American Presidents

Benjamin Harrison (1889-93) - was a Civil War general and the 23rd
president of the United States. He is remembered for his vigorous foreign policy,
naval expansion, antitrust legislation and support of protectionist tariffs. He served a
single term, losing to Grover Cleveland in 1892.
Grover Cleveland (1893-97)
William McKinley (1897-1901) - became the 25th president of the United
States in 1897. He led the country during a time of economic prosperity and launched
the popular Spanish-American War. His second term was cut short by an assassin's
bullet.
Theodore Roosevelt (1901-09) - the 26th president of the United States,
guided the nation into a new century of innovation and power. Famous for his military
leadership during the Spanish-American War, he became president at the age of 42
after the assassination of William McKinley. Roosevelt believed in an active foreign
policy and pursued a progressive agenda. Considered one of the greatest presidents in
American history, he appears alongside George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and
Abraham Lincoln on the Mount Rushmore Memorial, designed in 1927.
William Howard Taft (1909-13) - became the 27th president of the United
States after serving in a number of administrative roles, including Secretary of War.
Rifts within the Republican Party undermined his presidency and detracted from his
accomplishments, which included significant antitrust efforts and the strengthening of
the Interstate Commerce Commission. After failing to win reelection for a second
term, Taft was appointed chief justice of the Supreme Court, a position he held until
his death.
Woodrow Wilson (1913-21) - took office as the 28th U.S. president in 1913,
as Europe perched on the brink of collapse. In his first term, he pushed through
several major pieces of legislation, including the Federal Reserve Act and the Federal
Trade Commission Act. In his second term, Wilson struggled to keep the United
States out of World War I but ultimately asked Congress for a declaration of war
against Germany. After the war, Wilson sought lasting world peace by proposing the
League of Nations, the precursor to the United Nations.
Warren Harding (1921-23) - served in office from 1921 to 1923 before
dying of an apparent heart attack. Harding’s presidency was overshadowed by the
criminal activities of some of his cabinet members and other government officials,
although he himself was not involved in any wrongdoing. An Ohio native and
Republican, Harding was a successful newspaper publisher who served in the Ohio
legislature and the U.S. Senate. In 1920, he won the general election in a landslide,
promising a “return to normalcy” after the hardships of World War I (1914-1918). As
president, he favored pro-business policies and limited immigration. Harding died
suddenly in San Francisco in 1923, and was succeeded by Vice President Calvin
Coolidge (1872-1933). After Harding’s death, the Teapot Dome Scandal and other
instances of corruption came to light, damaging his reputation.
Calvin Coolidge (1923-29) - the 30th U.S. president, led the nation through
most of the Roaring Twenties, a decade of dynamic social and cultural change,
materialism and excess. He took office on August 3, 1923, following the sudden death
of President Warren G. Harding (1865-1923), whose administration was riddled with
scandal. Nicknamed "Silent Cal" for his quiet, steadfast and frugal nature, Coolidge, a
former Republican governor of Massachusetts, cleaned up the rampant corruption of
the Harding administration and provided a model of stability and respectability for the
American people in an era of fast-paced modernization. He was a pro-business
conservative who favored tax cuts and limited government spending. Yet some of his
laissez-faire policies also contributed to the economic problems that erupted into the
Great Depression.
Herbert Hoover (1929-33) - America's 31st president, took office in 1929,
the year the U.S. economy plummeted into the Great Depression. Although his
predecessors' policies undoubtedly contributed to the crisis, which lasted over a
decade, Hoover bore much of the blame in the minds of the American people. As the
Depression deepened, Hoover failed to recognize the severity of the situation or
leverage the power of the federal government to squarely address it. A successful
mining engineer before entering politics, the Iowa-born president was widely viewed
as callous and insensitive toward the suffering of millions of desperate Americans. As
a result, Hoover was soundly defeated in the 1932 presidential election by Democrat
Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945).
Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-45) - was inspired by his fifth cousin, the
former president Theodore Roosevelt, to pursue a career in politics. After serving first
in the New York Senate and then as the state’s governor, he became the 32nd
president of the United States in 1932 and went on to serve four terms—more than
any other U.S. president in history. During his 12 years in office, Roosevelt led the
nation out of the Great Depression and remained at the helm through most of World
War II. Ranging from new government agencies and economic initiatives to the Lend-
Lease program and the United Nations, Roosevelt’s legacy would shape life in the
U.S.—and America’s place in the world—for decades to come.
Harry S Truman (1945-53) - became the 33rd president of the United States
in 1945, when Franklin D. Roosevelt died just three months into his fourth term. He
was immediately faced with a series of difficult decisions both at home and abroad,
including whether to use nuclear weapons against Japan. In his two terms as
president, Truman pursued an ambitious domestic agenda that included substantial
economic and civil rights reforms. On the international stage, he helped rebuild
postwar Europe, took steps to contain communism and led the U.S. into the Korean
War. He left office in 1953 under a heavy cloud of criticism. Since then, however,
historians have shed new light on Truman’s achievements, and many Americans
remember him fondly as one of the greatest presidents in U.S. history.