Donald Trump was the President of the United States. Join:US Presidents Project Discuss:presidents

Donald Trump is a living notable. Join:Notables Project Discuss:notables

Preceded by
Barack Obama

45th President of the United States
2017 - 2021

Succeeded by
Joe Biden

Preceded by
Joe Biden

47th President of the United States
2025 - present

Succeeded by

Biography

Donald Trump is an American businessman and politician who served as the 45th President of the United States and is currently serving his second term as the 47th President of the United States. During his pre-political career, Trump was a real estate developer who built office towers, hotels, casinos, golf courses, and other branded facilities worldwide.

Birth and Childhood

Donald John Trump was born June 14, 1946, at Jamaica Hospital in Queens, New York.^[1] He was the fourth of five children born toFred Trump and his wife,Mary Anne (MacLeod) Trump. Trump's father was a successful real estate developer in New York City, specializing in building affordable single-family homes and apartment complexes in Brooklyn and Queens, particularly for middle-class families during and after the Great Depression.

Trump grew up in Jamaica Estates, an upper-middle-class neighborhood developed by his father’s company. The family home was large, reflecting their comfortable prosperity. Trump attended Kew-Forest School in Forest Hills, Queens, New York, until age 13. Because of behavioral issues and a desire by his parents for more discipline, he was transferred to the New York Military Academy (NYMA) in Cornwall-on-Hudson, New York, in 1959. He graduated from NYMA in 1964, where he was active in sports (especially baseball) and student leadership.

College Education

After high school, Trump attended Fordham University in the Bronx for two years (1964–1966).He then transferred to the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, one of the few U.S. universities offering a real estate program at the time. At Wharton, he majored in economics and graduated in 1968 with a Bachelor of Science in Economics. While there, he focused on real estate and finance courses. Though Wharton is part of the Ivy League, Trump was an undergraduate student, not a graduate or MBA student.

Real Estate Career

After graduating from Wharton, Trump joined his father’s company, Elizabeth Trump & Son. In 1971, at age 25, he took control of the company and renamed it the Trump Organization. He moved the firm’s focus from outer-borough housing to Manhattan’s luxury real estate market, where his ambitions and taste for publicity soon made him a recognizable figure.

Trump’s breakthrough came when he acquired the Commodore Hotel, a declining property next to Grand Central Terminal. Working with the Hyatt hotel chain and with substantial tax abatements from New York City, he redeveloped it into the Grand Hyatt Hotel, which opened in 1980. The project was a financial and media success and established Trump’s reputation as a bold young developer who could revive struggling landmarks.

Trump’s next major project was Trump Tower, a 58-story skyscraper on Fifth Avenue built on the former site of the Bonwit Teller department store. Completed in 1983, it featured bronze-tinted glass, marble interiors, luxury condominiums, and high-end retail shops. The building became both a symbol of 1980s New York extravagance and Trump’s personal brand of luxury and power. His private triplex penthouse occupied the upper floors.

The 1980s, Trump expanded his ventures beyond real estate, pursuing casinos, resorts, airlines, and sports franchises, often using aggressive financing and heavy debt.

Key projects included:

• Trump Plaza (1984) – A residential and commercial building on Manhattan’s East Side.
• Trump Castle (1985) and Trump Taj Mahal (1990) – Casinos in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
• Trump Shuttle (1989–1992) – A short-lived airline serving the Northeast corridor.
• Mar-a-Lago – Purchased in 1985 as a private residence and later converted into a members-only club.
• The Plaza Hotel – Acquired in 1988 and lavishly renovated, though it later proved unprofitable.

Trump also published his first book,The Art of the Deal (1987), which blended memoir and business philosophy. It became a bestseller and cemented his image as a master negotiator and entrepreneur.

Financial Troubles and Recovery

By the early 1990s, Trump’s empire was heavily leveraged when the U.S. real estate and casino markets entered a downturn. Several of his businesses faced bankruptcy, including the Trump Taj Mahal, Trump Plaza Hotel, and Trump Castle—faced bankruptcy. Trump personally avoided bankruptcy but came close to financial ruin. His creditors forced restructuring agreements that sharply reduced his ownership stakes but allowed him to keep the Trump Organization and the Trump name as a brand.

Throughout the 1990s, Trump gradually recovered by shifting his focus from development to branding and licensing. He licensed the Trump name to hotels, buildings, and products around the world, earning fees and royalties without taking on major construction debt.

Media Personality

By the early 2010s, Trump had shifted much of his focus from real estate development to brand licensing, entertainment, and political commentary. From 1996 to 2015, Trump owned the Miss Universe Organization, which included theMiss USA andMiss Teen USA pageants. During this period, he also made numerous cameo appearances in films and television shows, keeping his public profile high. His popularity surged again with the debut of NBC’sThe Apprentice in 2004, where signature phrase, “You’re fired!” became his trademark line.

First Presidency

In June 2015, Trump announced his candidacy for president of the United States as a Republican, descending the escalator at Trump Tower and declaring his intention to “Make America Great Again.” His campaign capitalized on his decades of celebrity, business reputation, and populist rhetoric, leading to his victory in the 2016 election.

Donald J. Trump was elected the 45th president of the United States in November 2016, defeating Democratic nomineeHillary Clinton. He was inaugurated on January 20, 2017. His vice president wasMike Pence, former governor of Indiana.

During his first term, Trump prioritized tax cuts, deregulation, and job growth; appointed three U.S. Supreme Court justices and hundreds of federal judges; implemented stricter immigration policies, sought to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA); and rolled back several environmental regulations. In foreign affairs he renegotiated the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), replacing it with the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA); imposed tariffs on several countries, including China, to address trade imbalances; pressed NATO allies to increase defense spending; and emphasized an “America First” foreign policy. He also held unprecedented summits with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and brokered the Abraham Accords, normalizing relations between Israel and several Arab nations.

In December 2019, Trump was impeached by the U.S. House of Representatives on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress related to his dealings with Ukraine. He was acquitted by the Senate in February 2020.

Shortly afterward, the COVID-19 pandemic reached the United States. The Trump administration launched Operation Warp Speed to accelerate vaccine research and distribution, resulting in several vaccines being authorized by the end of his term. The pandemic, along with widespread economic shutdowns and public health measures, became the central issue of his final year in office.

In the 2020 presidential election, Trump was defeated by DemocratJoseph R. Biden Jr. He left office on January 20, 2021, following certification of the election results by Congress. Days earlier, on January 6, 2021, a violent attack on the U.S. Capitol occurred. In its aftermath, Trump was impeached a second time, this time on a charge of incitement of insurrection. He was acquitted again by the Senate in February 2021.

Post Presidency Years

After leaving office in January 2021, Trump moved back to his estate at Mar-a-Lago in Florida and established a “former president’s office” there. He remained politically active, maintaining influence within the Republican Party, endorsing candidates, and building a financial war chest for future campaigns.

In February 2021 he incorporated Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) and later in 2022 released the social-media platform Truth Social. He also faced a number of legal, business, and regulatory challenges, investigations into his business practices and his handling of documents, especially regarding his properties and his organization’s tax and fraud matters.

Legal Matters

Following his presidency, Donald J. Trump became the subject of several criminal investigations at both the state and federal levels, making him the first former U.S. president ever charged and later convicted of a felony.

In March 2023, a Manhattan grand jury indicted Trump on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. The charges stemmed from payments made in 2016 to adult-film actressStormy Daniels to suppress allegations of an affair and from the alleged falsification of company records used to reimburse his personal lawyer for those payments. Trump’s trial began in April 2024 and lasted several weeks. On May 30, 2024, the jury found him guilty on all 34 counts, marking the first time a former president had been convicted of a felony. In January 2025, after having been reelected to the presidency, He was sentenced to an unconditional discharge, meaning he received no prison time, probation, or fine, though the felony conviction remained on record.

In addition to the New York case, Trump faced federal charges in a classified documents case, filed in June 2023 in the Southern District of Florida. Prosecutors accused him of unlawfully retaining national defense documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate and of obstructing efforts to retrieve them. He was charged with 40 felony counts under the Espionage Act and related statutes and pleaded not guilty. However, in July 2024, the presiding judge dismissed the case, ruling that the appointment of a Special Counsel had been unconstitutional. The Department of Justice declined to pursue the matter further.

Trump was also indicted in Georgia in August 2023, along with eighteen others, under that state’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. The indictment alleged that he and his co-defendants attempted to unlawfully overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. The case remains pending. In December 2024, the Georgia Court of Appeals removed District Attorney Fani Willis from the case due to a conflict of interest, delaying proceedings until a new prosecutor can be appointed.

Aside from these criminal matters, Trump and his business organization have faced a series of civil lawsuits and investigations, including cases involving alleged tax fraud and the valuation of business assets. As of 2025, Trump’s New York conviction remains under appeal, the Georgia case is unresolved, and other civil and administrative matters continue in various stages of litigation.

Second Presidency

On November 15, 2022, Trump announced his candidacy for the 2024 presidential election. He selected SenatorJ.D. Vance as his vice-presidential running mate. During his campaign, on July 13, 2024, at a rally in Butler Township, Pennsylvania, a man firing from a rooftop grazed Trump’s upper right ear in what was treated as an assassination attempt; an audience member was killed. Two days later, at the 2024 Republican National Convention, Trump was formally nominated as the party’s presidential candidate.

He won the election and was sworn in on January 20, 2025, as the 47th President of the United States, having defeated the Democratic nominee,Vice President Kamala Harris. With that victory, he became the second U.S. president to serve non-consecutive terms (afterGrover Cleveland) and, at age 78, the oldest person elected to the presidency. He was also the first Republican in two decades to win the popular vote in a U.S. presidential election.

Family

Trump married his first wife, Czech modelIvana Zelníčková, on April 7, 1977, at the Marble Collegiate Church in Manhattan in a ceremony performed by theReverend Norman Vincent Peale. They had three children: sonDonald Jr. (born December 31, 1977), daughterIvanka (born October 30, 1981), and sonEric (born January 6, 1984). Ivana Trump was granted an uncontested divorce in 1990.

ModelMarla Maples gave birth to their daughterTiffany, named after Tiffany & Company in 1993. The couple married two months later on December 20, 1993. The couple formally separated in May 1997, with their divorce finalized in June 1999. Tiffany was raised by her mother in Calabasas, California, where she lived until her graduation from Viewpoint School.^[2]

In 1998, Trump began a relationship with Slovene modelMelania Knauss, who became his third wife. They were engaged in April 2004 and were married on January 22, 2005, at Bethesda-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church, on the island of Palm Beach, Florida, followed by a reception at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate.^[3]On March 20, 2006, she gave birth to their son,Barron William Trump.

Sources

1. ↑Birth: "New York, New York, U.S., Birth Index, 1910-1965"
   Original data: New York City Department of Health, courtesy of www.vitalsearch-worldwide.com. Digital Images; Certificate Number: 7624
   Ancestry Sharing Link -Ancestry Record 61457 #5408838 (accessed 26 April 2025)
   Donald John Trump born on 14 Jun 1946 in Queens, New York City, New York, USA.
2. ↑Marriage:"U.S., Newspapers.com™ Marriage Index, 1800s-current"
   Newsday (Nassau Edition); Publication Date: 19/ Dec/ 1993; Publication Place: Hempstead, New York, USA; URL:https://www.newspapers.com/image/713196078/?article=e8243b3a-aa6b-4078-b4c0-0d4294ffe7b1&focus=0.08513239,0.5632409,0.36883804,0.9771266&xid=3398
   Ancestry Record 62116 #161313601 (accessed 26 April 2025)
   Donald John Trump (47) marriage to Marla Maples on 20 Dec 1993 in Manhattan.
3. ↑Marriage:"Florida, U.S., County Marriage Records, 1823-1982"
   Palm Beach County Clerk and Comptroller's Office; West Palm Beach, Florida; County Marriages, 2004-2005
   Ancestry Sharing Link -Ancestry Record 61369 #1749869 (accessed 26 April 2025)
   Donald John Trump (58) marriage to Melanija Knavs on 22 Jan 2005 at 141 S Country Road, Palm Beach, Palm Beach, Florida, USA.

• Birth: "New York, New York, U.S., Birth Index, 1910-1965"
  Original data: New York City Department of Health, courtesy of www.vitalsearch-worldwide.com. Digital Images; Certificate Number: 7624
  Ancestry Sharing Link -Ancestry Record 61457 #5408838 (accessed 18 October 2025)
  Donald Trump born on 14 Jun 1946 in Queens, New York City, New York, USA.

• 1950 Census: "1950 United States Federal Census"
  National Archives at Washington, DC; Washington, D.C.; Seventeenth Census of the United States, 1950; Year: 1950; Census Place: New York, Queens, New York; Roll: 5433; Page: 72; Enumeration District: 41-1457
  Ancestry Sharing Link -Ancestry Record 62308 #287241852 (accessed 18 October 2025)
  Donald Trump (4), single son, in household of Fred Trump (43) in New York, Queens, New York, USA. Born in New York.

• Divorce: "Washington, U.S., Divorce Records, 1968-2017"
  Washington State Archives; Olympia, Washington; Washington, Divorce Index, 1968-1996
  Ancestry Sharing Link -Ancestry Record 61251 #147917 (accessed 18 October 2025)
  Donald J Trump divorce from Cheri L Trump on 11 Jun 1970 in Columbia, Washington, USA.

• Marriage: "New York, New York, U.S., Marriage License Indexes, 1907-2018"
  New York City Municipal Archives; New York, New York; Borough: Manhattan
  Ancestry Record 61406 #4493960 (accessed 18 October 2025)
  Donald John Trump marriage to Marla Ann Maples in 1993 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA.

• 1993 Newspaper: "Newspapers.com"
  Newsday (Nassau Edition) (Hempstead, New York) Sun, Dec 19, 1993, page 10
  Newspapers Clip:183210085 (accessed 18 October 2025)

• Marriage: "Florida, U.S., County Marriage Records, 1823-1982"
  Palm Beach County Clerk and Comptroller's Office; West Palm Beach, Florida; County Marriages, 2004-2005
  Ancestry Sharing Link -Ancestry Record 61369 #1749869 (accessed 18 October 2025)
  Donald John Trump (58) marriage to Melanija Knavs on 22 Jan 2005 at 141 S Country Road, Palm Beach, Palm Beach, Florida, USA.

See also:

• New York Times
• Washington Times
• BBC Biography
• IMDb
• Wikimedia pictures
• Wikipedia:Donald Trump
• Wikidata:Item Q22686,en:Wikipedia

Profile managers:David Randall,Living Notables Project WikiTree, andUS Presidents Project WikiTree