CitePresidents' Occupations
Updated February 28, 2017 | Infoplease Staff![]( "Updated by an Infoplease Editor on February 28, 2017")
This table provides information about the occupations held by U.S. Presidents before and after their time in office.
| President | Major Jobs Before the Presidency | Jobs After the Presidency |
|---|---|---|
| George Washington | surveyor, planter, general of the Army of the United Colonies | planter, lieutenant-general of all the U.S. armies |
| John Adams | schoolteacher, lawyer, diplomat, vice president under Washington | writer |
| Thomas Jefferson | writer, inventor, lawyer, architect, governor of Virginia, secretary of state under Washington, vice president under Adams | writer, gentleman farmer, rector at the University of Virginia |
| James Madison | lawyer, political theorist, U.S. congressman, secretary of state under Jefferson | rector at the University of Virginia |
| James Monroe | soldier, lawyer, U.S. senator, governor of Virginia | writer, regent at the University of Virginia |
| John Quincy Adams | lawyer, diplomat, professor, U.S. senator, secretary of state under Monroe | U.S. representative from Massachusetts |
| Andrew Jackson | soldier, U.S. congressman, U.S. senator, governor of Florida | gentleman farmer |
| Martin Van Buren | lawyer, U.S. senator, governor of New York, vice president under Jackson | activist for Free Soil Party |
| William Henry Harrison | soldier, diplomat, U.S. congressman, U.S. senator from Ohio | died in office |
| John Tyler | lawyer, U.S. congressman, U.S. senator, vice president under Harrison | lawyer, chancellor of the College of William and Mary, member of the Confederate House of Representatives |
| James Knox Polk | lawyer, U.S. congressman, governor of Tennessee | died 103 days after leaving office |
| Zachary Taylor | soldier | died in office |
| Millard Fillmore | lawyer, U.S. congressman, vice president under Taylor | rogue political activist, chancellor of the University of Buffalo |
| Franklin Pierce | lawyer, soldier, U.S. congressman, U.S. senator from New Hampshire | gentleman farmer |
| James Buchanan | lawyer, U.S. congressman, U.S. senator, U.S. secretary of state | writer |
| Abraham Lincoln | postmaster, lawyer, U.S. congressman from Illinois | died in office |
| Andrew Johnson | tailor, U.S. congressman, governor of Tennessee, U.S. senator from Tennessee, vice president under Lincoln | U.S. senator from Tennessee |
| Ulysses Simpson Grant | U.S. Army general | political activist, writer |
| Rutherford Birchard Hayes | lawyer, soldier, U.S. congressman, governor of Ohio | education activist, president of the National Prison Reform Association |
| James Abram Garfield | schoolteacher, soldier, U.S. representative from Ohio | died in office |
| Chester Alan Arthur | schoolteacher, lawyer, tariff collector, vice president under Garfield | lawyer |
| Grover Cleveland | sheriff, lawyer, mayor, governor of New York | reelected president |
| Benjamin Harrison | lawyer, soldier, journalist, U.S. senator from Indiana | lawyer, lecturer |
| William McKinley | soldier, lawyer, U.S. congressman, governor of Ohio | died in office |
| Theodore Roosevelt | rancher, soldier, governor of New York, vice president under McKinley | hunter, writer |
| William Howard Taft | lawyer, judge, dean of the University of Cincinnati Law School, U.S. secretary of war | professor, chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court |
| Woodrow Wilson | lawyer, professor, president of Princeton University, governor of New Jersey | retired in poor health |
| Warren Gamaliel Harding | newspaper editor, U.S. senator from Ohio | died in office |
| Calvin Coolidge | lawyer, governor of Massachusetts, vice president under Harding | writer, president of the American Antiquarian Society |
| Herbert Clark Hoover | engineer, U.S. secretary of commerce | chair of the Hoover Commission on administrative reform |
| Franklin Delano Roosevelt | lawyer, governor of New York | died in office |
| Harry S. Truman | farmer, soldier, haberdasher, judge, U.S. senator, vice president under Roosevelt | writer |
| Dwight David Eisenhower | supreme commander of the Allied forces in Europe, U.S. Army chief of staff | writer |
| John Fitzgerald Kennedy | journalist, U.S. congressman, U.S. senator from Massachusetts | died in office |
| Lyndon Baines Johnson | schoolteacher, soldier, congressman, U.S. senator from Texas, vice president under Kennedy | rancher, writer |
| Richard Milhous Nixon | lawyer, U.S. congressman, U.S. senator, vice president under Eisenhower | writer |
| Gerald Rudolph Ford | lawyer, U.S. congressman, vice president under Nixon | writer |
| James Earl Carter, Jr. | peanut farmer, governor of Georgia | writer, humanitarian, Nobel-prize winning statesman |
| Ronald Wilson Reagan | movie actor, corporate spokesman, governor of California | writer |
| George Herbert Walker Bush | oil executive, U.S. congressman, U.S. ambassador to the UN, Director of CIA, vice president under Reagan | private citizen; teamed with President Clinton to form tsunami and Hurricane Katrina aid funds |
| William Jefferson Clinton | lawyer, governor of Arkansas | writer, independent ambassador; teamed with President G.H.W. Bush to form tsunami and Hurricane Katrina aid funds |
| George Walker Bush | oil executive, sport team owner, governor of Texas | public speaker; written a book about his life entitled Decision Points |
| Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. | community organizer, civil rights lawyer, constitutional law professor, Illinois state senator, U.S. senator | — |
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