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