The Presidents of the United States

1
(No Transcript)
2
George Washington, 1st president, Federalist,
was born on Feb. 22, 1732, in Wakefield on Pope's
Creek, Westmoreland Co., VA, the son of Augustine
and Mary Ball Washington. He spent his early
childhood on a farm near Fredericksburg. His
father died when George was 11. He studied
mathematics and surveying, and at 16, he went to
live with his elder half brother, Lawrence, who
built and named Mount Vernon. George surveyed the
lands of Thomas Fairfax in the Shenandoah
Valley, keeping a diary. He accompanied Lawrence
to Barbados, West Indies, where he contracted
smallpox and was deeply scarred. Lawrence died in
1752, and George inherited his property. He
valued land, and when he died, he owned 70,000
acres in Virginia and 40,000 acres in what is now
West Virginia. Washington's military service
began in 1753, when Lt. Gov. Robert Dinwiddie of
Virginia sent him on missions deep into Ohio
country. He clashed with the French and had to
surrender Fort Necessity on July 3, 1754. He was
an aide to the British general Edward Braddock
and was at his side when the army was ambushed
and defeated (July 9, 1755) on a march to Fort
Duquesne. He helped take Fort Duquesne from the
French in 1758.
1st President of the United States Nickname
"Father of His Country"
3
After Washington's marriage to Martha Dandridge
Custis, a widow, in 1759, he managed his family
estate at Mount Vernon. Although not at first for
independence, he opposed the repressive measures
of the British crown and took charge of the
Virginia troops before war broke out. He was made
commander of the newly created Continental Army
by the Continental Congress on June 15, 1775. The
American victory was due largely to Washington's
leadership. He was resourceful, a stern
disciplinarian, and the one strong, dependable
force for unity. Washington favored a federal
government. He became chairman of the
Constitutional Convention of 1787 and helped get
the Constitution ratified. Unanimously elected
president by the Electoral College, he was
inaugurated Apr. 30, 1789, on the balcony of New
York's Federal Hall. He was reelected in 1792.
Washington made an effort to avoid partisan
politics as president. Refusing to consider a
3rd term, Washington retired to Mount Vernon in
March 1797. He suffered acute laryngitis after a
ride in snow and rain around his estate, was bled
profusely, and died Dec. 14, 1799.
1st President of the United States Nickname
"Father of His Country"
4
John Adams 2nd president, Federalist, was born on
Oct. 30, 1735, in Braintree (now Quincy), MA, the
son of John and Susanna Boylston Adams. He was a
great-grandson of Henry Adams, who came from
England in 1636. He graduated from Harvard in
1755 and then taught school and studied law. He
married Abigail Smith in 1764. In 1765 he argued
against taxation without representation before
the royal governor. In 1770 he successfully
defended in court the British soldiers who fired
on civilians in the Boston Massacre. He was a
delegate to the Continental Congress and a signer
of the Declaration of Independence. In 1778,
Congress sent Adams and John Jay to join Benjamin
Franklin as diplomatic representatives in Europe.
Because he ran second to Washington in Electoral
College balloting in February 1789, Adams became
the nation's first vice president, a post he
characterized as highly insignificant he was
reelected in 1792. In 1796 Adams was chosen
president by the electors. His administration was
marked by growing conflict with fellow Federalist
Alexander Hamilton and with others in his own
cabinet who supported Hamilton's strongly
anti-French position. Adams avoided full-scale
war with France, but became unpopular, especially
after securing passage of the Alien and Sedition
Acts in 1798. His foreign policy contributed
significantly to the election of ltltThomas
Jefferson (1801-9)gtgt in 1800. Adams lived for a
quarter century after he left office, during
which time he wrote extensively. He died July 4,
1826, on the same day as his rival Thomas
Jefferson (the 50th anniversary of the
Declaration of Independence).
2nd President of the United States Nickname
"Atlas of Independence"
5
Thomas Jefferson, 3rd president,
Democratic-Republican, was born on Apr. 13, 1743,
in Shadwell in Goochland (now Albemarle) Co., VA,
the son of Peter and Jane Randolph Jefferson.
Peter died when Thomas was 14, leaving him 2,750
acres and his slaves. Jefferson attended
(1760-62) the College of William and Mary, read
Greek and Latin classics, and played the violin.
In 1769 he was elected to the Virginia House of
Burgesses. In 1770 he began building his home,
Monticello, and in 1772 he married Martha Wayles
Skelton, a wealthy widow. Jefferson helped
establish the Virginia Committee of
Correspondence. As a member of the Second
Continental Congress he drafted the Declaration
of Independence. He also was a member of the
Virginia House of Delegates (1776-79) and was
elected governor of Virginia in 1779, succeeding
Patrick Henry. He was reelected in 1780 but
resigned in 1781 after British troops invaded
Virginia. During his term he wrote the statute on
religious freedom. After his wife's death in
1782, Jefferson again became a delegate to the
Congress, and in 1784 he drafted the report that
was the basis for the Ordinances of 1784, 1785,
and 1787. He was minister to France from 1785 to
1789, when George Washington appointed him
secretary of state. Jefferson's strong faith in
the consent of the governed conflicted with the
emphasis on executive control, favored by
Alexander Hamilton, secretary of the Treasury,
and Jefferson resigned on Dec. 31, 1793. In the
1796 election Jefferson was the
Democratic-Republican candidate for president
John Adams won the election, and Jefferson became
vice president. In 1800, Jefferson and Aaron Burr
received equal Electoral College votes the House
of Representatives elected Jefferson president.
Jefferson was a strong advocate of westward
expansion major events of his first term were
the Louisiana Purchase (1803) and the Lewis and
Clark Expedition. An important development during
his second term was passage of the Embargo Act,
barring U.S. ships from setting sail to foreign
ports. Jefferson established the University of
Virginia and designed its buildings. He died July
4, 1826, on the same day as John Adams (the 50th
anniversary of the Declaration of
Independence). Following analysis of DNA taken
from descendants of Jefferson and Sally Hemings,
one of his slaves, it has been widely
acknowledged that Jefferson fathered at least
one, perhaps all, of her six known children.
3rd President of the United States Nicknames
"Man of the People" Sage of Monticello"
6
James Madison (March 4, 1809 to March 3, 1817)?

James Madison, 4th president Democratic-Republica
n, was born on Mar. 16, 1751, in Port Conway,
King George Co., VA, the son of James and Eleanor
Rose Conway Madison. Madison graduated from
Princeton in 1771. He served in the Virginia
Constitutional Convention (1776), and, in 1780,
became a delegate to the Second Continental
Congress. He was chief recorder at the
Constitutional Convention in 1787 and supported
ratification in the Federalist Papers, written
with Alexander Hamilton and John Jay. In 1789,
Madison was elected to the House of
Representatives, where he helped frame the Bill
of Rights and fought against passage of the Alien
and Sedition Acts. In the 1790s, he helped found
the Democratic-Republican Party, which ultimately
became the Democratic Party. He became
Jefferson's secretary of state in 1801. Madison
was elected president in 1808. His first term was
marked by tensions with Great Britain, and his
conduct of foreign policy was criticized by the
Federalists and by his own party. Nevertheless,
he was reelected in 1812, the year war was
declared on Great Britain. The war that many
considered a second American revolution ended
with a treaty that settled none of the issues.
Madison's most important action after the war was
demilitarizing the U.S.-Canadian border. In 1817,
Madison retired to his estate, Montpelier, where
he served as an elder statesman. He edited his
famous papers on the Constitutional Convention
and helped found the University of Virginia, of
which he became rector in 1826. He died June 28,
1836.

• 4th President of the United States
• Nickname
• "Father of the Constitution"

7
James Monroe(March 4, 1817 to March 3, 1825)?
James Monroe, 5th president, Democratic-Republica
n, was born on Apr. 28, 1758, in Westmoreland
Co., VA, the son of Spence and Eliza Jones
Monroe. He entered the College of William and
Mary in 1774 but left to serve in the 3rd
Virginia Regiment during the American Revolution.
After the war, he studied law with Thomas
Jefferson. In 1782 he was elected to the Virginia
House of Delegates, and he served (1783-86) as a
delegate to the Continental Congress. He opposed
ratification of the Constitution because it
lacked a bill of rights. Monroe was elected to
the U.S. Senate in 1790. In 1794 President George
Washington appointed Monroe minister to France.
He served twice as governor of Virginia
(1799-1802, 1811). President Jefferson also sent
him to France as minister (1803), and from 1803
to 1807 he served as minister to Great
Britain. In 1816 Monroe was elected president he
was reelected in 1820 with all but one Electoral
College vote. His administration became known as
the Era of Good Feeling. He obtained Florida from
Spain, settled boundary disputes with Britain
over Canada, and eliminated border forts. He
supported the antislavery position that led to
the Missouri Compromise. His most significant
contribution was the Monroe Doctrine, which
opposed European intervention in the Western
Hemisphere and became a cornerstone of U.S.
foreign policy. Although Monroe retired to Oak
Hill, VA, financial problems forced him to sell
his property and move to New York City. He died
there on July 4, 1831.
5th President of the United States Nicknames
"The Last Cocked Hat" "Era-of-Good-Feeling
President"
8
John Quincy Adams(March 4, 1825 to March 3,
1829)?
John Quincy Adams, 6th president, independent
Federalist, later Democratic-Republican, was born
on July 11, 1767, in Braintree (now Quincy), MA,
the son of ltltJohn Adams (1797-1801)gtgt and Abigail
Adams. His father was the 2nd president. He
studied abroad and at Harvard University, from
which he graduated in 1787. In 1803, he was
elected to the U.S. Senate. President Monroe
chose him as his secretary of state in 1817. In
this capacity he negotiated the cession of
Florida from Spain, supported exclusion of
slavery in the Missouri Compromise, and helped
formulate the Monroe Doctrine. In 1824 Adams was
elected president by the House of Representatives
after he failed to win an Electoral College
majority. His expansion of executive powers was
strongly opposed, and in the 1828 election he
lost to Andrew Jackson. In 1831 he entered the
House of Representatives and served 17 years with
distinction. He opposed slavery, the annexation
of Texas, and the Mexican War. He helped
establish the Smithsonian Institution. Adams
suffered a stroke in the House and died in the
Speaker's Room on Feb. 23, 1848.
6th President of the United States Nicknames
"Old Man Eloquent"
9
Andrew Jackson(March 4, 1829 to March 3, 1837)?
Andrew Jackson, 7th president, Democratic-Republic
an, later a Democrat, was born on Mar. 15, 1767,
in the Waxhaw district, on the border of North
Carolina and South Carolina, the son of Andrew
and Elizabeth Hutchinson Jackson. At the age of
13, he joined the militia to fight in the
American Revolution and was captured. Orphaned at
the age of 14, Jackson was brought up by a
well-to-do uncle. By age 20, he was practicing
law, and he later served as prosecuting attorney
in Nashville, TN. In 1796 he helped draft the
constitution of Tennessee, and for a year he
occupied its one seat in the House of
Representatives. The next year Jackson served in
the U.S. Senate. In the War of 1812, Jackson
crushed (1814) the Creek Indians at Horseshoe
Bend, AL, and, with a greatly outnumbered army
consisting chiefly of backwoodsmen, defeated
(1815) General Edward Pakenham's British troops
at the Battle of New Orleans. Nicknamed Old
Hickory for his toughness, he emerged a national
hero. In 1818 Jackson briefly invaded Spanish
Florida to quell Seminoles and outlaws who
harassed frontier settlements. He ran for
president against John Quincy Adams in 1824, but.
although he won the most popular and electoral
votes, he did not have a majority. The House of
Representatives decided the election and chose
Adams. In the 1828 election, however, Jackson
defeated Adams, carrying the West and the
South. As president, Jackson introduced what
became known as the spoils systemrewarding party
members with government posts. Perhaps his most
controversial act, however, was depositing
federal funds in so-called pet banks, those
directed by Democratic bankers, rather than in
the Bank of the United States. Let the people
rule was his slogan. In 1832, Jackson killed the
congressional caucus for nominating presidential
candidates and substituted the national
convention. When South Carolina refused to
collect imports under his protective tariff, he
ordered army and naval forces to Charleston.
After leaving office in 1837, he retired to the
Hermitage, outside Nashville, where he died on
June 8, 1845.
7th President of the United States Nicknames
"Old Hickory"
10
Martin Van Buren (March 4, 1837 to March 3, 1841)
Martin Van Buren, 8th president, Democrat, was
born on Dec. 5, 1782, in Kinderhook, NY, the son
of Abraham and Maria Hoes Van Buren. After
attending local schools, he studied law and
became a lawyer at the age of 20. A consummate
politician, Van Buren began his career in the New
York state senate and then served as state
attorney general from 1816 to 1819. He was
elected to the U.S. Senate in 1821. He helped
swing eastern support to Andrew Jackson in the
1828 election and then served as Jackson's
secretary of state from 1829 to 1831. In 1832 he
was elected vice president. Known as the Little
Magician, Van Buren was extremely influential in
Jackson's administration. In 1836, Van Buren
defeated William Henry Harrison for president and
took office as the financial panic of 1837
initiated a nationwide depression. Although he
instituted the independent treasury system, his
refusal to spend land revenues led to his defeat
by William Henry Harrison in 1840. In 1844 he
lost the Democratic nomination to James Knox
Polk. In 1848 he again ran for president on the
Free Soil ticket but lost. He died in Kinderhook
on July 24, 1862.
8th President of the United States Nicknames
"The Little Magician" "The Red Fox of
Kinderhook"
11
William Henry Harrison (March 4, 1841 to April 4,
1841)
William H. Harrison, 9th president, Whig, who
served only 31 days, was born on Feb. 9, 1773, in
Berkeley, Charles City Co., VA, the son of
Benjamin Harrison, a signer of the Declaration of
Independence, and of Elizabeth Bassett Harrison.
He attended Hampden-Sydney College. Harrison
served as secretary of the Northwest Territory in
1798 and was its delegate to the House of
Representatives in 1799. He was the first
governor of the Indiana Territory and served as
superintendent of Indian affairs. With 900 men he
put down a Shawnee uprising at Tippecanoe, IN, on
Nov. 7, 1811. A generation later, in 1840, he
waged a rousing presidential campaign, using the
slogan Tippecanoe and Tyler too. The Tyler of
the slogan was his running mate, John Tyler.
Although born to one of the wealthiest, most
prestigious, and most influential families in
Virginia, Harrison was elected president with a
log cabin and hard cider slogan. He caught
pneumonia during the inauguration and died Apr.
4, 1841, after only one month in office.
9th President of the United States Nicknames
"Old Tippecanoe" "Old Tip
12
John Tyler (April 6, 1841 to March 3, 1845)
John Tyler, 10th president, independent Whig,
was born on Mar. 29, 1790, in Greenway, Charles
City Co., VA, the son of John and Mary Armistead
Tyler. His father was governor of Virginia
(1808-11). Tyler graduated from the College of
William and Mary in 1807 and in 1811 was elected
to the Virginia legislature. In 1816 he was
chosen for the U.S. House of Representatives. He
served in the Virginia legislature again from
1823 to 1825, when he was elected governor of
Virginia. After a stint in the U.S. Senate
(1827-36), he was elected vice president
(1840). When William Henry Harrison died only a
month after taking office, Tyler succeeded him.
Because he was the first person to occupy the
presidency without having been elected to that
office, he was referred to as His Accidency. He
gained passage of the Preemption Act of 1841,
which gave squatters on government land the right
to buy 160 acres at the minimum auction price.
His last act as president was to sign a
resolution annexing Texas. Tyler accepted
renomination in 1844 from some Democrats but
withdrew in favor of the official party
candidate, James K. Polk. He died in Richmond,
VA, on Jan. 18, 1862.
10th President of the United States Nicknames
"Accidental President" "His Accidency"
13
James Knox Polk (March 4, 1845 to March 3, 1849)
James K. Polk, 11th president, Democrat, was born
on Nov. 2, 1795, in Mecklenburg Co., NC, the son
of Samuel and Jane Knox Polk. He graduated from
the University of North Carolina in 1818 and
served in the Tennessee state legislature from
1823 to 1825. He served in the U.S. House of
Representatives from 1825 to 1839, the last 4
years as Speaker. He was governor of Tennessee
from 1839 to 1841. In 1844, after the Democratic
National Convention became deadlocked, it
nominated Polk, who became the first dark horse
candidate for president. He was nominated
primarily because he favored annexation of Texas.
As president, Polk reestablished the independent
treasury system originated by Van Buren. He was
so intent on acquiring California from Mexico
that he sent troops to the Mexican border and,
when Mexicans attacked, declared that a state of
war existed. The Mexican War ended with the
annexation of California and much of the
Southwest as part of America's manifest
destiny. Polk compromised on the Oregon boundary
(54-40 or fight!) by accepting the 49th
parallel and yielding Vancouver Island to the
British. A few months after leaving office, Polk
died in Nashville, TN, on June 15, 1849.
11th President of the United States Nicknames
"Young Hickory"
14
Zachary Taylor (March 5, 1849 to July 9, 1850)
Zachary Taylor, 12th president, Whig, who served
only 16 months, was born on Nov. 24, 1784, in
Orange Co., VA, the son of Richard and Sarah
Strother Taylor. He grew up on his father's
plantation near Louisville, KY, where he was
educated by private tutors. In 1808 Taylor joined
the regular army and was commissioned first
lieutenant. He fought in the War of 1812, the
Black Hawk War (1832), and the second Seminole
War (beginning in 1837). He was called Old Rough
and Ready. In 1846 President Polk sent him with
an army to the Rio Grande. When the Mexicans
attacked him, Polk declared war. Outnumbered 4-1,
Taylor defeated (1847) Santa Anna at Buena
Vista. A national hero, Taylor received the Whig
nomination in 1848 and was elected president,
even though he had never bothered to vote. He
resumed the spoils system and, though a
slaveholder, worked to admit California as a free
state. He fell ill and died in office on July 9,
1850.
12th President of the United States Nickname
"Old Rough and Ready"
15
Millard Fillmore(July 9, 1850 to March 3, 1853)
Millard Fillmore, 13th president, Whig, was born
on Jan. 7, 1800, in Cayuga Co., NY, the son of
Nathaniel and Phoebe Millard Fillmore. Although
he had little schooling, he became a law clerk at
the age of 22 and a year later was admitted to
the bar. He was elected to the New York state
assembly in 1828 and served until 1831. From 1833
until 1835 and again from 1837 to 1843, he
represented his district in the U.S. House of
Representatives. He opposed the entrance of Texas
as a slave state and voted for a protective
tariff. In 1844 he was defeated for governor of
New York. In 1848 he was elected vice president,
and he succeeded as president after Taylor's
death. Fillmore favored the Compromise of 1850
and signed the Fugitive Slave Law. His policies
pleased neither expansionists nor slaveholders,
and he was not renominated in 1852. In 1856 he
was nominated by the American (Know-Nothing)
Party, but despite the support of the Whigs, he
was defeated by James Buchanan. He died in
Buffalo, NY, on Mar. 8, 1874.
13th President of the United States Nicknames
"The American Louis Philippe"
16
Franklin Pierce (March 4, 1853 to March 3, 1857)
Franklin Pierce, 14th president, Democrat, was
born on Nov. 23, 1804, in Hillsboro, NH, the son
of Benjamin Pierce, Revolutionary War general and
governor of New Hampshire, and Anna Kendrick. He
graduated from Bowdoin College in 1824 and was
admitted to the bar in 1827. He was elected to
the New Hampshire state legislature in 1829 and
was chosen Speaker in 1831. He went to the U.S.
House in 1833 and was elected a U.S. senator in
1837. He enlisted in the Mexican War and became
brigadier general under Gen. Winfield Scott. In
1852 Pierce was nominated as the Democratic
presidential candidate on the 49th ballot. He
decisively defeated Gen. Scott, his Whig
opponent, in the election. Although against
slavery, Pierce was influenced by pro-slavery
Southerners. He supported the controversial
Kansas-Nebraska Act, which left the question of
slavery in the new territories of Kansas and
Nebraska to popular vote. Pierce signed a
reciprocity treaty with Canada and approved the
Gadsden Purchase of a border area on a proposed
railroad route, from Mexico. Denied renomination,
he spent most of his remaining years in Concord,
NH, where he died on Oct. 8, 1869.
14th President of the United States Nicknames
"Young Hickory of the Granite Hills"
17
James Buchanan (March 4, 1857 to March 3, 1861)
James Buchanan, 15th president, Federalist, later
Democrat, was born on Apr. 23, 1791, near
Mercersburg, PA, the son of James and Elizabeth
Speer Buchanan. He graduated from Dickinson
College in 1809 and was admitted to the bar in
1812. He fought in the War of 1812 as a
volunteer. He was twice elected to the
Pennsylvania general assembly, and in 1821 he
entered the U.S. House of Representatives. After
briefly serving (1832-33) as minister to Russia,
he was elected U.S. senator from Pennsylvania. As
Polk's secretary of state (1845-49), he ended the
Oregon dispute with Britain and supported the
Mexican War and annexation of Texas. As minister
to Great Britain, he signed the Ostend Manifesto
(1854), declaring a U.S. right to take Cuba by
force should efforts to purchase it fail.
Nominated by Democrats, Buchanan was elected
president in 1856. On slavery he favored popular
sovereignty and choice by state constitutions but
did not consistently uphold this position. He
denied the right of states to secede but opposed
coercion and attempted to keep peace by not
provoking secessionists. Buchanan left office
having failed to deal decisively with the
situation. He died at Wheatland, his estate, near
Lancaster, PA, on June 1, 1868.

15th President of the United States Nicknames "
Old Buck"
18
Abraham Lincoln (March 4, 1861 to April 15,
1865)
Abraham Lincoln, 16th president, Republican, was
born on Feb. 12, 1809, in a log cabin on a farm
then in Hardin Co., KY, now in Larue, the son of
Thomas and Nancy Hanks Lincoln. The Lincolns
moved to Spencer Co., IN, near Gentryville, when
Abe was 7. After Abe's mother died, his father
married (1819) Mrs. Sarah Bush Johnston. In 1830
the family moved to Macon Co., IL. Defeated in
1832 in a race for the state legislature, Lincoln
was elected on the Whig ticket 2 years later and
served in the lower house from 1834 to 1842. In
1837 Lincoln was admitted to the bar and became
partner in a Springfield, IL, law office. He soon
won recognition as an effective and resourceful
attorney. In 1846, he was elected to the House of
Representatives, where he attracted attention
during a single term for his opposition to the
Mexican War and his position on slavery. In 1856
he campaigned for the newly founded Republican
Party, and in 1858 he became its senatorial
candidate against Stephen A. Douglas. Although he
lost the election, Lincoln gained national
recognition from his debates with Douglas.
16th President of the United States Nicknames
"Honest Abe" "Illinois Rail Splitter"
19
Abraham Lincoln (March 4, 1861 to April 15,
1865)
In 1860, Lincoln was nominated for president by
the Republican Party on a platform of restricting
slavery. He ran against Douglas, a northern
Democrat John C. Breckinridge, a Southern
proslavery Democrat and John Bell, of the
Constitutional Union Party. As a result of
Lincoln's winning the election, South Carolina
seceded from the Union on Dec. 20, 1860, followed
in 1861 by 10 other Southern states. The Civil
War erupted when Fort Sumter, which Lincoln
decided to resupply, was attacked by Confederate
forces on Apr. 12, 1861. Lincoln called
successfully for recruits from the North. On
Sept. 22, 1862, 5 days after the Battle of
Antietam, Lincoln announced that slaves in
territory then in rebellion would be free Jan. 1,
1863, the date of the Emancipation Proclamation.
His speeches, including his Gettysburg and
Inaugural addresses, are remembered for their
eloquence. Lincoln was reelected, in 1864, over
Gen. George B. McClellan, Democrat. General
Robert E. Lee surrendered on Apr. 9, 1865. On
Apr. 14, Lincoln was shot by actor John Wilkes
Booth in Ford's Theater, in Washington, DC. He
died the next day.
16th President of the United States Nicknames
"Honest Abe" "Illinois Rail Splitter"
20
Andrew Johnson (April 15, 1865 to March 3, 1869)
Andrew Johnson, 17th president, Democrat, was
born on Dec. 29, 1808, in Raleigh, NC, the son of
Jacob and Mary McDonough Johnson. He was
apprenticed to a tailor as a youth, but ran away
after two years and eventually settled in
Greeneville, TN. He became popular with the
townspeople and in 1829 was elected councilman
and later mayor. In 1835 he was sent to the state
general assembly. In 1843 he was elected to the
U.S. House of Representatives, where he served
for 10 years. Johnson was governor of Tennessee
from 1853 to 1857, when he was elected to the
U.S. Senate. He supported John C. Breckinridge
against Lincoln in the 1860 election. Although
Johnson had held slaves, he opposed secession and
tried to prevent Tennessee from seceding. In Mar.
1862, Lincoln appointed him military governor of
occupied Tennessee. In 1864, in order to balance
Lincoln's ticket with a Southern Democrat, the
Republicans nominated Johnson for vice president.
He was elected vice president with Lincoln and
then succeeded to the presidency upon Lincoln's
death. Soon afterward, in a controversy with
Congress over the president's power over the
South, he proclaimed an amnesty to all
Confederates, except certain leaders, if they
would ratify the 13th Amendment abolishing
slavery. States doing so added anti-Negro
provisions that enraged Congress, which restored
military control over the South. When Johnson
removed Edwin M. Stanton, secretary of war,
without notifying the Senate, the House, in Feb.
1868, impeached him. Charging him with thereby
having violated the Tenure of Office Act, the
House was actually responding to his opposition
to harsh congressional Reconstruction, expressed
in repeated vetoes. He was tried by the Senate,
and in May, in two separate votes on different
counts, was acquitted, both times by only one
vote. Johnson was denied renomination but
remained politically active. He was reelected to
the Senate in 1874. Johnson died July 31, 1875,
at Carter Station, TN.
17th President of the United States Nicknames
none
21
Ulysses Simpson Grant (March 4, 1869 to March 3,
1877)
Ulysses S. Grant, 18th president, Republican, was
born on Apr. 27, 1822, in Point Pleasant, OH, the
son of Jesse R. and Hannah Simpson Grant. The
next year the family moved to Georgetown, OH.
Grant was named Hiram Ulysses, but on entering
West Point in 1839, his name was put down as
Ulysses Simpson, and he adopted it. He graduated
in 1843. During the Mexican War, Grant served
under both Gen. Zachary Taylor and Gen. Winfield
Scott. In 1854, he resigned his commission
because of loneliness and drinking problems, and
in the following years he engaged in generally
unsuccessful farming and business ventures. With
the start of the Civil War, he was named colonel
and then brigadier general of the Illinois
Volunteers. He took Forts Henry and Donelson and
fought at Shiloh. His brilliant campaign against
Vicksburg and his victory at Chattanooga made him
so prominent that Lincoln placed him in command
of all Union armies. Grant accepted Lee's
surrender at Appomattox Court House on Apr. 9,
1865. President Johnson appointed Grant secretary
of war when he suspended Stanton, but Grant was
not confirmed. Grant was nominated for president
by the Republicans in 1868 and elected over
Horatio Seymour, Democrat. The 15th Amendment,
the amnesty bill, and peaceful settlement of
disputes with Great Britain were events of his
administration. The Liberal Republicans and
Democrats opposed him with Horace Greeley in the
1872 election, but Grant was reelected. His
second administration was marked by scandals,
including widespread corruption in the Treasury
Department and the Indian Service. An attempt by
the Stalwarts (Old Guard Republicans) to nominate
him in 1880 failed. In 1884 the collapse of an
investment firm in which he was a partner left
Grant penniless. He wrote his personal memoirs
while ill with cancer and completed them shortly
before his death at Mt. McGregor, NY, on July 23,
1885.
18th President of the United States Nicknames "
Hero of Appomattox, U.S. Grant
22
Rutherford Birchard Hayes (March 4, 1877 to March
3, 1881)
Rutherford B. Hayes, 19th president, Republican,
was born on Oct. 4, 1822, in Delaware, OH, the
son of Rutherford and Sophia Birchard Hayes. He
was reared by his uncle, Sardis Birchard. Hayes
graduated from Kenyon College in 1842 and from
Harvard Law School in 1845. He practiced law in
Lower Sandusky (now Fremont), OH, and was city
solicitor of Cincinnati from 1858 to 1861. During
the Civil War, he was major of the 23rd Ohio
Volunteers. He was wounded several times, and by
the end of the war he had risen to the rank of
brevet major general. While serving (1865-67) in
the U.S. House of Representatives, Hayes
supported Reconstruction and Johnson's
impeachment. He was twice elected governor of
Ohio (1867, 1869). After losing a race for the
U.S. House in 1872, he was reelected governor of
Ohio in 1875. In 1876, Hayes was nominated for
president and believed he had lost the election
to Samuel J. Tilden, Democrat. But a few Southern
states submitted 2 sets of electoral votes, and
the result was in dispute. An electoral
commission, consisting of 8 Republicans and 7
Democrats, awarded all disputed votes to Hayes,
allowing him to become president by one electoral
vote. Hayes, keeping a promise to southerners,
withdrew troops from areas still occupied in the
South, ending the era of Reconstruction. He
proposed civil service reforms, alienating those
favoring the spoils system, and advocated repeal
of the Tenure of Office Act restricting
presidential power to dismiss officials. He
supported sound money and specie payments. Hayes
died in Fremont, OH, on Jan. 17, 1893.
19th President of the United States Nicknames "
Dark-Horse President"
23
James Abram Garfield (March 4, 1881 to September
19, 1881)
James A. Garfield, 20th president, Republican,
was born on Nov. 19, 1831, in Orange, Cuyahoga
Co., OH, the son of Abram and Eliza Ballou
Garfield. His father died in 1833, and he was
reared in poverty by his mother. He worked as a
canal bargeman, a farmer, and a carpenter and
managed to secure a college education. He taught
at Hiram College and later became principal. In
1859 he was elected to the Ohio legislature.
Antislavery and antisecession, he volunteered for
military service in the Civil War, becoming
colonel of the 42nd Ohio Infantry and brigadier
in 1862. He fought at Shiloh, was chief of staff
for Gen. William Starke Rosecrans, and was made
major general for gallantry at Chickamauga. He
entered Congress as a radical Republican in 1863,
calling for execution or exile of Confederate
leaders, but he moderated his views after the
Civil War. On the electoral commission in 1877 he
voted for Hayes against Tilden on strict party
lines. Garfield was a senator-elect in 1880
when he became the Republican nominee for
president. He was chosen as a compromise over
Gen. Grant, James G. Blaine, and John Sherman,
and won election despite some bitterness among
Grant's supporters. Much of his brief tenure as
president was concerned with a fight with New
York Sen. Roscoe Conkling, who opposed two major
appointments made by Garfield. On July 2, 1881,
Garfield was shot and seriously wounded by a
mentally disturbed office-seeker, Charles J.
Guiteau, while entering a railroad station in
Washington, DC. He died on Sept. 19, 1881, in
Elberon, NJ.
20th President of the United States Nicknames N
one Listed
24
Chester Alan Arthur (September 19, 1881 to March
3, 1885)
Chester A. Arthur, 21st president, Republican,
was born on Oct. 5, 1829, in Fairfield, VT, to
William and Malvina Stone Arthur. He graduated
from Union College in 1848, taught school in
Vermont, then studied law and practiced in New
York City. In 1853 he argued in a fugitive slave
case that slaves transported through New York
state were thereby freed. In 1871, he was
appointed collector of the Port of New York.
President Hayes, an opponent of the spoils
system, forced him to resign in 1878. This made
the New York machine enemies of Hayes. Arthur and
the Stalwarts (Old Guard Republicans) tried to
nominate Grant for a 3rd term as president in
1880. When Garfield was nominated, Arthur was
nominated for vice president in the interests of
harmony. Upon Garfield's assassination, Arthur
became president. Despite his past connections,
he signed major civil service reform legislation.
Arthur tried to dissuade Congress from enacting
the high protective tariff of 1883. He was
defeated for renomination in 1884 by James G.
Blaine. He died in New York City on Nov. 18,
1886.
21th President of the United States Nicknames "
The Gentleman Boss" "Elegant Arthur"
25
Grover Cleveland (March 4, 1885 to March 3,
1889)
Grover ClevelandDemocrat, was born Stephen Grover
Cleveland on Mar. 18, 1837, in Caldwell, NJ, the
son of Richard F. and Ann Neal Cleveland. When he
was a small boy, his family moved to New York.
Prevented by his father's death from attending
college, he studied by himself and was admitted
to the bar in Buffalo, NY, in 1859. In succession
he became assistant district attorney (1863),
sheriff (1871), mayor (1881), and governor of New
York (1882). He was an independent, honest
administrator who hated corruption. Cleveland was
nominated for president over Tammany Hall
opposition in 1884 and defeated Republican James
G. Blaine. As president, he enlarged the civil
service and vetoed many pension raids on the
Treasury. In the 1888 election he was defeated by
Benjamin Harrison, although his popular vote was
larger. Reelected over Harrison in 1892, he faced
a money crisis brought about by a lowered gold
reserve, circulation of paper, and exorbitant
silver purchases under the Sherman Silver
Purchase Act. He obtained a repeal of the Sherman
Act, but was unable to secure effective tariff
reform. A severe economic depression and labor
troubles racked his administration, but he
refused to interfere in business matters and
rejected Jacob Coxey's demand for unemployment
relief. In 1894, he broke the Pullman strike.
Cleveland was not renominated in 1896. He died
in Princeton, NJ, on June 24, 1908.
22nd President of the United States Nicknames "
Veto Mayor" "Veto President"
26
Benjamin Harrison (March 4, 1889 to March 3,
1893)
Benjamin Harrison, 23rd president, Republican,
was born on Aug. 20, 1833, in North Bend, OH, the
son of John Scott and Elizabeth Irwin Harrison.
His great-grandfather, Benjamin Harrison, was a
signer of the Declaration of Independence his
grandfather, William Henry Harrison, was 9th
president his father was a member of Congress.
He attended school on his father's farm and
graduated from Miami University in Oxford, OH, in
1852. He was admitted to the bar in 1854 and
practiced in Indianapolis. During the Civil War,
he rose to the rank of brevet brigadier general
and fought at Kennesaw Mountain, at Peachtree
Creek, at Nashville, and in the Atlanta campaign.
He lost the 1876 gubernatorial election in
Indiana but succeeded in becoming a U.S. senator
in 1881. In 1888 he defeated Cleveland for
president despite receiving fewer popular votes.
As president, he expanded the pension list and
signed the McKinley high tariff bill, the Sherman
Antitrust Act, and the Sherman Silver Purchase
Act. During his administration, 6 states were
admitted to the Union. He was defeated for
reelection in 1892. He died in Indianapolis on
Mar. 13, 1901.
23rd President of the United States Nicknames "
Kid Gloves Harrison" "Little Ben"
27
Grover Cleveland (March 4, 1893 to March 3,
1897)
Grover ClevelandDemocrat, was born Stephen Grover
Cleveland on Mar. 18, 1837, in Caldwell, NJ, the
son of Richard F. and Ann Neal Cleveland. When he
was a small boy, his family moved to New York.
Prevented by his father's death from attending
college, he studied by himself and was admitted
to the bar in Buffalo, NY, in 1859. In succession
he became assistant district attorney (1863),
sheriff (1871), mayor (1881), and governor of New
York (1882). He was an independent, honest
administrator who hated corruption. Cleveland was
nominated for president over Tammany Hall
opposition in 1884 and defeated Republican James
G. Blaine. As president, he enlarged the civil
service and vetoed many pension raids on the
Treasury. In the 1888 election he was defeated by
Benjamin Harrison, although his popular vote was
larger. Reelected over Harrison in 1892, he faced
a money crisis brought about by a lowered gold
reserve, circulation of paper, and exorbitant
silver purchases under the Sherman Silver
Purchase Act. He obtained a repeal of the Sherman
Act, but was unable to secure effective tariff
reform. A severe economic depression and labor
troubles racked his administration, but he
refused to interfere in business matters and
rejected Jacob Coxey's demand for unemployment
relief. In 1894, he broke the Pullman strike.
Cleveland was not renominated in 1896. He died
in Princeton, NJ, on June 24, 1908.
24nd President of the United States Nicknames "
Veto Mayor" "Veto President"
28
William McKinley (March 4, 1897 to September 14,
1901)
William McKinley, 25th president, Republican,
was born on Jan. 29, 1843, in Niles, OH, the son
of William and Nancy Allison McKinley. McKinley
briefly attended Allegheny College. When the
Civil War broke out in 1861, he enlisted and
served for the duration. He rose to captain and
in 1865 was made brevet major. After studying law
in Albany, NY, he opened (1867) a law office in
Canton, OH. He served twice in the U.S. House
(1877-83 1885-91) and led the fight there for
the McKinley Tariff, passed in 1890 he was not
reelected to the House as a result. He served two
terms (1892-96) as governor of Ohio. In 1896 he
was elected president as a proponent of a
protective tariff and sound money (gold
standard), over William Jennings Bryan, the
Democrat and a proponent of free silver. McKinley
was reluctant to intervene in Cuba, but the loss
of the battleship Maine at Havana crystallized
opinion. He demanded Spain's withdrawal from
Cuba Spain made some concessions, but Congress
announced a state of war as of Apr. 21, 1898. He
was reelected in the 1900 campaign, defeating
Bryan's anti-imperialist arguments with the
promise of a full dinner pail. McKinley was
respected for his conciliatory nature and for his
conservative stance on business issues. On Sept.
6, 1901, while welcoming citizens at the
Pan-American Exposition, in Buffalo, NY, he was
shot by Leon Czolgosz, an anarchist. He died
Sept. 14.
25th President of the United States Nicknames "
Idol of Ohio"
29
Theodore Roosevelt (September 14, 1901 to March
3, 1909)
Theodore Roosevelt, 26th president, Republican,
was born on Oct. 27, 1858, in New York City, the
son of Theodore and Martha Bulloch Roosevelt. He
was a 5th cousin of Franklin D. Roosevelt and an
uncle of Eleanor Roosevelt. Roosevelt graduated
from Harvard University in 1880. He attended
Columbia Law School briefly but abandoned law to
enter politics. He was elected to the New York
state assembly in 1881 and served until 1884. He
spent the next 2 years ranching and hunting in
the Dakota Territory. In 1886, he ran
unsuccessfully for mayor of New York City. He was
Civil Service commissioner in Washington, DC,
from 1889 to 1895. From 1895 to 1897, he served
as New York City's police commissioner. He was
assistant secretary of the navy under McKinley.
The Spanish-American War made him nationally
known. He organized the 1st U.S. Volunteer
Cavalry (Rough Riders) and, as lieutenant
colonel, led the charge up Kettle Hill in San
Juan. Elected New York governor in 1898, he
fought the spoils system and achieved taxation of
corporation franchises. Nominated for vice
president in 1900, he became the nation's
youngest president when McKinley was
assassinated. He was reelected in 1904. As
president he fought corruption of politics by big
business, dissolved the Northern Securities Co.
and others for violating antitrust laws,
intervened in the 1902 coal strike on behalf of
the public, obtained the Elkins Law (1903)
forbidding rebates to favored corporations, and
helped pass the Hepburn Railway Rate Act of 1906
(extending jurisdiction of the Interstate
Commerce Commission). He helped obtain passage of
the Pure Food and Drug Act (1906), and of
employers' liability laws. Roosevelt vigorously
organized conservation efforts. He mediated
(1905) the peace between Japan and Russia, for
which he won the Nobel Peace Prize. He abetted
the 1903 revolution in Panama that led to U.S.
acquisition of territory for the Panama
Canal. In 1908 Roosevelt obtained the nomination
of William H. Taft, who was elected. Feeling that
Taft had abandoned his policies, he
unsuccessfully sought the nomination in 1912. He
then ran on the Progressive Bull Moose ticket
against Taft and Woodrow Wilson, splitting the
Republicans and ensuring Wilson's election. He
was shot during the campaign but recovered. In
1916, after unsuccessfully seeking the
presidential nomination, he supported the
Republican candidate, Charles E. Hughes. A strong
friend of Britain, he fought for U.S.
intervention in World War I. Roosevelt was a
voracious reader and wrote some 40 books, of
which The Winning of the West is perhaps best
known. He died Jan. 6, 1919, at Sagamore Hill,
Oyster Bay, NY.
26th President of the United States Nicknames "
TR" Trust-Buster" "Teddy"
30
William Howard Taft (March 4, 1909 to March 3,
1913)
William Howard Taft, 27th president, Republican,
and 10th chief justice of the U.S., was born on
Sept. 15, 1857, in Cincinnati, OH, the son of
Alphonso and Louisa Maria Torrey Taft. His father
was secretary of war and attorney general in
Grant's cabinet and minister to Austria and
Russia under Arthur. Taft graduated from Yale in
1878 and from Cincinnati Law School in 1880.
After working as a law reporter for Cincinnati
newspapers, he served as assistant prosecuting
attorney (1881-82), assistant county solicitor
(1885), judge, superior court (1887), U.S.
solicitor-general (1890), and federal circuit
judge (1892). In 1900 he became head of the U.S.
Philippines Commission and was the first civil
governor of the Philippines (1901-4). In 1904 he
served as secretary of war, and in 1906 he was
sent to Cuba to help avert a threatened
revolution. Taft was groomed for the presidency
by Theodore Roosevelt and elected over William
Jennings Bryan in 1908. Taft vigorously continued
Roosevelt's trust-busting, instituted the
Department of Labor, and drafted the amendments
calling for direct election of senators and the
income tax. However, his tariff and conservation
policies angered progressives. Although
renominated in 1912, he was opposed by Roosevelt,
who ran on the Progressive Party ticket the
result was Democrat Woodrow Wilson's election.
Taft, with some reservations, supported the
League of Nations. After leaving office, he was
professor of constitutional law at Yale (1913-21)
and chief justice of the U.S. (1921-30). Taft was
the only person in U.S. history to have been both
president and chief justice. He died in
Washington, DC, on Mar. 8, 1930.
27th President of the United States Nicknames N
one Listed
31
Woodrow Wilson (March 4, 1913 to March 3, 1921)
Woodrow Wilson, 28th president, Democrat, was
born on Dec. 28, 1856, in Staunton, VA, the son
of Joseph Ruggles and Janet (Jessie) Woodrow
Wilson. He grew up in Georgia and South Carolina.
He attended Davidson College in North Carolina
before graduating from Princeton University in
1879. He studied law at the University of
Virginia and political science at Johns Hopkins
University, where he received his PhD in 1886. He
taught at Bryn Mawr (1885-88) and then at
Wesleyan (1888-90) before joining the faculty at
Princeton. He was president of Princeton from
1902 until 1910, when he was elected governor of
New Jersey. In 1912 he was nominated for
president with the aid of William Jennings Bryan,
who sought to block James Champ Clark and
Tammany Hall. Wilson won because the Republican
vote for Taft was split by the Progressives. As
president, Wilson protected American interests in
revolutionary Mexico and fought for American
rights on the high seas. He oversaw the creation
of the Federal Reserve system, cut the tariff,
and developed a reputation as a reformer. His
sharp warnings to Germany led to the resignation
of his secretary of state, Bryan, a pacifist. In
1916 he was reelected by a slim margin with the
slogan, He kept us out of war, although his
attempts to mediate in the war failed. After
several American ships had been sunk by the
Germans, he secured a declaration of war against
Germany on Apr. 6, 1917. Wilson outlined his
peace program on Jan. 8, 1918, in the Fourteen
Points, a state paper that had worldwide
influence. He enunciated a doctrine of
self-determination for the settlement of
territorial disputes. The Germans accepted his
terms and an armistice on Nov. 11, 1918. Wilson
went to Paris to help negotiate the peace treaty,
the crux of which he considered the League of
Nations. The Senate demanded reservations that
would not make the U.S. subordinate to the votes
of other nations in case of war. Wilson refused
and toured the country to get support. He
suffered a stroke in Oct. 1919. An invalid, he
clung to his office while his wife and doctors
effectively functioned as president. Wilson was
awarded the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize, but the
treaty embodying the League of Nations was
ultimately rejected by the Senate in 1920. He
left the White House in Mar. 1921. He died in
Washington, DC, on Feb. 3, 1924.
28th President of the United States Nicknames
"Schoolmaster in Politics"
32
Warren Gamaliel Harding (March 4, 1921 to August
2, 1923)
Warren G. Harding, 29th president, Republican,
was born on Nov. 2, 1865, near Corsica (now
Blooming Grove), OH, the son of George Tyron and
Phoebe Elizabeth Dickerson Harding. He attended
Ohio Central College, studied law, and became
editor and publisher of a county newspaper. He
entered the political arena as state senator
(1901-4) and then served as lieutenant governor
(1904-6). In 1910 he ran unsuccessfully for
governor of Ohio then in 1914 he was elected to
the U.S. Senate. In the Senate he voted for
antistrike legislation, woman suffrage, and the
Volstead Prohibition Enforcement Act over
President Wilson's veto. He opposed the League of
Nations. In 1920 he was nominated for president
and defeated James M. Cox in the election. The
Republicans capitalized on war weariness and fear
that Wilson's League of Nations would curtail
U.S. sovereignty. Harding stressed a return to
normalcy and worked for tariff revision and the
repeal of excess profits law and high income
taxes. His secretary of interior, Albert B. Fall,
became involved in the Teapot Dome scandal. As
rumors began to circulate about the corruption in
his administration, Harding became ill while
returning from a trip to Alaska, and he died in
San Francisco on Aug. 2, 1923.
29th President of the United States Nicknames N
one Listed
33
Calvin Coolidge (August 3, 1923 to March 3,
1929)
Calvin Coolidge, 30th president, Republican, was
born on July 4, 1872, in Plymouth, VT, the son of
John Calvin and Victoria J. Moor Coolidge.
Coolidge graduated from Amherst College in 1895.
He entered Republican state politics and served
as mayor of Northampton, MA, as state senator, as
lieutenant governor, and, in 1919, as governor.
In Sept. 1919, Coolidge attained national
prominence by calling out the state guard in the
Boston police strike. He declared There is no
right to strike against the public safety by
anybody, anywhere, anytime. This brought his
name before the Republican convention of 1920,
where he was nominated for vice president.
Coolige succeeded to the presidency on
Harding's death. As president, he opposed the
League of Nations and the soldiers' bonus bill,
which was passed over his veto. In 1924 he was
elected to the presidency by a huge majority. He
substantially reduced the national debt. He twice
vetoed the McNary-Haugen farm bill, which would
have provided relief to financially hard-pressed
farmers. With Republicans eager to renominate
him, Coolidge simply announced, Aug. 2, 1927 I
do not choose to run for president in 1928. He
died in Northampton, MA, on Jan. 5, 1933.
30th President of the United States Nicknames "
Silent Cal"
34
Herbert Clark Hoover (March 4, 1929 to March 3,
1933)
Herbert Clark Hoover, 31st president,
Republican, was born on Aug. 10, 1874, in West
Branch, IA, the son of Jesse Clark and Hulda
Randall Minthorn Hoover. Hoover grew up in Indian
Territory (now Oklahoma) and Oregon and graduated
from Stanford University with a degree in geology
in 1895. He worked briefly with the U.S.
Geological Survey and then managed mines in
Australia, Asia, Europe, and Africa. While chief
engineer of imperial mines in China, he directed
food relief for victims of the Boxer Rebellion.
He gained a reputation not only as an engineer
but as a humanitarian as he directed the American
Relief Committee, London (1914-15) and the U.S.
Commission for Relief in Belgium (1915-19). He
was U.S. Food Administrator (1917-19), American
Relief Administrator (1918-23), and in charge of
Russian Relief (1918-23). He served as secretary
of commerce under both Harding and Coolidge. Some
historians believe that he was the most effective
secretary of commerce ever to hold that
office. In 1928 Hoover was elected president
over Alfred E. Smith. In 1929 the stock market
crashed, and the economy collapsed. During the
Great Depression, Hoover inaugurated some
government assistance programs, but he was
opposed to administration of aid through a
federal bureaucracy. As the effects of the
depression continued, he was defeated in the 1932
election by Franklin D. Roosevelt. Hoover
remained active after leaving office. President
Truman named him coordinator of the European Food
Program (1946) and chairman of the Commission on
Organization of the Executive Branch (1947-49
1953-55). Hoover died in New York City on Oct.
20, 1964.
31st President of the United States Nicknames N
one Listed
35
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (March 4, 1933 to April
12, 1945)
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd president,
Democrat, was born on Jan. 30, 1882, in Hyde
Park, NY, the son of James and Sara Delano
Roosevelt. He graduated from Harvard University
in 1903. He attended Columbia University Law
School without taking a degree and was admitted
to the New York state bar in 1907. His political
career began when he was elected to the New York
state senate in 1910. In 1913 President Wilson
appointed him assistant secretary of the navy, a
post he held during World War I. In 1920
Roosevelt ran for vice president with James Cox
and was defeated. From 1921 to 1928 he worked in
his New York law office and was also vice
president of a bank. In Aug. 1921, he was
stricken with poliomyelitis, which left his legs
paralyzed. As a result of therapy he was able to
stand, or walk a few steps, with the aid of leg
braces. Roosevelt served 2 terms as governor of
New York (1929-33). In 1932, W. G. McAdoo,
pledged to John N. Garner, threw his votes to
Roosevelt, who was nominated for president. The
Depression and the promise to repeal Prohibition
ensured his election. He asked for emergency
powers, proclaimed the New Deal, and put into
effect a vast number of administrative changes.
Foremost was the use of public funds for relief
and public works, resulting in deficit financing.
He greatly expanded the federal government's
regulation of business and by an excess profits
tax and progressive income taxes produced a
redistribution of earnings on an unprecedented
scale. He also promoted legislation establishing
the Social Security system. He was the last
president inaugurated on Mar. 4 (1933) and the
first inaugurated on Jan. 20 (1937).
32nd President of the United States Nicknames F
DR
36
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (March 4, 1933 to April
12, 1945)
Roosevelt was the first president to use radio
for fireside chats. When the Supreme Court
nullified some New Deal laws, he sought power to
pack the Court with additional justices, but
Congress refused to give him the authority. He
was the first president to break the no 3rd
term tradition (1940) and was elected to a 4th
term in 1944, despite failing health. Roosevelt
was openly hostile to fascist governments before
World War II and launched a lend-lease program on
behalf of the Allies. With British Prime Min.
Winston Churchill he wrote a declaration of
principles to be followed after Nazi defeat (the
Atlantic Charter of Aug. 14, 1941) and urged the
Four Freedoms (freedom of speech, of worship,
from want, from fear) Jan. 6, 1941. When Japan
attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, the U.S.
entered the war. Roosevelt guided the nation
through the war and conferred with allied heads
of state at Casablanca (Jan. 1943), Quebec (Aug.
1943), Tehran (Nov.-Dec. 1943), Cairo (Nov. and
Dec. 1943), and Yalta (Feb. 1945). Roosevelt
did not, however, live to see the end of the war.
He died of a cerebral hemorrhage in Warm Springs,
GA, on Apr. 12, 1945.
32nd President of the United States Nicknames F
DR
37
Harry S. Truman (April 12, 1945 to January 20,
1953)
Harry S. Truman, 33rd president, Democrat, was
born on May 8, 1884, in Lamar, MO, the son of
John Anderson and Martha Ellen Young Truman. A
family disagreement on whether his middle name
should be Shipp or Solomon, after names of 2
grandfathers, resulted in his using only the
middle initial S. After graduating from high
school in Independence, MO, he worked (1901) for
the Kansas City Star, as a railroad timekeeper,
and as a clerk in Kansas City banks until about
1905. He ran his family's farm from 1906 to 1917.
He served in France during World War I. After the
war he opened a haberdashery shop, was a judge on
the Jackson Co. Court (1922-24), and attended
Kansas City School of Law (1923-25). Truman was
elected to the U.S. Senate in 1934 and reelected
in 1940. In 1944, with Roosevelt's backing, he
was nominated for vice president and elected. On
Roosevelt's death in 1945, Truman became
president. In 1948, in a famous upset victory, he
defeated Republican Thomas E. Dewey to win
election to a new term. Truman authorized the
first uses of the atomic bomb (Hiroshima and
Nagasaki, Aug. 6 and 9, 1945), bringing World War
II to a rapid end. He was responsible for what
came to be called the Truman Doctrine (to aid
nations such as Greece and Turkey, threatened by
Communist takeover), and his strong commitment to
NATO and to the Marshall Plan helped bring them
about. In 1948-49, he broke a Soviet blockade of
West Berlin with a massive airlift. When
Communist North Korea invaded South Korea (June
1950), he won UN approval for a police action
and, boldly without prior congressional consent,
sent in forces under Gen. Douglas MacArthur. When
MacArthur opposed his policy of limited
objectives, Truman removed him. He died in
Kansas City, MO, on Dec. 26, 1972.
33rd President of the United States Nicknames "
Give 'Em Hell Harry"
38
Dwight David Eisenhower (January 20, 1953 to
January 20, 1961)
Dwight David Eisenhower, 34th president,
Republican, was born on Oct. 14, 1890, in
Denison, TX, the son of David Jacob and Ida
Elizabeth Stover Eisenhower. He grew up on a
small farm in Abilene, KS, and graduated from
West Point in 1915. He was on the staff of Gen.
Douglas MacArthur in the Philippines from 1935 to
1939. In 1942, he was made commander of Allied
forces landing in North Africa the next year he
was made full general. He became supreme Allied
commander in Europe that same year and as such
led the Normandy invasion (June 6, 1944). He was
given the rank of general of the army on Dec. 20,
1944, which was made permanent in 1946. On May
7, 1945, Eisenhower received the surrender of
Germany at Rheims. He returned to the U.S. to
serve as chief of staff (1945-48). His war
memoir, Crusade in Europe (1948), was a
best-seller. In 1948 he became president of
Columbia University in 1950 he became Commander
of NATO forces. Eisenhower resigned from the
army and was nominated for president by the
Republicans in 1952. He defeated Adlai E.
Stevenson in the 1952 election and again in 1956.
Eisenhower called himself a moderate, favored the
free market system vs. government price and
wage controls, kept government out of labor
disputes, reorganized the defense establishment,
and promoted missile programs. He continued
foreign aid, sped the end of the Korean War,
endorsed Taiwan and SE Asia defense treaties,
backed the UN in condemning the Anglo-French raid
on Egypt, and advocated the open skies policy
of mutual inspection with the USSR. He sent U.S.
troops into Little Rock, AR, in Sept. 1957,
du