Long before the speeches, the headlines, and the offices that defined them, the recent U.S. presidents were ordinary young men finding their footing. Joe Biden was a Syracuse law student in the late 1960s, already drawn to politics years before the 1972 car accident that killed his first wife and daughter, weeks after his first Senate win. Donald Trump was in his twenties, working under his father Fred Trump in Brooklyn and Queens real estate before crossing the river into Manhattan to build his own brand.
Barack Obama was a Harvard Law student in the late 1980s, several years away from his first elected office. George W. Bush spent his early adulthood at Yale and the Texas Air National Guard before entering the oil business and, much later, politics. Bill Clinton was already a fixture on the Arkansas political scene by his late twenties. Ronald Reagan spent decades as a Hollywood actor and television host before running for governor of California in 1966.
The photos tend to land because the gap between who they were and who they became feels narrower than the offices suggest.
Sources: White House Historical Association, Presidential Library archives, Associated Press.
Long before the speeches, the headlines, and the offices that defined them, the recent U.S. presidents were ordinary young men finding their footing. Joe Biden was a Syracuse law student in the late 1960s, already drawn to politics years before the 1972 car accident that killed his first wife and daughter, weeks after his first Senate win. Donald Trump was in his twenties, working under his father Fred Trump in Brooklyn and Queens real estate before crossing the river into Manhattan to build his own brand.
Barack Obama was a Harvard Law student in the late 1980s, several years away from his first elected office. George W. Bush spent his early adulthood at Yale and the Texas Air National Guard before entering the oil business and, much later, politics. Bill Clinton was already a fixture on the Arkansas political scene by his late twenties. Ronald Reagan spent decades as a Hollywood actor and television host before running for governor of California in 1966.
The photos tend to land because the gap between who they were and who they became feels narrower than the offices suggest.
Sources: White House Historical Association, Presidential Library archives, Associated Press.
