Presidents of the United States

Barack Obama

Barack Obama is the 44th and current President of the United States. Born to a white American mother and a black Kenyan father, he is the first African American to hold the office. Prior to becoming the president, he served three terms representing the 13th District in the Illinois Senate and received national attention during his campaign to represent Illinois in the United States Senate. A graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, he was a successful civil rights attorney before he ventured into politics. Elected to the U.S. Senate in 2004, he began his presidential campaign in 2007. After winning sufficient delegates in the Democratic Party primaries to receive the presidential nomination, he went on to defeat Republican nominee John McCain in the general election. He assumed office as the President of the United States in January 2009, a time when the country was reeling under the global economic recession. Expectations were high from the new president and the responsibilities on his shoulders, tremendous. Within the first few months he implemented several reforms in order to stabilize the economy and to boost its growth. He also completely overhauled America's foreign policy. Obama was reelected to a second term as president in November 2012.
Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician serving as the 44th President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office, as well as the first president born outside of the continental United States. Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, Obama is a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he served as president of the Harvard Law Review. He was a community organizer in Chicago before earning his law degree. He worked as a civil rights attorney and taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School between 1992 and 2004. He served three terms representing the 13th District in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004, and ran unsuccessfully in the Democratic primary for the United States House of Representatives in 2000 against incumbent Bobby Rush.

In 2004, Obama received national attention during his campaign to represent Illinois in the United States Senate with his victory in the March Democratic Party primary, his keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in July, and his election to the Senate in November. He began his presidential campaign in 2007 and, after a close primary campaign against Hillary Clinton in 2008, he won sufficient delegates in the Democratic Party primaries to receive the presidential nomination. He then defeated Republican nominee John McCain in the general election, and was inaugurated as president on January 20, 2009. Nine months after his inauguration, Obama was named the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

During his first two years in office, Obama signed into law economic stimulus legislation in response to the Great Recession in the form of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010. Other major domestic initiatives in his first term included the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, often referred to as "Obamacare"; the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act; and they Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010. In foreign policy, Obama ended U.S. military involvement in the Iraq War, increased U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan, signed the New START arms control treaty with Russia, ordered U.S. military involvement in Libya in opposition to Muammar Gaddafi, and ordered the military operation that resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden. In January 2011, the Republicans regained control of the House of Representatives as the Democratic Party lost a total of 63 seats; and, after a lengthy debate over federal spending and whether or not to raise the nation's debt limit, Obama signed the Budget Control Act of 2011 and the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012.

Obama was reelected president in November 2012, defeating Republican nominee Mitt Romney, and was sworn in for a second term on January 20, 2013. During his second term, Obama has promoted domestic policies related to gun control in response to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, and has called for greater inclusiveness for LGBT Americans, while his administration has filed briefs which urged the Supreme Court to strike down part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act and state level same-sex marriage bans as unconstitutional. In foreign policy, Obama ordered U.S. military intervention in Iraq in response to gains made by the Islamic State after the 2011 withdrawal from Iraq, continued the process of ending U.S. combat operations in Afghanistan, promoted discussions that led to the 2015 Paris Agreement on global climate change, brokered a nuclear deal with Iran, and normalized U.S. relations with Cuba.

The inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President took place on January 20, 2009. In his first few days in office, Obama issued executive orders and presidential memoranda directing the U.S. military to develop plans to withdraw troops from Iraq. He ordered the closing of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, but Congress prevented the closure by refusing to appropriate the required funds and preventing moving any Guantanamo detainee into the U.S. or to other countries. Obama reduced the secrecy given to presidential records. He also revoked President George W. Bush's restoration of President Ronald Reagan's Mexico City Policy prohibiting federal aid to international family planning organizations that perform or provide counseling about abortion.

Obama's family history, upbringing, and Ivy League education differ markedly from those of African-American politicians who launched their careers in the 1960s through participation in the civil rights movement. Expressing puzzlement over questions about whether he is "black enough", Obama told an August 2007 meeting of the National Association of Black Journalists that "we're still locked in this notion that if you appeal to white folks then there must be something wrong." Obama acknowledged his youthful image in an October 2007 campaign speech, saying: "I wouldn't be here if, time and again, the torch had not been passed to a new generation."

Obama is frequently referred to as an exceptional orator. During his pre-inauguration transition period and continuing into his presidency, Obama has delivered a series of weekly Internet video addresses. Former presidential campaign surrogate and Georgetown professor, Michael Eric Dyson, is both critical and sympathetic of President Obama's leadership in race relations indicating that speeches and action on racial disparity and justice have been somewhat reactive and reluctant when in the later part of his second term, racial violence demanded immediate presidential action and conversation.

On May 27, 2016, the 71st anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima by America, Obama became the first sitting American president to visit Hiroshima, Japan. Accompanied by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Obama paid tribute to the victims of the bombing at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum.

Bill Clinton

William Jefferson Clinton (Bill Clinton) (born on August 19, 1946) is an American politician who was 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Clinton was previously Governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and 1983 to 1992, and the Arkansas Attorney General from 1977 to 1979. A member of the Democratic Party, ideologically Clinton was a New Democrat, and many of his policies reflected a centrist "Third Way" philosophy of governance.

The 42nd president of the United States who was in office from 1993 to 2001, overseeing a period of economic expansion while signing the North American Free Trade Agreement. After his presidency, he started the William J. Clinton Foundation with the goal of improving health across the globe. BEFORE FAME He endured a tragic and often abusive childhood with an alcoholic step-father. He received a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University, and then went on to study at University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar before attending Yale Law School. TRIVIA He became the second U.S. president to be impeached by the House after word got out about his affair with White House employee Monica Lewinsky. However, he was acquitted by the Senate and thus remained in office. FAMILY LIFE He married Hillary Rodham in 1975 and together they had a daughter named Chelsea in 1980. His wife would go on to have a successful political career of her own. ASSOCIATED WITH him and his predecessor, George H.W. Bush, were fierce competitors in the 1992 presidential campaign, but later developed a close father-son bond while raising money for victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

‘If you live long enough, you'll make mistakes. But if you learn from them, you'll be a better person. It's how you handle adversity, not how it affects you. The main thing is never quit, never quit, never quit.’ This quote by Bill Clinton aptly describes his life and his motive for living. The 42nd President of the United States of America, Clinton is one of the most remarkable politicians who ventured to take the country through the depressive economic condition towards a progressive and prosperous future. A strong supporter of futuristic vision, he brought about progressive policies in the educational and health care sectors and aimed at providing the citizens with better living conditions.
Clinton was born and raised in Arkansas, and is an alumnus of Georgetown University, where he was a member of Kappa Psi and Phi Beta Kappa and earned a Rhodes Scholarship to attend the University of Oxford. Clinton is married to Hillary Clinton, who served as United States Secretary of State from 2009 to 2013, and who was a Senator from New York from 2001 to 2009, and is the Democrat nominee for United States presidential election, 2016. Both Clintons earned law degrees from Yale Law School, where they met and began dating. As Governor of Arkansas, Clinton overhauled the state's education system, and served as Chair of the National Governors Association.

Clinton was elected President in 1992, defeating incumbent George H. W. Bush. At age 46, Clinton was the third-youngest president, and the first from the Baby Boomer Generation. Clinton presided over the longest period of peacetime economic expansion in American history, and signed into law the North American Free Trade Agreement. After failing to pass national health care reform, the Democratic House was ousted when the Republican Party won control of the Congress in 1994, for the first time in 40 years. Two years later, Clinton became the first Democrat since Franklin D. Roosevelt to be elected President twice. Clinton passed Welfare Reform and the State Children's Health Insurance Program, providing health coverage for millions of children.

In 1998, Clinton was impeached by the House of Representatives for perjury before a grand jury and obstruction of justice during a lawsuit against him, both related to a scandal involving White House (and later Department of Defense) employee Monica Lewinsky. Clinton was acquitted by the U.S. Senate in 1999, and served his complete term of office. The Congressional Budget Office reported a budget surplus between the years 1998 and 2000, the last three years of Clinton's presidency. In foreign policy, Clinton ordered U.S. military intervention in the Bosnia and Kosovo wars, signed the Iraq Liberation Act in opposition to Saddam Hussein, and participated in the 2000 Camp David Summit to advance the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Clinton left office with the highest end-of-office approval rating of any U.S. President since World War II. Since then, Clinton has been involved in public speaking and humanitarian work. Clinton created the William J. Clinton Foundation to address international causes, such as the prevention of AIDS and global warming. In 2004, Clinton published his autobiography My Life. Clinton has remained active in politics by campaigning for Democratic candidates, including his wife's campaigns for the Democratic Presidential nomination in 2008 and 2016, and Osama’s Presidential campaigns in 2008 and 2012.

He briefly considered dedicating his life to music, but as he noted in his autobiography My Life:

“Sometime in my sixteenth year, I decided I wanted to be in public life as an elected official. I loved music and thought I could be very good, but I knew I would never be John Coltrane or Stan Getz. I was interested in medicine and thought I could be a fine doctor, but I knew I would never be Michael DeBakey. But I knew I could be great in public service”.

During his presidency, Clinton advocated for a wide variety of legislation and programs, much of which was enacted into law or was implemented by the executive branch. His policies, particularly the North American Free Trade Agreement and welfare reform, have been attributed to a centrist Third Way philosophy of governance. On budgetary matters his policy of fiscal conservatism helped to reduce deficits. Clinton presided over the longest period of peacetime economic expansion in American history. Bill Clinton continues to be active in public life, giving speeches, fundraising, and founding charitable organizations. Clinton has spoken in prime time at every Democratic National Convention since 1988. Robert Reich has suggested that Clinton is in a state of "permanent election", due to the impeachment proceedings during his presidency and his continuing support in the campaigns of his wife Hillary Clinton.

Various colleges and universities have awarded Clinton honorary degrees, including Doctorate of Law degrees and Doctor of Humane Letters degrees. He is an Honorary Fellow of University College, Oxford, which he attended as a Rhodes Scholar. Schools have been named for Clinton, and statues have been built to pay him homage. U.S. states where he has been honored include Missouri, Arkansas, Kentucky, and New York. In 2011, President Michel Martially of Haiti awarded Clinton with the National Order of Honor and Merit to the rank of Grand Cross "for his various initiatives in Haiti and especially his high contribution to the reconstruction of the country after the earthquake of January 12, 2010." Clinton declared at the ceremony that "...in the United States of America, I really don't believe former American presidents need awards anymore, but I am very honored by this one, I love Haiti, and I believe in its promise.”

U.S. President Barack Obama awarded Clinton the Presidential Medal of Freedom on November 20, 2013.

Woodrow Wilson

Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921) served as the 28th President of the U S from 1913 to 1921. Born in Staunton, Virginia, he spent his early years in Augusta, Georgia and Columbia, South Carolina. Wilson earned a PhD in political science at Johns Hopkins University, and served as a professor and scholar at various institutions before being chosen as President of Princeton University, a position he held from 1902 to 1910. In the election of 1910, he was the gubernatorial candidate of New Jersey's Democratic Party, and was elected the 34th Governor of New Jersey, serving from 1911 to 1913.

Running for president in 1912, Wilson benefited from a split in the Republican Party, which enabled his plurality of just over forty percent to win him a large Electoral College margin. He was the first Southerner elected as president since 1848, and Wilson was a leading force in the Progressive Movement, bolstered by his Democratic Party's winning control of both the White House and Congress in 1912.

Wilson reintroduced the spoken State of the Union, which had been out of use since 1801. Leading the Congress, now in Democratic hands, he oversaw the passage of progressive legislative policies unparalleled until the New Deal in 1933. Through passage of the Adamson Act, imposing an 8-hour workday for railroads, he averted a railroad strike and an ensuing economic crisis. Upon the outbreak of World War I in 1914, Wilson maintained a policy of neutrality, while pursuing a more aggressive policy in dealing with Mexico's civil war.

Wilson was admired as a writer, a scholar, and an educator more than two decades before he became the 28th president of United States of America. He spent twenty-four years working in the academic world as a professor, then as a college president, before he was elected governor of New Jersey. Wilson’s idealistic internationalism “Wilsonianism” which calls the United States to enter in the world to fight for democracy has been a contentious position in American foreign policy.

Wilson faced former Governor Charles Evans Hughes of New York State in the presidential election of 1916. He became the first Democrat since Andrew Jackson elected to consecutive terms with a narrow majority. Wilson's second term was dominated by American entry into World War I.

In April 1917, when Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare, Wilson asked Congress to declare war in order to make "the world safe for democracy." The United States conducted military operations alongside the Allies, although without a formal alliance. Also in 1917, he denied sanctuary to Tsarist Russia's Nicholas II and his immediate family when Nicholas was overthrown in that year's February Revolution and forced into abdication that March, a decision that became controversial the following year with the shooting of the Romanov family in 1918. During the war, Wilson focused on diplomacy and financial considerations, leaving military strategy to the generals, especially General John J. Pershing. Loaning billions of dollars to Britain, France, and other Allies, the United States aided their finance of the war effort. Through the Selective Service Act, conscription sent 10,000 freshly trained soldiers to France, per day, by summer of 1918. On the home front, he raised income taxes, borrowing billions of dollars through the public's purchase of Liberty Bonds. He set up the War Industries Board, promoted labor union cooperation, regulating agriculture and food production through the Lever Act.

The crackdown was intensified by his Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer to include expulsion of non-citizen radicals during the First Red Scare of 1919–1920. Following years of advocacy for suffrage on the state level, in 1918 he endorsed the Nineteenth Amendment whose ratification provided all women the right to vote by its ratification in 1920, over Southern opposition. Wilson staffed his government with Southern Democrats who believed in segregation. He gave department heads greater autonomy in their management. Early in 1918, he issued his principles for peace, the Fourteen Points, and in 1919, following armistice, he traveled to Paris, promoting the formation of a League of Nations, concluding the Treaty of Versailles. Following his return from Europe, Wilson embarked on a nationwide tour in 1919 to campaign for the treaty, suffering a severe stroke. The treaty was met with serious concern by Senate Republicans, and Wilson rejected a compromise effort led by Henry Cabot Lodge, leading to the Senate's rejection of the treaty. Due to his stroke, Wilson secluded himself in the White House, disability having diminished his power and influence.

Woodrow Wilson was an admirable principled president. He got congress to lower the tariff and he reformed the national banking system. He also got the congress to declare that it wasn’t against the law for working men to go on strike. When world war one started his aim was clearly to stay out of it, he instead looked forward to help the warring countries to make peace. When German submarines bombed American ships in the Atlantic without warning, the USA was engaged in the war. More than anything else Wilson wanted this to be a war to end all the wars. Even at the time of fighting, he drew up his famous 14 Point Peace plan. The most important of these called for a League of Nations which would settle future rifts between nations. Germany had surrendered and the League of Nations was formed. But without the approval of the U.S senate America couldn’t join and without the USA the body was rendered useless. But Wilson kept traveling around the country making speeches in favor of the league. He left a legacy for peace which people still dream about.

Thomas Woodrow, the leader of the Democratic Party, was the 28th President of the United States. Before his presidency, he was the President of Princeton University and the Governor of New Jersey. He won the control of Congress and White House in 1912 and started the Progressive Movement. He promulgated progressive legislative agenda which was used till the 1933 New Deal. His legislative agenda included Federal Trade Commission Act, the Federal Farm Loan Act, Federal Reserve Act and the Clayton Antitrust Act. Child labor was first restricted by his Keating–Owen Act in United nation. He maintained neutral policy during the outbreak of World War. In 1916, with the slogan, “He kept us out of war”, he was re-elected and declared war against submarine warfare by Nazi Germany.

Woodrow Wilson utilized a progressive vision in order to reform American institutions and bring American society into the 20th century. Wilson had a prolific career before he attained the presidency, as attained a Ph.D. became the president of Princeton University, and held the position of Governor of New Jersey. When World War I broke out in Europe in 1914, Wilson was hesitant to get involved, but he finally asked Congress for permission to enter the war in 1917 in order to ensure “the world [is] safe for democracy.” In this way, Wilson was committed to defending American democracy and its values both at home and abroad.

On February 3, 1924, Wilson died at home of a stroke and other heart-related problems at age 67. He was interred in a sarcophagus in Washington National Cathedral and is the only president interred in the nation's capital.

Andrew Jackson

Andrew Jackson (1829 to 1837) was born on March 15, 1767. His parents were Scots-Irish colonists Andrew and Elizabeth Hutchinson Jackson, Presbyterians who had emigrated from Ireland two years earlier.

Surrounded by myth and image, this 7th president of America is a compact symbol representing the ideology of an entire generation. Jackson exemplified the common man, the farmer politician, military prowess and democracy for his time. Nicknamed as “Old Hickory”, Jackson was famous for winning the Battle of New Orleans against the British and pretty much ending any Indian threat in the South.

He was born near the end of the colonial era, somewhere near the then-unmarked border between North and South Carolina, into a recently immigrated Scots-Irish farming family of relatively modest means. During the American Revolutionary War, Jackson, whose family supported the revolutionary cause, acted as a courier.

Andrew Jackson was a fearless president right from the beginning. He easily was the best president ever to serve the army going well past the excellence of George Washington, smashing the British in the war of 1812 and then playing the paramount role in taking Florida from Spain. So during his presidency there was no shortage of courage as he demonstrated how great a role the president had to play, by undertaking the responsibility of getting people the laws they wanted instead of leaving everything up to the Congress. The Tariff act was passed in 1832, which would be significant to America’s economy forever. When North Carolina had other opinions about the act, Jackson made it clear that no state had the right to break national laws and threatened to use the army if necessary to save the union. He proved too strong and a compromise was worked out.

Andrew Jackson served as the 7th president of the United States of America, and even before that he had been serving the nation in various capacities before that. During the Revolutionary War, he acted as a courier of the Continental Army at the age of 13. As he grew into adulthood, Jackson became a lawyer and was integral in the formation of Tennessee as a U.S. state. Jackson also served as a military commander during the War of 1812, in which he won a famous victory against British forces during the Battle of New Orleans. As president, Jackson instituted the Republican ideals that had become so dominant during the Revolutionary War, in that he believed both the federal and state governments should be limited in scope.

After winning election to the Senate, Jackson decided to run for president in 1824. Although he won more electoral votes and more of the popular votes than any of the other three major candidates, he lost in the House of Representatives to John Quincy Adams. Jackson claimed that he lost by a "corrupt bargain" between Adams and Speaker of the House Henry Clay, who was also a candidate, to give Clay the office of Secretary of State in exchange for Adams winning the presidency. Jackson's supporters then founded what became the Democratic Party. He ran again for president in 1828 against Adams.

About a year after retiring the presidency, Jackson became a member of the First Presbyterian Church in Nashville. Jackson was a Freemason, having been initiated at Harmony Lodge No. 1 in Tennessee; he also participated in chartering several other lodges in Tennessee. He was the only U.S. president to have served as Grand Master of a state's Grand Lodge until Harry S. Truman in 1945. His Masonic apron is on display in the Tennessee State Museum.

Jackson died at his plantation on June 8, 1845, at the age of 78, of chronic tuberculosis, dropsy, and heart failure. According to a newspaper account from the Boon Lick Times read, "[he] fainted whilst being removed from his chair to the bed, but he subsequently revived, Gen. Jackson died at the Hermitage at 6 o'clock P.M. on Sunday the 8th instant. When the messenger finally came, the old soldier, patriot and Christian were looking out for his approach. He is gone, but his memory lives, and will continue to live.

Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson (1743 to 1826) was born on April 13th, 1743. He served as the third president of the United States of America and was the first United States Secretary of State. Apart from politics he was interested in science, architecture, religion and philosophy. He was a polymath and spoke 5 different languages fluently. He is rated by historians as one of the greatest United States Presidents of all time.

Primarily of English ancestry, Jefferson was born and educated in Virginia. He graduated from the College of William & Mary and practiced law. During the American Revolution, he represented Virginia in the Continental Congress that adopted the Declaration, drafted the law for religious freedom as a Virginia legislator, and served as a wartime governor (1779–1781). He became the United States Minister to France in May 1785, and subsequently the nation's first Secretary of State in 1790–1793 under President George Washington. Jefferson and James Madison organized the Democratic-Republican Party to oppose the Federalist Party during the formation of the First Party System.

A coward is much more exposed to quarrels than a man of spirit. Jefferson was the principal author of the Declaration of Independence and the third president of the United States of America. As a political philosopher, Jefferson is the only president to serve two full terms in office without vetoing a single bill of Congress. Jefferson has been consistently ranked by scholars as one of the most famous presidents of America.

Thomas Jefferson cared passionately about his country and put the interests of the people before his. He cut down on the army and the navy as he thought that a country should be run cheaply as possible so there would always be money for bigger developments when the need came. He was successful in buying from France the whole Louisiana territory, stretching from the Mississippi river to the Rocky Mountains and henceforth doubled the size of his country. When there was a threat from the Barbary pirates based in Africa, he utilized his navy to attack these pirates which once again ensured the smooth flow of American ships through the Mediterranean Sea. He was on very good terms with the people and mostly likely would have been reelected; instead he stepped down as president, believing that no one should run for more than two terms for democracy to be sustained in the land of the free.

Jefferson mastered many disciplines which ranged from surveying and mathematics to horticulture and mechanics. He was a proven architect in the classical tradition. Jefferson's keen interest in religion and philosophy earned him the presidency of the American Philosophical Society. He shunned organized religion, but was influenced by both Christianity and deism. He was well versed in languages. He founded the University of Virginia after retiring from public office.

Thomas Jefferson, the founding Father and the third President of the United States, was the principal architect of The Declaration of Independence in 1776. He also served as the Governor of Virginia at the beginning of the American Revolution and was the first United States Secretary under President George Washington. Later, he organized the Democratic-Republican Party with his friend, James Madison, to oppose Alexander Hamilton’s Federalism, and resigned from the cabinet of Washington. Thomas Jefferson started the Revolution of 1800 where he regained control of Louisiana Territory from France. He was also the one to conduct the Lewis and Clark Expedition to explore the west. Thomas Jefferson initiated the removal of Indian tribal from Louisiana Territory to accommodate more free lands to the eventual American settlers.

Thomas Jefferson was an American Founding Father and is the principle author of the American Declaration of Independence. He was a very prolific in his service to America during the nation’s very first years. Not only was Jefferson the main author of the seminal Declaration of Independence document, but he also served as the U.S. Minister to France and the U.S. Secretary of State in the years immediately preceding his presidency. Jefferson was a very well-read scholar, and he brought his firm beliefs in democracy and republicanism to the forefront of his political vision during his many years of service to the nation. Furthermore, Jefferson purchased the Louisiana Territory from France in 1803, which helped to bring America a big step closer to its modern form.

On July 3 Jefferson was overcome by fever and declined an invitation to Washington to attend an anniversary celebration of the Declaration.

During the last hours of his life, he was accompanied by family members and friends. On July 4 at 12:50 p.m., Jefferson died at age 83 on the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and just a few hours before the death of John Adams. The sitting president, Adams' son John Quincy, called the coincidence of their deaths on the nation's anniversary "visible and palpable remarks of Divine Favor".

Jefferson's remains were buried at Monticello, under a self-written epitaph:

“HERE WAS BURIED THOMAS JEFFERSON, AUTHOR OF THE DECLARATION OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE, OF THE STATUTE OF VIRGINIA FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM, AND FATHER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA."