Biography of Presidents of the United States of America

GEORGE W. BUSH

(July 6, 1946 – )

George W. Bush is the 43rd President of the United States. He was sworn into office on January 20, 2001, re-elected on November 2, 2004, and sworn in for a second term on January 20, 2005. Prior to his Presidency, President Bush served for 6 years as the 46th Governor of the State of Texas, where he earned a reputation for bipartisanship and as a compassionate conservative who shaped public policy based on the principles of limited government, personal responsibility, strong families, and local control.

President Bush was born on July 6, 1946, in New Haven, Connecticut, and grew up in Midland and Houston, Texas. He received a bachelor’s degree in history from Yale University in 1968, and then served as an F-102 fighter pilot in the Texas Air National Guard. President Bush received a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School in 1975. Following graduation, he moved back to Midland and began a career in the energy business. After working on his father’s successful 1988 Presidential campaign, President Bush assembled the group of partners who purchased the Texas Rangers baseball franchise in 1989. On November 8, 1994, President Bush was elected Governor of Texas. He became the first Governor in Texas history to be elected to consecutive 4-year terms when he was re-elected on November 3, 1998.

President Bush is married to Laura Welch Bush, a former teacher and librarian, and they have twin daughters, Barbara and Jenna. The Bush family also includes two dogs, Barney and Miss Beazley, and a cat, Willie.

The First President Of United States of America

GEORGE WASHINGTON

(February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799)

Was an American planter, political figure, the highest ranking military leader in U.S. history and first President of the United States.

Born of English and Scottish descent into a moderately wealthy family in the Province of Virginia, Washington worked as a surveyor before inheriting his half-brother’s plantation, Mount Vernon.

Washington first gained prominence as an officer during the French and Indian War, a war which he inadvertently helped to start. Afterwards, he resigned his post to marry Martha Dandridge Custis, a wealthy widow with two children. He was elected to the House of Burgesses and became a revolutionary leader at the outset of the American Revolution, attending both the first and second Continental Congresses. Washington was appointed Commander in Chief of the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War (1775–83), leading the Americans to complete victory over the British, the only General ever to achieve this feat. After the war he served as president of the 1787 Constitutional Convention.

Washington, a hugely popular and generally nonpartisan figure, was elected as the first President of the United States (1789–97) after the U.S. Constitution was adopted. The two-term Washington Administration was marked by the establishment of key American institutions that continue to operate. After his second term was up, Washington retired to Mount Vernon for the remainder of his life, again voluntarily relinquishing power even as some wanted him to retain that power for life. Because of his central role in the founding of the United States and enduring legacy, Washington is sometimes called the “Father of his Country”.

The Second President of United States of America

JOHN ADAMS

(October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826)

Was the first (1789–1797) Vice President of the United States, and the second (1797–1801) President of the United States. His son, John Quincy Adams, was the sixth President of the United States (1825–1829), the only son of a former President to hold the office until George W. Bush in 2001.

John Adams was born on October 30 (October 19 Old Style, Julian Calendar), 1735 in Braintree, Massachusetts; his birthplace is now a national park. His father, a farmer, also named John, was a fourth-generation descendant of Henry Adams, who emigrated from Barton St David, Somerset, England, to Massachusetts in about 1636; his mother was Susanna Boylston Adams. Young Adams graduated from Harvard College in 1755, and for a time taught school in Worcester and studied law in the office of James Putnam. In 1758, he was admitted to the bar. From an early age he developed the habit of writing descriptions of events and impressions of men. The earliest of these is his report of the 1761 argument of James Otis in the superior court of Massachusetts as to the legality of Writs of Assistance. Otis’ argument inspired Adams with zeal for the cause of the American colonies. Years later, when he was an old man, Adams undertook to write out, at length, his recollections of this scene.

In 1764 Adams married Miss Abigail Smith (1744–1818), the daughter of a Congregational minister at Weymouth, Massachusetts. Their children were Abigail Amelia (1765-1813); future president John Quincy (1767-1848); Susanna Boylston (1768-70); Charles (1770-1800); Thomas Boylston (1772-1832); and an infant daughter (1777).

Adams had none of the qualities of popular leadership of his second cousin, Samuel Adams; instead, his influence emerged through his work as a constitutional lawyer. Impetuous, intense and often vehement, Adams often found his inborn contentiousness to be a handicap in his political career. These qualities were particularly manifested at a later period—as, for example, during his term as president.

The Third President Of United States Of America

THOMAS JEFFERSON

(April 13 (April 2O.S.), 1743 – July 4, 1826)

Was the third (1801–1809) President of the United States, second (1797–1801) Vice President, first (1789–1795) United States Secretary of State, and an American statesman, ambassador to France, political philosopher, revolutionary, agriculturalist, horticulturist, land owner, architect, etymologist, archaeologist, mathematician, surveyor, paleontologist, slaveowner, author, inventor, lawyer and founder of the University of Virginia. Jefferson is perhaps best known for being the primary author of the United States Declaration of Independence (1776). He was also the founder and leader of the Democratic-Republican Party, and the first President from that party. The Jeffersonian Republicans, as they were often called, dominated American politics for over a quarter-century.

Many people consider Jefferson to be among the most brilliant men ever to occupy the Presidency. President John F. Kennedy welcomed 49 Nobel Prize winners to the White House in 1962, saying, “I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered at the White House, with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.” Achievements of his presidency include the Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

The Fourth President of United States of America

JAMES MADISON

(March 16, 1751 – June 28, 1836)

Was the fourth President of the United States. He was co-author, with John Jay and Alexander Hamilton, of the Federalist Papers, and is traditionally regarded as the Father of theUnited States Constitution.

Madison was born in King George County, Virginia. His parents Colonel James Madison, Sr. (March 27, 1723 – February 27, 1801) and Eleanor Rose “Nellie” Conway (January 9, 1731 – February 11, 1829) were the prosperous owners of the tobacco plantation in Orange County, Virginia where Madison spent most of his childhood years. In 1769, he left the plantation to attend Princeton University (it was called the College of New Jersey at the time), finishing its four-year course in two years, but exhausting himself from overwork in the process. When he regained his health, he became a protégé of Thomas Jefferson. In this capacity he became a prominent figure in Virginia state politics, helping to draft their declaration of religious freedom and persuading Virginia to give their northwestern territories (consisting of most of modern-day Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee) to the Continental Congress.

At 5 feet, 4 inches in height (163 cm) and 100 pounds (45 kg) in weight, Madison was the nation’s shortest president and frequently ill. In 1794, Madison married Dolley Payne Todd, who cut as attractive and vivacious a figure as he did a sickly and antisocial one. It was Dolley who is largely credited with inventing the role of “First Lady” as political ally to the president.

In 1797 Madison left Congress; in 1801 he became Jefferson’s Secretary of State.

Citar este texto en formato APA: _______. (2013). WEBSCOLAR. Biography of Presidents of the United States of America. https://www.webscolar.com/biography-of-presidents-of-the-united-states-of-america. Fecha de consulta: 18 de November de 2023.