BARACK OBAMA, 44TH PRESIDENT - On January 20, 2009, Barack Obama will be inaugurated as our nation's 44th President. He will be the first African-American and individual born in Hawaii to be elected President. With a beautiful and gracious wife, Michelle Obama, and two beautiful young daughters, he should bring the same youthfulness and sense of opportunity that John Kennedy brought to the White House. See you at the inauguration and look for future blog posts about his presidency!!!

GEORGE W. BUSH, 43RD PRESIDENT - George W. Bush was sworn in as our 43rd President on January 20, 2001 after a contested election against the Democratic candidate, Vice President Al Gore. Ultimately, the election was decided by the U.S. Supreme Court which stopped a recount of the votes in Florida. In his first year in office, Bush was confronted with the tragedy of the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001 on the World Trade Center towers in New York and against the Pentagon in the Washington, D.C. area. In response to these terrorist attacks, President Bush declared a war on terror and ordered the invasion of Afghanistan and later of Iraq. With popular support as a war-time President and a conservative shift in the mood of the country, Bush was re-elected to a second term of office four years later. In his second term, however, Bush faced increasingly low rankings in the public opinion polls as support for the war in Iraq diminished and the economy worsened. At the end of his two terms as President, Bush had one of the lowest public opinion poll rankings of any President since such polls have been conducted as the financial and banking system in the country went into a melt-down as a result of a collapse of the housing market, and as mortgage-backed securities increasingly became illiquid. President Bush was the second President to be elected that was the son of a previous President, with his father George H.W. Bush having been the 41st President of the United States. The only other President that was the son of a previous President was John Quincy Adams. As an outgoing President, Bush made a commitment to make the transition of his successor, Barack Obama, the easiest of any President-Elect.

WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTON, 42ND PRESIDENT - On January 20, 1993, Bill Clinton was inaugurated as our nation's 42nd President. Four years later, he was re-elected to a second term. He was the second President, along with Andrew Johnson, to be impeached by the U.S. House of Representatives. Like Andrew Johnson, however, the motivations for impeachment were primarily political and thus Clinton was not convicted and removed from office by the Senate. At the end of his presidency, Clinton continued to enjoy strong public support. As President, Clinton presided over the greatest peace time economic prosperity in the history of the country. After his presidency, Clinton has gone on to become one of, if not, the most influential world spokesman raising funds and working for world humanitarian causes. Meanwhile, his wife and former First Lady Hillary Clinton was elected as a U.S. Senator from New York, the only former First Lady to run for political office. In 2008, she ran for the Democratic nomination for President, but lost the nomination to Barack Obama. She and former President Clinton then compaigned for Obama in the general election. After Obama's election as President, he announced that he would appoint former First Lady Hillary Clinton to the position of Secretary of State.

RONALD REAGAN, 41ST PRESIDENT - Ronald Reagan was sworn in as our nation's 41st President on January 20, 1981. Minutes later, Iran announced that they had released the American hostages that they had held ever since President Carter had allowed the former Shah of Iran into the United States in order to receive medical treatment for his cancer. Reagan's swearing-in was the first time that a Presidential inauguration was held on the West Terrace of the U.S. Capitol. Known as the "Great Communicator", Reagan along with John Kennedy often tops public opinion polls as the best U.S. President. This is compared to polls of historians that typically list George Washington or Abraham Lincoln, and Franklin Roosevelt as the top three presidents. Reagan assumed the office of President at a time of low public morale because of high inflation, frustration over the Iran hostage situation, and the recent Arab oil embargo which had caused gas rationing in America. Reagan was elected based upon his promise of renewed optimism in America along with a shift towards conservative values and restraining the spending of government. Ironically, while Reagan's foreign policies helped bring about the eventual collapse of the Soviet Union, his military spending on the Star Wars and other programs caused government spending and the federal deficit to skyrocket. Reagan is the only movie star to be elected President. He survived an assassination attempt shortly after his election to his first term in office that almost cost him his life, but went on to serve to two terms as President. After he publicly took responsibility for the trading of arms for hostages in his second term in office, or what is known as the Iran-Contra scandal, the publicly forgave him. As a result, the media often referred to Reagan as having a "teflon factor" where the public so liked him that he could overcome criticisms that other President would have difficulty in dealing with. Part of this ability can be attributed to the way that Reagan seemed able to talk directly to the public in moments of shared celebration, such as the bicentennial of the Statue of Liberty, or in moments of tragedy, such as the Challenger space shuttle disaster.

RICHARD NIXON, 38TH PRESIDENT - Richard Nixon had previously served as Vice President under President Eisenhower. Afterwards, he ran for President but was defeated by John F. Kennedy. He finally was elected and sworn in as the nation's 38th President on January 20, 1969. His inauguration was unusual in that only individuals with special invitations were admitted to the Capitol grounds for the inauguration ceremony. Also, two Bibles were utilized, both family heirlooms. As President, Nixon's two biggest achievements were his trip to China to open up relations with China and his Executive Order creating the United States Environmental Protection Agency. He was less successful in his campaign promise to get us out of the Vietnam War, with some people believing that he purposely delayed the withdrawal of our troops so as to hence his status as a war-time President and thus chances of being re-elected. After being elected to a second term, however, he became embroiled in the Watergate scandal and, because of the threat of his impeachment and prosecution by the Watergate Special Prosecutor, he was forced to resign, becoming the only President to resign from office. While he was pardoned by his succesor, President Gerald Ford, a number of his top White House staff were convicted and went to jail for actions related to the Watergate scandal.