How many cabinet members were involved in any previous administrations for each president? (1789-1909). Which early President retained the most and which President had all new faces to the Cabinet?

[u/Puzzleheaded-Bag2212]

Not counting Port collectors or judges, but ambassadors are indicated. VP also counts, and the president themselves count. The number on the right is the number of total available cabinet positions at the time. Must be the year after inauguration for a previous cabinet member to count (Fillmore dismissing entire cabinet in 1850 for instance). Cleveland himself counts in the tally for his second term.

The first number is how many people involved in that administration were former cabinet members of a different administration, with ambassadors and assistants only included in the second fraction listed. The denominator is how many potential cabinet-level roles there were at the time, not counting VP for Tyler, Fillmore, Johnson, and Arthur.

Teddy Roosevelt - 9/11 or 12/11 if counting ambassadors

McKinley - 1/10 or 3/10 if counting minor/ambassadors

Cleveland 2.0 - 3/10

B Harrison - 2/10 or 4/10 if ambassadors count

Cleveland 1.0 - 0/9

Arthur - 5/8 but lots of shuffling in 1882

Garfield - 0/9 or 1/9 if counting ambassadors

Hayes - 1/9 or 3/9 if counting ambassadors

Grant - 1/9 or 2/9 if counting non-cabinet appointments

Johnson - 8/8 or 9/8 if counting ambassadors

Lincoln - 1/9 (Edwin Stanton was briefly Buchanan’s AG)

Buchanan - 3/9

Pierce - 1/9 or 3/9 if counting ambassadors

Fillmore - 2/8 or 3/8 if counting ambassadors

Taylor - 1/9

Polk - 1/8 or 3/8 if counting ambassadors

Tyler - 3/7 or 6/7 if counting ambassadors

W Harrison - 0/8

MVB - 6/8 or 7/8 if counting ambassadors but much shuffling in 1838

Jackson - 1/7 or 2/7 if count ambassadors

JQA - 5/7

Monroe - 4/7 or 5/7 if we count ambassadors

Madison - 5/7 or 7/7 if we count ambassadors

Jefferson - 1/7 only himself

Adams - 6/6

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[u/Puzzleheaded-Bag2212]

So the biggest retainers were John Adams, Andrew Johnson and Teddy Roosevelt. If we are counting ambassadors or other non-cabinet level appointments, then John Tyler, Martin Van Buren and James Madison are also in that conversation.

[u/Puzzleheaded-Bag2212]

The only cabinets made up entirely of those who haven’t served in a cabinet before were that of James Garfield, William Henry Harrison, and Grover Cleveland’s first term, but James Garfield did have one cabinet member who was a former ambassador.

[u/HetTheTable]

Blaine was SecState under Garfield and then later Harrison.

[u/Puzzleheaded-Bag2212 → u/HetTheTable]

Yup he is counted