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