IN the last 100 years which president came from the most modest upbringing

[HEyHEY]

I have no idea. Do you?

[hedda_foil]

1. Truman, Clinton and Nixon as an offhand estimate.

Why?

[HEyHEY]

4. RE:

It just seems that all the presdents come from money. So I was curious to see which one came from the least wealthy background, so I could take a look at their track record. Just to determine if social standing makes a difference in ability to govern.

[DODI]

10. Even Split

Some rich guys had what I would consider a great social record (TR, FDR, JFK) Some poor guys had a great social record (Carter, Clinton, to an extent Ike)

Money, oddly enough does not seem to have a bearing their records. The wealthy did not always support only the wealthy. TR was a trust breaker, gave us the 40 hour work week, child labor laws, etc. FDR was darn near a socialist, Truman, JFK, LBJ furthered Civil Rights in this country.

[Capn Sunshine]

2. I would venture a guess that it was Clinton

He came from a chaotic lower middle class background and literally fought his way to the top through intelligence. True Horatio Alger story.

His childhood experiences negotiating with a drunken abusive father and enabling mother seemd to have expressed himself in his sexual escapades IMO. I'm not psychologist but what he went through in his childhood indicates to me he is top three on that list...

[dawgman]

3. didn't LBJ come from dirt farmers in Texas?

[teryang]

11. LBJ

...was born in a log cabin. His father sold real estate and was a member of the Texas house of representatives. His mom was a speech instructor. I visited the family home in Johnson City, Texas. His home looked to be middle class.

[grytpype]

5. And who came from the least modest upbringing?

I would say FDR, Kennedy, Bush II, Bush I, in that order.

[HEyHEY]

6. good point

I should have added that with the original post

[FlashHarry]

19. FDR's dad bought himself out of the draft during the Civil War.

Just like Bush jr.

[soupkitchen]

7. Maybe Eisenhowser

Certainly many of them grew up in strained circumstances.

[DODI]

8. Ike, too

Ike came from a very modest background in Kansas, Carter's family weren't terribly successful farmers, Nixon was born in the house his father built, Clinton had it tough. I don't know much about Harding, Taft and Wilson Johnson or Reagan's backgrounds. The Roosevelts had a good deal of money as did JFK, and the Bush boys.

[glarius]

12. I read somewhere that Reagan's father was an alcoholic and he was

very poor as a child...You would think he would have more empathy for the poor than he does....He seems to have aligned himself with the prosperous!

[madrchsod]

14. reagen`s father

was a drunk who moved all over il to find work.his mom was a christian who ministered to the guys in jail.my dad bought booze from ronnie`s older brother moon. ronnie was a "suck ass" -but was a nice guy- who got his break when he went to college with the help of the church. ole` man reagen and moon went to work for the wpa in lee county..
i`ll go with clinton, he was a true cracker who became a rhodes scholar that had a vision of what america should stand for. he also could conduct foreign policy while getting monica`d nobody else could do that..

[jobycom]

18. Ike was born in Dennison, Texas

In a small shack along the railroad tracks. It's still there. Looks pretty poor. I don't know what his Kansas life was like.

[NYC]

9. I think Nixon,

but I can't swear to that. I vaguely remember that he couldn't go away to college because he had to help support his mother. Someone in his family was sick.

[Ishoutandscream]

13. Yes, Nixon came from very humble roots

and had an intense hatred for "elites." I would put Clinton probably slightly ahead of Nixon.

[hedda_foil]

27. Both of Nixon's brothers were sick throughout his childhood.

At least one (the youngest iirc) had TB and was taken by the mother to a sanitarium away from home. Nixon was left alone a lot. Both brothers died while he was still a kid. All of that probably had a lot to do with his introversion, bitterness and paranoia.

[jody]

15. If modest upbringing is relative to the time a boy grew up, it's Clinton

The parents of Ike, Nixon, Carter, Reagan, and others were on a higher social level than Clinton's. Neither Ike's nor Carter's parents were dirt poor. Nixon's Quaker family was certainly not financially challenged for the times and neither was Reagan's.

I'll give Clinton the nod. Moreover, he surpassed all the others in pure intellect. If not for Monica, he would already be recognized as the president who set the standard for 21st century presidents. I believe he'll be so noted in history, but it'll just take a little longer. :shrug:

[rppper]

16. truman was not wealthy either.....

i recall reading he retired to his farm after his presidency and died realativly broke.

[QC]

17. Herbert Hoover was an orphan.

When his parents died he was sent to live with relatives. Because of this, he said, "My boyhood ambition was to be able to earn my own living, without the help of anybody, anywhere." So he enrolled in the first class at Stanford, became a mining engineer, and ended up a self-made millionaire.

Of course, he was ineffective in dealing with the Depression, thanks to his faith in laissez-faire economics, but no one could ever say that he did not know what adversity was.

[Dob Bole]

20. Carter and Clinton

Carter grew up during the Depression and then had to live in public housing after his father died. He still lives in a log cabin today, but by choice- he's not as broke as he used to be.
Clinton's parents were divorced and he had a drunk stepdad. He grew up part of the time with his grandparents.

Beyond that, I think every other 20th century president was pretty well set financially.

[JohnKleeb]

21. they had it tough but LBJ didnt have it easy

as did many others. Jerry Ford didnt have it good with his dad trying to find him and his mom he wasnt originally Gerry Ford either his real name was Leslie King Jr.

[democrat in Tallahassee]

22. George W Bush was born a poor child in Texas. He is a self-made man.

Conditions in the family home near the Mexican border were horrible; I believe I heard that the family lived in a box or something. He is where he is only due to his smarts and hard work. That is where his compassion for poor people stems from. He's been there and knows how it feels. God bless George W., a man of the people

[JohnKleeb]

23. LMAO

He father a struggling magnite struggled hard to have servants put food on his family thats a combo of the daily show shrub bio and "I know how hard it is to put food on your family." LOL yeah right to that and it sounds wrong/

[clar]

24. Calvin Coolidge

came from a modest background. He grew up in Plymouth Notch, Vt., where his father was a jack-of-all-trades. The population of the Notch was less than a 100. (Not much more than that now) In 1923, Coolidge was visiting his parents when Harding died. His father, a J.P., swore him into office by gaslight.

[SayitAintSo]

25. Truman ...he was a haberdasher (sp?)

I don't think he had a college education either ...

[mitchum]

26. I saw Peggy Noonan blathering last year that Reagan...

came from the humblest beginnings. Then she had to excuse herself in order to go masturbate.

[JohnKleeb]

28. even if he did he really betrayed them

He was more conservative than his own father.

[JCMach1]

29. Johnson's family was DIRT poor

Dirt farmers in the Texas Hill country