Harvard, Columbia: 16 US Presidents Who Attended Ivy League Schools

Long before President Donald Trump engaged in a war against Harvard University, the Ivy League has been a breeding ground for world leaders, including many US presidents.

Among the eight Ivy League schools, Harvard has educated the most US presidents — eight — followed by Yale, at five.

On the other hand, a few of the Ivies have not yet seen one of their students go on to become US president: Brown University, Cornell University, and Dartmouth College.

Most presidents in recent US history, including President Trump, graduated from an Ivy League school. In fact, from the end of Ronald Reagan’s term in 1989 until the beginning of Joe Biden’s in 2021, the presidency was occupied by Ivy League alums.

Trump has had a fraught relationship with some universities since he signed an executive order during his first term prompting higher education institutions to take tougher action in combating antisemitism.

Since October 7, 2023, US colleges and universities have been at the center of controversies regarding student protests against the war in Gaza, with Columbia University gaining national attention in April 2024 when students formed on-campus encampments demanding the school divest from Israel.

Since January, the Trump administration has made attempts to block Harvard University from receiving federal funds and enrolling international students, citing the university’s failure to meet “both the intellectual and civil rights conditions that justify federal investment,” as members of the administration wrote in an April 11 letter addressed to the university’s leadership. It came after the university refused the administration’s demands to change hiring and admissions policies, among others.

Harvard’s president, Alan Garber, wrote in a letter to students and staff in April, “No government — regardless of which party is in power — should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue.”

Here’s which presidents were Ivy-League educated, and where they attended university.

Princeton University

Two former US presidents have graduated from Princeton.

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The Ivy League’s ties with the US presidency go back to the nation’s founding. In 1771, founding father and fourth US president James Madison, who was president between 1809 and 1817, graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from Princeton University, then called the College of New Jersey.

Woodrow Wilson, who was president between 1913 and 1921, also graduated from the College of New Jersey in 1879.

University of Pennsylvania

The ninth US president, William Henry Harrison, who served the shortest presidency in US history in 1841, attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied medicine, but he withdrew before his expected graduation date of 1793.

In 1968, Donald J. Trump graduated with a Bachelor of Science in economics from Penn’s Wharton School, which he had transferred to from Fordham University two years prior.

Columbia University

After graduating from Harvard College — Harvard University’s undergraduate school — in 1876, 26th US president Theodore Roosevelt attended Columbia University’s Law School, from which he eventually withdrew.

His fifth cousin and the 32nd US president, Franklin D. Roosevelt, attended Columbia’s Law School in 1904 after graduating from Harvard College a year prior, but also withdrew from the program.

In 1981, Barack Obama, then a junior at Occidental College, transferred to Columbia University, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in political science in 1983.

Yale University

The 27th US president, William Howard Taft, graduated from Yale University in 1978. His father, Alphonso Taft, who graduated from Yale in 1833, had founded the Skull and Bones secret society during his time at the school — his son, as well as two other US presidents, would become members of that society.

In 1941, 38th US president Gerald Ford graduated from Yale Law School. In 1973, Bill Clinton, who was the president between 1993 and 2001, graduated from the same program.

George H. W. Bush, who was president between 1989 and 1993, graduated from Yale with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics in 1948. His son and 43rd US president, George W. Bush, graduated from the school with a Bachelor of Arts in History in 1968.

Both of the Bush presidents were members of the Skull and Bones secret society founded by William Howard Taft’s father.

Harvard University

Harvard University also has ties to the US presidency dating back to the nation’s founding. The first US vice president and second US president, John Adams, attended Harvard University, from which he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1755 and a Master of Arts in 1758. His son and sixth US president, John Quincy Adams, graduated from Harvard College in 1787.

In 1845, Rutherford B. Hayes, who was president from 1877 to 1881, graduated from Harvard Law School.

The 26th US president, Theodore Roosevelt, graduated from Harvard College with a Bachelor of Arts in 1880, as did the 32nd US president, Franklin D. Roosevelt, in 1903.

In 1940, the 35th US president, John F. Kennedy, graduated from Harvard with a Bachelor of Arts in International Affairs. In his college essay, he famously expressed his desire to attend the school from which his father, Joseph P. Kennedy, graduated in 1912: “To be a ‘Harvard man’ is an enviable distinction, and one that I sincerely hope I shall attain.”

In 1975, George W. Bush graduated from the school with an MBA, the only US president to have earned this degree.

In 1991, Barack Obama graduated from Harvard Law School, the most recent US president to attend the school.

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