Garfield, James Abram (19 November 1831–19 September 1881), twentieth president of the United States, was born in Orange township (now Moreland Hills) in the Western Reserve region of northern Ohio, the son of Abram Garfield and Eliza Ballou, farmers. After his father’s death in 1833, James was brought up amid rural poverty by his strong-willed mother. The hardships of those early years would later provide grist for campaign biographers, including ...
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Garfield, James Abram (1831-1881), twentieth president of the United States
Allan Peskin
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Garfield, James Abram (1831-1881)
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James A. Garfield. Courtesy of the Library of Congress (LC-USZ62-13020 DLC).
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Kennedy, John Fitzgerald (29 May 1917–22 November 1963), thirty-fifth president of the United States
Herbert S. Parmet
Kennedy, John Fitzgerald (29 May 1917–22 November 1963), thirty-fifth president of the United States, was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, the son of Joseph P. Kennedy, a millionaire businessman and public official, and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, daughter of Boston mayor John F. Fitzgerald. John Kennedy’s education stressed preparation for advancement of a Catholic in an Anglo-Saxon, generally anti-Catholic society. He entered Harvard College in 1936. Kennedy, known to his friends and family as Jack, was an indifferent student at first but became more interested in his studies following a European summer vacation after his freshman year. A longer stay in Europe in 1939 led to his senior honors paper, “Appeasement in Munich,” which was published the following year as ...
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Kennedy, John Fitzgerald (29 May 1917–22 November 1963)
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John F. Kennedy. Courtesy of the Library of Congress (LC-USZ62-117124 DLC).
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Lincoln, Abraham (12 February 1809–15 April 1865), sixteenth president of the United States
James M. McPherson
Lincoln, Abraham (12 February 1809–15 April 1865), sixteenth president of the United States, was born in Hardin County, Kentucky, the son of Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks, farmers. Thomas Lincoln had come to Kentucky from Virginia with his father Abraham in 1782. He acquired only enough literacy to sign his name but gained modest prosperity as a carpenter and farmer on the Kentucky frontier. He married Nancy Hanks, also illiterate, in 1806. Abraham was born in a log cabin on “Sinking Spring Farm” three miles south of Hodgenville. When he was two years old the family moved to another farm on Knob Creek about seven miles northeast of Hodgenville. On this farm of 230 acres (only thirty of which were tillable) Abraham lived for five years, helped his parents with chores, and learned his ABCs by attending school for a few weeks with his older sister Sarah....
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Lincoln, Abraham (12 February 1809–15 April 1865)
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Abraham Lincoln Courtesy of the Library of Congress (LC-USZ62-13016 DLC).
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Lincoln, Abraham (12 February 1809–15 April 1865)
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Abraham Lincoln, c. 1846–1847. Daguerreotype attributed to Nicholas H. Shepherd. Courtesy of the Library of Congress (LC-USZC4-2439).
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McKinley, William (1843-1901), twenty-fifth president of the United States
Lewis L. Gould
McKinley, William (29 January 1843–14 September 1901), twenty-fifth president of the United States, was born in Niles, Ohio, the son of William McKinley and Nancy Allison, both of Scotch-Irish ancestry. McKinley’s father managed charcoal furnaces and manufactured pig iron in a small way. McKinley went to school in Niles and later in Poland, Ohio. At seventeen he entered Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania, but a brief illness and financial problems forced him to drop out after a single term....
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McKinley, William (1843-1901)
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William McKinley. Courtesy of the Library of Congress (LC-USZ62-13025 DLC).
