# Poor Presidents **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 19, 2001, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-presidents/94127 "2001-11-19T00:32:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![redstarcabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f17d59/32.png) [@redstarcabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/redstarcabe)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2001, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-presidents/94127/1 "2001-11-19T00:32:16Z")
Figuring in adjustments for inflation and things like that, which US Presidents wouldn’t have been rich? I don’t really have a definition of rich, maybe having over a million dollars is a good cut-off. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2001, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-presidents/94127/2 "2001-11-19T00:40:12Z")
Do you mean when becoming president, or at any time? According to Richard Shenkman’s “Legends, Lies, and Cherished Myths of American History,” the only president who was actually povery striken was Andrew Johnson. He was a senator when elected VP and was never rich. Richard Nixon was born lower middle class. His only job was public service, but he probably made a good deal of money after leaving the VP and being elected. Lincoln grew up poor, though he was better off than his neighbords. I doubt he was rich when he was elected. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2001, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-presidents/94127/3 "2001-11-19T01:00:32Z")
Nixon had worked in a private law practice and other business concerns after his run for CA governor in 1962 and likely had built up a sizeable nest egg for he and his family. Andrew Johnson still made his own clothes when he was VP according to some accounts. I imagine when he became president he hired a tailor. Many presidents became AFTER being president because they didn’t manage their finances well. Jefferson had severe financial problems after leaving office. Grant didn’t fare well either ---
**Author:** ![wei](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90ced4/32.png) [@wei](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wei)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2001, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-presidents/94127/4 "2001-11-19T01:17:29Z")
Martin Van Buren grew up as a son of a tavern keeper. I think Harry Truman was also poor. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2001, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-presidents/94127/5 "2001-11-19T02:10:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RealityChuck \* > \*\*Lincoln grew up poor, though he was better off than his neighbords. I doubt he was rich when he was elected. \*\* Lincoln was pretty well-to-do by the time he became president, but he wasn’t rich by any stretch. How about Clinton? It doesn’t seem like he’s got a lot of money of his own. (Lotsa rich friends, though.) ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2001, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-presidents/94127/6 "2001-11-19T02:37:06Z")
President Grant nearly died a pauper, but rushed to finish his memoirs before his death due to throat cancer (probably brought on by the lifetime supply of fine cigars provided to him after his military success). From this website: > **[Today in History - April 27](https://www.loc.gov/item/today-in-history/april-27/)** > > Birth of Ulysses S. Grant | Touring with the World’s Transportation Commission > [@](#): > > …in 1884, the family was reduced to poverty as the result of another failed business venture. That same year, Grant was diagnosed with terminal throat cancer. > > Racing against the clock and enduring severe pain, Grant penned his personal memoirs, which he hoped would provide his family with some financial security. Published by Grant’s friend and admirer Mark Twain, the two-volume work enjoyed immediate success, eventually earning the Grant family over $400,000. Grant completed the text just days before his death on July 23, 1885 at Mount McGregor, New York. Grant’s is widely considered the finest military autobiography ever written. ---
**Author:** ![peepthis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9d8465/32.png) [@peepthis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peepthis)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2001, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-presidents/94127/7 "2001-11-19T02:41:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Green Bean \* > [BHow about Clinton? It doesn’t seem like he’s got a lot of money of his own. (Lotsa rich friends, though.) \*\* Are you serious?? A $10 million dollar book deal, and $100,000 per speaking engagement, and you think he has to pinch pennies? Not counting any family windfalls in cattle futures, I imagine the Clintons weren’t too poor with Bill as a state governor and his wife a Yale Law School graduate. I do believe he grew up less than middle class, though. ---
**Author:** ![johnson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@johnson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnson)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2001, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-presidents/94127/8 "2001-11-19T02:48:42Z")
In fairness, I believe the Clintons were several million in debt when they left the White House. I imagine they’re doing o.k. now, though, even after paying all their debts. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2001, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-presidents/94127/9 "2001-11-19T02:53:55Z")
Perhaps I wasn’t clear: I meant that the Clintons weren’t rich before getting to the White House. I’m still not sure they are–they couldn’t afford a house in Chappaqua on their own. (Maybe they are getting rich now off of the book deals, etc.) ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2001, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-presidents/94127/10 "2001-11-19T02:56:54Z")
A lot of them were of decidedly middle class origins. Garfield was poor according to one bio: > [@](#): > > James Abram Garfield was born in a log cabin near Cleveland, Ohio, on Nov. 19, 1831, the youngest of five children of Abram and Eliza Ballou Garfield. Raised by his mother, who was widowed in 1833, James grew up in poverty. Though bright and anxious to learn, he turned 17 with but little schooling. In 1848 he struck out on his own and worked on a canal boat, but about six weeks later he returned home seriously ill. While convalescing he decided to get an education. ---
**Author:** ![saudade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@saudade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saudade)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2001, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-presidents/94127/11 "2001-11-19T03:04:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Green Bean \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by RealityChuck \* > > \*\*Lincoln grew up poor, though he was better off than his neighbords. I doubt he was rich when he was elected. \*\* > > Lincoln was pretty well-to-do by the time he became president, but he wasn’t rich by any stretch. > > How about Clinton? It doesn’t seem like he’s got a lot of money of his own. (Lotsa rich friends, though.) \*\* Lincoln was a lawyer for railroad interests, and made several times the average income for someone of his day. Hillary Clinton made the bulk of the Clinton’s income (remember her astonishing commodities futures deals?). And while by most U.S. standards, Clinton’s background was lower middle class - for a kid in a small city in a rather poor southern state in the 1940’s and 1950’s, he was fairly well off. His high level of education was the result of sheer scolastic ability, not family wealth. I remember laughing once when Al Gore described Clinton’s upbringing as “dirt poor”. Like his childhood was something out of Dorothea Lange photographs. Maybe Clinton was raised linoleum and discount carpet poor - but not dirt poor. Harry Truman was probably the last rather ordinary person to be elected president - financially speaking. He was sort of dully middle class all the way. He didn’t attempt to enrich himself much after his presidency either. Lyndon Johnson was not fabulously wealthy, but he did have a political background in his family. He married into wealth (Lady Bird Johnson’s family business connections caused some contreversy in the Vietnam period - with military contracts and so on). ---
**Author:** ![johnson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@johnson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnson)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2001, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-presidents/94127/12 "2001-11-19T03:05:56Z")
Maybe the better question is how many presidents were rich? Offhand, Kennedy is the only one who comes to mind, and I don’t know what his personal wealth was as opposed to his family’s wealth. Well, GHW Bush comes to mind as well. But it strikes me that most presidents were in public service most of their lives and, take it from me, that’s not the road to wealth. Besides, if you were truly rich, why would you want the hassle and headaches of being president? ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2001, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-presidents/94127/13 "2001-11-19T03:08:50Z")
Clinton was the poorest President, when elected, since at least Truman. Bush was from an old money family. Reagan had accumulated quite a decent nest egg from acting and (probably more importantly) speaking fees before being elected governor. Carter had a reasonable amount of money from the family farm, but he wasn’t rich by any means. Ford had accumulated a reasonable amount of money from being a Congressman. Nixon made a fair amount of money from being a lawyer and from speaking fees between being Vice-President and being elected President. Kennedy had his share of the money his father had made. Eisenhower had a reasonable amount of money from being a general and from serving as a college president. Truman had run a small business before beginning his political career, but he wasn’t very well off. None of these people was remotely poor in any usual sense of the term, but relatively Clinton may have been the poorest at the time of his election. Arkansas pays their governor very meagerly. Essentially, at the end of Clinton’s presidency, the money he and his wife had accumulated was basically nothing but what Hilary had made as a lawyer, and she hadn’t after all been consistently working during all those years. Their legal bills wiped out that money completely. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2001, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-presidents/94127/14 "2001-11-19T03:12:13Z")
I forgot Johnson, who married into money and made a decent amount of money himself as a Congressman. Lots of Presidents grew up rich. Moving just one more back from those I’ve mentioned, there was Roosevelt, who came from old money. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Cheatem\_Undhow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/13edae/32.png) [@Dewey\_Cheatem\_Undhow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Cheatem_Undhow)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2001, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-presidents/94127/15 "2001-11-19T03:19:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by johnson \* > **Maybe the better question is how many presidents were rich? Offhand, Kennedy is the only one who comes to mind, and I don’t know what his personal wealth was as opposed to his family’s wealth. Well, GHW Bush comes to mind as well. But it strikes me that most presidents were in public service most of their lives and, take it from me, that’s not the road to wealth.** The Roosevelt clan was fabulously wealthy, as are both Bushes (take a gander at photos of the Kennebunkport summer place for evidence). > [@](#): > > \*\*Besides, if you were truly rich, why would you want the hassle and headaches of being president? \*\* Well, there’s the whole “most powerful man in the free world” aspect, which could be enticing. And lots of old-money rich folks do such things out of a sense of _noblesse oblige_. ---
**Author:** ![DPWhite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d26b3c/32.png) [@DPWhite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPWhite)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2001, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-presidents/94127/16 "2001-11-19T03:50:01Z")
FDR was quite well off, with a few homes and at least one business at his Warm Springs spa, but he didn’t make any money off of it. He had about a quarter million in semi-liquid assets when he became President. His mother controlled more, but I don’t know how much. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2001, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-presidents/94127/17 "2001-11-19T03:58:35Z")
Clinton was by no means poor. As I recall, his financial disclosure when he became president indicated that he and Hillary had a net worth of something like $700,000. That’s probably near the bottom for 20th century presidents, though. But I’d be happy with it! Anyway, monetary wealth is not necessarily what we should be looking at. People like Clinton wield much more power than their wealth would indicate, because of their position. Power is the name of the game. In fact, after you get past being ‘comfortable rich’ all your money gets you is power. So by the standards of being a powerful person, Clinton (and Reagan, and Nixon, and all the other ‘poorer’ presidents) were still much wealthier than the rest of us. BTW, I think Reagan’s financial disclosure indicated a net worth of about 2 million bucks when he became president. Not a pittance, but compared to the rest of the hollywood acting crowd he wasn’t a rich guy. ---
**Author:** ![redstarcabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f17d59/32.png) [@redstarcabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/redstarcabe)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2001, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-presidents/94127/18 "2001-11-21T03:48:18Z")
Thanks guys. That was all very interesting. I meant whenever the person actually became President. I realized that we had several Presidents born poor, but was unsure of whether or not they had accumulated wealth by the time they reached the White House. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2001, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-presidents/94127/19 "2001-11-21T08:34:16Z")
> [@](#): > > I imagine the Clintons weren’t too poor with Bill as a state governor and his wife a Yale Law School graduate. I remember reading an article back when Clinton was first running for President that mentioned his salary as Governor of Arkansas. It was surprisingly low; somewhere around $45,000 a year as I recall. Not poverty level, obviously, but I had a higher salary than that.