There are eight US Presidents that have graduated from Harvard. Five of the eight got their undergraduate degrees at Harvard while the other three received graduate level degrees in either business or law.
The eight US Presidents that went to school at Harvard are:
1. John Adams – 2nd President of the United States (Harvard class of 1755)
2. John Quincy Adams – 6th President of the United States (Harvard class of 1788)
3. Rutherford B. Hayes – 19th President of the United States (Harvard Law class of 1845)
4. Theodore Roosevelt – 26th President of the United States (Harvard class of 1880)
5. Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) – 32nd President of the United States (Harvard class of 1904)
6. John F. Kennedy (JFK) – 35th President of the United States (Harvard class of 1940)
7. George Walker Bush – 43rd President of the United States (Harvard Business class of 1973)
8. Barack Obama – 44th President of the United States (Harvard Law class of 1991)
Rutherford B. Hayes (law school), George W. Bush (business school), and Barack Obama (law school) are the three men that have received graduate degrees and not undergraduate degrees from Harvard before going on to become President of the United States of America.
With eight alumni boasting the privilege of holding the highest office in the land Harvard has the high water mark when compared to any other university. In fact, the only group that has put more people in the White House is the not so prestigious grouping of US Presidents that did not attend college at all, of which there are nine.
The nine US Presidents that never enrolled in college are:
1. George Washington (1st President)
2. Andrew Jackson (7th President)
3. Martin Van Buren (8th President)
4. Zachary Taylor (12th President)
5. Millard Fillmore (13th President)
6. Abraham Lincoln (16th President)
7. Andrew Johnson (17th President)
8. Grover Cleveland (22nd President)
9. Harry S. Truman (33rd President)
Of the nine names listed immediately above the most curious to onlookers is probably that of Harry Truman who despite having high schools and a college named after him (Truman State University) Truman has the unique distinction of being the only twentieth century President to never go to college. President Truman was a two term Democrat President that was in office from 1945 to 1953 and will in all likelihood go down in history as the last man to hold the title of leader of the free world without a college diploma. The story of why Harry Truman did not attend college is because his poor eyesight kept him from attending West Point and financial constraints due to his modest upbringing preventing him from pursuing a degree anywhere that he would have to produce tuition.
Harry Truman became arguably the most influential twentieth century US President despite never receiving a degree from Harvard or anywhere else and perhaps instead of that seeming like a fluke it should serve as motivation to all folks that regardless of college admission letters and financial means any American can make a difference.
Rick finds alumni classifications fascinating and thinks it’s particularly interesting to ponder how many people in the oval office have put Harvard University wallpaper [http://www.universitywallpaper.com/2010/01/harvard-university-wallpaper.html] on the desktop background of a computer that sat on the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office. The answer to that question is probably somewhere from zero to two and in all likelihood is zero as Obama and George W both just went to grad school at Harvard.
If putting up Harvard University computer wallpaper is something of interest to readers of this article they are encouraged to visit Rick’s website to check out a wide assortment of choices. In fact, that offer stands for all colleges and not just Harvard.
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