August 24, 2019
The Super Bowl Viewer in the White House, Revisited
Editor's Note: The original article appeared in January. With the start of a new season under the first president born in the Super Bowl era, we felt it deserved a second pass.
WASHINGTON D.C. -- When Super Bowl I kicked off on January 15, 1967, the man with the nuclear codes was Lyndon B. Johnson. A man who grew up poor in rural Texas, Johnson should, according to our stereotypes, be a die-hard football fan. Famously crude (check out his not safe for work
pants order), Johnson was, perhaps ironically to the stereotypes about football fans, perhaps the least sports-curious president of the modern era. He watched the game on television, but spent more time talking to his guests, probing them about reaction to his State of the Union speech he had given days earlier, and discussing what the 1966 midterm swing against his Democratic Party would mean for work on desegregation and the war in Vietnam.
Fifty-two years later, Super Bowl LIII's February 3, 2019 kickoff was under the new administration of Sam Seaborn. Seaborn, while a Democrat like Johnson, was in many ways his opposite; he had grown up comfortably in Orange County, California and attended the best schools. Contrary to the bullying approach Johnson had taken with his colleagues while Senate Majority Leader, Seaborn had maintained friendly relations with almost all of the other 99 members of that august body, and had preferred to out-debate and convince his opponents, rather than steamroller them or use legislative skullduggery to outflank them like Johnson had. He also watched the game intently, surrounded by friends and advisers, throwing up his hands in exasperation and frustration when Jared Goff threw an interception on the Patriot's 4-yard line.
The first president born in the Super Bowl era, Seaborn had grown up with football as America's dominant sport, whereas Johnson had been ascending the political ladder while the "national past-time" of baseball slowly lost popularity as a result of the NFL's innovation and Major League Baseball's own reluctance to change to fit the the post-war nation's shifts in population and consumption. While he's the first president to have been born with football as king, he certainly won't be the last, at least from a 2019 vantage point.
With this new milestone in football's relationship with the nation now reached, we thought it would be worth it to jog down memory lane, and see how each president watched, and who they rooted for, in the Big Game:
I. Lyndon Johnson
Term in office: 1963 to 1969
Super Bowls: I and II
Super Bowl champions: Green Bay Packers (2)
Favorite team: None*
LBJ, as mentioned, wasn't a football fan during his time in the White House, so the Green Bay Packers' trouncing of the Chiefs and Raiders in the first two Super Bowls didn't much affect him. The native Texan reportedly became a Cowboys fan after leaving office, and lived long enough to see Dallas win their first Super Bowl in 1972.
II. Richard Nixon
Term in office: 1969 to 1974
Super Bowls: III to VIII
Super Bowl champions: New York Jets, Kansas City Chiefs, Baltimore Colts, Dallas Cowboys, Miami Dolphins (2)
Favorite Team: Washington Redskins
Nixon was perhaps the biggest football fan to ever sit behind the Resolute Desk, and that's saying something given who succeeded him. He reportedly told Redskins coach George Allen on the eve of the 'Skins' first playoff appearance in 13 years during the 1971 playoffs and suggested a play. When Allen ran it during the game, it ended up as a 13 yard loss. Oops.
Nixon's presidency also marks the AFL-NFL merger and the start of what many say is the "modern" NFL. He is also the first president whose favorite team (the aforementioned Redskins) managed to make it to the Super Bowl, although they had the misfortune of playing the undefeated 1972 Miami Dolphins, who promptly rolled over them 14-7 in Super Bowl VII.
III. Gerald Ford
Term in office: 1974 to 1977
Super Bowls: IX to XI
Super Bowl champions: Pittsburgh Steelers (2), Oakland Raiders
Favorite team: None
Given his status in pop culture as a notorious klutz, it might shock readers to know that Gerald Ford was a standout college football star at the University of Michigan, who turned down offers from the Lions and Packers to turn pro (he graduated a year before the first NFL draft). While it's likely that the Michigander pulled for the Lions, he never had reason to celebrate during his presidency, as their best showing were two 7-7 seasons.
IV. Jimmy Carter
Term in office: 1977 to 1981
Super Bowls: XII to XIV
Super Bowl champions: Dallas Cowboys, Pittsburgh Steelers (2)
Favorite team: Atlanta Falcons
Our nation's only Georgian president got to see the Falcons reach the playoffs for the first time in franchise history in the 1978 season, but he would sadly not live long enough to see them make it to their first Super Bowl in 1999. Also in 1978, the NFL switched to a 16-game schedule, at least giving Carter two more Sundays to take his mind off the national malaise before he left Washington.
A peculiarity of timing between the first dozen Super Bowls held in early January and the beginning of presidential terms meant that Carter also only was president during three Super Bowls, despite serving a full four-year term.
V. Ronald Reagan
Term in office: 1981 to 1987
Super Bowls: XV to XX
Super Bowl champions: Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders (2), San Francisco 49ers (2), Washington Redskins, Chicago Bears
Favorite team: New York Giants
It sure was a good time to be a Californian football fan during the early-to-mid 1980s. Between Joe Montana, Marcus Allen and Jim Plunkett, the Golden State put up four Super Bowl winners during the former football announcer's term. It was also Reagan who started the tradition of the president hosting the Super Bowl champions at the White House, although Carter was the first to do so, having had the Super Bowl XIV champion Steelers over alongside the 1979 World Series champion Pittsburgh Pirates.
Sadly, Reagan was incapacitated by the time the Chicago Bears won the franchise's only Super Bowl, which might have been something the Illinois native would have wanted to see.
Special Mention: George P. Bush
Acting President: 1985 to 1987
Super Bowls: XX
Super Bowl champions: Chicago Bears
Favorite team: New York Giants
Reagan's vice president became the acting president shortly after the 1985 season kicked off. He would be the one to greet the 1986 Bears at the White House after they crushed the Patriots, and got the satisfaction of watching his (and Reagan's) favorite team, the Giants, roll over the Broncos in Super Bowl XXI just days after leaving office.
VI. D. Wire Newman
Term in office: 1987 to 1991
Super Bowls: XXI to XXIV
Super Bowl champions: New York Giants, Washington Redskins, San Francisco 49ers
Favorite team: Atlanta Falcons
The Newman administration is perhaps the apogee of the era of Super Bowl blowouts, having only one close game during the four years he was in office (Super Bowl XXIII where Joe Montana led a game-winning 92 yard drive in the final minutes of the fourth quarter to put the 49ers on top, 20-16).
For his part, Newman was (and is) still more of a college football fan, but codified the tradition of inviting the Super Bowl champions over to the White House. He even endured a Gatorade shower from the 1986 Giants, but that tradition (sadly) was not passed along.
VII. Owen Lassiter
Term in office: 1991 to 1999
Super Bowls: XXV to XXXII
Super Bowl champions: New York Giants, Washington Redskins, Dallas Cowboys (3), San Francisco 49ers, Green Bay Packers, Denver Broncos
Favorite team: Los Angeles Rams*
Owen Lassiter became president just as the NFL and federal government realized that they needed to implement some tougher security measures at the most-watched annual event in the United States (the Persian Gulf War going on during Super Bowl XXV might have also had something to do with it). He also was president for the Dallas Cowboys' return to being "America's Team" and watched as the Buffalo Bills lost in all of the first four Super Bowls while he was president.
The California conservative also became the first president whose favorite team was affected by relocation. He'd become a fan of the Los Angeles Rams after attending college in California, and when the Rams moved to St. Louis after the 1994 season, even after he tried to personally intervene with Rams owner Georgia Frontiere, he famously said it "broke my heart". He didn't follow any other team afterwords, although he reportedly would still watch games every Sunday during the season. Who knows how he would have felt if he had lived to see the Rams return to Los Angeles in 2016.
VIII. Josiah Bartlet
Term in office: 1999 to 2007
Super Bowls: XXXIII to XL
Super Bowl champions: Denver Broncos, St. Louis Rams, Baltimore Ravens, New England Patriots (3), Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Pittsburgh Steelers
Favorite team: New England Patriots
As far as presidential football fans go, it's hard to beat Josiah Bartlet in terms of his team's success. Not just the first president to welcome his favorite team to the White House as champions, he did it
three times thanks to Tom Brady's arm and Bill Belichick's brains. While the intellectual from the Granite State preferred to watch college football (and especially his alma mater of Notre Dame), he made an exception for the Patriots and was rewarded with watching the Pats take home the AFC East title five times while in the White House.
It was also during his presidency that the NFL expanded to 32 teams, for an even four teams per division.
IX. Matthew Santos
Term in office: 2007 to 2011
Super Bowls: XLI to XLIV
Super Bowl champions: Indianapolis Colts, New York Giants, Pittsburgh Steelers, New Orleans Saints
Favorite team: Tennessee Titans/Houston Texans
Despite having two favorite teams, Matt Santos didn't get to greet either of them during his time as president. A native of Houston, Santos remained loyal to the former Oilers after their 1997 move to Tennessee, and had gradually begun to warm up to the Texans by the time he became president (their recovery from an atrocious 2-14 season in 2005 to a 6-10 record might have helped). He still rooted for the Titans from the Oval Office, though, but now, it's clear that he's a full Texans booster now, with the Oilers having been gone for over two decades.
In his post-presidency, he also tossed the coin before Super Bowl LI. As fitting someone who was elected in a squeaker, that also was the first (and only) Super Bowl that went in to overtime.
X. Glen Allen Walken
Term in office: 2011 to 2019
Super Bowls: XLV to LII
Super Bowl champions: Green Bay Packers, New York Giants, Baltimore Ravens, Seattle Seahawks, New England Patriots (2), Denver Broncos, Philadelphia Eagles
Favorite team: Kansas City Chiefs
Despite reports to the contrary, Glen Allen Walken bleeds Chiefs red, having been to their training camps as a boy back when they were still in the AFL. He also got to see a remarkable turnaround in his team while he was busy running the country; from a 2-14 record in 2012 to losing the 2018 AFC championship in overtime to the eventual Super Bowl champions. If Patrick Mahomes can bring the Chiefs back to the Super Bowl, I'm sure the former president will find a way to get seats in Miami.
Walken got to watch some remarkable Super Bowls from the White House: the "Blackout Bowl" of Super Bowl XLVII, the first Super Bowl overtime--with a trademark Tom Brady comeback victory--in Super Bowl LI. He also welcomed many new faces to the White House--seven teams won Super Bowls in the eight years he was in office.
XI. Sam Seaborn
Term in office: Began 2019
Super Bowls: LIII
Super Bowl champions: New England Patriots
Favorite team: Los Angeles Rams*
President Seaborn was a Rams fan, until, like President Lassiter, the team moved to St. Louis. But unlike Lassiter, Seaborn switched allegiances to a new team, the then-San Diego Chargers. When the Rams returned in 2016, he returned, as if to an old lover. Then the Chargers to Los Angeles, a city they left after a single season 56 years prior. Awkward.
As president, Seaborn got to see his favorite team in the Super Bowl in his first year in office, which should be encouraging. After a public miscommunication, the Patriots came back to the White House, and Brady and Belichick got to greet their third president as Super Bowl champions. But with the Rams projected to repeat their strong season last year, maybe the new president will get to be the second one to greet his favorites as champions? Only time will tell.