From the Classroom to the Oval Office: Leaders Who Taught

The path to the presidency or the East Wing often began in rural schoolhouses and private academies. For some, like John Adams, the classroom was a place of genuine joy; he famously described presiding over his one-room school in Worcester, Massachusetts, as his highest pleasure. Others, such as James A. Garfield, viewed the work as a pragmatic necessity, teaching to fund his own education while harboring a noted dislike for managing younger children.

Many of these figures used their teaching years as a bridge to legal careers or public service. Chester A. Arthur served as a principal in Vermont and New York while studying for the bar, and William McKinley’s brief tenure in an Ohio schoolhouse ended only when he left to join the Union Army. The roles varied widely in scope: Grover Cleveland taught at the New York Institute for the Blind, while Lyndon B. Johnson spent his early career at a school near the US-Mexico border, using his own paycheck to buy supplies for his students.

First ladies also brought deep pedagogical experience to their roles. Abigail Fillmore broke norms by continuing to teach after her marriage, and Grace Coolidge leveraged her experience at the Clarke School for the Deaf to become a lifelong advocate for disabled children. Eleanor Roosevelt took a more hands-on approach, co-owning the Todhunter School for Girls, where she taught history and government. By contrast, Jill Biden represents the modern evolution of this history, serving as the first first lady to maintain full-time employment outside the White House, teaching English at Northern Virginia Community College throughout her husband's administration.