationships by marriage which are not presented in this article.

I'm not sure exactly how they created the list they did, but it does seem like they were trying to control for the effect you bring up.

On a bit of a personal note - I became interested in this topic many years ago when I asked my dad why Frelinghuysen, NJ, a town near where I grew up, had such a funny name. Turns out it was named after Theodorus Frelinghuysen, the first U.S. senator from New Jersey and the ancestor of three other Senators and two other congressmen. I was one very appalled teenager, let me tell you.
posted by shaun uh at 11:25 AM on February 16, 2010 [1 favorite]

Apparently he actually timed this to make it basically impossible for anyone to sign up for a primary to replace him. The filing deadline was 36 hours after his announcement. So the state party brass gets to pick a replacement, which means Indiana Dem voters won't even have the chance to find someone they actually like.

Yes, well, that's Evan Bayh for you. It's a shame, because when I was growing up, my family always held Birch Bayh in high esteem. Evan really rode those coattails to death.

There's a movement to draft John Mellencamp. I like him a lot better than Bayh.
posted by Heretic at 11:26 AM on February 16, 2010 [1 favorite]

Now people are saying he wants to run for president or something. I don't know if he means in 2012 or what.

Where do you see that? I see some people saying they'd like him to run for president. Who is saying he wants to? Because those are two completely different things.

So Bayh is a distant genetic relation to Palin?

At least Bayh isn't quitting in the middle of a term.

So the state party brass gets to pick a replacement, which means Indiana Dem voters won't even have the chance to find someone they actually like.

OTOH, it means the Democratic nominee may be determined fairly quickly, while we'll see in-fighting among the Republican hopefuls until Indiana's relatively late May primary. Also, since Indiana has an open primary, some Democrats may choose to cross over and vote for the least objectionable Republican candidate in the primary.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 11:29 AM on February 16, 2010

this story is not the least bit interesting if only because it fails to recognize that the vast majority of people do end up in "the family business."

The "vast majority"? Do you have anything to back this up, because I doubt this is true.
posted by adamdschneider at 11:34 AM on February 16, 2010

Apparently he actually timed this to make it basically impossible for anyone to sign up for a primary to replace him. The filing deadline was 36 hours after his announcement. So the state party brass gets to pick a replacement, which means Indiana Dem voters won't even have the chance to find someone they actually like. Of course at this point, it's unlikely that the state will elect a democrat anyway. Still, an extra slap in the face to "the people"

Seems like a nice solid "fuck you" to the Democratic Party as he quits. Christ, what an asshole.
posted by graventy at 11:37 AM on February 16, 2010 [8 favorites]

Heh, I would hate to admit that I was the grandkid of Richard Nixon. Talk about skeletons in your closet.
posted by pecknpah at 11:37 AM on February 16, 2010

I'm as "rah, rah, burn the aristocracy" as the next fellow traveller around here, but isn't there at least a little something to following in your parent's footsteps? You grow up observing how your parents do things and learn from them. Isn't it sort of natural that the son of a carpenter would turn out to be a carpenter?
posted by Pollomacho at 11:38 AM on February 16, 2010

Heh, I would hate to admit that I was the grandkid of Richard Nixon. Talk about skeletons in your closet.

Yeah, in his case they'd be actual skeletons!
posted by Pollomacho at 11:38 AM on February 16, 2010 [1 favorite]

this story is not the least bit interesting if only because it fails to recognize that the vast majority of people do end up in "the family business."

I have spent most of my adult life doing a job that did not exist when my father was a young man. He spent most of his adult life doing a job that did not exist when his father was a young man. And my grandfather spent most of his adult life doing a job that did not exist when his own father was a young man. Perhaps we are freakish that way.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 11:45 AM on February 16, 2010

Yeah, in his case they'd be actual skeletons!

Well, that was sort of the point of the joke...
posted by pecknpah at 11:50 AM on February 16, 2010

most U.S. presidents being related

Yeah, that was my take on Obama's candidacy: "Oh, great, a tenth cousin of the Bushes and third cousin of Madison is running for president. This has been handed to him on a silver platter."
posted by Jaltcoh at 11:57 AM on February 16, 2010 [2 favorites]

Yeah, in his case they'd be actual skeletons!

Well, that was sort of the point of the joke...

Yeah, but I told it with prescription drug and alcohol besotted self-loathing manifested in a pathological desire to prove myself to or, failing that, destroy the eastern establishment through the abuse of political power.
posted by Pollomacho at 12:05 PM on February 16, 2010 [1 favorite]

Kevin Bacon in 2012
posted by Smedleyman at 12:08 PM on February 16, 2010 [3 favorites]

Lyndon Johnson and Barack Obama (three times removed)

I'd like to see him make more of this relationship. Hearts and minds, baby, (nope, not that one - this one) hearts and minds.
posted by toodleydoodley at 12:33 PM on February 16, 2010

Ron Paul named his son Rand. Huh.
posted by boo_radley at 12:45 PM on February 16, 2010 [1 favorite]

Ron Paul named his son Rand. Huh.

Better than Rimbaud, I'll say.
posted by keli at 1:01 PM on February 16, 2010

A surprisingly large number of movie stars are from movie star families. They often change their names to hide the connections. Nic Cage was originally Nic Coppola. Warren Beatty is Shirley MacLaine's kid brother. Carrie Fisher is Debbie Reynold's daughter. Kate Hudson is Goldie Hawn's daughter. And so on.

Being born into the biz gives you a five to ten year leg up on everyone else. You already know the players; you went to the parties when you were a kid. You still have to have a talent for it, but you get to make your mistakes early enough that they don't count against you. And of course, you can count on having mentors. Especially in vague businesses like politics and showbiz, where it's hard to say who is and isn't talented, that really helps.
posted by musofire at 1:41 PM on February 16, 2010

and then there is this
posted by haikuku at 1:47 PM on February 16, 2010

Nicolas Cage is still making mistakes, though.
posted by kirkaracha at 1:49 PM on February 16, 2010 [1 favorite]

They often change their names to hide the connections. Nic Cage was originally Nic Coppola. Warren Beatty is Shirley MacLaine's kid brother. Carrie Fisher is Debbie Reynold's daughter. Kate Hudson is Goldie Hawn's daughter.

AFAIK, Cage is the only one of those who changed his name so as not to be judged by family connections. Fisher, Hudson, and Beatty all have their fathers' last names.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 1:57 PM on February 16, 2010

Anybody else think that Bayh is going to take a try at Barry in '12?
posted by notned at 2:24 PM on February 16, 2010

Anybody else think that Bayh is going to take a try at Barry in '12?

Yeah, but it strikes me as a weird gamble to take at this point, just a year into Obama's presidency, considering the overwhelming odds of the incumbent president winning his party's nomination. I see the reasoning: Obama's performance so far has been sufficiently weak and roundly criticized so that it's possible to imagine him losing the nomination to a very strong contender, or maybe choosing not to run. But it still seems like a very remote possibility. Kennedy vs. Carter is an obvious precedent, but ... Carter still won the nomination.
posted by Jaltcoh at 2:30 PM on February 16, 2010

Also, it's conspicuous how often Bayh's name comes up in the context of campaigns (always mentioned as a possible running mate, for instance), but this never seems to materialize. No one seems to actually feel strongly about him in the sense of thinking he could be a great leader, as opposed to a perfect candidate.
posted by Jaltcoh at 2:33 PM on February 16, 2010

Anybody else think that Bayh is going to take a try at Barry in '12?

Nope. I've been following Bayh's own statements and various reactions and have seen nothing to suggest that other than the wishful thinking of some on the right hoping to divide the Democratic party.

Plus, if Bayh had been interested in the presidency in '12, he'd be better off trying to do it as a Republican and going up against Obama in the general election rather than trying to unseat him in a primary. (The last time that an incumbent president mounting a sincere re-election campaign failed to get his own party's nomination for a second term was 1856.) Bayh could have easily run for re-election, won, and switched parties after the election. As one of the most conservative Democratic senators, a party switch wouldn't be that farfetched. That he didn't do that indicates to me he's not interested in the presidency, at least in 2012.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 2:36 PM on February 16, 2010

Plus, if Bayh had been interested in the presidency in '12, he'd be better off trying to do it as a Republican

There is no way Bayh could survive the Republican primaries. Period.

So, I could easily imagine Bayh deciding he'd have a better chance of getting the Democratic nomination.
posted by Jaltcoh at 2:50 PM on February 16, 2010

Is there a rule that if you are a politician's son and you look exactly like your dad, you inherit his office? Several of those pics were uncanny.
posted by Pater Aletheias at 3:34 PM on February 16, 2010 [1 favorite]

In any case, party switch or not, I don't see that leaving the Senate would help a '12 presidential bid by Bayh. He could do that from within the Senate just as well as from without. I think he's sincere in saying that he's leaving politics, at least for a while.

One other plus to the timing: Rep. Mike Pence announced a few weeks ago that he wouldn't seek Bayh's senate seat, and he was widely regarded as the strongest potential Republican challenger. This was possibly motivated in part by the belief that he'd have to run against Bayh. With the timing, it's too late for Pence to get back in.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 4:48 PM on February 16, 2010

Highlanders run the country.
posted by arruns at 4:54 PM on February 16, 2010

is it just me or does that old pic of Joe Biden make him look like he's off to an apres ski singles bar?
posted by jonmc at 5:29 PM on February 16, 2010

Kevin Bacon in 2012

Ah, yes, the everyday working man, someone everyone can relate to.

I hope he coasts into the presidency on a platform of 'Two Tractors For Every Battle'.
posted by mannequito at 5:56 PM on February 16, 2010

Here's the thing:

I don't see any possible way this is, politically, a win for him. The only places you can go, from Senator, are either the Presidency, or Secretary of a significant Cabinet level position. If there was a Secretarial spot waiting for him, I don't think he'd leave in precisely this way.

And if somebody had dirt on him, the dirt would be getting dumped right now.

So, can anyone see any way this isn't actually what it appear to be -- a powerful man, deciding he's a member of a powerless system, simply moving on?
posted by effugas at 10:29 PM on February 16, 2010

So the state party brass gets to pick a replacement, which means Indiana Dem voters won't even have the chance to find someone they actually like.

Lots of people have said similar things, such as that Bayh must mean this as a big "fuck you" to the Democrats. I think the opposite is actually the case. You know which state recently had a Democratic primary in which the winner was someone the state machine very much didn't want to see win? I'll give everyone a hint: The senate seat is now held by a Republican despite it being in one of the most liberal states in the nation.

It's actually quite a bit more likely that the person the Indiana state Democratic party picks will win than the winner of an open Democratic primary would have. Because the party will pick the person they think has the best chance while the primary voters generally don't.

I'm not arguing against primaries or anything, I'm just saying that believing this was a dick move on Bayh's part that screws Democrats is a simplistic view based on the idea that a primary winner would have a better shot than a picked candidate, which probably isn't the case.
posted by Justinian at 11:44 PM on February 16, 2010 [1 favorite]

Here's an interesting bit I've seen floating around a bit today. No hard evidence to support it, but at least it's more plausible than a Bayh presidential bid in '12. Last Friday, former Rep. Billy Tauzin announced he was resigning as president of PhRMA, the pharmaceutical industry organization, effective at the end of June. That industry has generally been supportive of Bayh during his previous campaigns. Bayh might be a natural fit for leadership of that organization.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 6:39 PM on February 17, 2010