US Presidents as Teachers

When I think of our American presidents, I often think about what they did prior to being elected President of the United States.  There were those like Grant and Eisenhower, who were generals. Others had been state governors, like Franklin D. Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan. There were those who were US senators too, prior to rising to our nation’s highest office. But when people think about our Presidents, seldom do they think of them as teachers. But it is interesting to note who spent time the classroom prior to coming to Washington.

John Quincy Adams was a professor at Harvard University from 1806-09 teaching oratory and logic. President Clinton taught constitutional law at the University of Arkansas Law School and President Obama taught the same subject at the University of Chicago. Grover Cleveland taught at the New York Institute for the Blind.

Two of our presidents were college presidents. Dwight D Eisenhower was president of Columbia University in New York and Woodrow Wilson was president of Princeton University in New Jersey. William Howard Taft was dean of the University of Cincinnati Law School.

James Garfield and Chester Arthur both had brief careers in education. Millard Fillmore taught in an elementary school to help pay for his law school tuition. However the one US president for whom the teaching career had the greatest influence on his Presidency was Lyndon B. Johnson. While Johnson taught public speaking and debate at Sam Houston High School in Texas as well as at Pearshall High School, it was his teaching at the segregated Texas-American Welhausen School in Cotulla, Texas that had the most impact. It is believed that these early experiences helped to shape his beliefs about the plight of the poor, civil rights and education. As President, Johnson did sign the Civil Right Acts (1964) as well as the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (1965) and was at the  forefront of the " War on Poverty."

While there are many detractors out there who do not miss an opportunity to lambast the teaching profession and teachers unions, it should be noted that over 20% of America’s presidents had a teaching career somewhere on their resume. Teaching is the career that shapes all others.

C.2014 J. Margolis