We all have to start somewhere! Whether you were slinging fries at McDonald’s® or tossing papers before school, we all had a first job, and like many, they weren’t all that glamorous. The same can be said for some of the most famous leaders of American history.
Inc. recently reported on 17 U.S. presidents and their start in the working world. In honor of Election Day, HRSBT is highlighting some of these famous first gigs!
- 1st President George Washington started his career at age 16 as a land surveyor for the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia and West Virginia—a job that now requires a 4-year college degree!
- 7th President Andrew Jackson was actually the last leader to serve in the Revolutionary War. He joined at the age of 13 and served as a courier.
- 16th President Abraham Lincoln was a clerk in a general store in New Salem, Illinois. While this doesn’t sound too thrilling, he was able to launch his political career from this location due to the community following he gained from working there.
- 17th President Andrew Johnson was an apprentice tailor for his mother.
- 20th President James Garfield earned $8 a month tending to canal boat mules.
- 23rd President Benjamin Harrison earned $2.50 a day yelling. He started his career as a court crier, otherwise known as a court clerk.
- 32nd President Franklin D. Roosevelt started out as an apprentice lawyer for the Wall Street firm, Carter, Ledyard and Milburn. Inc. reports, “Although it was a prestigious firm, it was the custom to not receive a salary for the first year.”
- 36th President Lyndon B. Johnson started shining shoes at age 9 and later became a goat herder at his uncle’s farm.
- 37th President Richard Nixon plucked chickens and got them ready for local butchers. He also worked a “Wheel of Fortune” gaming booth at the Slippery Gulch carnival, which he claims was his favorite job.
- 40th President Ronald Reagan, as most know, was a famous Hollywood actor before becoming president. But what most people don’t know is that before Hollywood, at the age of 14, he started out as a circus worker for Ringling Brothers, earning $0.25 an hour as an unskilled laborer. He later took a summer job as a lifeguard at Rock River in Dixon, Illinois, where he rescued 77 people over his 7-year career.
- 42nd President Bill Clinton worked at a grocery store at the age of 13. While working as a grocer, he persuaded his boss to let him sell comic books out of the store and was able to rake in an extra $100 for his efforts.
- 43rd President George W. Bush started out as a landman for an oil company. His responsibilities included scouting land for drilling and unloading heavy equipment.
- 44th President Barack Obama worked as an ice cream scooper for a Honolulu Baskin-Robbins.
Our next president is yet to be announced, but we didn’t want to leave the nominees out! Before becoming the first woman named as a major party’s nominee for president, Democrat Hillary Clinton volunteered to campaign for Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater in the 1964 election. She later became a lawyer who specialized in children’s rights. Republican candidate Donald Trump started his real estate career during his college years. While he attended the Wharton School of Finance and Commerce at the University of Pennsylvania, he worked at his family’s company, Elizabeth Trump & Son.
To view Inc.’s full list of Presidential first jobs, click here.