Most presidents of the United States received a college education, even most of the earliest. Of the first seven presidents, five were college graduates. College degrees have set the presidents apart from the general population, and presidents have held degrees even though it was quite rare and unnecessary for practicing most occupations, including law. Of the 45 individuals to have been the president, 25 of them graduated from a private undergraduate college, nine graduated from a public undergraduate college, and 12 held no degree. Every president since 1953 has had a bachelor's degree, reflecting the increasing importance of higher education in the United States.
Some presidents attended more than one institution. George Washington never attended college, though The College of William & Mary did issue him a surveyor's certificate. [5] Two presidents have attended a foreign college at the undergraduate level: John Quincy Adams at Leiden University and Bill Clinton at the University of Oxford (John F. Kennedy intended to study at the London School of Economics, but failed to attend as he fell ill before classes began.)
Three presidents have attended the United States Service academies: Ulysses S. Grant and Dwight D. Eisenhower graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point, while Jimmy Carter graduated from the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland. No presidents have graduated from the United States Coast Guard Academy or the much newer U.S. Air Force Academy. Eisenhower also graduated from the Army Command and General Staff College, Army Industrial College and Army War College. These were not degree granting institutions when Eisenhower attended, but were part of his professional education as a career soldier.
A total of 20 presidents attended some form of graduate school (including professional schools). Among them, eleven presidents received a graduate degree during their lifetimes; two more received graduate degrees posthumously.
School | Location | President(s) |
---|---|---|
Harvard Business School | Boston, Massachusetts | |
School | Location | President(s) |
---|---|---|
Harvard University | Cambridge, Massachusetts | |
Johns Hopkins University | Baltimore, Maryland |
School | Location | President(s) |
---|---|---|
Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
|
Several presidents who were lawyers did not attend law school, but became lawyers after independent study under the tutelage of established attorneys. [6] Some had attended college before beginning their legal studies, and several studied law without first having attended college. Presidents who were lawyers but did not attend law school include: John Adams; Thomas Jefferson; James Madison; James Monroe; John Quincy Adams; Andrew Jackson; Martin Van Buren; John Tyler; James K. Polk; Millard Fillmore; James Buchanan; Abraham Lincoln; James A. Garfield; Grover Cleveland; Benjamin Harrison; and Calvin Coolidge.
Presidents who were admitted to the bar after a combination of law school and independent study include; Franklin Pierce; Chester A. Arthur; William McKinley; and Woodrow Wilson.
School | Location | President(s) |
---|---|---|
Johns Hopkins University | Baltimore, Maryland |
School | Location | President(s) |
---|---|---|
Harvard Business School | Boston, Massachusetts |
School | Location | President(s) |
---|---|---|
Harvard University | Cambridge, Massachusetts |
Note: John Adams and John Quincy Adams, along with George W. Bush are the only presidents to date to attain master's degrees.
Note: Hayes, Taft, Nixon and Ford were awarded LL.B. degrees. [8] [9] [10] [11] When most U.S. law schools began to award the J.D. as the professional law degree in the 1960s, previous graduates had the choice of converting their LL.B. degrees to a J.D. [12] [13] Duke University Law School made the change in 1968, [14] and Yale Law School in 1971. [15]
President(s) | School | Position | Years |
---|---|---|---|
Thomas Jefferson | University of Virginia | 1st rector | 1819–1826 |
James Madison | University of Virginia | 2nd rector | 1826–1836 |
James A. Garfield | Hiram College | President | 1857–1860 |
Millard Fillmore | University of Buffalo | Chancellor | 1846–1874 |
Woodrow Wilson | Princeton University | President | 1902–1910 |
Dwight D. Eisenhower | Columbia University | President | 1948–1953 |
President(s) | School | Position | Years |
---|---|---|---|
George Washington | College of William and Mary | Chancellor | 1788–1799 |
Washington College | Allowed use of his name, Benefactor, Board of Governors | 1782–1799 | |
George Washington University | Left shares in his will to establish a university in the District of Columbia | 1799 | |
Washington and Lee University | Benefactor [30] | 1796 | |
Thomas Jefferson | University of Virginia | Board of Visitors | 1819–1826 |
James Madison | University of Virginia | Board of Visitors | 1819–1836 |
Madison College (Pennsylvania) | Allowed use of his name; benefactor: contributed funds ($2,000 in 1827 dollars) towards founding [31] | 1827 | |
James Monroe | George Washington University | Benefactor | 1821 |
University of Virginia | Board of Visitors | 1826–1831 | |
John Quincy Adams | Harvard University | Board of Overseers | 1830–1848 |
George Washington University | Benefactor, Board of Trustees | 1832 | |
Andrew Jackson | University of Nashville | Board of Trustees | 1806–1845 [32] |
Martin Van Buren | University of the State of New York | Board of Regents | 1816–1829 |
John Tyler | College of William and Mary | Chancellor | 1859–1862 |
Ulysses S. Grant | George Washington University | Board of Trustees | 1869–1877 |
Millard Fillmore | University at Buffalo | Chancellor | 1846–1874 |
Franklin Pierce | Norwich University | Board of Trustees | 1841–1859 |
James Buchanan | Franklin & Marshall College | President, Board of Trustees | 1853–1865 |
Rutherford B. Hayes | Ohio State University | Board of Trustees | 1881–1893 |
Western Reserve University | Chairman of the Board of Trustees | 1881–1893 | |
Ohio Wesleyan University | Board of Trustees | 1884–1893 | |
James A. Garfield | Hiram College | Board of Trustees | 1866–1881 |
Hampton University | Board of Trustees | 1877–1881 | |
Benjamin Harrison | Purdue University | Board of Trustees | 1895–1901 |
Grover Cleveland | Princeton University | Board of Trustees | 1901–1908 |
William McKinley | American University | Board of Trustees | 1899–1901 |
Theodore Roosevelt | American University | Board of Trustees | 1900–1919 |
Harvard University | Board of Overseers | 1895–1901, 1915–1916 | |
William Howard Taft | Yale University | Member of the Yale Corporation | 1901–1913 |
Hampton University | Board of Trustees | 1909–1930 | |
Warren G. Harding | American University | Board of Trustees | 1921–1923 |
Calvin Coolidge | Amherst College | Board of Trustees (life member) | 1921–1933 |
Herbert Hoover | Stanford University | Board of Trustees | 1923–1960 |
American University | Board of Trustees | 1945–1950 | |
Franklin D. Roosevelt | Harvard University | Board of Overseers | 1917–1923 |
Vassar College | Board of Trustees | 1923–1945 | |
Dwight D. Eisenhower | Eisenhower College | Namesake, fundraiser | 1965–1969 |
John F. Kennedy | Harvard University | Board of Overseers | 1957–1958 |
Jimmy Carter | Mercer University | Board of Trustees | 2012–present |
Ronald Reagan | Eureka College | Board of Trustees | 1947–1953, 1967–1973, 1974–1980 |
Religious affiliations can affect the electability of the presidents of the United States and shape their stances on policy matters and their visions of society and also how they want to lead it. While no president has ever openly identified as an atheist, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and William Howard Taft were speculated to be atheists by their opponents during political campaigns; in addition, a survey during the presidency of Donald Trump showed that 63% of Americans did not believe he was religious, despite his professed Christian affiliation. Trump supporters have also circulated conspiracy theories that Barack Obama is a Muslim. Conversely, other presidents, such as Jimmy Carter, have used their faith as a defining aspect of their campaigns and tenure in office.
James Munro McPherson is an American historian specializing in the American Civil War. He is the George Henry Davis '86 Professor Emeritus of United States History at Princeton University. He received the 1989 Pulitzer Prize for Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era. McPherson was the president of the American Historical Association in 2003.
Princeton Theological Seminary (PTSem), officially The Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church, is a private school of theology in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1812 under the auspices of Archibald Alexander, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA), and the College of New Jersey, it is the second-oldest seminary in the United States. It is also the largest of ten seminaries associated with the Presbyterian Church.
Vanderbilt Peabody College of Education and Human Development is the education school of Vanderbilt University, a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1875, Peabody had a long history as an independent institution before merging with Vanderbilt University in 1979. The school is located on the Peabody Campus of Vanderbilt University in Nashville. The academic and administrative buildings surround the Peabody Esplanade and are southeast of Vanderbilt's main campus.
In political studies, surveys have been conducted in order to construct historical rankings of the success of the presidents of the United States. Ranking systems are usually based on surveys of academic historians and political scientists or popular opinion. The scholarly rankings focus on presidential achievements, leadership qualities, failures and faults. Popular-opinion polls typically focus on recent or well-known presidents.
Beginning with painter Gilbert Stuart's portrait of George Washington, it has been tradition for the president of the United States to have an official portrait taken during their time in office, most commonly an oil painting. This tradition has continued to modern times, although since the adoption of photography as a widely used and reliable technology, the official portrait may also be a photograph.
Reading law was the method used in common law countries, particularly the United States, for people to prepare for and enter the legal profession before the advent of law schools. It consisted of an extended internship or apprenticeship under the tutelage or mentoring of an experienced lawyer. The practice largely died out in the early 20th century. A few U.S. states still permit people to become lawyers by reading law instead of attending law school, although the practice is rare.
This article includes information on the African heritage of presidents of the United States, together with information on unsubstantiated claims that certain presidents of the United States had African ancestry.
William Mann Irvine was an American academic and founding headmaster of Mercersburg Academy in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania.
The following is a list of works about the spouses of presidents of the United States. While this list is mainly about presidential spouses, administrations with a bachelor or widowed president have a section on the individual that filled the role of First Lady. The list includes books and journal articles written in English after c. 1900 as well as primary sources written by the individual themselves.
Madison College Pennsylvania.