ANALYSIS/OPINION:

Some persistent researchers at Wall Street 24/7 girded their loins and tallied up the assets of American presidents past and present to assemble the nation’s top-10 wealthiest presidents through history. Among the criteria they used: land holdings, inheritance, income in and out of office plus appropriate adjustments for the economies of their time, among many factors.

Some presidents went broke, some never had any money, some made lots of it.

Analyst Ashley Allen points out for example, that former President Bill Clinton has made more than $100 million on the speaking circuit in recent years, with more from books deals. Mr. Clinton is, in fact, the only currently living president who is counted among of the “wealthiest of all time,” Ms. Allen says.

Unrelated but still pertinent: Hillary Clinton received a $14 million advance on her new memoirs - which still doesn’t have a title and is due out in June. Is the publisher waiting to see if she declares her intent to run for the White House?

Could be. But let us move along. Who are the richest presidents of all? Here they are, along with their estimated personal wealth.

In first place, it’s none other than George Washington, whose net worth was $525 million; his salary, the researchers found, was 2 percent of the total U.S. budget for 1789.

In second place: Thomas Jefferson ($212 million), followed by Theodore Roosevelt ($125 million), Andrew Jackson ($119 million) and James Madison ($101 million).

In sixth place: Lyndon Johnson ($98 million) followed by Herbert Hoover ($75 million), Franklin D, Roosevelt ($60 million), Bill Clinton ($55 million) and John F. Kennedy ($1 billion).

The analysts point out that figure reflects the Kennedy wealth was shared in a trust with other family members, and that the president “never inherited his father’s fortune,” thus placing him at the bottom of the list.

And President Obama? Wall Street 24/7 estimated his current worth to be $7.5 million.

Sign up for Daily Opinion Newsletter Manage Newsletters

Copyright © 2020 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.