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US Presidents

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William Howard Taft. William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857 – March 8, 1930) was the 27th President of the United States (1909–1913) and later the tenth Chief Justice of the United States (1921–1930). He is the only person to have served in both of these offices. Before becoming President, Taft, a Republican, was appointed to serve on the Superior Court of Cincinnati in 1887. In 1890, Taft was appointed Solicitor General of the United States and in 1891 a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. In 1900, President William McKinley appointed Taft Governor-General of the Philippines. In 1904, President Theodore Roosevelt appointed Taft Secretary of War in an effort to groom Taft, then his close political ally, into his handpicked presidential successor. Taft assumed a prominent role in problem solving, assuming on some occasions the role of acting Secretary of State, while declining repeated offers from Roosevelt to serve on the Supreme Court.

Early life and education[edit] Jimmy Carter. During Carter's term as President, he created two new cabinet-level departments: the Department of Energy and the Department of Education. He established a national energy policy that included conservation, price control, and new technology. In foreign affairs, Carter pursued the Camp David Accords, the Panama Canal Treaties, the second round of Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT II), and returned the Panama Canal Zone to Panama. He took office during a period of international stagnation and inflation, which persisted throughout his term. The end of his presidential tenure was marked by the 1979–1981 Iran hostage crisis, the 1979 energy crisis, the Three Mile Island nuclear accident, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the United States boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow (the only U.S. boycott in Olympic history), and the 1980 eruption of Mount St.

Early life Jimmy Carter (around age 13) with his dog, Bozo, in 1937 Carter has Scots-Irish and English ancestry. Education. John F. Kennedy. John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), commonly known as "Jack" or by his initials JFK, was an American politician who served as the 35th President of the United States from January 1961 until he was assassinated in November 1963. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963. Lee Harvey Oswald was accused of the crime and arrested that evening. Jack Ruby shot and killed Oswald two days later, before a trial could take place. The FBI and the Warren Commission officially concluded that Oswald was the lone assassin. Since the 1960s, information concerning Kennedy's private life has come to light. Early life and education John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born at 83 Beals Street in Brookline, Massachusetts, on May 29, 1917, to businessman/politician Joseph Patrick "Joe" Kennedy, Sr. (1888–1969) and philanthropist/socialite Rose Elizabeth Fitzgerald (1890–1995).

The Kennedy family at Hyannisport in 1931 with Jack at top left in white shirt. Congressional career. Theodore Roosevelt. When Roosevelt's first wife, Alice, died two days after giving birth in February 1884 and when his mother died the same day in the same house, he was heartbroken and in despair. Roosevelt temporarily left politics and became a cattle rancher in the Dakotas. When blizzards destroyed his herd, he returned to New York City politics, running in and losing a race for mayor. In the 1890s, he took vigorous charge of the city police as New York City Police Commissioner. By 1897, under President William McKinley, Roosevelt was, in effect, running the Navy Department. When the war with Spain broke out in 1898, he helped form the famous Rough Riders, a combination of wealthy Easterners and Western cowboys. He gained national fame for his courage during the war in Cuba.

Roosevelt then returned to United States and was elected Governor of New York. Roosevelt became President after McKinley was assassinated in 1901. Early life and family Theodore Roosevelt at age 11 Education Early political career. Richard Nixon. Nixon was born in Yorba Linda, California. He graduated from Whittier College in 1934 and Duke University School of Law in 1937, returning to California to practice law. He and his wife, Pat Nixon, moved to Washington to work for the federal government in 1942. He subsequently served in the United States Navy during World War II. Nixon was elected in California to the House of Representatives in 1946 and to the Senate in 1950. His pursuit of the Alger Hiss case established his reputation as a leading anti-communist, and elevated him to national prominence. He was the running mate of Dwight D. Although Nixon initially escalated America's involvement in the Vietnam War, he subsequently ended U.S. involvement by 1973.

Nixon's second term saw a crisis in the Middle East, resulting in an oil embargo and the restart of the Middle East peace process, as well as a continuing series of revelations about the Watergate scandal. Early life Nixon was born to Francis A. Nixon in high school, 1930. Gerald Ford. Gerald Ford 38th President of the United States August 9, 1974 – January 20, 1977 Vice President Nelson Rockefeller (1974-1977) Preceded by Richard Nixon Succeeded by Jimmy Carter 40th Vice President of the United States December 6, 1973 – August 9, 1974 President Spiro Agnew Nelson Rockefeller House Minority Leader January 3, 1965 – December 6, 1973 Deputy Leslie Arends Charles Halleck John Rhodes Member of the U.S. From Michigan 's 5th district January 3, 1949 – December 6, 1973 Bartel Jonkman Richard Vander Veen Personal details Born Leslie Lynch King, Jr. ( 1913-07-14 ) July 14, 1913 Omaha , Nebraska , U.S.

Died December 26, 2006 ( 2006-12-26 ) (aged 93) Rancho Mirage , California , U.S. [ 1 ] Resting place Gerald R. Grand Rapids, Michigan Political party Republican Spouse(s) Betty Bloomer (1948–2006) Children Michael John Steven Susan Alma mater University of Michigan Yale Law School Profession Lawyer Religion Episcopal Signature Military service Service/branch United States Navy Years of service Rank Lieutenant Commander Battles/wars. Dwight D. Eisenhower. Eisenhower was of Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry and was raised in a large family in Kansas by parents with a strong religious background. He attended and graduated from West Point and later married and had two sons. After World War II, Eisenhower served as Army Chief of Staff under President Harry S. Truman then assumed the post of President at Columbia University.[3] Among his enduring innovations, he launched the Interstate Highway System; the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which led to the internet, among many invaluable outputs; the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), driving peaceful discovery in space; the establishment of strong science education via the National Defense Education Act; and encouraging peaceful use of nuclear power via amendments to the Atomic Energy Act.[5] Early life and education David owned a general store in Hope, Kansas, but the business failed due to economic conditions and the family became impoverished.

Personal life. Lyndon B. Johnson. Lyndon Baines Johnson (/ˈlɪndən ˈbeɪnz ˈdʒɒnsən/; August 27, 1908 – January 22, 1973), often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States (1963–1969), a position he assumed after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States (1961–1963). He is one of only four people[1] who served in all four elected federal offices of the United States: Representative, Senator, Vice President, and President.[2] Johnson, a Democrat from Texas, served as a United States Representative from 1937 to 1949 and as a Senator from 1949 to 1961, including six years as United States Senate Majority Leader, two as Senate Minority Leader and two as Senate Majority Whip.

After campaigning unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination in 1960, Johnson was asked by John F. Kennedy to be his running mate for the 1960 presidential election. Meanwhile, Johnson escalated American involvement in the Vietnam War. Early years Lyndon Johnson in 1915 Early political career Congressional career. William McKinley. Calvin Coolidge. Herbert Hoover. Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was the 31st President of the United States (1929–1933). Hoover, born to a Quaker family, was a professional mining engineer. He achieved American and international prominence in humanitarian relief efforts in war-time Belgium and served as head of the U.S. Food Administration during World War I.[1] As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren G.

Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted partnerships between government and business under the rubric "economic modernization". In the presidential election of 1928, Hoover easily won the Republican nomination, despite having no elected-office experience. Hoover is the most recent cabinet secretary to be elected President of the United States, as well as one of only two Presidents (along with William Howard Taft) elected without electoral experience or high military rank. Family background and early life[edit] 1877 Hoover Tintype Mining engineer[edit] Harry S. Truman. Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884 – December 26, 1972) was the 33rd President of the United States of America (1945–1953). The final running mate of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1944, Truman succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when Roosevelt died after months of declining health. Under Truman, the U.S. successfully concluded World War II; in the aftermath of the conflict, tensions with the Soviet Union increased, marking the start of the Cold War.

Truman was born in Missouri, and spent most of his youth on his family's farm. While Germany surrendered a few weeks after Truman assumed the Presidency, the war with Japan was expected to last another year or more. On domestic issues, bills endorsed by Truman often faced opposition from a conservative Congress dominated by the South, but his administration successfully guided the American economy through post-war economic challenges. Early life and career Harry S. John Truman was a farmer and livestock dealer. World War I Politics. Franklin D. Roosevelt. Franklin Delano Roosevelt (/ˈroʊzəvəlt/ ROH-zə-vəlt, his own pronunciation,[1] or /ˈroʊzəvɛlt/ ROH-zə-velt) (January 30, 1882 – April 12, 1945), commonly known by his initials FDR, was an American lawyer and statesman who served as the 32nd President of the United States.

Serving from March 1933 to his death in April 1945, he was elected for four consecutive terms, and remains the only president ever to serve more than eight years. He was a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic depression and total war. A dominant leader of the Democratic Party, he built a New Deal Coalition that realigned American politics after 1932, as his New Deal domestic policies defined American liberalism for the middle third of the 20th century.

With the bouncy popular song "Happy Days Are Here Again" as his campaign theme, FDR defeated incumbent Republican Herbert Hoover in November 1932, at the depth of the Great Depression. Rutherford B. Hayes. Rutherford Birchard Hayes (October 4, 1822 – January 17, 1893) was the 19th President of the United States (1877–1881). As president, he oversaw the end of Reconstruction, began the efforts that led to civil service reform, and attempted to reconcile the divisions left over from the Civil War and Reconstruction. Hayes believed in meritocratic government, equal treatment without regard to race, and improvement through education. He ordered federal troops to quell the Great Railroad Strike of 1877.

He implemented modest civil service reforms that laid the groundwork for further reform in the 1880s and 1890s. He vetoed the Bland-Allison Act, which would have put silver money into circulation and raised prices, insisting that maintenance of the gold standard was essential to economic recovery. Hayes kept his pledge not to run for re-election, retired to his home in Ohio, and became an advocate of social and educational reform. Family and early life[edit] Childhood and family history[edit] Benjamin Harrison. Due in large part to surplus revenues from the tariffs, federal spending reached one billion dollars for the first time during his term. The spending issue in part led to the defeat of the Republicans in the 1890 mid-term elections. Harrison was defeated by Cleveland in his bid for re-election in 1892, due to the growing unpopularity of the high tariff and high federal spending.

He then returned to private life in Indianapolis but later represented the Republic of Venezuela in an international case against the United Kingdom. In 1900, he traveled to Europe as part of the case and, after a brief stay, returned to Indianapolis. Early life[edit] Family and education[edit] Harrison's paternal ancestors were the Virginia Harrisons. Benjamin Harrison's early schooling took place in a one-room schoolhouse near his home, but his parents later arranged for a tutor to help him with college preparatory studies. In 1850 Harrison transferred to Miami University in Oxford, Ohio and graduated in 1852. Grover Cleveland. Cleveland was the leader of the pro-business Bourbon Democrats who opposed high tariffs, Free Silver, inflation, imperialism, and subsidies to business, farmers, or veterans. His crusade for political reform and fiscal conservatism made him an icon for American conservatives of the era.[1] Cleveland won praise for his honesty, self-reliance, integrity, and commitment to the principles of classical liberalism.[2] He relentlessly fought political corruption, patronage and bossism.

Indeed, as a reformer his prestige was so strong that the like-minded wing of the Republican Party, called "Mugwumps", largely bolted the GOP presidential ticket and swung to his support in the 1884 election.[3] As his second term began, disaster hit the nation when the Panic of 1893 produced a severe national depression, which Cleveland was unable to reverse. Family and early life Childhood and family history Education and moving west An early, undated photograph of Grover Cleveland[20] Political career in New York.

Chester A. Arthur. James A. Garfield. James Abram Garfield (November 19, 1831 – September 19, 1881) served as the 20th President of the United States (1881), after completing nine consecutive terms in the U.S. House of Representatives (1863–81). Garfield's accomplishments as President included a controversial resurgence of Presidential authority above Senatorial courtesy in executive appointments; energizing U.S. naval power; and purging corruption in the Post Office Department. Garfield made notable diplomatic and judiciary appointments, including a U.S. Supreme Court justice. Garfield appointed several African-Americans to prominent federal positions. Garfield's presidency lasted just 200 days—from March 4, 1881, until his death on September 19, 1881, as a result of being shot by assassin Charles J.

Garfield was raised in humble circumstances on an Ohio farm by his widowed mother and elder brother, next door to their cousins, the Boyntons, with whom he remained very close. Childhood[edit] Birthplace of James Garfield. Warren G. Harding. Ulysses S. Grant. Woodrow Wilson. Andrew Johnson. William Henry Harrison. John Tyler.

Abraham Lincoln. James Buchanan. Martin Van Buren. Andrew Jackson. Franklin Pierce. Millard Fillmore. Zachary Taylor. James Monroe. James K. Polk. John Quincy Adams. List of Presidents of the United States. James Madison. Thomas Jefferson. John Adams. Barack Obama. George W. Bush. Bill Clinton. George Washington. Ronald Reagan. George H. W. Bush.