U.S Presidents' Occupations

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