PRE-PRESIDENTIAL CAREERS

 

President	Political Offices Prior to Presidency
George Washington	Virginia House of Burgesses (1759-1774) Delegate to Continental Congress (1774-1775) General, Continental Army (1775-1783) President of Constitutional Convention (1787)
John Adams	Massachusetts Legislature (1770-1774) Delegate to Continental Congress (1774-1775) Delegate to State Constitutional Convention Minister to France/Diplomat (1778-1788) Vice President (1789-1797)
Thomas Jefferson	Virginia House of Burgesses (1769-1774) Delegate to Continental Congress (1775-1776) Virginia House of Delegates (1776-1779) Governor of Virginia (1779-1781) Delegate to Continental Congress (1783-1784) Minister to France (1785-1789) Secretary of State (1790-1793) Vice President (1797-1801)
James Madison	Delegate to Virginia Convention (1776) Virginia House of Delegates (1776-1777; 1784-1786; 1799-1800) Delegate to Continental Congress (1780-1783) Delegate to Annapolis Convention (1786) U.S. Representative (1789-1797) Secretary of State (1801-1809)
James Monroe	Virginia Assembly (1782-1783) Delegate to Continental Congress (1783-1786) U.S. Senator (1790-1794) Minister to France (1794-1796) Governor of Virginia (1799-1802; 1803-1807; 1811) Special Envoy to France (1803) Minister to Great Britain (1803-1807) Secretary of State (1811-1817) Secretary of War (1814-1815)
John Quincy Adams	Minister to Netherlands (1794-1797) Minister to Prussia (1797-1801) Massachusetts State Senator (1802) U.S. Senator (1803-1808) Minister to Russia (1809-1814) Negotiator, Treaty of Ghent (1814) Minister to Great Britain (1815-1817) Secretary of State (1817-1825)
Andrew Jackson	U.S. Representative (1796-1797) U.S. Senator (1797-1798; 1823-1825) General (1812-1821) Judge, Tennessee (1798-1804)
Martin Van Buren	New York State Senator (1812-1820) U.S. Senator (1821-1828) Governor of New York (1829) Secretary of State (1829-1831) Vice President (1833-1837)
William Henry Harrison	Secretary of Northwest Territory (1798-1799) Northwest Territory Delegate to U.S. House (1799-1800) Governor of Indiana Territory (1800-1812) General (1812-1814) U.S. Representative (1816-1819) Ohio State Senator (1819-1821) U.S. Senator (1825-1828) U.S. Minister to Columbia (1828-1829) Whig presidential candidate (1836)
John Tyler	Virginia House of Delegates (1811-1816; 1823-1825; 1838-1840) U.S. Representative (1816-1821) Governor of Virginia (1825-1827) U.S. Senator (1827-1836) Vice President (1841)
James K. Polk	Tennessee House of Representatives (1823-1825) U.S. Representative (1825-1839) Governor of Tennessee (1839-1841)
Zachary Taylor	Commandant of Fort Crawford (1832-1837) General (1838-1848)
Millard Fillmore	New York Assemblyman (1829-1831) U.S. Representative (1833-1835; 1837-1843) Comptroller of New York (1848-1849) Vice President (1849-1850)
Franklin Pierce	New Hampshire Representative (1829-1833) U.S. Representative (1833-1837) U.S. Senator (1837-1842) Chair, New Hampshire Democratic Party (1844) U.S. District Attorney (1845-18??)
James Buchanan	Pennsylvania State Representative (1815-1816) U.S. Representative (1821-1831) Minister to Russia (1832-1833) U.S. Senator (1834-1845) Secretary of State (1845-1849) Minister to Great Britain (1853-1856)
Abraham Lincoln	Illinois State Representative (1834-1842) U.S. Representative (1847-1849)
Andrew Johnson	Alderman of Greeneville, TN (1828-1830) Mayor of Greeneville, TN (1830-1833) Tennessee State Representative (1835-1837; 1839-1841) Tennessee State Senator (1841-1843) U.S. Representative (1843-1853) Governor of Tennessee (1853-1857; 1862-1864) U.S. Senator (1857-1862) Vice President (1865)
Ulysses S. Grant	General (1861-1867) Secretary of War (1867-1868)
Rutherford B. Hayes	Solicitor, City of Cincinnati (1858-1861) General (1864-1865) U.S. Representative (1865-1867) Governor of Ohio (1868-1872; 1876-1877)
James A. Garfield	President, Eclectic Institute College (1857-1861) General (1862) U.S. Representative (1863-1880)
Chester A. Arthur	New York Republican Executive Committee (1867-1868) Chair, New York Republican Party (1868-18??) Collector, Port of New York (1871-1878) Vice President (1881)
Grover Cleveland	Sheriff of Earl County, NY (1871-1873) Mayor of Buffalo, NY (1882) Governor of New York (1883-1885)
Benjamin Harrison	Indianapolis, IN City Attorney (1857-1858) Secretary of the Republican State Committee (1858-1860) General (1864-1865) Gubernatorial Nominee (1872; 1876) U.S. Senator (1881-1887)
William McKinley	Stark County, OH Prosecutor (1869-1871) U.S. Representative (1877-1883; 1885-1891) Governor of Ohio (1892-1896)
Theodore Roosevelt	New York Assemblyman (1882-1884) U.S. Civil Service Commission (1889-1895) President, New York City Police Board (1895-1897) Assistant Secretary of the Navy (1897-1898) Governor of New York (1898-1900) Vice President (1901)
William Howard Taft	Assistant Prosecutor, Hamilton County, OH (1881-1882) Collector, Internal Revenue, OH (1882-1883) Assistant Solicitor, Hamilton County, OH (1885-1887) Superior Court Judge, OH (1887-1890) U.S. Solicitor General (1890-1892) Circuit Court Judge (1892-1900) Dean, University of Cincinnati Law School (1896-1900) Governor-General of the Philippines (1901-1904) Secretary of War (1904-1908)
Woodrow Wilson	President of Princeton University (1902-1910) Governor of New Jersey (1911-1913)
Warren G. Harding	Owner, Marion Star newspaper (1884- ) Ohio State Senator (1899-1903) Lt. Governor of Ohio (1903-1905) U.S. Senator (1915-1921)
Calvin Coolidge	City Councilmen, Northampton, MA (1899-1900) City Solicitor, Northampton, MA (1900-1902) Clerk of Courts, Hampshire County, MA (1903) Chair, Northampton Republican Party (1904-1905) Massachusetts Legislature (1907-1908) Mayor of Northampton (1910-1911) Massachusetts State Senator (1912-1915) Lt. Governor of Massachusetts (1916-1918) Governor of Massachusetts (1919-1920) Vice President (1921-1923)
Herbert Hoover	Chair, American Red Cross Committee (1914) Chair, Committee for the Relief of Belgium (1914-1919) Director, American Relief Administration (1919-1920) Secretary of Commerce (1921-1928)
Franklin D. Roosevelt	New York State Senator (1910-1913) Assistant Secretary of the Navy (1913-1920) Governor of New York (1929-1933)
Harry S. Truman	Judge, Jackson County, MO (1922-1924; 1926-1934) U.S. Senator (1935-1945) Vice President (1945)
Dwight D. Eisenhower	General, U.S. Army (1941-1945; 1961-1969) Chief of Staff, U.S. Army (1945-1948) President, Columbia University (1948-1953)
John F. Kennedy	U.S. Representative (1947-1953) U.S. Senator (1953-1961)
Lyndon B. Johnson	U.S. Representative (1937-1949) U.S. Senator (1949-1961) Vice President (1961-1963)
Richard Nixon	U.S. Representative (1947-1951) U.S. Senator (1951-1953) Vice President (1953-1961)
Gerald R. Ford	U.S. Representative (1949-1973) Vice President (1973-1974)
Jimmy Carter	Georgia State Senator (1963-1967) Governor of Georgia (1971-1975)
Ronald Reagan	President, Screen Actors Guild (1947-1952; 1959-1960) Governor of California (1967-1975)
George Bush	U.S. Representative (1967-1971) Ambassador to the UN (1971-1973) Chair, Republican National Committee (1973-1974) Liaison to China (1974-1975) Director, CIA (1976-1977) Vice President (1981-1989)
Bill Clinton	Attorney General of Arkansas (1977-1979) Governor of Arkansas (1979-1981; 1983-1992)
George W. Bush	Managing Partner, Texas Rangers (1989-1994) Governor of Texas (1994-2000)