The First Jobs of US Presidents – Who Sold Ice Cream?

by Petr Novák, ? This article’s information was last verified on this date. If you notice any errors, let us know in the comments. Thank you! :-) Updated 01/09/2024 Fun Facts

One is not born a president, one becomes one. And usually at an advanced age, when one has already had life experience. So, it’s no surprise that former USA presidents have had a variety of jobs, from shoe shiner to comic book salesman to Hollywood star.

1. Table of Contents

   1. Andrew Jackson – Teacher
   2. Millard Fillmore – Apprentice to a Tailor
   3. Abraham Lincoln – Store Owner
   4. James A. Garfield – Helmsman
   5. Herbert Hoover – Mining Engineer
   6. Lyndon B. Johnson – Shoe Polisher
   7. Richard Nixon – Butcher
   8. Gerald Ford – National Park Ranger
   9. Ronald Reagan – Lifeguard
   10. Bill Clinton – Comic Book Salesman
   11. Barack Obama – Ice Cream Man

   Andrew Jackson – Teacher

   The seventh president of the United States, Andrew Jackson, served from 1829-1837. At only 13 years old, he enlisted in the army to participate in the American War of Independence. By the age of 14, he was already a war veteran and working as an apprentice to a saddler.
   At 16, he became a teacher.

2. Millard Fillmore – Apprentice to a Tailor

   Millard Fillmore was the 13th president of the United States, serving in office from 1850-1853. He started his working life as an apprentice to Benjamin Hungerford, a tailor in Sparta, New York, whom he subsequently helped with his shop.

   It is said that his first earnings were used to buy a dictionary, which he read when he had nothing else to do.

3. Abraham Lincoln – Store Owner

   Before becoming the 16th president of the United States and leading the Northern states during the American Civil War, Abraham Lincoln worked hard as a small business owner. He owned and operated a small grocery store.

   Before becoming president, Lincoln (in office 1861-1865) was still working as a postmaster in the town of New Salem, Illinois.

4. James A. Garfield – Helmsman

   James Abram Garfield served as America’s 20th president for just under a year (March to September 1881) before he was assassinated.

   In his youth, he aspired to become a sailor, which did not work out. At the age of 15, he tried his hand at steering a canal boat. He also tried transporting copper ore between American towns, but fell overboard 14 times. After four months, he quit.

5. Herbert Hoover – Mining Engineer

   Herbert Clark Hoover, the 31st president of the United States (in office 1929-1933), worked as a mining engineer in his twenties. He even explored the gold mines of Western Australia in 1897. He continued mining until 1908.

   Twenty-one years later, he became President of the United States.

6. Lyndon B. Johnson – Shoe Polisher

   The 36th president of the United States, Lyndon Baines Johnson (in office 1963-1969), began his working life quite modestly. At the age of nine, he started as a shoe shiner. Then, he earned extra money as a goose herder, a dish washer in a restaurant, and a waiter.

7. Richard Nixon – Butcher

   The 37th president of the United States, Richard Milhous Nixon (in office 1969-1974), spent his youth vacations as a butcher, plucking and cooking chickens.

   He also cleaned swimming pools and helped his father in the grocery store at one time.

8. Gerald Ford – National Park Ranger

   Gerald Rudolph “Jerry” Ford, Jr., the 38th president of the United States (serving from 1974-1977), worked as a ranger in Yellowstone National Park while awaiting his acceptance to Yale Law School.

   He once said that summer was one of the best of his life.

9. Ronald Reagan – Lifeguard

   Ronald Wilson Reagan, the 40th president of the United States (serving from 1981-1989), rose to fame in the 1930s to 1950s in Hollywood, usually playing tough guys and cowboys.

   Before that, he worked as a lifeguard for seven summers. According to his own words, Ronald Reagan saved 77 people during those years.

10. Bill Clinton – Comic Book Salesman

    William Jefferson “Bill” Clinton, the 42nd president of the United States, occupied the White House from 1993 to 2001. Before graduating with a degree in political science, he worked at a convenience store in Arkansas, straightening goods in plastic bags, and sold comic books in his spare time.

11. Barack Obama – Ice Cream Man

    Before launching his political career, the 44th president of the United States, Barack Hussein Obama II (in office 2009-2017), sold ice cream at the Baskin-Robbins chain in Hawaii.

    As a teenager, he also worked in a gift shop and made sandwiches in a deli.