List of Presidents of the United States by occupation

This is a list of the occupations of Presidents before they entered politics. Often, previous career experience is minimal; however, the most common previous occupation is lawyer,^[1] and many presidents did spend their younger years in college and/or the military.

Order	President	Previous occupation(s)
1	George Washington	Land Surveyor,[2] Farmer/plantation owner, Soldier (Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army)
2	John Adams	Lawyer, Farmer
3	Thomas Jefferson	Land Surveyor, Writer, Inventor, Lawyer, Architect, Farmer/Plantation owner, Diplomat, Linguist, Theologian
4	James Madison	Farmer/plantation owner
5	James Monroe	Farmer/plantation owner, Lawyer
6	John Quincy Adams	Lawyer
7	Andrew Jackson	Soldier (Major General), Lawyer
8	Martin Van Buren	Lawyer
9	William Harrison	Soldier
10	John Tyler	Lawyer
11	James Polk	Lawyer, Plantation owner
12	Zachary Taylor	Soldier (Army Major General)
13	Millard Fillmore	Lawyer
14	Franklin Pierce	Lawyer
15	James Buchanan	Lawyer, Diplomat
16	Abraham Lincoln	Land Surveyor, Lawyer
17	Andrew Johnson	Soldier, Tailor
18	Ulysses Grant	Soldier, General of the Army
19	Rutherford Hayes	Lawyer
20	James Garfield	School teacher, minister, soldier
21	Chester Arthur	School teacher, lawyer, collector of tariffs
22, 24	Grover Cleveland	Sheriff, lawyer, assistant teacher
23	Benjamin Harrison	Lawyer, journalist
25	William McKinley	Lawyer, Soldier
26	Theodore Roosevelt	Public Official, Rancher, Soldier
27	William Taft	Lawyer, judge, law reporter, dean of law school at the University of Cincinnati
28	Woodrow Wilson	Lawyer, professor, president of Princeton University
29	Warren Harding	Newspaper publisher/editor
30	Calvin Coolidge	Lawyer, Public Official, Vice President of Northampton Savings Bank
31	Herbert Hoover	Engineer, Investor
32	Franklin Roosevelt	Lawyer
33	Harry Truman	Farmer, Soldier, haberdasher
34	Dwight Eisenhower	Soldier (General of the Army), President of Columbia University
35	John F. Kennedy	Writer, Sailor (Navy Lieutenant)
36	Lyndon Johnson	Teacher, Public Official
37	Richard Nixon	Lawyer, Sailor (Navy Lieutenant Commander)
38	Gerald Ford	Football Player, Sailor (Navy Lieutenant Commander), Lawyer
39	Jimmy Carter	Sailor (Navy Lieutenant),[3] peanut farmer,[4] writer
40	Ronald Reagan[5][6]	Actor & broadcaster, President of the Screen Actors Guild[7]
41	George H. W. Bush	Pilot (Navy Lieutenant, Junior Grade),[8] Businessman (Oil),[9] C.I.A. Director, Ambassador to China.
42	Bill Clinton	Lawyer, Law lecturer
43	George W. Bush	Pilot (Texas Air National Guard), Businessman (Oil,[10] baseball)[11]
44	Barack Obama	Community Organizer, Lawyer. Lecturer (informally considered by some to be a professor),[12] Children's Author

References

1. International Law, US Power: The United States' Quest for Legal Security, p 10, Shirley V. Scott - 2012
2. Heather Lehr Wagner; Walter Cronkite (1 January 2009). George Washington. Infobase Publishing. pp. 28–. ISBN 978-1-4381-0302-0.
3. SD Homes Stock Video Footage Collections - Royalty Free by FootageHouse. Archived from the original on 27-6-2009.
4. Archived March 24, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.
5. REAGAN, RONALD - The Museum of Broadcast Communications
6. Archived February 9, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.
7. SparkNotes: Ronald Reagan: A Leading Man: 1946–1962
8. School House to White House
9. Archived January 6, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.
10. ESPN.com - Major League Baseball - Timeline: George W. Bush and Rangers
11. Washingtonpost.com: Bush Name Helps Fuel Oil Dealings
12. FactCheck: Obama a Constitutional Law Professor?