A look at ex-presidents, how long they lived after they left the White House and the sort of work they did, if any. Taft served as chief justice of the supreme court. Hoover, Carter and Clinton worked as ambassadors and troubleshooters of sorts. And three times in US history have we had six presidents alive at the same time. I compiled this myself after an interesting discussion one morning with friends on Facebook. File photos from AP and the National Archives. And MCT picked up this piece and made it available to subscribers. April 29, 2013.