President Atlas

The White House:

2009-01-29T18:24:00.000-08:00

President of the United States:

Barack Hussien Obama, Jr. (D)

Links:

Offical White House Page
Offical Barack Obama Page

Vice-Presidnet: Joe Biden (D)

Cabinet Members:

Deparpment of Agriculture: Tom Vilsack

Department of Commerce:

Department of Defense: Robert Gates

Department of Education: Arne Duncan

Department of Energy: Steve Chu

Department of Human Health and Services:

Department of Homeland Security: Janet Napolitano

Department of Housing and Urban Development: Shaun Donovan

Department of Interior: Ken Salazar

Department of Labor: Eric Holder

Department of State: Hillary Clinton

Department of Transportation: Ray LaHood

Department of Treasury: Tim Geithner

Department of Vertern Affairs: Eric Shinseki

Other Senior Members:

Enviormental Protection Agency: Lisa Jackson

Managment and Budget: Peter Orszag

Energy Policy Coordinator: Carol Browner

U.S. Trade Rerpresentative: Ron Kirk

Ambassador to United Nations: Susan Rice

Chief of Staff: Rahm Emanuel

44th- Barack Obama

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Barack Hussein Obama was born on August 4, 1961 in Honolulu, Hawaii. His father was a black man (also named Barack Hussein Obama) born in Africa and his mother was a white woman born in Kansas.

Obama's father and his mother separated and divorced when Obama was a young child. His mother remarried in 1967 when Obama was 6 years old to a man named Lolo Soetoro.

His family moved to Soetoro's home country which was Indonesia. Obama lived there until he was 10 years old when he returned to live in Hawaii with his maternal grandparents who raised him from then on.

Obama moved to Los Angeles for college. After two years he transferred to Columbia University in NYC. Obama graduated from Columbia in 1983. Obama then moved to Chicago where he worked as a community organizer for three years until the age of 27 when he moved to Massachusetts so that he could attend Harvard Law School. In 1990, during his second year, he was elected President of the Harvard Law Review. He was the first black person elected President of the Harvard Law Review. This remarkable feat was widely reported upon. He graduated from Harvard Law School magna cum laude in 1991.

He moved back to Chicago at that time and married Michelle Robinson in 1992. They have had two daughters, the first Malia Ann was born in 1998 and the second Natasha was born in 2001.
Obama began teaching constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School in 1992 and continued doing so for 12 years. During this time he also directed the Illinois' Project Vote which registered 150,000 African Americans in the state.

In 1996 Obama was elected to the Illinois Senate. While a State Senator Obama was able to gain support for ethics reform and health care laws. Obama re-elected twice and held the position until he was elected as one of Illinois two US Senators in 2004.

In 2000 Obama unsuccessfully ran for congress. He lost in the primary to Bobby Rush who is an African American Democrat who has been a congressman since 1993. He is still in the House today. Despite being rivals in 2000, Rush has supported Obama in his campaign for the Senate in 2004 and in his campaign for the Presidency in 2008.

In 2004 Obama easily defeated Republican Alan Keyes to become a US Senator. In fact his 70 percent to 27 percent defeat of Keyes set the all time record for margin of victory in a statewide election in Illinois. The election between Obama & Keyes was also noteworthy as it was the first Senatorial election in US history in which the two major candidates were both African Americans.

During that 2004 campaign Obama was selected to be the keynote speaker at the Democratic National Convention and the speech is considered by most to be responsible launching his national political career. His speech was so well received that he was immediately considered to be a rising star in the Democratic party.

On February 10, 2007 Obama announced his candidacy for the 2008 Democratic nomination. At the time Hillary Clinton was considered a huge favorite to win the nomination. The race for the Democratic primary became a battle between Obama & Clinton as the other challengers quickly fell by the wayside. The battle continued on into June as Clinton would not give in until the very end despite Obama's clear mathematical advantage beginning in February.

In the general election Obama selected Joe Biden as his Vice Presidential running mate and they faced Republican John McCain selected Sarah Palin as his Vice Presidential running mate. Despite polls being close through much of the campaign period, by mid October Obama had pulled away and was decisively elected the first African American president of the United States. He is currently the 44th President of the United States.

43rd- George W Bush

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George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) was the forty-third President of the United States. He served as the forty-sixth Governor of Texas from 1995 until 2000 before being sworn in as President on January 20, 2001. His term will ended on January 20, 2009.

Bush is the eldest son of former U.S. President George H. W. Bush and Barbara Bush. After graduating from Yale University, Bush worked in his family`s oil businesses. He married Laura Welch in 1977 and unsuccessfully ran for the United States House of Representatives shortly thereafter.

He later co-owned the Texas Rangers baseball team before defeating Ann Richards to become Governor of Texas in 1994.

In a close and controversial election, Bush was elected president in 2000 as the Republican candidate, receiving a majority of the electoral votes, but losing the popular vote. Eight months into his first term as president, the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks occurred, and Bush announced a global War on Terrorism, ordered an invasion of Afghanistan that same year and an invasion of Iraq in 2003. In addition to national security issues, President Bush attempted to promote policies on the economy, health care, education, and social security reform. He has enacted large tax cuts, the No Child Left Behind Act and Medicare prescription drug benefits for seniors, and his tenure saw a national debate on immigration. Bush ran for re-election against Democratic Senator John Kerry in 2004 and was re-elected, garnering 50.7% of the popular vote to his opponent`s 48.3%. After his re-election, Bush received increasingly heated criticism. In 2005, the Bush administration was forced to deal with the perceived failures of its handling of Hurricane Katrina. In 2008, the U.S. economy entered its second recession under Bush, and his administration took a more firm hand with the economy, enacting multiple economic stimulus packages.

Bush was a popular president for much of his first term, peaking after the September 11 terrorist attacks when he received the highest approval rating of any president in American history. His popularity declined sharply during his second term, when he received the lowest approval rating as well as the lowest sustained approval numbers in a hundred years.

After his term ended, Bush gracfully left office retired to his home in Crawford, Texas. Bush began speaking engagments in 2009 and also will be author to future books.

42nd- William Clinton

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William Jefferson Clinton was born on August 19, 1946, in Hope, Arkansas. As a delegate to Boys Nation while in high school, he met President John Kennedy in the White House Rose Garden. The encounter led him to enter a life of public service. Clinton graduated from Georgetown University and in 1968 won a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University. He received a law degree from Yale University in 1973, and shortly thereafter entered politics in Arkansas.
He was defeated in his campaign for Congress in Arkansas's Third District in 1974. The next year he married Hillary Rodham, a graduate of Wellesley College and Yale Law School. In 1980, Chelsea, their only child, was born. Clinton was elected Arkansas Attorney General in 1976, and won the governorship in 1978. After losing a bid for a second term, he regained the office four years later, and served until his 1992 bid for the Presidency of the United States.

Elected President of the United States in 1992, and again in 1996, President Clinton was the first Democratic president to be awarded a second term in six decades. Under his leadership, the United States enjoyed the strongest economy in a generation and the longest economic expansion in U.S. history. President Clinton’s core values of building community, creating opportunity, and demanding responsibility resulted in unprecedented progress for America, including moving the nation from record deficits to record surpluses; the creation of over 22 million jobs—more than any other administration; low levels of unemployment, poverty and crime; and the highest homeownership and college enrollment rates in history.

President Clinton’s accomplishments in the White House include increasing investment in education, providing tax relief for working families, helping millions of Americans move from welfare to work, expanding access to technology, encouraging investment in underserved communities, protecting the environment, countering the threat of terrorism and promoting peace and strengthening democracy around the world. His Administration’s economic policies fostered the largest peacetime economic expansion in history. President Clinton previously served as the Governor of Arkansas, chairman of the National Governors’ Association and Attorney General of Arkansas. As former chairman of the Democratic Leadership Council, he is one of the original architects and leading advocates of the Third Way movement.

Since 2001, President Clinton has dedicated himself to philanthropy and continued public service through the William J. Clinton Foundation, which is focused on finding practical and measurable solutions to address pressing challenges at home and abroad. In addition to his Foundation work, President Clinton joined with former President Bush to help with relief and recovery following the tsunami in the Indian Ocean, and to lead a nationwide fundraising effort in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. He also served as U.N. Special Envoy for Tsunami Recovery from 2005 to 2007.

41st- George H.W. Bush

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George Bush brought to the White House a dedication to traditional American values and a determination to direct them toward making the United States "a kinder and gentler nation." In his Inaugural Address he pledged in "a moment rich with promise" to use American strength as "a force for good."

Coming from a family with a tradition of public service, George Herbert Walker Bush felt the responsibility to make his contribution both in time of war and in peace. Born in Milton, Massachusetts, on June 12, 1924, he became a student leader at Phillips Academy in Andover. On his 18th birthday he enlisted in the armed forces. The youngest pilot in the Navy when he received his wings, he flew 58 combat missions during World War II. On one mission over the Pacific as a torpedo bomber pilot he was shot down by Japanese antiaircraft fire and was rescued from the water by a U. S. submarine. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for bravery in action.

Bush next turned his energies toward completing his education and raising a family. In January 1945 he married Barbara Pierce. They had six children-- George, Robin (who died as a child), John (known as Jeb), Neil, Marvin, and Dorothy.
At Yale University he excelled both in sports and in his studies; he was captain of the baseball team and a member of Phi Beta Kappa. After graduation Bush embarked on a career in the oil industry of West Texas.

Like his father, Prescott Bush, who was elected a Senator from Connecticut in 1952, George became interested in public service and politics. He served two terms as a Representative to Congress from Texas. Twice he ran unsuccessfully for the Senate. Then he was appointed to a series of high-level positions: Ambassador to the United Nations, Chairman of the Republican National Committee, Chief of the U. S. Liaison Office in the People's Republic of China, and Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

In 1980 Bush campaigned for the Republican nomination for President. He lost, but was chosen as a running mate by Ronald Reagan. As Vice President, Bush had responsibility in several domestic areas, including Federal deregulation and anti-drug programs, and visited scores of foreign countries. In 1988 Bush won the Republican nomination for President and, with Senator Dan Quayle of Indiana as his running mate, he defeated Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis in the general election.

Bush faced a dramatically changing world, as the Cold War ended after 40 bitter years, the Communist empire broke up, and the Berlin Wall fell. The Soviet Union ceased to exist; and reformist President Mikhail Gorbachev, whom Bush had supported, resigned. While Bush hailed the march of democracy, he insisted on restraint in U. S. policy toward the group of new nations.
In other areas of foreign policy, President Bush sent American troops into Panama to overthrow the corrupt regime of General Manuel Noriega, who was threatening the security of the canal and the Americans living there. Noriega was brought to the United States for trial as a drug trafficker.

Bush's greatest test came when Iraqi President Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, then threatened to move into Saudi Arabia. Vowing to free Kuwait, Bush rallied the United Nations, the U. S. people, and Congress and sent 425,000 American troops. They were joined by 118,000 troops from allied nations. After weeks of air and missile bombardment, the 100-hour land battle dubbed Desert Storm routed Iraq's million-man army.

Despite unprecedented popularity from this military and diplomatic triumph, Bush was unable to withstand discontent at home from a faltering economy, rising violence in inner cities, and continued high deficit spending. In 1992 he lost his bid for reelection to Democrat William Clinton.

40th- Ronlad Reagan

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Ronald Wilson Reagan was born on February 6, 1911, in Tampico, Illinois, and attended high school in Dixon, Illinois. Upon his graduation, he attended Eureka College near Peoria, Illinois, where he excelled in football and acting. Not long after his graduation in 1932, he was hired by radio station WOC in nearby Davenport, Iowa, broadcasting Chicago Cubs games. In 1942, Ronald caught his big break when he was "discovered" by a talent agent for Warner Brothers and signed to a seven year acting contract, eventually starring in more than 50 films.
In 1940, Ronald married actress Jane Wyman (they would divorce in 1948) and appeared in his best known film role, playing Notre Dame Football legend George Gipp in the movie Knute Rockne, All American. In 1952 Reagan married actress Nancy Davis and began his career in politics, leading the "Democrats for Eisenhower" movement. In 1960, Ronald Reagan led the group "Democrats for Nixon" during the presidential campaign. In 1964, Reagan delivered a speech supporting Barry Goldwater, attacking President Johnson's "Great Society" programs. After Goldwater lost the election to President Johnson, Reagan emerged as a leader of the conservative movement.

In 1966 Reagan won the governorship of California, defeating his opponent by more than 1 million votes. Governor Reagan was responsible for many controversial decisions during his term as governor, including the liberalization of California's abortion laws and sending the National Guard to break up a student demonstration at the University of California at Berkeley. In his two terms as governor, he managed to turn a $200 million deficit into a $1.1 billion surplus.
After leaving office in 1975, Reagan launched his presidential campaign, running against incumbent Gerald Ford who had the backing of the Republican Party and would eventually withdraw from the race. In 1980, Reagan ran again for the Presidency defeating Jimmy Carter in a landslide, wining 44 states.

Within the first year of Ronald Reagan's administration, a number of memorable events occurred. On January 20, 1981, the day Reagan was inaugurated, Iran released 52 hostages that were captured at American Embassy during the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Then, on March 30, as President Reagan was leaving a Washington hotel, John Hinckley Jr. emerged from the crowd and fired several shots at the president. Even though Reagan was hit in the chest near his heart, he survived the attempt on his life. In September, President Reagan appointed the first woman to the Supreme Court, with the confirmation of Associate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.
The next two years turned into the low point of the Reagan administration when the US economy experienced its longest recession since the 1930s, yet by early 1983, the economy was back on track. In 1984, Reagan won the election easily, carrying 49 states in a landslide victory over Democrat Walter Mondale.

President Reagan's second term began with what was later referred to as the "Reagan Doctrine" a program of supporting armed insurgents in conflict with Soviet sponsored governments. That fall, he also began a string of summits with Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev about the ongoing arms race between the superpowers. His continued relations with Gorbachev, as well as his public challenges to him, most notably in a 1987 speech in Berlin wherein he implored Gorbachev to "tear down this wall" were influential in the collapse of the Soviet Union. His second term was also plagued by scandal, with the revelation of the Iran-Contra affair, which would lead to the indictment of National Security Advisor John Poindexter.

President Reagan was succeeded by his Vice-President George H.W. Bush on January 20, 1989. On November 9, Soviet President Gorbachev opened the Berlin Wall, signaling the beginning of the end of Communism in Eastern Europe.

Ronald Reagan was in many ways the embodiment of the American dream. From humble beginnings, he rose to a seat of unparalleled power and influence. He was one of the most popular presidents in American history, leaving office with the highest approval rating of any president since Franklin Roosevelt. He accomplished more than most people could ever hope to accomplish and his death on June 5, 2004, was heralded by many as a "sad day for America."

39th- James Carter

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Jimmy Carter grew up in rural Georgia during the Depression, the son of a farmer (James Sr.) and a nurse (Lillian). He attended Georgia Southwestern College and Georgia Tech, finally receiving a B. S. from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1947. On July 7, 1947, Carter married his sweetheart, Rosalyn Smith.

Admiral Hyman Rickover personally selected him for the crew of the Seawolf, the second nuclear sub (first was Nautilus). He would serve under Rickover for the final two years of his career in the Navy, working as engineering officer on the nuclear sub. With the death of his father in 1953, Carter returned to Georgia to run the family business.

Over a ten-year period Jimmy Carter proved an able manager as he grew his family's agricultural business. In addition to his father's peanut business, he expanded by starting a fertilizer business, adding a cotton gin, and increasing the number of acres he owned and leased. Additionally, when a White Business Council was formed in Plains, the future President refused to join. The council attempted to force Carter to join by boycotting his many businesses, but he persevered and the members of the council eventually gave up the boycott. In 1955 Jimmy was elected to the Sumter County Board of Education. During this time he supported the consolidation of area schools to save money. Some people were afraid this might lead to integration and the proposal was defeated. This led to his further involvement in politics.
In 1962 a new district was added to the Georgia Senate and Jimmy Carter saw his opportunity to move his ideas forward at a state level. After losing the primary, Carter challenged the results in court. Gross mismanagement of the election returns was proven and a recount, after eliminating dead and imprisoned voters proved Jimmy Carter to be the nominee of the Democratic Party three days before the general election. Carter defeated his Republican opponent by less than 1,000 votes.

Trying to push forward with his agenda of a racially integrated South without completely alienating the existing power structure was a difficult proposition. As a result was viewed as having a mixed record on integration. His early pro-environment stand also alienated voters. In spite of this, Jimmy was re-elected to a second term in 1964.

For 10 minutes on January 6, 1969, Jimmy Carter witnessed an unidentified flying object in the skies near Leary, in southwestern Georgia. On a starry night just after dusk, a single, self-luminous object about 30 degrees above the horizon that Carter estimated to be about 300-1000 yards away hovered, changed course and direction, then disappeared.

Prior to Carter becoming governor, Georgia's politicians had become increasingly out of step not only with the populace of the state, but the nation as well. As America became integrated, politicians who supported segregation reflected the position of fewer and fewer of their constituents. Carter's election represented a radical change from the previous governor(s). By the end of his term in 1975 he had shaped the state government into a modern machine, tearing down the barriers of almost 100 years of segregation.

From the Governor's Mansion in Atlanta, Carter watched as George McGovern's campaign for president crashed and burned. He felt that just as his predecessors' campaigns had been out of step with Georgians, McGovern's liberalism was out of step with America. On election night, 1972, Carter began to plan a run for president. Four years later he defeated Gerald Ford, becoming the 39th President of the United States and ending the most meteoric climb in modern American politics. It was such a stunning political miracle that Time Magazine selected Carter as its "Man of the Year" for 1976.

During his run for president, Jimmy alienated many of the old-line Democrats. He had no insider experience in Washington; he was from the "Deep South"; and many party regulars did not share his political viewpoints. To offset some of the critics Carter selected Walter Mondale, an established Washington insider, as his running mate. Just as he revolutionized the Democratic Party in Georgia, Carter revolutionized politics on a national level. Since his election more than 25 years ago each president with the exception of George Bush (1989-1993) has been governor of his home state, normally with few ties to Washington. This "outsider" movement continues to have repercussions as the strength of the republic grows while the legislative branches tend to play an increasingly smaller role.

Carter continued Ford's work of repairing America after the Watergate scandal that terminated the Nixon presidency. He also tried to structure a peaceful world. Among the highlights of his presidential career:

Dealing with the national energy crisis
Improving the National Parks System
Creating the Department of Education
Championing human rights

By 1980 the economy had taken a turn for the worse and inflation was rampant. Hostilities in Afghanistan destroyed most of his work on SALT II nuclear arms limitation treaty. And daily pictures of Americas being held hostage in Iran contributed to his defeat in 1980, by Republican Ronald Reagan's landslide victory.

Jimmy Carter still lives his ideals, using his talents to help others and the United States. Time and again Carter's talents were put to use in the Clinton Administration, helping resolve issues in North Korea, Bosnia, and Haiti. It was Jimmy Carter at his finest, turning the other cheek to Bill Clinton who heavily criticized Jimmy personally during the 1992 campaign.
Carter also built a life of contributing to society, as a carpenter building a Habitat for Humanity home, as a son dedicating a new Nursing Center in Plains to his mother, or simply teaching class in Sunday-school.

Continuing Georgia's legacy of peace that includes Martin Luther King and Teddy Roosevelt, James Earl "Jimmy" Carter was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in December, 2002 "...for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development."

38th- Gerald Ford

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Gerald R. Ford was the 38th President of the United States of America from 1974-1977. Ford was born on July 14, 1913 in Omaha, Nebraska. He attended the University of Michigan where he played football. He was an All American Center and had offers from professional football clubs. However, Ford had decided he would attend law school.

Ford attended Yale Law School. He worked his way through school. He was the head boxing coach and assistant football coach. He kept up his grades and graduated in the top quarter of the class at Yale as he had at U of M.
Ford married Betty Boxer from Grand Rapids and she was a well-known supporter of women's rights. Betty found a lump in her breast in 1974, and subsequently urged the female public to get breast exams and tried to get the public to be better informed about breast cancer. Betty had started the Betty Ford Center to treat alcohol and prescription drug addictions, after she herself had suffered from the same problem.

Ford had served in the navy during World War II, and then went on to serve in the Congress. After serving for eight terms in the Congress from the strongly Republican Grand Rapids, Michigan, Ford was elected the House minority leader. He had ambitions to become the Speaker.
Nixon was the President and when his Vice President, Spiro Agnew stepped down from his post, Ford became an obvious choice. Ford was not known for his brilliance, but did have a strong reputation of being loyal, honest and humble.
Ford had one of the most unusual roads to the White House. When Agnew stepped down and Ford was appointed Vice President, it put Ford in position to take over as Commander and Chief when Nixon resigned.

When Nixon resigned the county was in need of a leader who could pull the country together and restore the dignity. The Watergate scandal and the cover-ups were hard on the American people. Ford was known to bring camaraderie, a strong desire for conciliation and compromise. He was a healer, which the country needed.

With Ford's long experience in the Congress and his loyal and honest reputation, he was able to bring with him a lot of goodwill to the White House. However, with the decision to pardon Richard Nixon on September 8, 1974, many politicians and members of the public were upset. Ford felt that a trial would continue the cloud over the American people instead of just putting Watergate and Nixon behind them.

When Ford became President, he inherited a poor economy as well as high interest rates and inflation plus a high rate of unemployment. The county was in a state of stagflation which was a long time of high inflation together with lower consumer spending and unemployment (stagnation). Ford wanted to cut spending and raise taxes and did not want to deal with the unemployment. He said that he would not make a "180-degree turn" from his fight against inflation. However, in 1975 he did change his mind and he supported a tax cut to push the economy. Some had joked that he did not make a "180 degree" turn, but it was a 179 degree turn.

As President, Ford vetoed 66 bills (in a half term as President) while Nixon had vetoed only 42 bills. The stubbornness that Ford had resulted in a term in politics of "gridlock" to explain the stalemate in the legislative branch.

Not only was America suffering a hard economic situation, but internationally there were many troubles. The Khmer Rouge had control of Cambodia and North Vietnamese were taking control in Vietnam. Ford had to evacuate the Americans. The evacuation was not as smooth as hoped and resulted with American marine gunners having to shoot at the angered South Vietnamese to get the last helicopter off the ground.

Ford was known as clumsy. He had quite a remarkable fall down the steps coming out of the Air Force One plane, which was caught on film. The media had a field day with the fall and Ford became the target of many jokes and cartoons. This was unfair because he was really one of the better athletes in congress.

On September 5, 1975, Ford had an attempt on his life. Lynnette "Squeaky" Fromme attempted to shoot President Ford. Squeaky was associated with the Charles Manson gang and she was sentenced to prison for the rest of her life.

Ford was challenged by Ronald Regan for the 1976 Republican nomination. Ford was able to squeak by with an 1187-1070 vote. Then Ford faced Jimmy Carter and was 30 points behind and was never able to recover.

Carter won and in his inaugural speech recognized Ford, "For myself and for our Nation, I want to thank my predecessor for all he had done to heal our land". Ford will continue to be known for bringing integrity back into the White House and the Office of President.

Ford died December 26, 2006, at the age of 93.

37th- Richard Nixon

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Richard Nixon resigned as United States president in 1974, becoming the first president ever to quit the office. Nixon was a lawyer and Republican politician who held the posts of U.S. representative (1947-51), senator (1951-53), vice president (1953-61), and finally president of the United States (1969-74). As a fiercely anti-communist senator from California,

Nixon was pegged to be Dwight Eisenhower's running mate in 1952, despite Nixon's relative youth: he was 39 when nominated. Eisenhower beat the Democratic nominee Adlai Stevenson in both 1952 and 1956 and Nixon served both terms as vice president. In 1960 Nixon was the Republican candidate against John F. Kennedy in what became one of the closest elections in U.S. history. Defeated by Kennedy, he returned to California and ran unsuccessfully for governor in 1962. (After the loss he made his famous bitter farewell to the press, saying "You won't have Nixon to kick around anymore.") In a dramatic comeback, Nixon and his running mate, Maryland's Spiro Agnew, defeated Hubert H. Humphrey in the presidential elections of 1968, then easily won re-election against Democrat George McGovern in 1972.

Although Nixon had an aggressive foreign policy that included successes with China, the Soviet Union and the Middle East, a weak national economy and domestic dissent over the Vietnam war plagued his administration. His personal style remains a point of public contention: Nixon was either a hard-driving genius or a dirty sneak, depending on the observer's point of view. After his 1972 re-election, Nixon's administration was consumed by the developing Watergate scandal, so named for the hotel and office complex where burglars hired by Nixon's re-election campaign were caught in a sloppy attempt to bug the offices of the Democratic National Committee. The White House attempt to cover up their connection led to a formal investigation that came to dominate the news throughout 1973 and 1974. Vice President Agnew had legal troubles of his own back in Maryland and resigned from office in October of 1973. After months of legal wrangling and political drama, Nixon resigned in shame on 9 August 1974, his involvement in the Watergate cover-up having been proven by recordings he himself had made in the White House.

He was succeeded in office by Gerald Ford, the Michigan congressman who had replaced Agnew. Shortly after taking office, Ford granted Nixon a full pardon, freeing him of any potential criminal charges.

Nixon died April 22, 1994 after suffering a stroke.

36th- Lyndon Johnson

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Johnson was born on Aug. 27, 1908, near Johnson City, Tex., the eldest son of Sam Ealy Johnson, Jr., and Rebekah Baines Johnson. His father, a struggling farmer and cattle speculator in the hill country of Texas, provided only an uncertain income for his family. Politically active, Sam Johnson served five terms in the Texas legislature. His mother had varied cultural interests and placed high value on education; she was fiercely ambitious for her children. Johnson attended public schools in Johnson City and received a B.S. degree from Southwest Texas State Teachers College in San Marcos. He then taught for a year in Houston before going to Washington in 1931 as secretary to a Democratic Texas congressman, Richard M. Kleberg.

During the next 4 years Johnson developed a wide network of political contacts in Washington, D.C. On Nov. 17, 1934, he married Claudia Alta Taylor, known as "Lady Bird." A warm, intelligent, ambitious woman, she was a great asset to Johnson's career. They had two daughters, Lynda Byrd, born in 1944, and Luci Baines, born in 1947. In 1933, Franklin D. Roosevelt entered the White House. Johnson greatly admired the president, who named him, at age 27, to head the National Youth Administration in Texas. This job, which Johnson held from 1935 to 1937, entailed helping young people obtain employment and schooling. It confirmed Johnson's faith in the positive potential of government and won for him a group of supporters in Texas.

In 1937, Johnson sought and won a Texas seat in Congress, where he championed public works, reclamation, and public power programs. When war came to Europe he backed Roosevelt's efforts to aid the Allies. During World War II he served a brief tour of active duty with the U.S. Navy in the Pacific (1941-42) but returned to Capitol Hill when Roosevelt recalled members of Congress from active duty. Johnson continued to support Roosevelt's military and foreign-policy programs. During the 1940s, Johnson and his wife developed profitable business ventures, including a radio station, in Texas. In 1948 he ran for the U.S. Senate, winning the Democratic party primary by only 87 votes. (This was his second try; in 1941 he had run for the Senate and lost to a conservative opponent.) The opposition accused him of fraud and tagged him "Landslide Lyndon." Although challenged, unsuccessfully, in the courts, he took office in 1949.

Lyndon Baines Johnson replaced the assassinated John F. Kennedy as United States president and oversaw major social reforms and the expansion of the Vietnam War. Known as a politician's politician, "LBJ" was a senator from Texas who'd been a powerful member of the Democratic party for two decades when he challenged young Senator Kennedy for the presidential nomination in 1960. (Republican president Dwight D. Eisenhower was stepping down after eight years.) Kennedy got the nod, then picked Johnson as his running mate. Kennedy beat Republican candidate (and Eisenhower's vice-president) Richard M. Nixon, and Johnson became vice-president in 1961. Kennedy was shot by Lee Harvey Oswald on 22 November 1963 and Johnson succeeded to the presidency. Easily re-elected over staunch conservative Barry Goldwater in 1964, LBJ was able to pass sweeping social legislation including the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act. His decision to escalate American involvement in Vietnam, however, proved to be extremely unpopular. He chose not to seek another term and retired in 1969; he was succeeded by none other than Richard Nixon.

35th- John Kennedy

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Known for putting America ahead in the space race, creating the Peace Corps, and pushing civil rights, John F. Kennedy became an icon for his steadfast devotion to ensuring the United States reached its fullest potential at home and abroad. Due to his Catholic background, many questioned how he would run the Oval Office. His rebuttals were filled with charm, candor, and strength. These qualities are what helped him win the race for the Presidency in 1960.
Kennedy had a privileged childhood attending the Edward Devotion School and graduating from the most elite boarding high schools in the country, the Choate Rosemary Hall in Wallingford. He wanted to study in England, but was forced to return home due to illness. JFK experienced further health problems while at Princeton, but eventually found his place at Harvard, where he graduated. While there he wrote his thesis entitled Why England Slept, which was later published and became a bestselling book.
Kennedy then joined the Navy and became a lieutenant before World War II began. On his boat, the PT-109, a Japanese destroyer attacked him. He swam for several miles towing a comrade, even though he was injured, to a nearby island. His other crewmembers survived as well. He became a national hero through the incident. Kennedy received numerous awards for his service, including the Purple Heart.

Within his first year as President of the United States of America, John Fitzgerald Kennedy had his first two tests as the leader of the world’s largest free nation. The first involved the Bay of Pigs Invasion, where the U.S. attempted to assassinate Fidel Castro. When nearly all 2,000 special ops soldiers were captured, Kennedy had to publicly apologize for the attempt and paid Castro 53 million in medical supplies for subsequent release. Following, the Cuban Missile Crisis began when U.S. intelligence found the USSR was building a missile site, which would consequently be aimed at the States. Avoiding war, Kennedy was able to meet with leaders in Russia, where they agreed on a peaceful resolution.

After starting the Peace Corps, where American volunteers would go abroad to help those in resource poor nations in an attempt to better their conditions, conflict in Vietnam was becoming paramount. JFK supplied limited help in Vietnam and steadily increased soldiers on the ground. However, upon Kennedy’s death, the war escalated to something uncontrollable and the U.S. became even more involved.

Kennedy was also involved in the construction of the Berlin Wall and the Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty. At home, he advocated civil rights and racial integration, believing those of different ethnicities should not have to have their own restrooms, restaurants, and places on buses. He proposed the Civil Rights Act that would come into affect in 1964. Through all he did, he always had the American public’s full attention. Before he was assassinated in Dallas Texas, supposedly by Lee Harvey Oswald, he was at the height of his popularity and his career. His death sent shockwaves through the world as everyone knew they had lost someone truly unique who during his life attempted to better the lives of everyone, whether American or not.

34th- Dwight Eisenhower

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Dwight David Eisenhower (October 14, 1890 - March 28, 1969) was the 34th (1953-1961) President of the United States and an Allied commander in World War II.

His first distinctive work involved exploring the feasibility of crossing the North American continent with modern mechanised equipment, shortly after World War I. Between the wars he served in quasi-political aide de camp roles or similar. During World War II, after his success in army maneuvers in 1941, he was vaulted over 4000 officers to an assignment as chief of operations (1942) and rose from that post to U.S. commander of the European theater of operations in June 1942. He was overall commander for the North African landings in November of that year, and in February 1943, took command of Allied forces in North Africa.
In December 1943, after the successful invasion of Sicily in July, 1943 and Italy in September, he was appointed supreme commander of the Allied Expeditionary Forces. His diplomatic skills helped keep the other allies, notably the British, particularly Gen. Bernard Montgomery, on side. Another notable achievement was his skill at combined operations, the difficult art of coordinating land, sea, and air forces toward a single strategic goal, which culminated in the Normandy landings on D-Day in June 1944. After the war, as Army Chief of Staff, he advocated merger of the army, navy, and air force into single combined military force.

When World War II was over, General Eisenhower became head of the military occupation government of Germany as the Allied Control Council. He served as president of Columbia University in 1948-1952.

Eisenhower was a complex, mercurial man. Confident and self-contained in public, he was content with his public image as president as a grinning, patriotic but somewhat inarticulate citizen-politician. In truth, he was a far more calculating man than he let on, with great natural political skills.

President Dwight David Eisenhower (called Ike for short) had a big smile and big ideas. As president, he brought many changes to the government by giving the cabinet more power. He was a military man, but fought no wars in his eight years as president, except for ending one. He resisted entreaties to get involved in Vietnam on the advice of General Matthew Ridgeway who gave him a comprehensive estimate of the massive commitment that would have been required. He signed defense treaties with Korea and Taiwan, and he severed diplomatic relations with Cuba. He forced desegregation in schools, and kept defense spending very low.

For the 1948 election, Harry S Truman secretly told Ike that if he ran for president as a Democrat, Truman would go as his running mate and Eisenhower would get a sure win. Ike refused because he didn't want to be president. For the 1952 election, he was approached again, this time by the Democrats and the Republicans. He still refused, because he did not consider himself a politician. But he changed his mind when "I Like Ike" clubs started popping up all over the country. Eisenhower had never even voted for president before, and had no political affiliation. He ran for the Republicans because he was a strong believer in the two-party system, and there hadn't been a Republican president in over twenty years.

During his campaign Eisenhower never mentioned his main competitor, Adlai Stevenson, by name. Instead he mostly criticized the ways of Truman, who had just been the Democratic president. This strategy worked, and he got 442 electoral votes, compared to Stevenson's 89. What makes this appear especially amazing is that he had never even held public office; however he had had links with the Washington system between the wars in his aide de camp capacity. But he was considered a war hero, and so he had a good image.

He got the votes of both Democrats and Republicans, because he had "middle way politics" meaning he was a moderate Republican, allowing Democrats to also agree with him. This method allowed him to get along well with the mostly Democratic senate, and it made him very popular during his presidency. On the other hand, when his terms were over he was greatly criticized for his politics.

When Arkansas governor Orval Faubus wouldn't desegregate the schools, despite the ruling of the Supreme Court, Eisenhower brought in troops because the Supreme Court ruling was the law and it had to be followed.

Eisenhower is also strongly criticized for not taking a public stand against Senator Joseph McCarthy, although he privately hated him, particularly for McCarthy's attack on his friend and World War II colleague, Secretary of State General George Marshall.
Eisenhower endorsed the United States Interstate highway Act, in 1956. It was the largest American public works program in history, providing a 41,000-mile highway system. Eisenhower had been impressed during the war with the German Autobahns and also recalled his own involvement in a military convoy in 1919 that took 62 days to cross the United States.
Another achievement was a twenty percent increase in family income during his presidency, which he was very proud of. He added a tenth cabinet position -- the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare -- and he gave all of the cabinet members more responsibilities in their areas, letting them take a lot of praise and glory. And he achieved a balanced budget three of the years that he was president.

During his campaign he promised to stop the Korean War, and it was one of the first things he accomplished as president. He flew to Korea and implied in a show of brinkmanship that he would spread the war to China, and bring in nuclear weapons. This was effective and a cease-fire was signed in 1953. He signed defense treaties with Korea and Taiwan, and entered SEATO, which was an alliance with Asian countries to try and stop Communist China. Eisenhower was very concerned about Communism, which may be the reason he did not speak out against McCarthy. He formulated the Eisenhower Doctrine, which helped justify US involvement in Lebanon during his second term. He was also concerned about too much war: in a speech at the end of his second term, he warned against the "military-industrial complex".
There were high tensions in the Middle East, particularly between Israel and Egypt. The British and French sided with Israel, and they attacked Egypt. Then Egypt tried to get the Soviet Union to help, and the Soviet Union threatened that they would. Eisenhower did not want the conflict to turn into the third World War, and he demanded that the United Nations replace the force of England and France. Britain agreed to withdraw, and the crisis was ended. The US did not become involved in any major military conflicts during his administration.

Eisenhower left an interesting legacy. He was very popular during his presidency, but soon after it ended historians rated him as one of the worst presidents in history. This was mainly because of his reluctance to help desegregation and to stop McCarthyism. Also, he made the nuclear arms race much worse, with continuous threats. But in a recent poll of historians, he was rated number eleven. This is because people understand his presidency differently now. They realize that he played up the cabinet's accomplishments and played down his own purposely. He wanted to spread the responsibility around, so that it was possible to get more done. They also remember that he accomplished the Interstate Highway Act and kept defense spending very low.

33rd- Harry Truman

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Harry Truman Harry S. Truman was born on May 8th, 1884 in Lamar, Missouri. He was the eldest of three children born to John Anderson Truman and his wife Martha Ellen. His family moved around the local area during Harry’s early years before settling in Kansas City in 1902. Truman attended high school in Independence and graduated in 1901. His early jobs included working as a timekeeper for a railroad construction firm and then as a bank clerk in Kansas City. However, in 1906 he moved home to help his father on the family farm, which is where he remained for over ten years. Like many other Presidents, Truman served in the military during his early life. Truman served for the Missouri National Guard between 1905 and 1911 and later ascended to the rank of Captain in the129th Field Artillery during World War I. He fought in France between 1917 and 1919 and joined the reserves after the war, eventually making Colonel.

In June 1919, Truman married childhood sweetheart Bess Wallace. Their only child, Mary Margaret was born in February 1924, but by then the Trumans’ financial situation was anything but stable. In 1922, the men’s store he owned with a friend suffered as a result of the post-war recession and Truman narrowly avoided bankruptcy. Despite his debt, Truman had a respectable position in the community and was elected as a judge for Jackson County Court. This role began his political career. Although the role was more administrative than judicial, it enabled him to demonstrate skills that established his reputation as an efficient and fair politician.

Truman’s reputation secured his election to the Senate in 1934. During his first term, Truman played a key role in a number of legislative initiatives. However, it was not until his re-election in 1940 that Truman came into his own as an integral part of the United States government. Truman became chairman of the Senate Special Committee to Investigate the National Defense Programme. It soon became known simply as the Truman Committee. During World War II, Truman and his staff investigated corruption and ensured that defense contracts were fair and delivered quality goods. In July 1944, Truman was nominated Franklin D. Roosevelt’s running mate in the presidential election. Following their successful campaign, Truman was sworn in as Vice-President on January 20th, 1945. Whether his limited experience in that role prepared him or not, he became the 33rd President of the United States in April the same year following Roosevelt’s sudden death. The first two months of Truman’s presidency were spent following Roosevelt’s policies in an attempt to bring World War II to an end.

In June 1945 he witnessed the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, the initiative that would hopefully bring peace to Europe. However, Truman soon began to depart from his predecessor’s policies and introduce his own initiatives. Truman had seemingly never been close to Roosevelt, which was typified by the fact that he had no prior knowledge of the existence of an atomic bomb. When Japan refused to surrender following the close of the war in Europe, Truman was faced with the staggering decision whether to use the weapon. After consultation with his advisors, Truman became the only US President to use an atomic weapon on August 6th 1945, and again three days later. The Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were destroyed. Although Truman may be best remembered for the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, his foreign policy initiatives were extensive. He attempted to regulate the power and influence of the Soviet Union and communism within Europe via the Truman Doctrine, which offered aid to European countries under Soviet threat.

His resolution to fight communism was proven when he declared war on North Korea, a communist nation, in 1950 because they had invaded South Korea, a non-communist country. Truman’s domestic policies were integral to America’s survival after the war. Drawing on elements of the New Deal, he managed to ensure the country did not fall into a recession. However, he did face opposition from Congress, which had a Republican majority, and thus many of his proposed social reforms never saw the light of day. Truman was also an advocate for Civil Rights, laying the foundations for the fight against segregation. Although he failed to bring relevant legislation into law, he did desegregate the military and formed the Committee on Civil Rights, ostensibly giving African Americans a voice. In spite of his liberal nature, Truman won re-election in 1948, despite most of his critics predicting defeat.

At the end of his second term, Truman retired to his hometown of Independence. He spent his retirement as a man of leisure, choosing a life away from politics. He read extensively and lectured, as well as founding his own library. Harry S. Truman died on December 26th, 1972 in Kansas City, Missouri. He was aged 88.

32nd Franklin Roosevelt

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Known for his amazing New Deal social program that benefited the working class, aided the elderly, and promoted the expansion and support of artists, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, known by his initials of FDR, held the office of President of the United States for four terms. His focus was on improving the infrastructure and social system of the United States. With the end of the Great Depression, Roosevelt wanted to remain neutral in the war that was occurring in Europe, but with the declaration of war on the United States by Germany and Italy, the United States began a campaign fueled by the fervor of a nation that had worked its way into an industrial powerhouse.
As a young boy growing up in New York City, the young Franklin D. Roosevelt had many privileges. He had private tutors, was able to travel to Europe frequently, and was able to attend Harvard and eventually become a lawyer after passing his bar examination. After working with corporate law cases on Wall Street, he decided to try something different – something more fulfilling where he would make a social difference.

During this transition time, he married Eleanor Roosevelt, his fifth cousin, and involved himself in politics as Eleanor’s uncle, Theodore Roosevelt, was the President of the United States. The two had six children, none who would be able to surpass the shadow of their parents. Woodrow Wilson soon appointed Franklin Secretary of the Navy for his support at the Democratic Convention. This would prepare him for his role at leading a nation at war in his successive terms in office as President.

While in New Brunswick, Canada, FDR contracted polio and never overcame the illness, even though he set up organizations to help find a vaccine and a cure. He also founded the March of Dimes. He entered political life again and became the governor of New York. He began garnishing support to become the Democratic Candidate for president. He did so and ran the race with charm, pizzazz, and a new ideology for America. He defeated Hoover for the presidency by over five million votes. During his time in office, known for reform and rebuilding, he set a new precedent for the path of America. However, even with the formation of the Axis Powers through the United Nations, the stress of the war and failing health led to his death.

31st- Herbert Hoover

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Herbert Clark Hoover was born on August 10, 1874, in West Branch, Iowa. Hoover's parents died by the time that he turned eight years of age, and he spent the rest of his youth living with other relatives, including an aunt and uncle in Newberg, Oregon. Hoover attended Newberg College, a Quaker preparatory school, and at the age of fifteen years, took a position as an office boy in his uncle's real estate business.

In 1891, Hoover enrolled in Stanford University to study engineering. He graduated in 1895, and spent the next several years trying to find work in his chosen profession. He worked as a typist, a miner's helper, and other occupations, before receiving a position with a British mining firm that used Hoover's talents in the firm's Australian gold mines. In 1899, Hoover accepted a position with the Chinese government as the chief engineer of the country's mine bureau. Hoover and his wife, Lou Henry, were in China during the Boxer Rebellion. He left China in 1900, but he returned the following year. Later in 1901, Hoover became part owner of a British engineering company. He spent the next dozen years traveling around the world, directing various engineering projects.

At the outbreak of World War I, Hoover embarked upon a career in politics and civil service. He helped more than 100,000 Americans return to the United States from war-torn Europe. He also chaired the Commission for Relief in Belgium, an agency that sent food and supplies to people in German-occupied Belgium. In 1917, the United States entered the conflict, and President Woodrow Wilson appointed Hoover as the administrator of the Food Administration. This government bureaucracy's mission was to keep prices for food stable and to ensure that America's soldiers, civilians, and allies had sufficient food. In 1918, Hoover also served as chairman of the Allied Food Council, which provided food to people living in war-torn areas of Europe.

Because of Hoover's important contributions to humanity during World War I, many supporters of both the Democratic and Republican Parties asked Hoover to seek their party's nomination for the presidency in 1920. A life-long Republican, Hoover rejected these offers. In 1921, he became President Warren G. Harding's Secretary of Commerce. He also served in this capacity for most of Calvin Coolidge's administration, before resigning to seek the presidency.

In the election of 1928, Hoover, the Republican candidate, won easily over Al Smith, the Democratic candidate. Unfortunately for Hoover, the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression erupted just seven months after he assumed the presidency. The Great Depression consumed the rest of Hoover's presidency. The president initially believed that the depression was just a slight economic downturn. Very quickly, however, twelve million Americans found themselves unemployed. Hoover did convince the U.S. Congress to reduce income tax rates, hoping that this would spur the economy, but millions of Americans had no income in the first place. He offered government loans to businesses so that they could expand, thus creating more jobs, but few businesses wanted to go into debt, as other firms across the country were closing their doors due to bankruptcy. In 1932, veterans from World War I marched on Washington, DC, seeking assistance. Unfortunately for these men and their families, Hoover refused and forcibly removed the veterans from the nation's capital. In the election of 1932, the American people overwhelmingly elected Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the Democratic candidate. Hoover had sought reelection, but a majority of Americans were disgruntled with Hoover's failure to provide them with more aid during the Great Depression.

Upon leaving office, Hoover retired to Palo Alto, California. He authored several books, including his memoirs and a history of Woodrow Wilson's presidency. With his wife's death in 1944, Hoover moved to New York City. Following World War II, Hoover returned to government life, helping rebuild war-torn Europe as chairman of the Famine Emergency Commission. He also directed two commissions to review the internal workings of the federal government. Hoover died on October 20, 1964.

30th- Calvin Coolidge

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Thirtieth President of the United States, born in Plymouth. He is the only US President born on Independence Day.

He attended Black River Academy in Ludlow and did a post-graduate term at St. Johnsbury Academy. After graduating from Amherst College, he practiced law in Northampton, Massachusetts. He held a series of local and state offices until becoming governor of Massachusetts in 1919, gaining national attention there for using the state militia to suppress a police strike. The fact is, the strike was over by the time the militia was activated, and he had acted upon the request of Boston's mayor. Elected Vice President to Warren G. Harding in 1920, he succeeded to the presidency upon Harding's death in 1923.

Coolidge was visiting the family homestead in Plymouth when word came that Harding had died, and he agreed to a ceremony at which his father, acting in his capacity as a Notary Public, would officiate. Later, when asked how he knew he could perform the ceremony, the elder Coolidge replied, "Nobody told me I couldn't." He was elected to serve a full term as President the following year.

Popular and deliberately hands-off in prosperous times, Coolidge was noted more for what he did not do and say than for what he did: he is often quoted as having said "the business of America is business," though he he never actually said that. What he actually said was "the chief business of the American people is business," which, though similar, means something entirely different when left in the context in which it was offered. He declined renomination in 1928.
In his private life he was equally noted for his taciturn, thrifty ways. After leaving the White House, he retired to Northampton and wrote various articles promoting his conservative views as well as his autobiography.

As what one could call a typical laconic Vermonter, he was known as "Silent Cal", with a preference for saying as little as possible and reputed to put more than two words together only on the rarest of occasions. On the weight of this reputation, a woman once challenged him, "I bet I can get you to say more than two words."
"You lose", was the reply.

As "silent" as Cal might have been, his voice was heard by more Americans than any President before him. On December 6, 1923, his State of The Union Address was the first presidential address broadcast on radio (listeners were struck by the fact that "you could even hear him turning the pages"). Four days later, a tribute to Warren G. Harding was the first presidential address via radio from the White House.

29th- Warren Harding

2009-01-29T17:08:00.000-08:00

Warren Harding was the 29th President of the United States. He served from 1921-1923. He was born on November 2, 1865 in Corsica, Ohio. He became a publisher of a newspaper. He married a divorcee, Mrs. Florence Kling De Wolfe. Florence was the daughter of a very rich man. She had one son from her previous marriage. She had a real toughness and was a hard worker. She was a motivator for Harding and she had encouraged his political aspirations. Harding was a trustee of the Trinity Baptist Church, a business man and a leader in charitable and fraternal organizations. Harding was known for his very expensive tastes. He spent a lot of time of his appearance. He had so many clothes when he entered the White House that new closets were needed to be built.

Harding was a Republican and had a great speaking voice. He was willing to let others come up with the policies, but sang their praises. He was elected to the State Senate and then became the Lieutenant Governor in Ohio. He was unsuccessful in his run for Governor. He was elected to the Senate in 1914. Harry Daugherty started to promote Harding for the 1920 Republican nomination for President because “He looked like a President”. He easily won the Presidential election by 60 percent of the popular vote. The Republicans in the Congress could easily get Harding’s signatures on bills. Together they ensured that wartime controls were eliminated. Taxes were reduced and a Federal budget system was built. They restore the protective tariff and tightened limitations on immigration.

The postwar depression was easing up and America was entering a time of prosperity. The newspapers toted Harding’s campaign motto “Less government in business and more business in government.” Harding’s administration also had trouble. Harding had found out that some of his friends were using official positions for their own gain. He struggled with whether or not he should give the public knowledge of the grievances for the overall good of the country. Harding was able to dodge a bullet in the League of Nations controversy as it was defeated. However, he gave full support for the US entry into the World Court. He supported Hughes’s plan for the international naval disarmament. This had been accepted by Great Britain, France, Italy and Japan in 1921-1922 at the Washington Conference. Harding had also supported the Mellon tax reduction plan which reflected his strongly held conservative Republican values. He convinced the Congress to adopt unified federal codes for banking and business. He did not do much to help the failing farmers who were suffering from lower crop prices.

He also did nothing to help workers facing unemployment and severe wage cuts. Harding went with the majority on his stance on immigration and Prohibition. Harding pardoned Eugene Debs, who was the Socialist party leader who had been put in prison under the 1917 Espionage Act for opposing American involvement in the war. Most had thought that Debs did not deserve jail, but Wilson had refused to release him. He died on August 2, 1923 of a heart attack. After his death there were a series of Congressional investigations that brought to the public’s attention the corruption of his administration. The Veterans Bureau and the Justice Department both had investigations.

28th- Woodrow Wilson

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Although he was the president that took the United States into World War I, Woodrow Wilson also worked hard to keep neutral in the conflict. Before he was even president, he had gained high leadership roles as the president of Princeton, followed by becoming the governor of New Jersey. During the conflict of World War I, Wilson worked on his idea of a united government system that would work together as allies, known as the League of Nations.
Born to a Presbyterian minister, young Thomas Woodrow was given an excellent education, but one that was strict and unyielding. After graduating from Princeton, he attempted law school and eventually a practice, but left the field for his graduate work and eventual doctorate from Johns Hopkins University. During his time, he fine-tuned his ideas about what the President should be, how he should lead the country, and what his defined roles would be. After his doctorate, he taught political science.

When Woodrow Wilson became a governor in 1910, he was a gifted leader who fought corruption and helped employees who were treated unfairly by their jobs. He also worked to create a balanced system between public utilities and taxpayers. By the time he became president in 1912, he was ready to put his theories of leadership into direct practice.

President Woodrow Wilson served two terms in office. In his first years, he created the Federal Reserve Act that would put banking systems under federal control. He also saw the Federal Trade Commission come into existence and was able to avoid war in Mexico with the help of Argentina, Brazil, and Chile. Even though he attempted to keep out of World War I, by the time Germany kept showing itself as probably victors in France and England, and after sinking American ships with submarines, Wilson declared war and sated that the country would be held accountable for every American life it ended. By forming the League of Nations, he hoped that any future bloody incidents would be avoided. Wilson saw the fruition of the Treaty of Versailles, which held Germany responsible for the war. Even though some of his policies backfired or have been criticized, Woodrow Wilson is regarded as one of the greatest presidents of all time who did not simply rush into war on a whim, but attempted, above all else, peace.

27th- William Taft

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William Howard Taft, a scion of a long-prominent family, was born in Cincinnati on September 15, 1857. His father, Alphonso Taft, had a distinguished career in law and foreign service. Alphonso Taft was a state judge from 1865-72, U.S. Secretary of War in 1876 (a position his son would later hold), U.S. Attorney General from 1876-77, Minister to Austria-Hungary from 1882-1884, and Minister to Russia from 1884-1885.

Young Taft attended Woodward High School in Cincinnati, finishing second in his class. He followed family tradition and went to Yale, again finishing as salutatorian-he was nothing if not consistent. He then returned to Cincinnati and received his law degree from The Cincinnati Law School, which would later merge with the University of Cincinnati.

William Howard Taft's first public office was as Assistant Hamilton County Prosecutor, in 1881. Then, at age 30, he served as judge on the Superior Court in Cincinnati for three years, before being appointed Solicitor General of the United States in 1890.

Continuing his meteoric rise in the legal profession, Taft was appointed by President Benjamin Harrison as a judge of the newly created Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati, at age 34. He served on that court from 1892-1900. At the same time, he also served as the first Dean of the University of Cincinnati College of Law (after the merger of The Cincinnati Law School with the university). In his judicial career, he was known for the quality of his opinions and for his diligence. He found great satisfaction in the "writing up" of appellate decisions. His ability to marshal detail into a coherent whole served him well in appellate work.

Taft contributed to the legal profession in Cincinnati in many other ways. For instance, when he was a young lawyer of twenty-eight, he was in charge of rebuilding the collection of books for the county law library, which had lost all but one volume in the courthouse riot and fire of 1884.
William Howard Taft would have been happy to serve out his career in the judiciary, but his wife, Helen Herron (Nellie) Taft, and perhaps history, had other plans.

Taft was persuaded by his wife to accept appointment by President William McKinley as chief administrator in the Philippines. His charge was to transfer government from military to civilian rule. He served as civil governor there from 1901-1904. Taft was widely praised for his work in the Philippines, in sponsoring land reform, road building, and honest and efficient government. In the Philippines, Taft demonstrated that his talent as an administrator was equal to his prowess as a jurist.

After McKinley's assassination in 1901, Theodore Roosevelt assumed the presidency. Roosevelt recognized Taft's extraordinary abilities by naming him Secretary of War in 1904. One primary assignment was to supervise the building of the Panama Canal, the greatest engineering project yet attempted. Taft's grasp of detail served him well. He received praise for his able administration of the War Department, and became somewhat of a darling of the press, a situation that would later reverse.

Teddy Roosevelt and Big Bill Taft became good friends, and Roosevelt, who had made a pledge (which he later regretted) not to run again in 1908, picked Taft as his successor. Taft promised to carry out the "trust busting" and other progressive policies of the Roosevelt administration. With the popular Roosevelt's strong support, he trounced Democratic Party candidate William Jennings Bryan to become the twenty-seventh President of the United States.
But Taft's honeymoon period in the presidency was brief. The Republican Party was bitterly divided between the western progressives, who hoped that Roosevelt's reforms were just a beginning, and the eastern conservatives, who thought Roosevelt had gone too far.
President Taft, for all his administrative talent, lacked the political savvy to unite, or at least mediate between, the two factions. His presidency drifted, and became mired in the troubles within his own party-troubles not of his making, but beyond his ability to solve.
Progressives, livid at his defense of the Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act, failed to credit him with bringing more "trust busting" cases than Roosevelt (Standard Oil was dissolved in 1911), instituting an eight-hour day for federal employees, and supporting the Sixteenth Amendment, allowing the income tax (ratified in 1913).

The previous friendship with Roosevelt fell apart, amid perceived snubs and misunderstandings on both sides. The families had never liked each other, even during the good times between the two men. And the friendship had been more political than personal. The men were such different personalities that a true intimate friendship would have been difficult-Roosevelt the brash "big picture" thinker, and Taft the affable but reserved detail person. Ultimately, Roosevelt, having given Taft the presidency, believed it was his to reclaim.

The progressives wanted Teddy Roosevelt back in the White House. When the Republican convention of 1912, controlled by the conservatives, renominated Taft, they bolted and formed the Progressive, or "Bull Moose" Party, to support Roosevelt.

Once Roosevelt was on the ballot, Taft was doomed. Though Roosevelt and Taft together outpolled the Democratic candidate, Woodrow Wilson, by over a million votes, the spilt gave an overwhelming Electoral College victory to Wilson. Taft came in third, carrying only two states (Vermont and Utah).

Taft's presidency is remembered as honest, civilized, and middle-of-the-road. The latter was its downfall. Aside from the achievements mentioned above, a few notable facts from the Taft administration are that he had the first presidential automobile and the largest bathtub. (Taft was a large man -our biggest president- standing 6'4" and weighing more than 300 pounds.) He began the presidential tradition of throwing out the first pitch of the baseball year at the season opener between the Washington Senators and the Philadelphia Athletics on April 14, 1910. His wife, first lady Helen Herron Taft, was responsible for the Japanese cherry trees in Washington D.C., planting the first saplings (out of 3,000) with the Japanese ambassador's wife.
After the Presidency, Taft went back to his first love, the law -first as a professor of law at Yale. He taught law for eight years, and was then nominated by President Warren Harding to be the ninth Chief Justice of the United States. The Senate confirmed him the same day-certainly a contrast with today's often-grueling confirmation process. He was the only person in history to be both President and Chief Justice. Upon his elevation to Chief Justice, he proclaimed: "I don't remember that I was ever President."

As Chief Justice, Taft's tenure was marked by hard work and by efforts for judicial reform. Taft was concerned about the delay and inefficiency in the federal court system. His first task was to secure the passage of The Judges Act in 1922. The act was the first major reform of the federal judiciary since 1789. It gave the Chief Justice more power over the federal courts-Taft used it to reduce delay and streamline operations.

Most legal scholars rate Taft as a good, if conservative, Chief Justice. He would usually side with "property rights" over labor and government power over civil rights. These views were generally shared by his colleagues on the court at the time, with the notable exceptions of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., and Louis D. Brandeis, who often dissented.

The most visible legacy of Taft's Chief Justiceship is the Supreme Court Building, for which he lobbied. Prior to having its own building, the Supreme Court heard arguments in the Capitol, and the justices, having no offices, worked from their homes. The new structure, complete with offices, was completed after Taft's death.
Taft served as Chief Justice from 1921-30, retiring shortly before his death in March 1930. Strangely enough, he is one of only two Presidents buried at Arlington Cemetery. (The other is John F. Kennedy.)

The Taft legacy of public service continues to this day. William Howard and Nellie's son, Robert A. Taft, "Mr. Republican," became a U.S. Senator from Ohio, and thrice sought the Republican nomination for President. Another son, Charles P. Taft II, was mayor of Cincinnati. Robert A.'s son, Robert Taft, Jr., served in the U.S. House of Representatives and then the Senate. William Howard's great-grandson, Robert A. Taft II, was elected Governor of Ohio in 1998.

26th- Theodore Roosevelt

2009-01-29T17:03:00.000-08:00

Theodore Roosevelt (October 27, 1858–January 6, 1919) was born in New York into one of the old Dutch families which had settled in America in the seventeenth century. At eighteen he entered Harvard College and spent four years there, dividing his time between books and sport and excelling at both.

After leaving Harvard he studied in Germany for almost a year and then immediately entered politics. He was elected to the Assembly of New York State, holding office for three years and distinguishing himself as an ardent reformer.In 1884, because of ill health and the death of his wife, Roosevelt abandoned his political work for some time. He invested part of the fortune he had inherited from his father in a cattle ranch in the Badlands of Dakota Territory, expecting to remain in the West for many years. He became a passionate hunter, especially of big game, and an ardent believer in the wild outdoor life which brought him health and strength. In 1886 Roosevelt returned to New York, married again, and once more plunged into politics. President Harrison, after his election in 1889, appointed Roosevelt as a member of the Civil Service Commission of which he later became president. This office he retained until 1895 when he undertook the direction of the Police Department of New York City. In 1897 he joined President McKinley's administration as assistant secretary of the Navy.

While in this office he actively prepared for the Cuban War, which he saw was coming, and when it broke out in 1898, went to Cuba as lieutenant colonel of a regiment of volunteer cavalry, which he himself had raised among the hunters and cowboys of the West. He won great fame as leader of these «Rough-Riders», whose story he told in one of his most popular books.Elected governor of the state of New York in 1898, he invested his two-year administration with the vigorous and businesslike characteristics which were his hallmark. He would have sought reelection in 1900, since much of his work was only half done, had the Republicans not chosen him as their candidate for the second office of the Union. He held the vice-presidency for less than a year, succeeding to the presidency after the assassination of President McKinley on September 14, 1901.

In 1904 Roosevelt was elected to a full term as president.In 1902 President Roosevelt took the initiative in opening the international Court of Arbitration at The Hague, which, though founded in 1899, had not been called upon by any power in its first three years of existence. The United States and Mexico agreed to lay an old difference of theirs, concerning the Pious Foundations of California, before the Hague Tribunal. When this example was followed by other powers, the arbitration machinery created in 1899 was finally called into operation. Roosevelt also played a prominent part in extending the use of arbitration to international problems in the Western Hemisphere, concluding several arbitration treaties with European powers too, although the Senate refused to ratify them.In 1904 the Interparliamentary Union, meeting in St. Louis, Missouri, requested Roosevelt to call another international conference to continue the work begun at The Hague in 1899. Roosevelt responded immediately, and in the autumn of 1904 Secretary of State John Hay invited the powers to meet at The Hague. Russia, however, refused to participate in a conference while engaged in hostilities with Japan. After the peace of 1905, the matter was placed in the hands of the Russian government, which had taken the initiative in convening the first Hague Conference.

In June, 1905, President Roosevelt offered his good offices as mediator between Russia and Japan, asking the belligerents to nominate plenipotentiaries to negotiate on the conditions of peace. In August they met at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and after some weeks of difficult negotiations concluded a peace treaty in September, 1905.

Roosevelt's candidate for president, William Howard Taft, took office in 1909. Dissatisfied with Taft's performance, Roosevelt bolted the regular Republican Party in 1912 and accepted the presidential nomination by the Progressive Party. He outpolled Taft, but Woodrow Wilson outpolled each of them. In 1917 Wilson refused his offer to raise and command a division to fight in World War I.Roosevelt was an historian, a biographer, a statesman, a hunter, a naturalist, an orator. His prodigious literary output includes twenty-six books, over a thousand magazine articles, thousands of speeches and letters.In 1919, at the age of sixty, he died in his sleep.

25th- William McKinley

2009-01-29T16:59:00.002-08:00

William McKinley, 25th president of the United States, was born in Niles, Ohio. McKinley went to school in Niles and later in Poland, Ohio. When the Civil War began, McKinley was the first man in Poland, Ohio, to volunteer. During the fighting at Antietam in 1862, McKinley displayed bravery in combat when he brought food and coffee to his regiment under heavy enemy fire.

After the war, McKinley worked in the law office of Judge Charles E. Glidden of Youngstown and spent some time at the Albany Law School in New York. Admitted to the Ohio bar in 1867, he opened a practice in Canton where he maintained a home until his death.

In 1876 McKinley was elected to Congress from Ohio's 17th District. He quickly identified himself with the protective tariff and became a spokesman for the economic nationalism that protection represented.

In 1891 McKinley ran for governor of Ohio against the incumbent, James E. Campbell, and was elected. In 1892 McKinley enjoyed some support as a presidential candidate against President Benjamin Harrison (1833-1901), but he was the permanent chairman of the Republican National Convention and resisted efforts to have his name placed in nomination.

During the 1894 congressional elections, McKinley made 371 speeches for party candidates and emerged as the most prominent candidate for the presidential nomination in 1896. When McKinley took office on March 4, 1897, the presidency was in eclipse. Relations with the press were in disarray, and the institution was not prepared for the rapidly expanding duties of the office. Though he never expressed any large theories of presidential power, McKinley proved to be a forceful executive.

The most important foreign policy question that McKinley faced was the rebellion against Spanish rule in Cuba that had been going on since 1895. Close economic ties between the United States and Cuba aroused interest in the war. McKinley believed that Spain should not be granted unlimited time in which to suppress the uprising. He also believed that Spanish tactics must be humane and limited.

The Spanish in Cuba who were opposed to the autonomy program rioted on Jan. 12, 1898, convincing the president that Spain was not going to meet his expectation that the Cubans should obtain true self-rule. With the situation worsening, the battleship Maine was sent to Havana as a sign that friendly relations between Washington and Madrid still existed. Six days later the Maine exploded in Havana harbor, killing 266 of its officers and crew. Sentiment for war mounted.

Spain finally agreed to a suspension of hostilities that did not involve recognition of the rebels, but Madrid balked at Cuban independence. McKinley sent his interventionist message to Capitol Hill on April 11, 1898. Congress gave him the authority he sought on April 19, Spain broke diplomatic relations on April 20, and the two nations were at war by April 25.

During the brief conflict with Spain, McKinley was the central figure. Preparing for a possible war, the U. S. Navy had developed a plan to attack Spain at a vulnerable place, the Philippine Islands, which Madrid could not easily defend. Largely through his efforts, the United States stood victorious in Cuba and the Philippines by mid-July 1898.
By 1900 returning prosperity and the foreign policy record of the administration made McKinley's re-election chances almost certain. The result was another decisive victory for McKinley; he had 292 electoral votes to 155 for Bryan.

The early months of the second term went well. The army captured the main Filipino leader, Emilio Aguinaldo, in March 1901; and the Supreme Court upheld the administration's power over the territories won from Spain in 1898 in the Insular Cases. That summer McKinley traveled across the country and decided to visit the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo. As he was greeting citizens during a public reception in the Temple of Music, Leon Czolgosz, a self-proclaimed anarchist, shot him twice in the stomach. McKinley lived for eight more days before he died in Buffalo. The nation mourned; McKinley was buried in Canton, and a memorial to him opened there that same year.

24th- Grover Clevland

2009-01-29T16:59:00.001-08:00

Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837 - June 24, 1908), the twenty-second and twenty-fourth President of the United States, was the only President to serve non-consecutive terms. He was defeated for reelection in 1888 by Benjamin Harrison, against whom he ran again in 1892 and won a second term.He was the only Democrat elected to the Presidency in the era of Republican political domination that lasted from 1860 to 1912. Cleveland's admirers praise him for his honesty, independence, integrity, and commitment to the principles of classical liberalism.As a leader of the Bourbon Democrats, he opposed imperialism, taxes, corruption, patronage, subsidies and inflationary policies.Some of Cleveland's actions were controversial with political factions. Such criticisms include: his intervention in the Pullman Strike of 1894 in order to keep the railroads moving (a move that angered labor unions), his support of the gold standard and opposition to free silver, which alienated the agrarian wing of the Democrats. Furthermore, critics complained that he had little imagination and seemed overwhelmed by the nation's economic disasters - depressions and strikes - in his second term. He lost control of his party to the agrarians and silverites in 1896, and thus his political career was over. He passed away in 1908, the first president to reach into the twentieth century.

23rd- Benjamin Harrison

2009-01-29T16:58:00.001-08:00

Benjamin Harrison was the twenty-third President of the United States. He served from 1889-1893. He was born on August 20, 1833 in North Bend, Ohio. He was named for his great-grandfather, who had been a signer of the Declaration of Independence. His father, John, was a farmer and Benjamin was one of nine children. Benjamin was seven years old when his grandfather, William Henry Harrison, was elected President in 1841. Benjamin’s father lived too far from town to make schooling feasible, so he built a one room schoolhouse of his own and hired a teacher each winter to teach his children. When Harrison was fourteen, he was sent away to a college prep school and at sixteen, entered Miami University in Ohio. He studied hard and graduated in 1852 at the age of eighteen. Harrison moved to Cincinnati and began to clerk and study law. In 1853, he married Caroline Scott, whose father was president of a girl’s school in Oxford, Ohio. They would have two children. After completing his law studies, Harrison moved to Indianapolis, Indiana and established a law practice in 1854.

Harrison did well and, in 1855, began a partnership with William Wallace. In 1860, he entered politics as a Republican and ran for the office of Reporter to the Supreme Court of Indiana. The speaking and debate skills that he developed in college paid off and he won the election easily.

Harrison entered the Civil War in 1862. The Governor offered him command of a regiment of volunteers as a Colonel. The regiment, 70th Indiana Volunteers, was involved in heavy fighting and “Little Ben” as he was known, showed bravery and leadership. In March of 1865, he was promoted to Brigadier General.

After the war, Harrison returned to Indianapolis. He had been re-elected to the Reporter position in his absence in 1864. He declined to run in 1866 and went back into private law practice with Governor Porter. The relationship was good and Harrison prospered, becoming a leading figure in the state. Harrison reluctantly ran for governor as a Republican in 1876. He lost, but only by 5000 votes out of 434,000 cast. He led the Republican delegation to the National Convention in 1880 and helped Garfield win the nomination. When Garfield was elected, Harrison was offered a Cabinet post but declined, as he had been elected to the US Senate by the Indiana legislature. Harrison served in the Senate from 1881 to 1887. His term was unremarkable as he tended to follow his party leaders.

As such, he opposed the vetoes of pension bills, urged an increase in the size of the Navy. He also supported increases in tariffs. In 1888, the Republican convention was again deadlocked. John Sherman of Ohio and Walter Gresham of Indiana were the frontrunners but neither could win outright. The Republican “kingmaker” James Blaine was on vacation in Scotland, but cabled back the words “Take Harrison”, and he was nominated on the eighth ballot. Blaine felt Harrison was “safe” and easy to control. Harrison did not campaign all that actively. The feeling was that Cleveland had antagonized the electorate during his first term to the extent that the Republicans would beat him easily. In fact, Cleveland narrowly won the popular vote and, had it not been for Tammany Hall in New York hating Cleveland, Harrison would not have won.

Among his first moves after the election, Harrison appointed Blaine as Secretary of State. The Republicans controlled both houses, allowing Harrison and his friends almost free rein to pass what they wanted. They passed the Sherman Silver Purchase Act, increasing the monthly amount of silver the government purchased, substantially raised tariffs, and increased veteran’s pensions, and so on. Harrison also pursued a vigorous foreign policy under Blain. He pushed claims for Samoa, and established the Pan American Conference to develop better relationships within the Western Hemisphere. He also oversaw admission of six new states, all in the West, to the United Statrs, bringing the total to forty-four. In 1890, the Democrats won big in the off year elections and established a majority of 235 to 88 Republicans. It was a repudiation of the weakened currency and the increasing prices brought about by Harrison. These policies would lead to the “Panic of ‘93”.

Harrison won renomination in 1892 and again ran against Cleveland. This time he lost to the former President quite decisively for many of the same reasons the Republicans lost in the elections of 1890. In his final address to Congress, Harrison defended his tariff system. Harrison accepted an invitation to deliver lecturers at Stamford then returned to Indianapolis to practice law. His wife had died in 1892 and he remarried in 1896, at the age of sixty two, the thirty-seven year old niece of his first wife. They had a daughter. He continued his international law practice and wrote a book on the US government. He died on March 13, 1901 at the age of sixty-seven

22nd Grover Clevland

2009-01-29T15:57:00.001-08:00

Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837 - June 24, 1908), the twenty-second and twenty-fourth President of the United States, was the only President to serve non-consecutive terms. He was defeated for reelection in 1888 by Benjamin Harrison, against whom he ran again in 1892 and won a second term.

He was the only Democrat elected to the Presidency in the era of Republican political domination that lasted from 1860 to 1912. Cleveland's admirers praise him for his honesty, independence, integrity, and commitment to the principles of classical liberalism.

As a leader of the Bourbon Democrats, he opposed imperialism, taxes, corruption, patronage, subsidies and inflationary policies.

Some of Cleveland's actions were controversial with political factions. Such criticisms include: his intervention in the Pullman Strike of 1894 in order to keep the railroads moving (a move that angered labor unions), his support of the gold standard and opposition to free silver, which alienated the agrarian wing of the Democrats. Furthermore, critics complained that he had little imagination and seemed overwhelmed by the nation's economic disasters - depressions and strikes - in his second term. He lost control of his party to the agrarians and silverites in 1896, and thus his political career was over. He passed away in 1908, the first president to reach into the twentieth century.

21st- Chester Arthur

2009-01-29T15:55:00.000-08:00

Chester A. Arthur was the twenty-first President of the United States. He served from 1881-1885. He was born on October 5, 1829 in Fairfield, Vermont. He was the son of a Baptist clergyman who had emigrated from Ireland. The family moved frequently as he grew up. Arthur entered Union College in New York at the age of fifteen. He made Phi Beta Kappa and graduated at the age of eighteen. He then went to law school and taught school as well. In 1853, he joined a law practice in New York and as admitted to the bar to practice law. Arthur’s father was an abolitionist and Arthur himself took on cases in support of these beliefs, defending fugitive salves. He became a Republican and campaigned for Fremont in 1856. He married Ellen Herndon in 1859 and they had three children, one who died in infancy. Mrs. Arthur died after twenty years of marriage, a year before Arthur became President.

Arthur had interest in politics and campaigned for Governor Morgan in 1860. He was rewarded with the honorary role of state engineer-in-chief, then when the Civil War began, he was made quartermaster general to help the state with war supplies. In 1862, he was appointed state inspector general of the militia. He returned to his law practice in 1863 with the election of a Democrat as Governor. Arthur continued to work with the Republican Party rising to be the number two man. He campaigned vigorously for Grant for President in 1868 and was rewarded by Grant with appointment as Collector of the Port of New York, a very important post due to the patronage involved. Arthur held the post for eight years and built a very strong political base loyal to him. President Hayes removed him from the position in 1879 as part of his efforts to reform the Civil service.

In 1880, Arthur went to the Republican convention as part of the “Stalwart” faction supporting the nomination of Grant to a third term. When Garfield was eventually nominated as the Republican candidate, Arthur was made the Vice President nominee to satisfy the Stalwarts. When Garfield won, Arthur became Vice President, the first office to which he had been elected. As Vice President, Arthur enjoyed unusual power. The Senate was split evenly and, as presiding officer, he voted in case of ties. Garfield and Arthur were not close, and the split widened when Garfield appointed one of Blaine’s’ friends to the position Arthur had held; collector of the Ports of New York.

When Garfield was shot, Arthur remained very circumspect through the eighty days Garfield lay near death. He was particularly conscious of his role due to the assassin’s charge that he did it to put Arthur and the Stalwarts in power. Arthur was sworn in as President in New York at his home by a New York Supreme Court Judge, and again two days later by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in Washington. In his inaugural address, he praised both Garfield and the U.S. Constitution, saying that, as ordained by the Constitution, the orderly transfer of power had occurred for the fourth time in history. One of Arthur’s first moves as President was to renovate the White House. He hired the famous designer, Louis Tiffany, to carry this out. He also encouraged the US to emerge from it’s somewhat isolationist shell and participate in international conferences around the world.

One he himself called with the purpose of establishing standard time zones. Another sought ways to prevent war. In this hemisphere, he encouraged all of North and South American to use the same currency in order to further trade. He also pushed for a treaty with Nicaragua to build an inter-ocean canal, but the effort was turned down by the Senate. Arthur, the grand beneficiary of the patronage system when he was collector of the Ports of New York, proposed a complete revision of the civil service system in 1881. It was signed into law in 1883 as the Pendleton Civil Service Act. To the consternation of the Stalwarts, Arthur was completely his own man during his term in office. He proposed a number of bills that went against the grain of the Republicans. He also vetoed other legislation when he felt that special interests were benefiting too much.

Many of his suggestions were ignored by Congress, but, in later administrations, took shape and form similar to what he had proposed. He was the first to push for Federal aid to education, to reduce income taxes, among others.This independence dashed his hopes of winning the office in his own right. Angered by his actions, the Republicans nominated his political enemy, James Blaine, who went on to lose to Grover Cleveland, Arthur returned to his law practice after inauguration of Cleveland in 1885, but was soon forced to retire due to illness. He died on November 18, 1886 in New York.

20th- James Garfield

2009-01-29T15:54:00.000-08:00

James Abram Garfield (November 19, 1831-September 19, 1881) was the 20th Presidentof the United States, the first left-handed President, and the second U.S. President to be assassinated.

He was born in Orange, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, southeast of Cleveland. He was named for his older brother James Ballou Garfield, who died in infancy, and his father, Abram Garfield. His father died in 1833, when James Abram was 18 months old, and he grew up cared for by his mother and an uncle.

From 1851-1854 he attended the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute (later named Hiram College) in Hiram, Ohio. He then transferred to Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, from which he graduated in 1856, as an outstanding student who enjoyed all subjects except chemistry. He then taught at the Eclectic Institute. He was an instructor in classical languages for the 1856-1857 year, and was made president of the Institute from 1857 to 1860.
On November 11, 1858, he married Lucretia Randolph. They had five children. A son, James Rudolph Garfield, followed him into politics and became Secretary of the Interior under Theodore Roosevelt.

Garfield decided that being an academician was not his desire, and studied law privately, becoming admitted to the bar in Ohio in 1860. Even before admission to the bar, he entered politics, becoming an Ohio state senator in 1859, serving until 1861. He was an enthusiastic Republican all his political life.

With the start of the Civil War, Garfield entered the Union Army, reaching the rank of major general. However, in 1863, he re-entered politics, being elected to the House of Representatives that year. He succeeded in gaining re-election every two years up until 1878. In the House of Representatives during the Civil War period and the following Reconstruction Era, he was one of the most hawkish Republicans, seeking to defeat and later weaken the South at every opportunity. In 1876, when James G. Blaine moved from the House to the Senate, Garfield became the Republican floor leader of the House.

He found a proof for the Pythagorean Theorem in 1876.
In 1876 he was a Republican member of the Electoral Commission that awarded 22 electoral votes to Rutherford B. Hayes in his contest for the Presidency against Samuel J. Tilden.
In 1880, his life underwent a major change. It began with the impending end of the term of Ohio's Democratic Senator, Allen G. Thurman (who had also served on the 1876 Electoral Commission). Since the Ohio legislature was to choose a Senator, and had recently changed from Democratic to Republican control, Thurman would not be reelected. Garfield was its choice. But before he could ever sit in the Senate, the Republicans held their Presidential nominating convention, and he was a leader among those in the convention who opposed renominating former President Ulysses S. Grant for a third term. He supported the Secretary of the Treasury, John Sherman of Ohio, but when neither Grant, Sherman, nor Blaine could win the majority of the delegates' votes, Garfield was nominated as the Republican candidate for the presidency himself. Consequently he declined the seat in the United States Senate to which he had just been elected by the Ohio Legislature. (Ironically, the seat then went to John Sherman, whose candidacy for the Presidency Garfield had advocated.) He defeated the Democratic candidate, Winfield Scott Hancock, by 214 electoral votes to 155. (The popular vote was much closer, and Garfield received 4,453,295 votes to Hancock's 4,414,082. Greenback Labor candidate James B. Weaver received 308,578 popular votes and Prohibition candidate Neal Dow received 10,305.) Several other sources give somewhat different totals; for example, one shows: Garfield 4,446,158; Hancock 4,444,260; Weaver 305,997; Dow 9,674; others 4,331. See also U.S. presidential election, 1880 for yet another set of figures. It appears that there are as many variants as sources consulted. He took office in 1881.

Garfield was shot by Charles J. Guiteau on July 2, 1881, just a few months after taking office.
Garfield's assassin was apparently upset by being passed over as the United States consul in Paris. One of the bullets that struck Garfield lodged in his back and could not be found. (Alexander Graham Bell devised a metal detector in an attempt to find the bullet, but the metal bedframe he was lying on confused the instrument.) He became increasingly ill over a period of several months because of infection and died on September 19, 1881 in Elberon, New Jersey.

19th- Rutherford Hayes

2009-01-29T15:53:00.000-08:00

Beneficiary of the most fiercely disputed election in American history, Rutherford B. Hayes brought to the Executive Mansion dignity, honesty, and moderate reform. To the delight of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, Lucy Webb Hayes carried out her husband's orders to banish wines and liquors from the White House.

Born in Ohio in 1822, Hayes was educated at Kenyon College and Harvard Law School. After five years of law practice in Lower Sandusky, he moved to Cincinnati, where he flourished as a young Whig lawyer. He fought in the Civil War, was wounded in action, and rose to the rank of brevet major general. While he was still in the Army, Cincinnati Republicans ran him for the House of Representatives; he accepted the nomination.

Elected by a heavy majority, Hayes entered Congress in December 1865. Between 1867 and 1876 he served three terms as Governor of Ohio. Safe liberalism, party loyalty, and a good war record made Hayes an acceptable Republican candidate in 1876. He opposed Governor Samuel J. Tilden of New York. Although a galaxy of famous Republican speakers, and even Mark Twain, stumped for Hayes, he expected the Democrats to win. When the first returns seemed to confirm this, Hayes went to bed, believing he had lost. The popular vote apparently was 4,300,000 for Tilden to 4,036,000 for Hayes. Hayes's election depended upon contested electoral votes in Louisiana, South Carolina, and Florida. If all the disputed electoral votes went to Hayes, he would win; a single one would elect Tilden. Months of uncertainty followed. In January 1877 Congress established an Electoral Commission to decide the dispute. The commission, made up of eight Republicans and seven Democrats, determined all the contests in favor of Hayes by eight to seven. The final electoral vote: 185 to 184. Northern Republicans had been promising southern Democrats at least one Cabinet post, Federal patronage, subsidies for internal improvements, and withdrawal of troops from Louisiana and South Carolina. For his Cabinet he chose men of high caliber, but outraged many Republicans because one member was an ex-Confederate and another had bolted the party as a Liberal Republican in 1872. Hayes pledged protection of the rights of negroes in the South, but at the same time advocated the restoration of the withdrawal of troops. Hayes hoped such conciliatory policies would lead to the building of a "new Republican party" in the South, to which white businessmen and conservatives would rally.

Many of the leaders of the new South did indeed favor Republican economic policies and approved of Hayes's financial conservatism, but they faced annihilation at the polls if they were to join the party of Reconstruction. Hayes had announced in advance that he would serve only one term, and retired to Spiegel Grove, his home in Fremont, Ohio, in 1881. He died in 1893. Rutherford Hayes served from 1877-1881

18th- Ulysses Grant

2009-01-29T15:51:00.000-08:00

Ulysses Simpson Grant was born (as Hiram Ulysses Grant) at Point Pleasant, Ohio, on April 27, 1822. He graduated from West Point in 1843 and served without particular distinction in the Mexican War. In 1848 he married Julia Dent. He resigned from the army in 1854, after warnings from his commanding officer about his drinking habits, and for the next six years held a wide variety of jobs in the Middle West.

With the outbreak of the Civil War, he sought a command and soon, to his surprise, was made a brigadier general. His continuing successes in the western theaters, culminating in the capture of Vicksburg, Miss., in 1863, brought him national fame and soon the command of all the Union armies. Grant's dogged, implacable policy of concentrating on dividing and destroying the Confederate armies brought the war to an end in 1865. The next year, he was made full general.

In 1868, as Republican candidate for president, Grant was elected over the Democrat, Horatio Seymour. From the start, Grant showed his unfitness for the office. His cabinet was weak, his domestic policy was confused, and many of his intimate associates were corrupt. The notable achievement in foreign affairs was the settlement of controversies with Great Britain in the Treaty of London (1871), negotiated by his able secretary of state, Hamilton Fish.

Running for reelection in 1872, he defeated Horace Greeley, the Democratic and Liberal Republican candidate. The Panic of 1873 graft scandals close to the presidency created difficulties for his second term.

After retiring from office, Grant toured Europe for two years and returned in time to accede to a third-term boom, but was beaten in the convention of 1880. Illness and bad business judgment darkened his last years, but he worked steadily at the Personal Memoirs, which were to be successful when published after his death at Mount McGregor, near Saratoga, N.Y., on July 23, 1885.

17th- Andrew Johnson

2009-01-29T15:50:00.000-08:00

Andrew Johnson was born into poverty. His father worked as a porter at an inn in Raleigh, North Carolina. His mother worked as a maid at the same inn. When Andrew Johnson was three, his father became a local hero. One night, two men were boating on a local pond when their craft flipped over. Jacob Johnson, with total disregard for his own safety, jumped into the icy water and saved both men. As a result, within a month he became very ill and died. His mother was solely responsible for the family, which included Andrew and his brother William.

When Andrew was 13, he became apprenticed to a tailor. Andrew worked as an apprentice tailor in exchange for food and clothing until he became an adult. While working as an apprentice, he taught himself to read and then read every book he could get his hands on. Atage 15, Andrew and his brother decided to run away. They made it as far as Carthage, a town 75 miles from Raleigh. For two years, they ran a tailor shop of their own. In the spring of 1826, out of money and out of work, Andrew returned home. When he asked his former boss for his job back, he was refused.

Andrew and his family decided to go to Tennessee. They settled in a place called Greeneville, Tennessee. In Greeneville, the local tailor hired Andrew right away. While in Greeneville, he met Eliza McCardle, the daughter of the local shoemaker. In less than a year, they were married. Eliza spent hours every night reading to Andrew until he could read and write.

As the town tailor, Johnson became well-known in Greeneville. Soon afterward, he began his life in politics. In thespring of 1828, he was urged to run for office by his friends and neighbors. He won and became the youngest alderman the town ever had. The people of Greeneville really liked him and elected him mayor in 1830. By 1835, he was elected to the state legislature. He later became a representative in Congress, a United States senator, and military governor of his state.

In 1864, Abraham Lincoln had picked him as his vice president. After Lincoln's death, Andrew Johnson became the 17th president. Johnson's biggest challenge as president was to reconcile the North and the South. Many in the North wanted to punish the South.
Johnson pardoned all who would take an oath of allegiance to the Union. The conflict that surrounded this issue escalated to the point that Congress acted to impeach him. The impeachment effort was one vote short.

In 1868, Andrew Johnson tried to run for president again, but his party rejected him. In 1874, he was elected to his old office as U.S. senator from Tennessee. He died a year later on July 31, 1875.

16th- Abraham Lincoln

2009-01-29T15:49:00.000-08:00

Abraham Lincoln was born in a log cabin in Kentucky to Thomas and Nancy Lincoln. The family moved to Indiana and 8 year old Abe helped his father build another log house. A year later his mother died and the house was very empty. His father remarried and in addition to his sister Sarah, who was 3 years older, there were now 3 more children in the family.Lincoln had less than a year of schooling. Books were scarce and so was paper. He worked his arithmetic problems on a board and cleaned the board with a knife so he could use it again.The family owned a Bible and he spent many hours reading it. He would copy parts of it in order to memorize it. Sometimes he would walk for miles to borrow a book. One of his favorite books was "The Life of George Washington".

By the time he was 17, he knew he wanted to be a lawyer. He would walk 17 miles to the county courthouse in order to watch the lawyers work. He sat in the back of the courtroom and watched them as they shook their fists and became red in the face. Then he would go home and think about what he had seen.When he was 21 years old he moved to Illinois and spent a year laboring on a farm. It is said that he and his fellow-laborer split 3,000 rails in that year 1830. He also managed a flat-boat on the Ohio River Every time he got a new job he would try to work on a skill which would help him when he became a lawyer. When he was a shopkeeper he tried to be honest and fair. Once he shortchanged a woman by 6 cents, and he followed her home so he could give the money back to her. When he was a postmaster, he tried to learn how to get along with people well. When he was a surveyor; a person who measured land, he tried to always be accurate in his measurements. He still wanted to be a lawyer however. He would go without sleep in order to study. He would borrow books from a neighbor in the evening, read them by the light of the fireplace, and take them back in the morning. In 1836 he finally passed the test and became a lawyer.

It was during this time he was he was elected to the Illinois legislature by the Whig party. He became good at debating and public speaking. He had many debates with John Calhoun regarding the tariff question. They spoke before large audiences, sometimes as long as four hours. Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas participated in several debates concerning the question of slavery. They had a previous encounter at the State Fair in Springfield, Illinois. Lincoln would lose the senate race, but would win over Douglas in the 1860 presidential race.

Once a woman wrote an article containing some ridiculing remarks about General James Shields. The editor spoke to Lincoln about it and Lincoln said, "Tell him I wrote it." That's what he did and Shield challenged Lincoln to a duel with Lincoln's choice of weapons. On the appointed day Lincoln arrived with a sword in one hand and a hatchet in the other. A man, John J. Hardin, stopped the fight before it started. The event possibly changed the course of the nation's history.

Going into the 1860 election, heated debates arrived. The issue of slavery was starting to split the Democratic Party, and the issue was also affecting the newly formed Republican Party as well. In the end, the other Republican John Fremont, who was also running indepedently from Lincoln in the general election dropped from race. While the Republicans worked out their split, the Democrats weren't so willing fix themselves. In the end, Stephan Douglas was nominated as the Democratic Candidate, but John Breckenridge also ran as a Southern Democrat making it impossible for either candidate to win. A third party candidate, John Bell of the Constitutional Union Party, also stole three strong Democratic states. In the end, Lincoln won in a landslide, despite not even being on the ballot in the any southern states. It is safe to say that Lincoln's election would have been impossible without the split.

He was inaugurated president in March of 1861. Due to his elections, 11 southern states succeeded from the union, while Kentucky, Maryland, and Missouri narrowly remained loyal. Just weeks later the Civil War began over states rights and slavery issues. Lincoln's objective was to fight to hold the union together and remain one nation. It was in danger of being divided into two nations; the North and the South.

In his 1860 inaugural address, he said: "I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the states where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so." Two years later, President Lincoln wrote: "My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union (Letter to Horace Greeley, August 22, 1862)."

He quoted from the Bible," A house divided against itself cannot stand." He was able to realize both of his goals. In 1863 he issued the Emancipation Proclamation freeing the slaves in the Southern states, and the country was able to remain a united nation. Eventually all the slaves in the United States became free. In the midst of the Civil War, Lincoln was reelected after defeating his former General, George McClellan. It was not long after that the South surrendered and, the devastation of the Civil War was finally over.

On April 14, 1865 President Lincoln and Mrs. Lincoln were attending a play at Ford's Theater in Washington D.C. While there he was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth, an actor with extremist views concerning politics and slavery. There had been a conspiracy by Booth and his cohorts to not only kill the president, but also William Henry Seward, and Andrew Johnson, the vice-president. The attack on Seward failed and the one on Johnson was never carried out. The president, after being shot, was carried to a house across the street from the theater and died nine hours later. Booth was killed by one of the men trying to apprehend him. Of all the presidents, Abraham Lincoln is the one in whom there is the greatest continuing interest. School children study him, historians debate his life and legacy, and people collect memorabilia about him. To this day, he is regarded along with George Washington, as the greatest president of all time.

15th- James Buchanan

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James Buchanan was the 15th (1857-1861) President of the United States. He was the only man to serve as President, who never married, and the only citizen of Pennsylvania to hold that office.

Buchanan was a Representative and a Senator from Pennsylvania. He was born at Cove Gap, near Mercersburg, Franklin County, Pennsylvania, on April 23, 1791. He moved to Mercersburg with his parents in 1799, was privately tutored and then attended the village academy and was graduated from Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania. In 1809 he moved to Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The same year he studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1812 and practiced in Lancaster. He was one of the first volunteers in the War of 1812 and served in the defense of Baltimore, Maryland. He was a member of the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives from 1814 to 1815. He was elected to the Seventeenth and to the four succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1821 - March 3, 1831). He was chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary (Twenty-first Congress). He was not a candidate for renomination in 1830. Buchanan served as one of the managers appointed by the House of Representatives in 1830 to conduct the impeachment proceedings against James H. Peck, judge of the United States District Court for the District of Missouri. Buchanan served as Minister to Russia from 1832 to 1834.

Buchanan was elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of William Wilkins. He was reelected in 1837 and 1843 and served from December 6, 1834, until he resigned on March 5, 1845, to accept a Cabinet portfolio. He was chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations (Twenty-fourth through Twenty-sixth Congresses).

Buchanan served as Secretary of State in the Cabinet of President James Polk from 1845 to 1849, then as Minister to Great Britain from 1853 to 1856. He was elected as a Democrat President of the United States in 1856 and served from March 4, 1857, to March 3, 1861. He retired to his home "Wheatland," near Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where he died June 1, 1868. He was intered in Woodward Hill Cemetery, Lancaster, Pa.

14th- Franklin Pierce

2009-01-29T15:47:00.000-08:00

Franklin Pierce (November 23, 1804 - October 8, 1869) was an American politician and the fourteenth President of the United States. He was the first president born in the nineteenth century and is to date the only president from New Hampshire.

Pierce was a Democrat and a "doughface" (a Northerner with Southern sympathies) who served in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate.

Later, Pierce took part in the Mexican-American War and became a brigadier general. His private law practice in his home state, New Hampshire, was so successful that he was offered several important positions, which he turned down.

Later, he was nominated for president as a dark horse candidate on the 49th ballot at the 1852 Democratic National Convention. In the presidential election, Pierce and his running mate William R. King won in a landslide, defeating the Whig Party ticket of Winfield Scott and William A. Graham by a 50 to 44% margin in the popular vote and 254 to 42 in the electoral vote.

His good looks and inoffensive personality caused him to make many friends, but he suffered tragedy in his personal life and as president subsequently made decisions which were widely criticized and divisive in their effects, thus giving him the reputation as one of the worst presidents in U.S. history. Pierce's popularity in the North declined sharply after he came out in favor of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, repealing the Missouri Compromise and reopening the question of the expansion of slavery in the West.

Pierce's credibility was further damaged when several of his diplomats issued the Ostend Manifesto. Historian David Potter concludes that the Ostend Manifesto and the Kansas-Nebraska Act were "the two great calamities of the Franklin Pierce administration.... Both brought down an avalanche of public criticism." More important says Potter, they permanently discredited Manifest Destiny and popular sovereignty.

Abandoned by his party, Pierce was not renominated at the 1856 presidential election and was replaced by James Buchanan. After losing the Democratic nomination, Pierce continued his lifelong struggle with alcoholism as his marriage to Jane Means Appleton Pierce fell apart. His reputation was further damaged when he declared support for the Confederacy. He died in 1869 from cirrhosis.

13th- Millard Fillmore

2009-01-29T15:44:00.000-08:00

Fillmore grew up on a farm in the lush green countryside near the Finger Lakes in upstate New York. As most youths did back then, he shared the chores by chopping wood, clearing fields, and helping with the harvest. He liked to hunt and fish, but his father sent him to learn the clothmaking trade at age 14.

Things improved, though, when his father sent him to study law in 1819. Fillmore was so happy at getting out of the clothmaking business that he wept openly.

He briefly left his law studies to teach school, but he managed to be admitted to the New York State Bar in 1823. Fillmore was a member of the state assembly from 1829 to 1832, a member of Congress from 1833 to 1835, and again from 1837 to 1843.

Fillmore was an avid reader who collected more than 4,000 books for his own personal library. As president, he began the first permanent White House library.

Fillmore opposed the entry of Texas into the Union as a slave state, and he also voted for a protective trade tariff. He was defeated in his bid to be governor of New York in 1844.
Millard Fillmore was elected vice president in 1848, and he succeeded to the presidency when President Zachary Taylor died while in office. He favored the Compromise of 1850 and also signed the Fugitive Slave Law. These actions displeased those on both sides of the slavery issue, and he was not renominated at the 1852 convention.

The Know-Nothing party nominated Fillmore for president in the 1856 election, but he was defeated by the eventual winner, James Buchanan. He died in Buffalo, N.Y. on March 8, 1874.

12th- Zachary Taylor

2009-01-29T15:43:00.000-08:00

Zachary Taylor (November 24, 1784 - July 9, 1850), also known as "Old Rough and Ready", was the 12th (1849-1850) President of the United States, and the second President to die in office. Taylor was born to Richard Taylor and Sarah Strother. He was a career soldier. Starting with a commission as a first lieutenant, in 1808, he fought in the War of 1812 (1812 - 1815), the Black Hawk War (1832) and the Second Seminole War (1835 - 1842).

President James Knox Polk sent an army under his command to the Rio Grande in 1846. When the Mexicans attacked Taylor's troops, Taylor defeated the Mexicans, despite being outnumbered 4-to-1, and Polk declared war.In the Mexican-American War that followed, Taylor won additional important victories at Monterrey and Buena Vista and became a national hero.

President Polk, disturbed by General Taylor's informal habits of command and perhaps his Whig status as well, kept him in northern Mexico and sent an expedition under General Winfield Scott to capture Mexico City. Taylor, incensed, thought that "the battle of Buena Vista opened the road to the city of Mexico and the halls of Montezuma, that others might revel in them."He received the Whig nomination for President in 1848, although he had never even bothered to vote before. His homespun ways were political assets, his long military record would appeal to northerners, and his ownership of slaves would attract southern votes. He also had not previously committed himself on troublesome issues.

He ran against the Democratic candidate, Lewis Cass, who favored letting the residents of territories decide for themselves whether they wanted slavery. In protest against Taylor, a slaveholder, and Cass, an advocate of "squatter sovereignty", northerners who opposed extension of slavery into territories formed the Free Soil Party and nominated Martin Van Buren. In a close election, the Free Soilers pulled enough votes away from Cass to elect Taylor. Taylor earned a footnote in Presidential history before he even took office. His term of service was scheduled to begin at noon on March 4, 1849, but being a Sunday, Taylor refused to be sworn in until the following day. Vice President Millard Fillmore also was not sworn on that day. As a result, the nation technically had no President or Vice President for one day. Some people later claimed that David Rice Atchison, the previous President Pro Tempore of the Senate, was technically Acting President, but this claim is rejected by virtually every constitutional scholar.

Although Taylor had subscribed to Whig principles of legislative leadership, he was not inclined to be a puppet of Whig leaders in Congress. He acted at times as though he were above parties and politics. As disheveled as always, Taylor tried to run his administration in the same rule-of-thumb fashion with which he had fought Indians.Traditionally, people could decide whether they wanted slavery when they drew up new state constitutions. Therefore, to end the dispute over slavery in new areas, Taylor urged settlers in New Mexico and California to draft constitutions and apply for statehood, bypassing the territorial stage.Southerners were furious, since neither state constitution was likely to permit slavery; members of Congress were dismayed, since they felt the President was usurping their policy-making prerogatives. In addition, Taylor's solution ignored several acute side issues: the northern dislike of the slave market operating in the District of Columbia and the southern demands for a more stringent fugitive slave law.

In February 1850 President Taylor had held a stormy conference with southern leaders who threatened secession. He told them that if necessary to enforce the laws, he personally would lead the Army. Persons "taken in rebellion against the Union, he would hang ... with less reluctance than he had hanged deserters and spies in Mexico." He never wavered. After participating in ceremonies at the Washington Monument on a blistering July 4, 1850, Taylor fell ill; he died of acute indigestion five days later, after just 16 months in office. He is buried in Louisville, Kentucky. Taylor was succeeded by his vice president, Millard Fillmore.

11th- James Polk

2009-01-29T15:42:00.001-08:00

James Knox Polk (November 2, 1795 - June 15, 1849) was the eleventh President of the United States. Polk was born in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, but mostly lived in and represented the state of Tennessee. A Democrat, Polk served as Speaker of the House (1835-1839) and Governor of Tennessee (1839-1841) prior to becoming president.

A firm supporter of Andrew Jackson, Polk was the last "strong" pre-American Civil War president. Polk is noted for his foreign policy successes. He threatened war with Britain then backed away and split the ownership of the Northwest with Britain. He is even more famous for leading the successful Mexican-American War. He lowered the tariff and established a treasury system that lasted until 1913. A "dark horse" candidate in 1844, he was the first president who retired after one term and did not seek re-election. He died three months after his term ended.

As a Democrat committed to geographic expansion (or "Manifest Destiny"), he overrode Whig objections and was responsible for the largest expansion of the nation's territory. It exceeded the Louisiana Purchase. Polk secured the Oregon Territory (including Washington, Oregon and Idaho), then purchased 1.2 million square miles (3.1 million km²) through the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo that ended the Mexican-American War. In the end, Polk completed the acquisition of most of the current contiguous 48 states.

The expansion re-opened a furious debate over allowing slavery in the new territories. The controversy was inadequately arbitrated by the Compromise of 1850, and only found its ultimate resolution on the battlefields of the U. S. Civil War. Polk signed the Walker Tariff that brought an era of near free trade to the country until 1861. He oversaw the opening of the U.S. Naval Academy and the Smithsonian, the groundbreaking for the Washington Monument, and the issuance of the first postage stamps in the United States, introduced by his Postmaster General Cave Johnson. He was the first President of the United States to be photographed frequently while in office. Scholars have ranked him 8th to 12th on the list of greatest presidents for his ability to set an agenda and achieve all of it.

10th- John Tyler

2009-01-29T15:40:00.000-08:00

Dubbed "His Accidency" by his detractors, John Tyler was the first Vice President to be elevated to the office of President by the death of his predecessor. Born in Virginia in 1790, he was raised believing that the Constitution must be strictly construed. He never wavered from this conviction. He attended the College of William and Mary and studied law. Serving in the House of Representatives from 1816 to 1821, Tyler voted against most nationalist legislation and opposed the Missouri Compromise. After leaving the House he served twice as Governor of Virginia. As a Senator he reluctantly supported Jackson for President as a choice of evils. Tyler soon joined the states' rights Southerners in Congress who banded with Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and their newly formed Whig party opposing President Jackson. The Whigs nominated Tyler for Vice President in 1840, hoping for support from southern states'-righters who could not stomach Jacksonian Democracy. The slogan "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too" implied flag waving nationalism plus a dash of southern sectionalism. Clay, intending to keep party leadership in his own hands, minimized his nationalist views temporarily; Webster proclaimed himself "a Jeffersonian Democrat." But after the election, both men tried to dominate "Old Tippecanoe." Suddenly President Harrison was dead, and "Tyler too" was in the White House. At first the Whigs were not too disturbed, although Tyler insisted upon assuming the full powers of a duly elected President. He even delivered an Inaugural Address, but it seemed full of good Whig doctrine. Whigs, optimistic that Tyler would accept their program, soon were disillusioned. Tyler was ready to compromise on the banking question, but Clay would not budge. He would not accept Tyler's "exchequer system," and Tyler vetoed Clay's bill to establish a National Bank with branches in several states. A similar bank bill was passed by Congress. But again, on states' rights grounds, Tyler vetoed it. In retaliation, the Whigs expelled Tyler from their party. All the Cabinet resigned but Secretary of State Webster. A year later when Tyler vetoed a tariff bill, the first impeachment resolution against a President was introduced in the House of Representatives. A committee headed by Representative John Quincy Adams reported that the President had misused the veto power, but the resolution failed. Despite their differences, President Tyler and the Whig Congress enacted much positive legislation. The "Log-Cabin" bill enabled a settler to claim 160 acres of land before it was offered publicly for sale, and later pay $1.25 an acre for it. In 1842 Tyler did sign a tariff bill protecting northern manufacturers. The Webster-Ashburton treaty ended a Canadian boundary dispute; in 1845 Texas was annexed. The administration of this states'-righter strengthened the Presidency. But it also increased sectional cleavage that led toward civil war. By the end of his term, Tyler had replaced the original Whig Cabinet with southern conservatives. In 1844 Calhoun became Secretary of State. Later these men returned to the Democratic Party, committed to the preservation of states' rights, planter interests, and the institution of slavery. Whigs became more representative of northern business and farming interests. When the first southern states seceded in 1861, Tyler led a compromise movement; failing, he worked to create the Southern Confederacy. He died in 1862, a member of the Confederate House of Representatives.

9th- William Harrison

2009-01-29T15:39:00.000-08:00

William Henry Harrison had the shortest term in office of any American president: 32 days. Harrison was the son of Benjamin Harrison, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. William made a name for himself in the early Indian Wars and was rewarded with the governorship of the Indiana Territories, where he served from 1800-1812.

He is most famous for his victory over the Shawnee chief Tecumseh at the battle at Tippecanoe Creek (November 7, 1811). The incident earned Harrison the nickname "Old Tippecanoe."

After serving in the House and the Senate, Harrison retired and settled with his wife Anna at their farm in North Bend, Ohio. The Whigs drafted him for the presidency and he won the election of 1840. Harrison, 68 years old and not in the best health, gave a 100-minute inaugural speech in the snow without hat or overcoat, caught pneumonia, and died a month later. He was succeeded by his vice president, John Tyler.

8th- Martin Van Buren

2009-01-29T15:37:00.000-08:00

Named Old Kinderhook, and standing only about 5 feet, 6 inches tall, Martin Van Buren was the eighth (1833-1837) Vice President and the eighth (1837-1841) President of the United States. He was the first President born after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and was the first natural-born US citizen to become President. Of Dutch descent, he was born December 5, 1782, in Kinderhook, New York. His father, Abraham Van Buren, was a tavern keeper and farmer. His mother, Maria Hoes, also had children from a previous marriage. Van Buren was educated in the common schools and at Kinderhook Academy. He began studying law in 1796 and completed his education in 1802. In 1803 he was admitted to the bar and continued to practice successfully for 25 years. He became involved in New York politics early in his career. His practice made him financially independent, and paved the way for his entrance into politics. As leader of the "Albany Regency," an effective New York political organization, he proved to be shrewd and calculating in his ability to bring votes. In 1812 he won the election for state Senate, where he served two terms (1812-1820). While still serving as state Senator, he became the state attorney-general in 1815, an office which he held until 1819. In February 1821 he was elected to the United States Senate. Though Van Buren was not an orator his more important speeches show careful preparation, and his opinions carried weight. Often regarded by other senators as a man who would refrain from declaring himself on crucial questions, an examination of his career hardly bears this out.

In the presidential election of 1824 he appeared as a strong supporter of William H. Crawford, and received the electoral vote of Georgia for vice-president, but steered clear of the controversy which followed the choice of John Quincy Adams as President. He early recognized the potential of Andrew Jackson as a presidential candidate. By 1827 he had emerged as the principal northern leader for Andrew Jackson. Van Buren became the President's most trusted adviser, and Jackson referred to him as, "a true man with no guile." In 1828 he was elected governor of New York for the term beginning January 1, 1829, and resigned his seat in the Senate. However, on the 5th of March he was appointed by President Jackson as Secretary of State, an office which probably had been assured to him before the election, and he resigned the governorship. As Secretary of State he took care to keep on good terms the group known as the "kitchen cabinet," politicians who acted as Jackson's advisers. He won Jackson's lasting regard by showing courtesy to Mrs. John H. Eaton, wife of the Secretary of War, a woman with whom the wives of other cabinet officers had refused to associate. His service as Secretary of State was largely without incident or controversy. He did prepare for the settlement of long-standing claims against France and opened trade with the British West India colonies. After a breach between Jackson and Henry Calhoun, Van Buren was clearly the most prominent candidate for the vice-presidency. Jackson in December 1829 had already made known his own wish that Van Buren should receive the nomination. In April 1831 Van Buren resigned as Secretary of State, though he did not leave office until June. In August he was appointed minister to England, and arrived in London in September. In May of the following year, the first ever Democratic convention had nominated him for vice-president on the Jackson ticket, despite strong opposition from many states.

In the election of 1832 he received 189 electoral votes, while Jackson received 219 for President. Jackson was now determined to make Van Buren president in 1836, and spent a great deal of his energy to accomplishing that goal. In May 1835 Van Buren was unanimously nominated by the Democratic convention at Baltimore, but his presidential victory represented more of a victory for Jackson than for Van Buren. Van Buren followed "in the footsteps of his illustrious predecessor," and took over all but one of Jackson's cabinet. In 1837 an economic crisis ensued resulting in the failure of hundreds of banks and businesses. Thousands of citizens lost their lands, and for about five years the United States was wracked by the worst depression in its history. Despite this crisis Van Buren proved to be of statesmanlike character by meeting it with great firmness. He devoted himself to maintaining the solvency of the national Government and opposed not only the creation of a new Bank of the United States but also the placing of Government funds in state banks. He fought for the establishment of an independent treasury system to handle Government transactions. As for Federal aid to internal improvements, he cut off expenditures so completely that the Government even sold the tools it had used on public works. Van Buren was unanimously re-nominated by the Democrats in 1840, but was defeated by the Whigs for re-election. Following the expiration of his term Van Buren retired to his estate at Kinderhook. He did not, however, withdraw from politics or cease to be a figure of national importance.

He expected to be nominated by the Democratic party for the presidency in 1844. As a staunch opponent of the expansion of slavery he blocked the annexation of Texas because it assuredly would add to slave territory and might bring war with Mexico. His position proved to be his demise, however, and in the Democratic convention, though he had a majority of the votes, he did not have the two thirds which the convention required. After eight ballots his name was withdrawn. In 1848 he was once again nominated for the presidency running on the "Free Soil" ticket, but was unsuccessful in his bid for the candidacy. He died of asthma in Kinderhook on July 24, 1862.

7th- Andrew Jackson

2009-01-29T15:36:00.001-08:00

Andrew Jackson's family moved from Ireland in the 1760's. His father was killed shortly before Andrew was born, so his widowed mother raised Andrew and his two older brothers in the home of a relative.

When he was thirteen years old he joined the Continental Army as a courier*. He and his brother were captured by the British. Once when he refused to polish the shoes of a British officer, the officer hit him with a sword and left scars that would remain the rest of his life. There were inward unseen scars also as a result of the war because he lost his older brother, and his mother also died during the war as a result of cholera.
When he was fifteen years old he received an inheritance from his grandfather in Ireland, but being young and inexperienced he was unable to handle the windfall and spent the entire amount in a week's time. He studied law and became a lawyer at the age of 20. He headed west to Tennessee to seek his fortune. His destination was Nashville and there he met Rachel Robards, a young woman who had married at age seventeen and was estranged from her husband. She thought her husband had obtained a divorce and she and Andrew ran away to Natchez, Mississippi and married. Unfortunately, she was mistaken about the finality of the divorce. They returned home after six months only to find out they were not legally married. Her husband then sued for divorce on the grounds of adultery, the first such case in the state. When the divorce was final she and Jackson were married a second time, this time legally. In 1796 he served in Congress as a State Representative from the state of Tennessee.

In 1805 there was a dispute over a bet on a horse he had with a Mr. Erwin. A duel ensued between Jackson and Mr. Erwin's son-in-law Charles Dickinson. It was agreed that Dickinson would shoot his pistol first. His shot hit Jackson and wounded him, but he didn't die. Jackson's first attempt to fire failed, and he took dead aim again and fired a fatal shot at Dickinson. The man survived for a few hours, but subsequently* died. The bullet would remain in Jackson the rest of his life and cause him a lot of pain and trouble.

In 1812 the United States declared war on Great Britain. Andrew Jackson was the commander of the Tennessee militia. Their mission was to defeat the Creek Indian warriors who had sided with the British. At one point Jackson's soldiers threatened to mutiny*. He said he would kill them if they left. Previous threats had been carried out, so the mutiny did not occur. In March 1814 he cornered the Creek Indians in Alabama. Not one of the 1,000 Creek Indians surrendered, but all were killed in the Battle of Horseshoe Bend. The Tallapoosa River ran red with the blood of those who had been slaughtered. Sam Houston who fought alongside Jackson agonized over the events that took place that day. Andrew Jackson was known as "Old Hickory". He was as tough as a hickory stick and had an unbending will. Yet there was a soft side to him also. On a march he preferred to walk with the troops and let the wounded soldiers ride on the horses.

The British were threatening New Orleans. It was here that the last major battle of the War of 1812 would take place. Jackson teamed up with the French privateer and pirate, Jean Lafitte and the free blacks of New Orleans. He had about 4,500 men and was outnumbered three-to-one by the British. The British thought it was going to be easy to defeat the American troops there, but they were surprised when Jackson and his troops stood their ground. The British would lose hundreds of men, but Jackson only had 8 soldiers killed and 13 wounded. After 1815 the British left the Americans alone.

Jackson, now a celebrity, went back home to Tennessee and his wife Rachel. They never had children of their own, but adopted one of Rachel's nephews and named him Andrew Jackson Jr. He adopted a young Creek Indian child, Lyncoya, after his parents had been killed by Jackson's troops. He died at the age of 17 the same year Rachel died. They also raised other nephews. Rachel's life was different than she had imagined it would be when she married him. She did not anticipate having to spend so much time by herself. She once said her husband spent "less than one-fourth of his time under his own roof ".

Andrew Jackson became a wealthy man. He owned a lot of land he called The Hermitage*. He grew cotton which was worked by over a hundred black slaves. Jackson was the master and cotton, rice, and tobacco fueled the economy at the time. More land was needed to grow more cotton. This had devastating consequences for the Indians who lived on the land, as we shall see later on. Florida was owned by Spain. In 1817 Jackson invaded Florida in pursuit of Indians. He had been instructed by President Monroe not to do so, but he did it anyway. Two British officers were killed. Henry Clay called on Congress to censure Jackson, but they refused. In 1824 Jackson aspired to the presidency of the United States, but John Quincy Adams also wanted to become president. In those years the electoral college chose the president. In the election of 1824 Andrew Jackson had more popular and electoral votes than Adams, but the election was thrown into the the House of Representatives and John Quincy Adams was elected.Four years later Jackson again ran against John Quincy Adams and used the press and vigorous campaigning to win the popular vote. They organized rallies to stir up the popular vote revolutionizing the election process. During this time Rachel's divorce proceedings which had occurred three decades before were brought out and a smear campaign was underway; one of the dirtiest campaigns in all American history. The opposition called her "Jezebel*". Jackson blamed Henry Clay for all the ugly things that were being rehashed in hopes of discrediting him, but evidently it backfired and Jackson was elected by a landslide*. But it was a hollow victory for Andrew. His beloved Rachel died of a heart attack in December of 1828 before Jackson was inaugurated in March of 1829. In his mind John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay had been responsible for her death. Rachel's niece Emily would serve as hostess in the White House. The Jacksonian Era had begun. Farmers and tradesmen came to Washington to celebrate his inauguration in 1829. They were a rowdy group and Washington insiders were aghast*. They called it a "riot". His enemies feared Jackson would become "King of America". His motto seemed to be To the victor belong the spoils, and he certainly employed the "spoils system". One of his first acts was to fire dozens of federal employees, some who had been there since the days of George Washington. In their place he appointed people who had supported him. One such appointment of John Eaton as Secretary of War rocked his administration when Eaton became involved in an affair with Peggy O'Neal Timberlake. The effects of the Eaton Affair were so far-reaching that the vice-president and all Jackson's cabinet resigned before it was over. John Calhoun, Jackson's vice-president favored slavery and asserted that states could disregard federal law if they deemed the law unconstitutional. He called the theory nullification*, the exercising of state's rights. They tried to get Jackson's support. The Nullifiers at a dinner in 1830 sought his support, but in his words, "Our federal union! It must be preserved!". He would not tear apart the nation. South Carolina threatened to leave the nation and start a civil war. Henry Clay got a compromise bill that would avert the tariff they opposed. In 1835 New York Abolitionists* started sending pamphlets urging an end to slavery, but a lot of the mail was burned. Even though it was against the law to tamper with the mail, Jackson encouraged postmasters to destroy the mail his opponents were attempting to send. Jackson in order to further the expansion of the frontier west supported the Indian Removal Act in 1830. The Cherokee Indians liked to live a harmonious way of life, and many of them embraced the white man's way according to Jefferson's advice to them, but they still had to move. The Supreme Court ruled in the Cherokee's favor, but Jackson said to ignore it. Ironically these same people had fought with Jackson. The removal of the Cherokees, known as The Trail of Tears is a low point in American history. In Georgia they had to leave houses and could only take the clothes on their backs. More than 2,000 of them died on the trail. They referred to the president as "Jackson the Devil".

There was a central bank called The Bank of the United States. Jackson didn't trust the bank and during his second term as president he vetoed a bill to renew the bank's charter, took all the money out of the bank and parceled it out to state banks run by his friends. This cartoon shows Jackson fighting the "monster bank".

In 1832 Jackson and Martin Van Buren founded the Democratic Party. The cartoonists had been portraying Andrew Jackson as a "Jackass" in derision. The donkey ultimately became the symbol of the Democratic Party. Thomas Nast, a Republican and famous political cartoonist is generally credited with first designating the political parties with the Democratic donkey and Republican elephant.

In 1835 there was an assassination attempt on Jackson's life. A deranged man, Richard Lawrence, fired two shots at him, but both failed to ignite. The man was declared insane and put in an institution.
Martin Van Buren succeeded Andrew Jackson as president and Jackson returned to the Hermitage. Upon leaving office he said,"After eight years as president I have only two regrets. That I have not shot Henry Clay or hanged John C. Calhoun."

6th- John Q Adams

2009-01-29T15:35:00.000-08:00

John Quincy Adams was born in Braintree, Massachusetts, (in a part of town which is now Quincy, Massachusetts), and acquired his early education in Europe at the University of Leiden. He graduated from Harvard University in 1787. He studied law, then was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Boston, Massachusetts. He was appointed Minister to the Netherlands in 1794, Minister to Portugal in 1796 and Minister to Prussia in 1797. He was elected to the Massachusetts State Senate in 1802, and was an unsuccessful candidate for election to the U.S. House of Representatives in the same year. He was elected as a Federalist to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1803, until June 8, 1808, when he resigned, a successor having been elected six months early after Adams broke with the Federalist party. He was Minister to Russia from 1809 to 1814, a member of the commission which negotiated the Treaty of Ghent in 1814, and Minister to England from 1815 to 1817. He was Secretary of State in the Cabinet of President James Monroe from 1817 to 1825.

The decision in the Presidential Election of 1824 fell, according to the U.S. Constitution, upon the House of Representatives, as none of the candidates had secured a majority of the electors chosen by the States. Adams, who stood second to Andrew Jackson in the electoral vote, was chosen and served from March 4, 1825, to March 4, 1829.

Adams was then elected as a Democratic-Republican to the U.S. House of Representatives for the Twenty-second and to the eight succeeding Congresses, becoming a Whig in 1834. He served from March 4, 1831, until his death. He was chairman of the Committee on Manufactures (Twenty-second through Twenty-sixth, and Twenty-eighth and Twenty-ninth Congresses), the Committee on Indian Affairs (Twenty-seventh Congress) and the Committee on Foreign Affairs (Twenty-seventh Congress).

He was an unsuccessful candidate for Governor of Massachusetts in 1834. In 1841, Adams represented the Amistad Africans in the Supreme Court of the United States and successfully argued that the Africans, who had seized control of a Spanish ship where they were being held as illegal slaves, should not be returned to Spain, but returned home as free people.
Adams died in the Capitol Building, Washington, D.C.. His interment was in the family burial ground at Quincy, Massachusetts and subsequently reinterred in the United First Parish Church.

5th- James Monroe

2009-01-29T15:34:00.003-08:00

James Monroe was born on April 28, 1758, in Westmoreland County, Va. A William and Mary graduate, he served in the army during the first years of the Revolution and was wounded at Trenton. He then entered Virginia politics and later national politics under the sponsorship of Jefferson. In 1786, he married Elizabeth (Eliza) Kortright.

Fearing centralization, Monroe opposed the adoption of the Constitution and, as senator from Virginia, was highly critical of the Hamiltonian program. In 1794, he was appointed minister to France, where his ardent sympathies with the Revolution exceeded the wishes of the State Department. His troubled diplomatic career ended with his recall in 1796. From 1799 to 1802, he was governor of Virginia. In 1803, Jefferson sent him to France to help negotiate the Louisiana Purchase and for the next few years he was active in various negotiations on the Continent.

In 1808, Monroe flirted with the radical wing of the Republican Party, which opposed Madison's candidacy; but the presidential boom came to naught and, after a brief term as governor of Virginia in 1811, Monroe accepted Madison's offer to become secretary of state. During the War of 1812, he vainly sought a field command and instead served as secretary of war from September 1814 to March 1815.

Elected president in 1816 over the Federalist Rufus King, and reelected without opposition in 1820, Monroe, the last of the Virginia dynasty, pursued the course of systematic tranquilization that won for his administrations the name “the era of good feeling.” He continued Madison's surrender to the Hamiltonian domestic program, signed the Missouri Compromise, acquired Florida, and with the able assistance of his secretary of state, John Quincy Adams, promulgated the Monroe Doctrine in 1823, declaring against foreign colonization or intervention in the Americas. He died in New York City on July 4, 1831, the third president to die on the anniversary of Independence.

4th- James Madison

2009-01-29T15:34:00.001-08:00

Madison was born at the home of his maternal grandmother. The son and namesake of a leading Orange county landowner and squire, he maintained his lifelong home in Virginia at Montpelier, near the Blue Ridge Mountains. In 1769 he rode horseback to the College of New Jersey (Princeton University), selected for its hostility to episcopacy.

He completed the four-year course in two years, finding time also to demonstrate against England and to lampoon members of a rival literary society in ribald verse. Overwork produced several years of epileptoid hysteria and premonitions of early death, which thwarted military training but did not prevent home study of public law, mixed with early advocacy of independence (1774) and furious denunciation of the imprisonment of nearby dissenters from the established Anglican Church. Madison never became a church member, but in maturity he expressed a preference for Unitarianism.

His health improved, and he was elected to Virginia's 1776 Revolutionary convention, where he drafted the state's guarantee of religious freedom. In the convention-turned-legislature he helped Thomas Jefferson disestablish the church but lost reelection by refusing to furnish the electors with free whiskey. After two years on the governor's council, he was sent to the Continental Congress in March 1780.

Madison wrote most of the US Constitution at the Constitutional Convention in 1787. Even though he would later write the Virginia Resolutions which were hailed by anti-federalists, his Constitution created a strong federal government. Once the Convention ended, he along with John Jay and Alexander Hamilton wrote the Federalist Papers, essays that were intended to sway public opinion to ratifying the new Constitution.

Jefferson supported Madison's nomination to run in 1808. George Clinton was chosen to be his Vice President. He ran against Charles Pinckney who opposed Jefferson in 1804. The campaign centered around Madison's role with the embargo that had been enacted during Jefferson's presidency. Madison had been the Secretary of State and had argued for the unpopular embargo. However, Madison was able to win with 122 of the 175 electoral votes.

Madison easily won the renomination for the Democratic-Republicans. He was opposed by DeWitt Clinton. The campaign's main issue was the War of 1812. Clinton tried to appeal to both those for and against the war. Madison won with 128 out of 146 votes.

Madison's most famous decision came with the War of 1812, when the White House was burned to the ground. However, by December of 1813, the Americans had won the war.

3rd- Thomas Jefferson

2009-01-29T15:32:00.000-08:00

Political philosopher Thomas Jefferson was the third U.S. president. He is credited as the primary author of the Declaration of Independence and was the founder of what would become the Republican Party or later the Democratic-Republicans.

Famous for his words "Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" Jefferson became a beloved political figure, and was intent on a Bill of Rights to protect the people from its own government.

In 1803, Jefferson oversaw the Louisiana Purchase, which added nearly 830,000 square miles to the United States and gave the country access to the major trade port of New Orleans. The acquired area included all or some of what are now Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and other states. It cost a total of over $23 million.

After being a very successful president in the eyes of most, Jefferson retired and returned home to Monicello where he would die in 1826, just hours before John Adams.

2nd- John Adams

2009-01-29T15:31:00.000-08:00

Adams was born in the town of Quincy, Massachusetts, to John Henry Adams and Susanna Boylston Adams. He graduated from Harvard College in 1755, taught at Worcester and studied law with Rufus Putnam, to be admitted to the bar in 1758.

A writer at heart, Adams often wrote about various events and happenings in his world. In his early years his writings included a report of the argument of James Otis in the superior court of Massachusetts, and in his later years he wrote several memoirs, recollections and arguments based on his earlier writings.

Adams was a major actor in Massachusetts resistance to the Stamp Act. He wrote many documents arguing against Parliamentary authority over Massachusetts and the other colonies. One of the most influential members of the Continental Congress, he nominated George Washington as commander in chief and argued for independence from Britain rather than a negotiated settlement that would keep the colonies under Crown control. Surprisingly, he also defended in court the British soldiers who participated in the Boston Massacre.

Even though Adams was, in his own words, "obnoxious and disliked", he was sent to Europe after the Revolution both to gather support for the new nation and to negotiate treaties with Britain. He was ambassador to The Netherlands as well as the first ambassador to Great Britain. In between these duties, he found the time to write the constitution for Massachusetts.

John Adams was vice president during George Washington's two terms of office. He had no known input on Washington's decisions, and largely served as a tie-breaking vote in the U.S. Senate, a position which frustrated Adams.

As second president of the United States, John Adams enacted many policies meant to suppress the opposition political party of the time. He was widely unpopular, and lost the election of 1800 to Thomas Jefferson. He retired to his farm, and remained there until his death in 1826.

1st- George Washington

2008-12-08T11:06:00.000-08:00

On April 30, 1789, George Washington, standing on the balcony of Federal Hall on Wall Street in New York, took his oath of office as the first President of the United States. "As the first of every thing, in our situation will serve to establish a Precedent," he wrote James Madison, "it is devoutly wished on my part, that these precedents may be fixed on true principles."

Born in 1732 into a Virginia planter family, he learned the morals, manners, and body of knowledge requisite for an 18th century Virginia gentleman.

He pursued two intertwined interests: military arts and western expansion. At 16 he helped survey Shenandoah lands for Thomas, Lord Fairfax. Commissioned a lieutenant colonel in 1754, he fought the first skirmishes of what grew into the French and Indian War. The next year, as an aide to Gen. Edward Braddock, he escaped injury although four bullets ripped his coat and two horses were shot from under him.

From 1759 to the outbreak of the American Revolution, Washington managed his lands around Mount Vernon and served in the Virginia House of Burgesses. Married to a widow, Martha Dandridge Custis, he devoted himself to a busy and happy life. But like his fellow planters, Washington felt himself exploited by British merchants and hampered by British regulations. As the quarrel with the mother country grew acute, he moderately but firmly voiced his resistance to the restrictions.

When the Second Continental Congress assembled in Philadelphia in May 1775, Washington, one of the Virginia delegates, was elected Commander in Chief of the Continental Army. On July 3, 1775, at Cambridge, Massachusetts, he took command of his ill-trained troops and embarked upon a war that was to last six grueling years.

He realized early that the best strategy was to harass the British. He reported to Congress, "we should on all Occasions avoid a general Action, or put anything to the Risque, unless compelled by a necessity, into which we ought never to be drawn." Ensuing battles saw him fall back slowly, then strike unexpectedly. Finally in 1781 with the aid of French allies--he forced the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown.

Washington longed to retire to his fields at Mount Vernon. But he soon realized that the Nation under its Articles of Confederation was not functioning well, so he became a prime mover in the steps leading to the Constitutional Convention at Philadelphia in 1787. When the new Constitution was ratified, the Electoral College unanimously elected Washington President
He did not infringe upon the policy making powers that he felt the Constitution gave Congress. But the determination of foreign policy became preponderantly a Presidential concern. When the French Revolution led to a major war between France and England, Washington refused to accept entirely the recommendations of either his Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, who was pro-French, or his Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, who was pro-British. Rather, he insisted upon a neutral course until the United States could grow stronger.
To his disappointment, two parties were developing by the end of his first term. Wearied of politics, feeling old, he retired at the end of his second. In his Farewell Address, he urged his countrymen to forswear excessive party spirit and geographical distinctions. In foreign affairs, he warned against long-term alliances.

Washington enjoyed less than three years of retirement at Mount Vernon, for he died of a throat infection December 14, 1799. For months the Nation mourned him.

Today, Washington is regarded as one of the most important political influnces in Amierca, and many also regard him as the greatest president in Amiercan history.