Talk:List of presidents of the United States by previous experience

Lawyers
It looks to me that only 26 presidents have been lawyers, since we're counting Cleveland twice if we say 27, but that 27 presidencies have been occupied by lawyers. Does that make sense? Is a correction in order? Dsakey1978 (talk) 17:26, 17 March 2021 (UTC)

Air National Guard pilot should not be listed under George Bush's Occupation
George W Bush already has Military listed, having what he did in the military is repetitive. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.4.156.24 (talk) 23:26, 19 August 2020 (UTC) -Likewise other people who have their military job under occupation don't need it. Perhaps it makes sense if there is no room under the 4 experiences but not if there is an empty slot or military already listed. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.4.156.24 (talk) 23:30, 19 August 2020 (UTC)

Academic should not be counted under experience
Academic is listed under experience for Barack Obama. This does not belong here. It is not a federal, state or local office. Academic belongs under occupation which is already listed for Obama. Woodrow Wilson likewise has Academic listed under occupation but not under experience as it should be.

Instead of this changing to remove Academic from experience and leaving under Occupation Wilson now also has Academic under previous experience. This does not make sense, as previously stated being head of a private college or head of a college does not qualify as experience since it is not a Federal, State or Local Office. A different standard is being used here than the rest of the article. Academic belongs in Occupation and not under experience regardless of what they were teaching.
 * Previous experience is not limited to office-holding. WCCasey (talk) 21:54, 8 March 2022 (UTC)

Chester A Arthur Military experience
Chester Arthur (21nd president) should have Military listed under experience. He served in the NYS Militia during the civil war.

I agree. with this statement. Chester Arthur has military experience so it should be added. Also Out of Office should never be the first experience. Out of Office should only be between offices and not apply to before they even have an office.

A useful addition would be to specify which 8 of the 14 Presidents held the position of General in the US Army.97.85.57.241 (talk) 01:02, 5 January 2012 (UTC)


 * Added that info to footnote 1; also re-counted and found two more Presidents with military experience. Changed "military career" to "military experience" to avoid disagreement over what constitutes a career. WCCasey (talk) 07:02, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

remove spam
there is no 45th president of the us — Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.235.237.64 (talk) 22:56, 9 March 2012 (UTC)

"Came from"
Agree with reversion of edit that changed "came from" to "born in". "Came from" is much more important when discussing "previous experience" of presidents. WCCasey (talk) 06:18, 22 June 2013 (UTC)

Obama's home state
Mr Obama's home state is listed as "A donkey".

Obama's home state
Mr Obama's home state is listed as "Alpha Centauri System". — Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.49.129.91 (talk) 11:48, 25 September 2013 (UTC)

Why is Kennedy the only politician?
I propose changing Kennedy from politician to military, which seems in line with his background. After all, all presidents are politicians, but only Kennedy is defined as such. I would like to see the opinion of other editors, before making any changes. Wikfr (talk) 21:55, 21 October 2014 (UTC)


 * "Occupation" refers to careers before becoming a politician. Because he went into politics so young, Kennedy never really had any other career. He was not a career Navy officer. WCCasey (talk) 06:29, 27 October 2014 (UTC)
 * He did spend the better part of a year as a reporter (May 1945 to ~early 1946), after the Navy but before running for Congress. Perhaps that's the closest thing he had to a career.--50.151.181.129 (talk) 01:43, 24 September 2015 (UTC)

For what that's worth, Lyndon Johnson was only a teacher for - at most 4 or so years, over 30 years before he became president.

Kennedy could also be listed as an author, though that is problematic as well! 66.68.207.59 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 07:10, 12 December 2015 (UTC)

Family Relations
The two Roosevelts were only distantly related. Indeed Teddy was related more closely to Martin Van Buren than he was to FDR; FDR was related more closely to Grant than he was to Teddy. Jamesdowallen (talk) 09:30, 14 April 2015 (UTC)
 * The 5th-cousin relationship is in there because, 1) it's the same last name, 2) the article puts no limit on degree of relation, and 3) the relationship is mentioned in other articles: List of U.S. presidential relatives and Franklin D. Roosevelt. Those other relationships mentioned might be interesting, too, if they can be sourced. Alternatively, add wording to that paragraph limiting the degree of relationship. WCCasey (talk) 00:00, 29 November 2015 (UTC)

Need to be consistent in "previous" columns
This chart is very inconsistent. For example, does "---" mean "no job at all" or "yes job, but not in public service"? If the former, then several presidents (Barack Obama, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, etc.) shouldn't have "---" for certain columns. If the latter, then several (Woodrow Wilson, Herbert Hoover, etc.) should have "---" for column "previous 2." In any case, there should be some indication of exactly what "---" means. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.71.74.187 (talk) 17:10, 25 May 2016 (UTC)

Should President Taft be added to the list of Presidents who had never been elected to public office before?
The article states '4 Presidents had never been elected to public office before becoming President: Zachary Taylor, Ulysses S. Grant, Herbert Hoover, and Dwight D. Eisenhower.' I'm not an expert but it seems to me that Taft also fits in this category? Talk to SageGreenRider 11:54, 28 September 2016 (UTC)


 * Interesting! 2 possible solutions: 1) add Taft, 2) change "been elected to" to "held" (which would include appointive positions). I favor the second option but, if so, Hoover also drops from the category. WCCasey (talk) 05:45, 29 September 2016 (UTC)

Of the 43 people who have served as President...
... Obama is the 44th? --88.69.48.22 (talk) 16:34, 10 October 2016 (UTC)


 * Cleveland was both the 22nd and 24th president. 43 people have been president, but 44 presidencies. Earthscent (talk) 12:48, 11 October 2016 (UTC)

Businessman / business owner
In the occupation column some presidents are referred to as "business owners" while others are referred to as "businessmen." Is there any differentiation between the two terms? -- Millionsandbillions (talk) 18:37, 10 November 2016 (UTC)
 * Glad someone pointed this out too: Harry Truman, George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, and Donald Trump are all listed as involved in business as a part of their occupations, I don't see what in particular makes Truman a "business owner" rather than a "businessman" (or the gender neutral businessperson). I would recommend, unless there is any objection, to standardizing on "businessperson". Thoughts? --Bpmcneilly (talk) 22:41, 4 April 2017 (UTC)

Trump is President-elect
Trump is President-elect and shouldn't be listed (yet). cm&#610;&#671;ee&#9094;&#964;a&#671;&#954; 21:54, 10 November 2016 (UTC)

Woodrow Wilson, president of Princeton
I removed President of Princeton as experience under Woodrow Wilson. Since he is listed as Academic as his profession and Princeton university is a private university, I did not think it was relevant for Presidential experience since it was not government related. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 45.47.212.54 (talk) 00:41, 9 March 2017 (UTC)

-I agree, Academia is not military or a public office therefore it should not count. This needs to be changed for Barack Obama now as he also has Academia listed as experience now. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.4.156.24 (talk) 23:22, 19 August 2020 (UTC)

Wilson and Obama should both have Academia removed as mentioned in the comment above. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2603:7080:402:E394:3C0D:E3CF:D56F:6ADA (talk) 01:55, 7 March 2022 (UTC)

Which state for Grant?
It's not always clear which state a president is "from", or even whether that's important. Grant is a good example. He spent his first 16 years in Ohio, then went to West Point. After graduation, army postings took him to Missouri, New York and California. Resigning, he went back to Missouri. In 1860, at age 38, he moved to Galena, Illinois to work for his father. A year later, he took command of an Illinois regiment in the Civil War. After the war, he remained in Washington, D.C. as General of the Army and through his presidency. He then moved to New York City, where he spent the rest of his life, and where he is buried. So, which state? WCCasey (talk) 06:11, 8 June 2017 (UTC)

Hoover edit
I edited Herbert Hoover to include Federal office under experiences since he was the Director of the U.S. Food Administration which was a Federal agency, therefore it should count as experience. I also took out the reference under out of office and added the US Food Administration under Federal office. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 45.47.212.54 (talk) 17:35, 5 November 2017 (UTC) Why has this been changed back? How does being in charge of a Federal agency not count as experience?
 * Your addition was good, just in the wrong column. I added it back in, with a refnote. WCCasey (talk) 06:01, 14 December 2017 (UTC)

Move discussion in progress
There is a move discussion in progress on Talk:List of Vice Presidents of the United States which affects this page. Please participate on that page and not in this talk page section. Thank you. —RMCD bot 23:02, 21 May 2018 (UTC)

Previous experience as president?
A pretty good qualification for office, like senator or representative, is having previously held the office of president. Only Grover Cleveland is listed. By my count, there were 21 presidents who were elected to office having served previously as President of the United States, either elected or by order of succession.Sbalfour (talk) 23:39, 29 May 2020 (UTC)

Confusing grammar
Trump is the group's sole exception, having never held any public office nor any military position.

That sentence, at the end of the paragraph about presidents having held public office, sounds awkward; “nor” doesn’t really work in that context. Perhaps it could be reworded as such:

Trump is the group's sole exception, having never held any public office or any military position.

Or

Trump is the group's sole exception, having neither held any public office nor had any military position Caleb Crowther (talk) 15:28, 20 January 2021 (UTC)

Edit semi-protected
To add the word "been" after "have" in "[o]f the 45 different people who have or are currently serving as president". 124.217.188.201 (talk) 02:50, 27 October 2021 (UTC)
 * ✅ Terasail [✉️] 09:26, 27 October 2021 (UTC)


 * Thank you. 124.217.188.201 (talk) 03:31, 29 October 2021 (UTC)

Mayoral Experience
Isn't it relevant that two presidents have mayoral experience? Grover Cleveland was Mayor of Buffalo, New York and Calvin Coolidge was Mayor of Northampton, Massachusetts. Surely that's more relevant to "experience" than presidents being college professors. 150.250.89.67 (talk) 02:23, 19 September 2022 (UTC)

Business Experience
This one may be a bit harder to do than Mayoral experience, but it would help if someone could list how many presidents were businessmen. Trump isn't the only president who ran a company. 150.250.89.67 (talk) 02:31, 19 September 2022 (UTC)

Out of Office (requested edit)
According to the "By the Numbers" section, "9 presidents were out of office (for at least one year) immediately before election as president," but in the actual list there are 12 presidents listed as being "Out of Office" when elected president. They are: George Washington, Andrew Jackson, William Henry Harrison, James K. Polk, Franklin Pierce, Abraham Lincoln, Benjamin Harrison, Grover Cleveland (2nd term), Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and Joe Biden. Can someone edit the article to reflect the correct count? Thank you. 66.91.36.8 (talk) 09:45, 16 January 2023 (UTC)

William Howard Taft
I think it's worth mentioning that William Howard Taft is the only president to serve as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, albeit after his presidency. I would consider it more noteworthy than being president of a university. John Quincy Adams is mentioned for his serving in the House of Representatives after his presidency, and likewise, Andrew Johnson is mentioned as having served as a Senator after his presidency. Even John Tyler is mentioned as having been elected to the Confederate House of Representatives. I think Taft deserves a shoutout. 66.91.36.8 (talk) 10:11, 16 January 2023 (UTC)
 * You could create an article called "List of presidents of the United States by post-presidency experience". It would be interesting. WCCasey (talk) 16:31, 18 January 2023 (UTC)

13 Generals.
Wrong, I reckon;

The note [a] says 9 were generals in the US Army.

They were Jackson, W. H. Harrison, Taylor, Pierce, Grant, Hayes, Garfield, B. Harrison and Eisenhower.
 * That doesn’t count Washington (not US Army then).


 * I can’t see why it doesn’t count A. Johnson.


 * List of presidents of the United States by military rank also has Taft and Arthur as generals (also not the US Army)… means 13 were Generals, 10 in the US Army.

MBG02 (talk) 06:53, 17 November 2023 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 31 May 2024
It's not clarified in the site that Joe Biden and Richard Nixon were vice presidents for Barack Obama and Dwight Eisenhower each. Please change that. Lucaravazzola (talk) 15:12, 31 May 2024 (UTC)
 * Red information icon with gradient background.svg Not done: I dont see why those two would require it in the chart, when the others don't? Happy Editing-- IAm Chaos  19:08, 31 May 2024 (UTC)