Opinion: Jobs held before they were president

In his farewell address, President Harry Truman said “the greatest part of the president’s job is to make decisions — big ones and small ones, dozens of them almost every day. No one else can do the deciding for him. That’s his job.”

But what was the job of “Give ‘em Hell, Harry” before he became president? How did he and his fellow future presidents pay the bills before they moved into the White House?

This Labor Day, as we honor America’s working men and women, take the quiz below and test your knowledge of the jobs some presidents held before sitting down at the Resolute Desk.

Thomas Dewey narrowly lost to Harry S. Truman in 1948 after eking out the nomination over Ohio Sen. Robert Taft in the last brokered Republican convention. Some are predicting another brokered convention this year if the Republican contest remains close. The famous Chicago Tribune headline declaring Dewey the winner is an unforgettable image from that election year.

1. Decades before going to Washington, Harry Truman once worked as a what?

A. Barber

B. Record Producer

C. Mailroom clerk

D. Sawmill operator

Ronald Reagan (1911-2004), seen here in 1996, lived to be 93 years, 120 days. (Eric Draper/AP file)

2. Before entering politics, Ronald Reagan held which of the following jobs?

A. Actor

B. Radio announcer

C. Union president

D. All the above

In this photo provided by the Library of Congress, President Abraham Lincoln, seated and holding his spectacles and a pencil on Feb. 5, 1865. (AP Photo/Library of Congress/Alexander Gardner)

3. Abraham Lincoln is remembered as a lawyer. But before starting that career, he had all of the following jobs except one. Which was it?

A. Tended a river flatboat

B. Tended bar in a saloon

C. Split logs into rails for fences

D. Clerked in a store

KRT NEWS STORY SLUGGED: FORD KRT PHOTOGRAPH BY KHUE BUI (KRT304-June 2) Former President Gerald R. Ford listens at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., prior to addressing the audience on June 1, 1998. (KRT) PL, KD (hew214.47) 1998 (COLOR)

4. Gerald Ford had a reputation as a college football player. After graduating, he passed up offers to play in the NFL and worked what job instead?

A. Boxing and assistant football coach

B. Professional water skier

C. Featured performer in the Ice Capades

D. Swimming coach

Andrew Johnson, 17th president of the United States.

5. Andrew Johnson took a roundabout route to the White House. What was his pre-political occupation?

A. Tinker

B. Tailor

C. Soldier

D. Spy

While Grover Cleveland campaigned during the 1884 election, he paid child support to Maria Crofts Halpin, even though he may not have been the father of her son. One reason given for the unusual arrangement was that Cleveland was the only bachelor of the several men who may have been the father. Cleveland went on to win the election, and entered the White House as a bachelor, though he married Frances Folsom during his first term.

6. Grover Cleveland is the only president to have presided over an execution. It was part of his duties as a …

A. Detective

B. Chief of police

C. District attorney

D. Sheriff

7. Joe Biden had a college job doing what?

A. Fry cook

B. Lifeguard

C. Encyclopedia salesman

D. Hotel bellhop

General Dwight Eisenhower on D-Day

8. Dwight Eisenhower is believed to have played minor league baseball under an assumed name to avoid losing his amateur status while at West Point. What name did he reportedly use?

A. Viking

B. Harrison

C. Wilson

D. Drake

Former President Jimmy Carter turning into comic book hero (File photo)

9. As a young boy, Jimmy Carter did what job?

A. Delivered telegrams

B. Delivered goods in his father’s general store

C. Delivered milk

D. Delivered newspapers

FILE -- This is a Nov. 17, 1967 file photo of former president Lyndon B. Johnson. More than 80 hours of President Lyndon B. Johnson's telephone conversations from the White House, from early 1964, were released Friday, Oct. 11, 1996 by the National Archives and the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library. The tapes reveal an administration struggling to form a Vietnam policy while keeping quiet about the escalating death toll. (AP Photo/File)

10. Lyndon Johnson spent a year after high school on what some call his “lost period.” After a trip to California didn’t work out, he did a series of odd jobs that included what?

A. Cutting down tree limbs

B. Roofing houses

C. Cleaning horse stables

D. Doing manual labor on a road crew