Hail to the Wealthy Chief

In our nation's illustrious history, we have shown atendency to elect a president who possesses above-averagewealth. We have yet to elect a commander-in-chiefwho made minimum wage in their previousposition. With this in mind, one has to ask who werethe wealthiest presidents?

When we think of presidents who were well-offfinancially, our current president, George W. Bush,immediately springs to mind. However, despitePresident Bush's wealth from inheritance, comparativelyhe is not the richest president ever. Neither wasPresident John F. Kennedy. While it's true the Kennedyfamily themselves were very wealthy, JFK received themajority of his money from trust funds, and was neverable to inherit his family's fortune since he was assassinatedwhile his parents were still alive.

Forbes

According to an article in , while it's difficult to measure affluence across such a long time-line,the richest president was also our first, GeorgeWashington. President Washington was born into arich planter family, and his wife, Martha, was alsoexceedingly prosperous. At the time of his death in1799, Washington's estate was valued at roughly$500,000, making him relatively the richest presidentin history.