Presidents

Andrew Jackson (1767-1845), who served as president from 1829 to 1837, was one of the most consequential presidents in U.S. history. Born in North Carolina, Jackson spent most of his life in Tennessee where he served as a justice on the state supreme court from 1798 to 1804 and as a U.S. senator from 1823

Andrew Johnson (1808-1875) was born in North Carolina but spent most of his life in Tennessee. Lacking formal education, he began his working life as a tailor and was taught by his wife to read and write. A Jacksonian Democrat, he served as a town alderman, as mayor of Greeneville, Tennessee, in the U.S. House of

Benjamin Harrison (1833-1901), the grandson of former president William Henry Harrison and the great-grandson of Benjamin Harrison V, who had signed the Declaration of Independence. He served as the 23rd president from 1889 to 1893. Harrison defeated Grover Cleveland in the electoral college (albeit not in the popular vote) in 1888, but lost both the popular and

Calvin Coolidge (1872-1933) was born on July 4, 1872, in Plymouth Notch, Vermont, where he would receive the news in 1923 that President Warren G. Harding, under whom he served as vice president, had died and that he was now president. His father, a justice of the peace, had administered the oath to him by

Chester A. Arthur (1829-1886) was born in Vermont (his father was a Baptist minister) but was raised in New York where he spent most of his life. He graduated from Union College, served for a time as a teacher, read law, and was admitted to the New York bar. During the Civil War, he served as

Dwight David Eisenhower (1890-1969) was born in Texas, raised in Kansas, and educated at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He served most of his life in the military and, as Supreme Allied Commander, supervised the invasion of France at D-Day during World War II. After a stint as chief of staff of the U.S.

Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945) was not only the longest serving but also one of the most consequential presidents in U.S. history. Born and raised in New York, Roosevelt earned an undergraduate degree from Harvard and a law degree from Columbia. Subsequently elected to the New York Senate, he also served as assistant secretary of the Navy

Franklin Pierce (1804-1869) was born in New Hampshire and educated at Bowdoin College in Maine and Northampton Law School in Massachusetts. He served as a member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives where he rose to the speakership, was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1833 to 1847, and was a

George Herbert Walker Bush (1924-2018), who was the son of a U.S. senator from Connecticut, served from 1989 to 1993 as president of the United States. He previously served for eight years as vice president under Ronald Reagan with whom he had unsuccessfully vied for the 1980 Republican nomination.  Bush was born in Massachusetts and raised

George W. Bush, who was born in 1946, served as U.S. president from 2001 to 2009. The son of George H. W. Bush, he was born and raised in Texas, and earned his undergraduate degree from Yale University and his master’s of business administration from Harvard. He spent some time as a pilot in the Texas

Gerald R. Ford (1913-2006) is the only individual who has served as U.S. president without being elected to that office as either president or vice-president. Born in Omaha, Nebraska, and raised in Grand Rapids Michigan, Ford earned his bachelor’s degree at the University of Michigan, where he played on the school’s football team. He earned a

Grover Cleveland (1837-1908) has the distinction of being the only U.S. president to serve two non-successive terms. He became the 22nd president when he served from 1885 to 1889 and the 24th when he served from 1893 to 1897. Born in New Jersey (his father was a Presbyterian minister) and largely raised in New York, he

Harry S. Truman (1884-1972) was born and raised in Missouri, spent about a year at Spalding’s Commercial College (a business college in Kansas City) without getting a degree, served in the U.S. Army during World War I, and returned to Missouri where he served as a haberdasher and farmer. He then became involved in politics

Herbert Hoover (1874-1964) was born in Iowa — becoming the first president to be born west of the Mississippi River — and earned a bachelor’s degree in geology at Stanford University in California. A gifted engineer, Hoover earned a reputation and a formidable income in mining in Australia, Burma and elsewhere. He was tapped during the

James A. Garfield (1831-1881) was from Ohio and was the last president to have been born in a log cabin. After some time doing manual labor, he studied at what later became known as Hiram College, which was run by the Disciples of Christ, and became a preacher. He subsequently graduated with honors from Williams

James Buchanan (1791-1868), who was born in Pennsylvania and earned his bachelor’s degree at Dickinson College, had a distinguished career as a lawyer, politician and diplomat before succeeding Franklin Pierce to become the 15th U.S. president, serving from 1857 to 1861.  Abraham Lincoln followed Buchanan as president. Prior to his presidency, Buchanan had served in the

James K. Polk (1795-1849) was born in North Carolina but spent most of his political life in Tennessee. He earned his bachelor’s degree at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and read law in Nashville under Felix Grundy. After serving as a clerk to the Tennessee State Senate, Polk was elected to the U.S.

James (Jimmy) Earl Carter, Jr. defeated Gerald Ford in the presidential election of 1976 and served in that office from 1977 to 1981. Born in Plains, Georgia, in 1924, he earned his undergraduate degree at the U.S. Naval Academy. After serving in the Navy, he returned to Plains to manage a peanut farm. He served in

Joseph R. Biden Jr. was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, in 1942. He earned an undergraduate degree at the University of Delaware and a law degree from Syracuse University, and has spent most of his life as an elected official. He served as a U.S. senator from Delaware from 1973 to 2009 and as vice president in

John F. Kennedy (1917-1962) was the youngest man ever elected to the U.S. presidency. Born in Massachusetts to a father who had served as an ambassador to Great Britain, Kennedy earned an undergraduate degree from Harvard University, served as a lieutenant in charge of a torpedo boat in World War II, and entered politics by being

John Quincy Adams was the sixth president of the United States, a
legislator, and an attorney. He argued against the “gag rule” in Congress
that tabled petitions about slavery.

John Tyler (1790-1862) was born and raised in Virginia, where he attended the College of William and Mary and read law. He was elected at an early age to the state’s House of Delegates. During the War of 1812, he organized a militia company to defend Richmond. He served successively as a member of the U.S.

Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908-1973) was one of the most activist presidents of the 20th century. Born and raised in Texas, Johnson attended Southwest Texas State College and, after a brief time of teaching and military service, spent most of his life in elective office. He served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from

Martin Van Buren (1782-1862) was born and raised in New York. Although he was the first president who was born as a U.S. citizen, he is the only president who grew up speaking a language (Dutch) other than English. He studied law, set up a practice with his half-brother and spent much of his life in

Millard Fillmore (1800-1874) was the last member of the Whig Party to serve as a U.S. president, which he did from 1850 to 1853. Born in New York, Fillmore, who had arisen from humble circumstances. He did not attend college, but had become a lawyer and became interested in politics. He served as a member of

Richard Nixon’s conduct during his presidency typified executive abuse of
power, even threatening the freedoms of speech, press, and political
association.

Ronald Reagan (1911-2004) served for two terms as U.S. president from 1981 to 1989. Born in Illinois, Reagan graduated from Eureka College. He spent his early working life as a radio announcer and film actor, serving from 1947 to 1952 as president of the Screen Actors Guild. He was governor of California from 1967 to 1975

Rutherford B. Hayes of Ohio, a former Whig who became a Republican, served a single term in the presidential office from 1877 to 1881. He followed Ulysses S. Grant and was succeeded by James A. Garfield. A graduate of Harvard Law School, Hayes had risen to the rank of brigadier general in the Union army and

Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) was born to a wealthy family in New York. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Harvard and studied law at Columbia, but he never embraced legal technicalities and spent most of his life in politics. He was elected to the New York Assembly, was appointed by President Benjamin Harrison as a commissioner of

Ulysses (born Hiram) S. Grant (1822-1885) was born in Ohio to the family of a tanner. He attended the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, where, because of a paperwork mistake, his name was changed from Hiram to Ulysses and he became known as U.S. Grant. After resigning from the Army in 1854 and returning home

Warren G. Harding served as the nation’s 29th president from 1921 until his death in 1923. His presidency followed after Woodrow Wilson’s with a promise of restoring “normalcy” after World War I. He is usually regarded as one of the least effective individuals to hold the presidency. Born in 1865 and raised in Ohio, he earned

William Henry Harrison (1773-1841) was the first representative of the Whig Party to be elected as president and served the shortest time of any U.S. president after dying of natural causes 31 days after his inauguration. Born to an aristocratic family in Virginia (his father, Benjamin Harrison, had signed the Declaration of Independence), Harrison had attended

William Jefferson Clinton, who was born in 1946, served two terms as U.S. president from 1993 to 2001. Born in Hope, Arkansas, Clinton attended Georgetown University, was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, and earned his law degree at Yale, where he met and later married Hillary Rodham. After becoming a law professor at the University of

William McKinley (1943-1901) was born in Ohio and attended Allegheny College and Mount Union College before serving in the Union Army during the Civil War where he achieved the rank of brevet major.  After spending about a year at the Albany Law School and studying with an attorney, McKinley began practicing law in Ohio. In time

Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924) was one of the more consequential presidents of the 20th century, serving as president from 1913 to 1921, a period that included World War I. Born in Virginia to the family of a Presbyterian minister and raised in the South, Wilson earned his bachelor’s degree from Princeton University, briefly practiced law in Georgia,

Zachary Taylor (1784-1850) was born in Virginia, largely raised in Kentucky, and claimed Louisiana as home. He spent most of his life in the U.S. Army where he became a major general and hero of the Mexican-American War.  He was elected president as a Whig in the election of 1848, with Millard Fillmore as his