What American presidents did not come from a wealthy family?

Answer 1

Wealth is relative and sometimes hard to measure, but I would say that Jackson, Polk, Fillmore, Lincoln, A. Johnson, Grant, Hayes, Arthur, Cleveland, Hoover, Truman, Eisenhower, Lyndon Johnson, Nixon, and Clinton surely did not come from wealthy families. The families of Van Buren, Buchanan, McKinley, Wilson, Coolidge, Carter and Obama were not old line wealthy families but would probably rate as comfortable middle or upper middle class- surely not poor. Benjamin Harrison and Taylor were from old well-established Virginia families but I am not sure how much wealth actually came down to them.

Jackson and Lyndon Johnson married into money.
Andrew Johnson

Answer 2

"Poor " is hard to define and what is poor in one place or time may not be considered poor in another time or place, but let me try to answer your question.

Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln , Andrew Johnson and James Garfield came from families with little money and experienced undeniably hard times when they were young. Herbert Hoover, Dwight Eisenhower, and Ronald Reagan came from families with little or no inherited wealth and grew up in modest surroundings but probably never felt poor since the financial status of their supporters improved as they grew older and they were all able to go to college.

Answer 3

Those with the richest families were Kennedy, Franklin Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt, George W. Bush and George H. W.Bush. Washington inherited some valuable land but made it pay by his own efforts. Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, W.H. Harrison, Taylor and Benjamin Harrison and John Q. Adams had families who owned valuable estates.

It may be worth noting that very few presidents have come from families that were actually poor. Forbes did a ranking a few years back, and while it's somewhat difficult to compare wealth across generations, reached the general conclusion that by the standards of their day easily half the presidents would have ranked in the top 3% of wealth.

You specifically asked about wealthy families, so it might be worth pointing out that in cases such as JFK's, the money was actually under the control of his father Joseph (though he wasn't stingy about allowing his son to tap into it as needed). Probably the personally richest president was Lyndon Johnson.

The Forbes article lists two presidents who were "born poor": Bill Clinton and Andrew Johnson. It specifically excludes Lincoln, whose family, while not wealthy, was at least middle class.

Answer 4

Franklin Roosevelt