The presidents of America – especially those from the 20th century onwards – are among the most famous and influential figures in the history of not just the United States, but the entire world.
This simple presidents song is designed to help children learn the names of the presidents since 1901 and to be exposed to a key fact or two concerning their rule.
Watching the names and pictures scroll by gives the viewer an immediate sense of the magnitude of the events that have shaped American history and world history over the last 100 years and more. These include:
- Woodrow Wilson taking America into World War 1 and then establishing the League of Nations
- Herbert Hoover battling to bring America back from the bring after the Wall Street crash of 1929
- Franklin Roosevelt’s “New Deal”; his “day of infamy” speech after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor and the Pacific and European battles that followed
- Harry Truman authorising the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki1
- John F Kennedy and the Bay of Pigs invasion, before his assassination by Lee Harvey Oswald
- Richard Nixon’s resignation because of Watergate
- Ronald Reagan imploring Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall
- George H. W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq in response to Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait
- The Lewinsky scandal and Bill Clinton
- The terrorist attacks of September 11 and George W. Bush’s subsequent invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan
- Barack Obama being the first African American elected to president; the demise of Osama Bin Laden and the battles for Obamacare.
Whatever your politics, whatever your nationality, you have to agree that the presidents of the United States of America are assured of their places in history.
Lyrics
Theodore Roosevelt – one of the all-time greats
Was the 26th president of the United States
William Howard Taft was the next man to take charge
His nickname was big bill – he was really rather large
In 1917 Woodrow Wilson oversaw
The entry of America into the First World War
It’s easy to forget that the next man came along
As poor old Warren Harding got quite a few things wrong
For the next 6 years Calvin Coolidge led the USA
He did a rather decent job but never had much to say
The Great Depression started back in 1929
And it sure gave Herbert Hoover a very hard old time
To lead us through World War Two, greatness was required
FDR was just the man — he truly was inspired
Harry Truman authorised the bombing of Japan
He helped build Europe back again with the Marshall plan
The Cold War was at its height when the next man came to power
His friends preferred to call him “Ike”: he was Dwight D Eisenhower
It was John F Kennedy who said, “Let’s go to the moon”
Tragically his presidency was ended far too soon
Lyndon Johnson was in charge during the Vietnam War
The civil rights he introduced made life better than before
There were international issues that Richard Nixon had to handle
But he ended up resigning – after the Watergate scandal
After his departure the constitution then ensured
That the next man to be president would be Gerald Ford
Next there would be Jimmy Carter the man who had to plan
To find a way to bring back home hostages from Iran
In Berlin Ronald Reagan said, “Tear down this wall!”
And in ’89 the wall did fall, near the end of the cold war
George Bush senior wanted two terms but he only managed one
In just a few years’ time though the president was his son
Arkansas’s Bill Clinton won the election of ’92
There’s a chance that his wife Hillary will be a president too
When George W Bush had only just started to rule
The 9/11 attacks occurred, so monstrous and so cruel
Barack Obama is the current white house resident
The first African American to be the president
And what about you young girls and boys, tell me, what do you say?
Would you like to be the leader of your nation some day?
View more videos like the Presidents Song on the guruparents youtube channel.