SOME EX-PRESIDENTS WERE...PRESIDENTIAL

He was not really a presidential figure. He did not have the charm or grace of a Jefferson. Despite his awkward smile, he tended to be irascible. He was confident of his own intellectual powers and didn't want to waste his time with people of lesser intelligence.

He had a Puritan sense of duty and a passion for work. God, he thought, was most definitely on his side. He possessed not the slightest tinge of humor. He deemed Congress to be an obstructionist nuisance. His election to the presidency was something of an aberration -- some called it a fluke. His greater service to his nation came as ex-president.

He was John Quincy Adams and he was Jimmy Carter. They are the most presidential of ex-presidents.

Adams was a cold fish, often irascible and impatient with the process of government. He was distinguished in the formalities of international diplomacy, serving as minister to the Netherlands, Prussia and Russia, and Secretary of State under President James Monroe. The Monroe Doctrine might better be called the Monroe-Adams Doctrine.

In 1824, Adams, the uncomfortable non-politician, ran for president in a bitter four-way race, finishing second in the electoral college to Andrew Jackson. Because no candidate got more than half the electoral vote, the contest was ultimately decided in the House of Representatives. Adams allegedly struck a deal to get Henry Clay's support in return for making Clay his Secretary of State. It was called the "corrupt bargain" and it cast a long shadow over the Adams presidency.

Congress thwarted all of his major proposals. By the time his term ran out, he had alienated all sectors of the country in one form or other, and was overwhelmingly defeated by Jackson in 1828.

Adams didn't go home to pout. In 1831, he was elected to the House of Representatives and served 16 years. He became the "conscience of the House." When "old man eloquent" spoke, everyone listened (even before E.F. Hutton). Adams spoke out on behalf of free speech and the right to petition Congress. Most of all, history would remember him for antislavery speeches that were so eloquent Southerners sometimes did not rise in response.

He suffered a stroke on the floor of the House and died two days later.

Jimmy Carter too had a troubled presidency. His election was a bit of a fluke. He was not elected because of his personal popularity or persuasive appeal. He was, instead, a beneficiary of the aftershocks of Watergate.

He never understood Congress and Congress never understood him. He was courageous in pushing the Panama Canal Treaty for Senate ratification. As his term came to an end, Carter was haunted by the specter of the Iran hostage crisis and vexing stagflation. He was handily defeated by Ronald Reagan in 1980.

Like Adams, he too did not go home to sulk. He sponsored important conferences on international issues. He offered himself as mediator or election observer to a whole host of nations around the globe. He realized that, as an ex-president, he had value to serve the interests of world peace.

In recent months, Carter has been instrumental in defusing two of the most volatile issues facing the United States: the nuclear threat in North Korea and, last week, the crisis in Haiti. In Haiti, he seemed to have the confidence of the generals -- although most people don't brag about being a confidant of Gen. Raoul Cedras. Whether Carter's ad hoc diplomacy was a stroke of genius or meddlesome failure will be determined by subsequent events in Haiti.

It is difficult to bestow unrestricted praise on Jimmy Carter -- even with his recent, tentative glory. While a guest of President Clinton in the White House, he was so crass as to ventilate his criticisms of President Clinton and boast of his own unexcelled wisdom. Carter as president always laid off blame on others and made success his sole preserve. He hasn't changed.

When he went to North Korea and to Haiti, he seemed to transform himself into being the sitting president. The two letters "ex" escaped him. Too bad. He is like John Quincy Adams in many respects, but his pretense of superior judgment tends to tarnish his otherwise commendable service to the cause of peace.

~Tom Eagleton is a former U.S. senator from Missouri. He is a columnist for the Pulitzer Publishing Co.