10 U.S. Presidents Who Had Really Unusual Jobs Before (or After) the White House!
Being president is a big job, but many presidents did some very strange things before (or even after) they lived in the White House! From wrestling to selling hats to saving lives as a lifeguard, here are 10 presidents with the most unusual pre-presidency jobs. These stories show you can do almost anything and still grow up to be president!
- Abraham Lincoln – Rail-splitter & flatboat river pilot
Young Abe chopped rails for fences and floated flatboats full of goods down the Mississippi River.
Fun fact: He once wrestled a bully in his village and won—people still talk about “Lincoln the wrestler”! - Ronald Reagan – Lifeguard & Hollywood actor
Reagan spent summers as a lifeguard in Illinois and saved 77 people from drowning. Then he became a movie star!
Fun fact: He played a football player, a cowboy, and even a monkey’s friend in a movie—before he played president on TV. - Harry S. Truman – Haberdasher (hat & clothing store owner)
After World War I, Truman opened a men’s clothing store with a friend—but it went broke in the 1920s.
Fun fact: He sold hats, ties, and shirts, but never forgot how to count money—he kept the store’s books perfectly! - Jimmy Carter – Peanut farmer & nuclear submarine engineer
Carter ran his family’s peanut farm and was trained as a nuclear engineer in the Navy.
Fun fact: He once helped stop a nuclear reactor meltdown during a training exercise—real-life superhero! - Herbert Hoover – Mining engineer & gold prospector
Hoover traveled the world digging for gold in Australia, China, and South Africa before he was 40.
Fun fact: He became a millionaire from mining before the Great Depression—then became president right when it started! - Andrew Johnson – Tailor (seamstress & clothing maker)
Johnson learned to sew as a boy and opened his own tailor shop. He even sewed his own suits!
Fun fact: His wife taught him to read and write while he worked—he became president without ever going to school. - Millard Fillmore – Wool-carder & apprentice cloth maker
As a teenager, Fillmore worked in a wool factory carding (combing) wool fibers before he became a lawyer.
Fun fact: He later married his teacher—talk about going back to school for love! - Chester A. Arthur – School principal & teacher
Arthur taught school and became principal of a big academy before he studied law.
Fun fact: He was known for his fancy clothes—people said he had the best wardrobe of any president! - James A. Garfield – Canal boat driver & janitor
Garfield drove mules pulling canal boats when he was 16, then worked as a janitor to pay for college.
Fun fact: He could write Greek with one hand and Latin with the other at the same time—brain power! - Gerald Ford – Professional football player (almost)
Ford was a star college football player at Michigan and got offers to play in the NFL—but chose law school instead.
Fun fact: He tackled future president John F. Kennedy in a college game—foreshadowing their later White House connection!
