Benjamin Harrison Due in large part to surplus revenues from the tariffs, federal spending reached one billion dollars for the first time during his term. The spending issue in part led to the defeat of the Republicans in the 1890 mid-term elections. Harrison was defeated by Cleveland in his bid for re-election in 1892, due to the growing unpopularity of the high tariff and high federal spending. He then returned to private life in Indianapolis but later represented the Republic of Venezuela in an international case against the United Kingdom. In 1900, he traveled to Europe as part of the case and, after a brief stay, returned to Indianapolis. Early life[edit] Family and education[edit] Harrison's paternal ancestors were the Virginia Harrisons. Benjamin Harrison's early schooling took place in a one-room schoolhouse near his home, but his parents later arranged for a tutor to help him with college preparatory studies. In 1850 Harrison transferred to Miami University in Oxford, Ohio and graduated in 1852.
Grover Cleveland Cleveland was the leader of the pro-business Bourbon Democrats who opposed high tariffs, Free Silver, inflation, imperialism, and subsidies to business, farmers, or veterans. His crusade for political reform and fiscal conservatism made him an icon for American conservatives of the era.[1] Cleveland won praise for his honesty, self-reliance, integrity, and commitment to the principles of classical liberalism.[2] He relentlessly fought political corruption, patronage and bossism. Indeed, as a reformer his prestige was so strong that the like-minded wing of the Republican Party, called "Mugwumps", largely bolted the GOP presidential ticket and swung to his support in the 1884 election.[3] As his second term began, disaster hit the nation when the Panic of 1893 produced a severe national depression, which Cleveland was unable to reverse. Family and early life Childhood and family history Education and moving west An early, undated photograph of Grover Cleveland[20] Political career in New York
William Howard Taft William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857 – March 8, 1930) was the 27th President of the United States (1909–1913) and later the tenth Chief Justice of the United States (1921–1930). He is the only person to have served in both of these offices. Before becoming President, Taft, a Republican, was appointed to serve on the Superior Court of Cincinnati in 1887. Riding a wave of popular support for fellow Republican Roosevelt, Taft won an easy victory in his 1908 bid for the presidency.[2] In his only term, Taft's domestic agenda emphasized trust-busting, civil service reform, strengthening the Interstate Commerce Commission, improving the performance of the postal service, and passage of the Sixteenth Amendment. After leaving office, Taft spent his time in academia, arbitration, and the pursuit of world peace through his self-founded League to Enforce Peace. Early life and education[edit] Legal career and early politics[edit] Secretary of War (1904–1908)[edit] Electoral votes by state, 1908.
Woodrow Wilson In his first term as President, Wilson persuaded a Democratic Congress to pass a legislative agenda that few presidents have equaled, remaining unmatched up until the New Deal in 1933.[2] This agenda included the Federal Reserve Act, Federal Trade Commission Act, the Clayton Antitrust Act, the Federal Farm Loan Act and an income tax. Child labor was curtailed by the Keating–Owen Act of 1916, but the U.S. Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional in 1918. In the late stages of the war, Wilson took personal control of negotiations with Germany, including the armistice. Early life Wilson was born in Staunton, Virginia, on December 28, 1856. Wilson c. mid 1870s Wilson's father Joseph Ruggles Wilson was originally from Steubenville, Ohio, where his grandfather published a newspaper, The Western Herald and Gazette, which was pro-tariff and anti-slavery.[20] Wilson's parents moved south in 1851 and identified with the Confederacy. Wilson was over ten years of age before he learned to read.
James A. Garfield James Abram Garfield (November 19, 1831 – September 19, 1881) served as the 20th President of the United States (1881), after completing nine consecutive terms in the U.S. House of Representatives (1863–81). Garfield's accomplishments as President included a controversial resurgence of Presidential authority above Senatorial courtesy in executive appointments; energizing U.S. naval power; and purging corruption in the Post Office Department. Garfield made notable diplomatic and judiciary appointments, including a U.S. Supreme Court justice. Garfield appointed several African-Americans to prominent federal positions. Garfield's presidency lasted just 200 days—from March 4, 1881, until his death on September 19, 1881, as a result of being shot by assassin Charles J. Garfield was raised in humble circumstances on an Ohio farm by his widowed mother and elder brother, next door to their cousins, the Boyntons, with whom he remained very close. Childhood[edit] Birthplace of James Garfield
Warren G. Harding Harding was the compromise candidate in the 1920 election, when he promised the nation a "return to normalcy", in the form of a strong economy, independent of foreign influence. This program was designed to rid Americans of the tragic memories and hardships they faced during World War I. Harding and the Republican Party wanted to move away from the progressivism that dominated the early 20th century. He defeated Democrat and fellow Ohioan James M. Cox in the largest presidential popular vote landslide (60.32% to 34.15%) since popular-vote totals were first recorded.[3] Harding not only put the "best minds" in his cabinet, including Herbert Hoover as Secretary of Commerce and Charles Evans Hughes as Secretary of State, but also rewarded his friends and contributors, known as the Ohio Gang, with powerful positions. In August 1923, Harding suddenly collapsed and died in California. Early life[edit] Childhood and education[edit] Harding, age 17 Journalism career and marriage[edit] U.S.
Rutherford B. Hayes Rutherford Birchard Hayes (October 4, 1822 – January 17, 1893) was the 19th President of the United States (1877–1881). As president, he oversaw the end of Reconstruction, began the efforts that led to civil service reform, and attempted to reconcile the divisions left over from the Civil War and Reconstruction. Hayes believed in meritocratic government, equal treatment without regard to race, and improvement through education. He ordered federal troops to quell the Great Railroad Strike of 1877. He implemented modest civil service reforms that laid the groundwork for further reform in the 1880s and 1890s. He vetoed the Bland-Allison Act, which would have put silver money into circulation and raised prices, insisting that maintenance of the gold standard was essential to economic recovery. Hayes kept his pledge not to run for re-election, retired to his home in Ohio, and became an advocate of social and educational reform. Family and early life[edit] Childhood and family history[edit]
Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant; April 27, 1822 – July 23, 1885) was the 18th president of the United States (1869–1877) following his success as military commander in the American Civil War. Under Grant, the Union Army defeated the Confederate military; the war, and secession, ended with the surrender of Robert E. Lee's army at Appomattox Court House. As president, Grant led the Radical Republicans in their effort to eliminate vestiges of Confederate nationalism and slavery, protect African American citizenship, and defeat the Ku Klux Klan. A career soldier, Grant graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point and served in the Mexican–American War. After the Civil War, Grant served two terms as president and worked to stabilize the nation during the turbulent Reconstruction period that followed. Early life and family 2nd Lt U.S. Military career, 1843–1854 Grant's first assignment after graduation took him to the Jefferson Barracks near St. Civilian life
Herbert Hoover Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was the 31st President of the United States (1929–1933). Hoover, born to a Quaker family, was a professional mining engineer. He achieved American and international prominence in humanitarian relief efforts in war-time Belgium and served as head of the U.S. Food Administration during World War I.[1] As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren G. Hoover, a globally experienced engineer, believed strongly in the Efficiency Movement, which held that the government and the economy were riddled with inefficiency and waste, and could be improved by experts who could identify the problems and solve them. Family background and early life[edit] 1877 Hoover Tintype Herbert Hoover was born on August 10, 1874, in West Branch, Iowa, the first of his office born in that state and west of the Mississippi River. Hoover birthplace cottage, West Branch, Iowa Mining engineer[edit] Australia[edit]
Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (/ˈroʊzəvəlt/ ROH-zə-vəlt, his own pronunciation,[1] or /ˈroʊzəvɛlt/ ROH-zə-velt) (January 30, 1882 – April 12, 1945), commonly known by his initials FDR, was an American lawyer and statesman who served as the 32nd President of the United States. Serving from March 1933 to his death in April 1945, he was elected for four consecutive terms, and remains the only president ever to serve more than eight years. He was a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic depression and total war. A dominant leader of the Democratic Party, he built a New Deal Coalition that realigned American politics after 1932, as his New Deal domestic policies defined American liberalism for the middle third of the 20th century. With the bouncy popular song "Happy Days Are Here Again" as his campaign theme, FDR defeated incumbent Republican Herbert Hoover in November 1932, at the depth of the Great Depression.
Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884 – December 26, 1972) was the 33rd President of the United States of America (1945–1953). The final running mate of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1944, Truman succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when Roosevelt died after months of declining health. Under Truman, the U.S. successfully concluded World War II; in the aftermath of the conflict, tensions with the Soviet Union increased, marking the start of the Cold War. Truman was born in Missouri, and spent most of his youth on his family's farm. While Germany surrendered a few weeks after Truman assumed the Presidency, the war with Japan was expected to last another year or more. On domestic issues, bills endorsed by Truman often faced opposition from a conservative Congress dominated by the South, but his administration successfully guided the American economy through post-war economic challenges. Early life and career Harry S. John Truman was a farmer and livestock dealer. World War I Politics
Dwight D. Eisenhower Eisenhower was of Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry and was raised in a large family in Kansas by parents with a strong religious background. He attended and graduated from West Point and later married and had two sons. After World War II, Eisenhower served as Army Chief of Staff under President Harry S. Truman then assumed the post of President at Columbia University.[3] Among his enduring innovations, he launched the Interstate Highway System; the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which led to the internet, among many invaluable outputs; the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), driving peaceful discovery in space; the establishment of strong science education via the National Defense Education Act; and encouraging peaceful use of nuclear power via amendments to the Atomic Energy Act.[5] Early life and education David owned a general store in Hope, Kansas, but the business failed due to economic conditions and the family became impoverished. Personal life
John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), commonly known as "Jack" or by his initials JFK, was an American politician who served as the 35th President of the United States from January 1961 until he was assassinated in November 1963. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963. Lee Harvey Oswald was accused of the crime and arrested that evening. Jack Ruby shot and killed Oswald two days later, before a trial could take place. The FBI and the Warren Commission officially concluded that Oswald was the lone assassin. Since the 1960s, information concerning Kennedy's private life has come to light. Early life and education John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born at 83 Beals Street in Brookline, Massachusetts, on May 29, 1917, to businessman/politician Joseph Patrick "Joe" Kennedy, Sr. (1888–1969) and philanthropist/socialite Rose Elizabeth Fitzgerald (1890–1995). The Kennedy family at Hyannisport in 1931 with Jack at top left in white shirt. Congressional career
Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (/ˈlɪndən ˈbeɪnz ˈdʒɒnsən/; August 27, 1908 – January 22, 1973), often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States (1963–1969), a position he assumed after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States (1961–1963). He is one of only four people[1] who served in all four elected federal offices of the United States: Representative, Senator, Vice President, and President.[2] Johnson, a Democrat from Texas, served as a United States Representative from 1937 to 1949 and as a Senator from 1949 to 1961, including six years as United States Senate Majority Leader, two as Senate Minority Leader and two as Senate Majority Whip. After campaigning unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination in 1960, Johnson was asked by John F. Meanwhile, Johnson escalated American involvement in the Vietnam War. Early years Lyndon Johnson in 1915 Early political career Richard Kleberg, Congressman from Texas, on whose staff Johnson served. Congressional career