The Richest and The Poorest Presidents
AOL - February 2012
After months of speculation, GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney recently confirmed that he is worth roughly
$200 million — give or take a million or more. 24/7 Wall St. examined the finances of all 43 presidents to identify the
richest. In addition to being worth more than 99.9% of Americans, if elected president, Romney would also be
wealthier than any president except one.
While the other Republican candidates are also millionaires, their wealth does not come close to that of Romney’s.
Still, judging from the net worth of all presidential nominees, politicians need to be wealthy to run for high office.
The other GOP candidates still in the running made their money more directly from their politics before entering the
race. Libertarian candidate Ron Paul, worth between $2.5 and $5 million, has published a number of best-selling
books over the past few years, each of which explores his political ideology. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich
became a consultant and political analyst after he resigned from office. According to estimates, he has earned at
least $6.5 and as much as $31 million. Rick Santorum, who worked as a consultant and contributor to Fox News, is
worth more than $1 million.
Unlike today’s candidates, the net worth of the presidents varies widely. George Washington was worth over half a
billion in today’s dollars, while other presidents went bankrupt. The fortunes of America’s presidents are tied to the
economy of their time. As the focus of the economy changed, so has the way the presidents made their money.
It’s not surprising then to find the first few presidents — from Washington’s election to about 75 years later — as large
landowners. They generally made money from land, crops and commodity speculation. Of course, this left them
highly vulnerable to poor crop yields, and they could lose most or all of their properties because of a few bad years.
Similarly, they could lose all of their money through land speculation — leveraging the value of one piece of land to
buy additional property.
By 1850, the financial history of the presidency entered a new era. Beginning with Millard Fillmore, most presidents
were lawyers who spent years in public service. They rarely amassed large fortunes and their incomes were often
almost entirely from their salaries. These American presidents were distinctly middle class and often retired without
the means to support themselves anywhere close to the presidential lifestyle. Buchanan, Lincoln, Johnson, Grant,
Hayes and Garfield had modest net worth when they died.
At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, there was another significant change to the economy.
Large, professionally organized corporations in the oil, mining, financial and railroad sectors allowed individuals to
amass large fortunes. The Kennedys were wealthy because of the financial empire built by Joseph Kennedy. Herbert
Hoover made millions of dollars as the owner of mining companies. Indeed, since the early 20th century, the fortunes
of many presidents, including Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy and both of the Bushes,
were driven by inherited wealth.
The net worth figures for the 10 wealthiest presidents are in 2010 dollars. Because a number of presidents,
particularly in the early 19th century, made and lost huge fortunes in a matter of a few years, the net worth for each
president is for the peak time.
In the case of each president, we have taken into account hard assets such as land, estimated lifetime savings based
on work history, inheritance, homes and money paid for services, which includes anything from salary as Collector of
Customs at the Port of New York to membership on Fortune 500 companies’ boards. The net worth includes royalties
on books, as well as ownership of companies and yields from family estates.
This is 24/7 Wall St.’s list of the richest U.S. presidents.
10. John Fitzgerald Kennedy
> Net worth: $1 billion (never inherited his father’s fortune)
> In office: 1961 – 1963
> 35th president
Born into great wealth, Kennedy’s wife was oil heiress. His father was one of the wealthiest men in America, as well
as was the first chairman of the SEC. Almost all of JFK’s income and property came from a trust shared with other
family members.
9. William Jefferson Clinton
> Net worth: $38 million
> In office: 1993 – 2001
> 42nd president
Unlike other presidents, Clinton did not inherit any wealth and gained little net worth during 20 plus years of public
service. After his time in the White House, however, he earned a substantial income as an author and public speaker.
Clinton received a large advance for autobiography. His wife, the current Secretary of State, also has earned money
as an author.
8. Franklin Delano Roosevelt
> Net worth: $60 million
> In office: 1933 – 1945
> 32nd president
Roosevelt’s wealth came through inheritance and marriage. He owned the 800-acre Springwood estate, as well as
properties in Georgia, Maine and New York. In 1919, his mother had to bail him out of financial difficulty. He spent
most of his adult life in public service. Before he was president, Roosevelt was appointed assistant secretary of the
Navy by President Wilson.
7. Herbert Clark Hoover
> Net worth: $75 million
> In office: 1929 – 1933
> 31st president
An orphan, Hoover was raised by his uncle, a doctor. He made a fortune as a mining company executive. He had a
very large salary for 17 years and had extensive holdings in mining companies. Hoover donated his presidential
salary to charity. He also owned ―Hoover House‖ in Monterey, Calif.
6. Lyndon Baines Johnson
> Net worth: $98 million
> In office: 1963 – 1969
> 36th president
Johnson’s father lost all of the family’s money when LBJ was a boy. Over time, he accumulated 1,500 acres in Blanco
County, Tex., which included his home, called the ―Texas White House.‖ He and his wife owned a radio and television
station in Austin, Tex., and had a variety of other moderate holdings, including livestock and private aircraft.
5. James Madison
> Net worth: $101 million
> In office: 1809 – 1817
> 4th president
Madison was the largest landowner in Orange County, Va. His land holding consisted of 5,000 acres and the
Montpelier estate. He made significant wealth as Secretary of State and president. Madison lost money at the end of
his life due to the steady financial collapse of his plantation.
4. Andrew Jackson
> Net worth: $119 million
> In office: 1829 – 1837
> 7th president
While he was considered to be in touch with the average middle class American, Jackson quietly became one of the
wealthiest presidents of the 1800s. ―Old Hickory‖ married into wealth and made money in the military. His homestead,
The Hermitage, included 1,050 acres of prime real estate. Over the course of his life, he owned as many as 300
slaves. Jackson entered considerable debt later in life.
3. Theodore Roosevelt
> Net worth: $125 million
> In office: 1901 – 1909
> 26th president
Born to a prominent and wealthy family, Roosevelt received a sizable trust fund. He lost most of his money on a
ranching venture in the Dakotas and had to work as an author to pay bills. Roosevelt spent most of his adult years in
public service. His 235-acre estate, Sagamore Hill, sits on some of the most valuable real estate on Long Island.
2. Thomas Jefferson
> Net worth: $212 million
> In office: 1801 – 1809
> 3rd president
Jefferson was left 3,000 acres and several dozen slaves by his father. Monticello, his home on a 5,000-acre
plantation in Virginia, was one of the architectural wonders of its time. He made considerable money in various
political positions before becoming president, but was mired in debt towards the end of his life.
1. George Washington
> Net worth: $525 million
> In office: 1789 – 1797
> 1st president
His Virginia plantation, Mount Vernon, consisted of five separate farms on 8,000 acres of prime farmland, run by
more than 300 slaves. His wife, Martha Washington, inherited significant property from her father. Washington made
well more than subsequent presidents: his salary was 2% of the total U.S. budget in 1789.
America’s Poorest Presidents: Bankruptcy, Insolvency and
Extreme Financial Hardship
Most of their troubles came from real estate speculation, poor crop yields on the lands that they held, and botched
and frequently highly risky business deals.
24/7 Wall St. looked at the finances of all 43 presidents and found eight that became insolvent at one time or another
during their adult lifetimes. Jefferson had a passion for expensive homes, land, and personal property. Madison was
a poor judge of real estate values and gambled that his plantations would produce outsized crop production. William
Henry Harrison had bad luck with the weather which destroyed his wheat and corn.
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By the middle of the 19 century, land ownership went from being common to unusual. Lincoln lost everything when
the general store he owned with a partner failed. An associate of Grant’s son ran through the former Union general’s
entire fortune. The depression of 1893 ruined the value of McKinley’s investment in a tin plate company. Truman lost
the clothing store that he owned with a partner. Most presidents were honorable and paid off their debts to the extent
that they were capable of doing.
As 24/7 Wall St. said in the introduction to its Net Worth of the American President’s article, the nation’s chief
executives were men of their times, at least financially. What is striking is the extent to which many were gamblers.
Some, like Hoover, bet and won. He became wealthy in the mining business. LBJ made money as a cattle rancher, a
risky business depending on the national appetite for beef and, to some extent the weather.
It could be argued that men who are willing to lead the nation into war, annex millions of square miles of territory or
drop the atomic bomb to end a war were by their nature risk takers. Whether that is a better trait for managing
personal wealth or the nation’s fortunes is for history to decide.
The following is a review of the poorest presidents and their bad luck:
Thomas Jefferson (1801-1809)
Despite an ostentatious lifestyle – or perhaps because of it – Jefferson owed money to various creditors throughout
his life. He inherited debt from his father-in-law as a result of unusual estate planning and was a creditor to many
unreliable debtors. His main source of income, ―Monticello,‖ proved inadequate to cover his debts. Poor management
of his estate and price fluctuations of commodities cost Jefferson dearly. Towards the end of his life, he was so
severely in debt that he petitioned the state of Virginia to auction off his land; the state refused. After he died, his
estate was auctioned off, and his surviving daughter was forced to rely on charity.
James Madison (1809-1817)
At his ―Montpelier‖ plantation, Madison suffered similar difficulties to Jefferson. While his various agriculture
businesses were occasionally profitable, in the end they lost him money. His stepson, a gambler, racked up debts.
Madison absorbed these obligations and was forced to sell half of Montpelier to pay them off. Although he may have
wanted to free his slaves, his financial troubles prevented him from doing so, and he was forced to sell some of them
to pay off debts. Some historians suggest that he had his memoirs published posthumously in order to better provide
for his family.
James Monroe (1817-1825)
Monroe ran his plantation into the ground. At the end of his life, he petitioned Congress to relieve some of his family’s
debt and was granted $30,000. It turned out to be insufficient and he was forced to sell his home in Paris and his
3,500 acre ―Ash Lawn‖ estate. On Monroe’s misfortune, John Quincy Adams wrote ―Mr. Monroe is a very remarkable
instance of a man whose life has been a continued series of the most extraordinary good fortune, who has never met
with any known disaster, has gone through a splendid career of public service, has received more pecuniary reward
from the public than any other man since the existence of the nation, and is now dying, at the age of seventy-two, in
wretchedness and beggary.‖
William Henry Harrison (1841)
While serving as the Ambassador to Colombia in 1829-1830, Harrison was forced to manage his farm from abroad.
When he returned to the states, he discovered that bad weather had destroyed his crops. At the same time, his
creditors were all demanding payment. On top of his own heavy obligations, his sons also owed substantial amounts.
Harrison spent much of the time after his return to America trying to get his finances in order, and was forced to sell
off most of his land. By the time he reached the White House, he was still reportedly in debt. His untimely death, only
one month after entering office, may have been the only thing that prevented him from reaching total insolvency.
Abraham Lincoln (1861-1865)
An ambitious but poor young man, Lincoln’s early life left him in financial ruin. When he was in his 20′s he bought a
general store with a friend and business associate – an investment he would later regret. Before the store went
bankrupt Lincoln sold his share in the venture. However, his partner died shortly afterwards and Lincoln was forced to
absorb his debts. He was taken to court by the store’s creditors and lost ownership of his only remaining assets: a
horse and some surveying equipment. His later career as an attorney eventually brought Lincoln out of complete
poverty.
Ulysses Simpson Grant (1869-1877)
His brief, illustrious career as our nation’s highest-ranking general notwithstanding, Grant never earned a great deal
of money and often lived well beyond his means. This was especially the case after his presidency, when he and his
wife traveled the world, dining with foreign dignitaries and staying in expensive hotels. In 1881, Grant’s son, Buck,
convinced his father to enter an investment partnership with an associate of his, Ferdinand Ward, for $100,000. Ward
mismanaged and embezzled Grant’s assets, and when the firm of Ward and Grant went bankrupt, the former was
sent to prison, and Grant was left with hundreds of thousands in debt. He went bankrupt, and was only able to save
his family further financial hardships by selling his civil war memoirs for nearly half a million dollars – published shortly
after his death.
William McKinley (1897-1901)
While McKinley spent most of his life in relative financial stability, the depression of 1893 bankrupted an investment
he had made with a friend in a tin plate company. His final debts reached an estimated $130,000 and McKinley was
forced to file for bankruptcy. In order to pay off his debts, McKinley solicited some of his friends to help him manage
his estate and sell off his property. Instead, his friends exercised various connections and raised the sum of money
on their own, much to McKinley’s perpetual shame
Harry S. Truman (1945-1953)
One of the saddest cases of presidential hardship, Truman, was relatively poor throughout his life. He borrowed
against his meager future inheritance and invested in a zinc mining operation, which failed and lost him most of his
investment. Truman later performed various menial jobs, which barely kept his family afloat. However, the real
financial disaster occurred when the clothing store he owned with a friend went bankrupt in the wake of extreme
deflation. Truman lost his $30,000 investment, but never declared bankruptcy, despite urgings from friends and family
to do so. Truman continued to pay debts throughout his early career, and was still thousands of dollars in debt when
he began his tenure as a senator. It was Truman’s sad financial state that inspired the doubling of the presidential
salary, which he received after the fact. Truman and his wife were the first two official recipients of Medicare when
Lyndon Johnson signed the program into law.