Barack Hussein Obama II is currently the 44th President of the United States
and is the first African American to hold the office.

                  (JULY 14, 1913 – DEC.26, 2006)

Gerald R. Ford was the 38th President of the United States, serving from
1974 to 1977, and the 40th Vice President serving from 1973 to 1974. His
wife, Betty Ford, died on July 8, 2011. Like her husband, she also died at
age 93. They are the longest lived Presidential couple.

President George W. Bush with Ford and his wife Betty on April 23, 2006; this is 
reported to be the last known public photo of Gerald Ford.

Sonny Bono entered politics after growing frustration with local government 
bureaucracy in trying to open a restaurant in Palm Springs, Cal. Bono placed
a successful bid and become the new mayor of Palm Springs. He served four
years (1988 to 1992). He was instrumental in making the city more business-
friendly and in spearheading the creation of the Palm Springs International
Film Festival, which is now held each year in Bono’s memory.Bono died on
January 5, 1998, at the age of 62. The official statement reported that he
sustained injuries when he struck a tree while skiing.

Congressman Sonny Bono in 1994. Bono remains the only member of
Congress to have scored a #1 pop single on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

     
       Andrew “Old Hickory” Jackson … March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845  

                          
                           The Andrew Jackson Presidential Dollar

William Sargent Ladd (October 10, 1826 – January 6, 1893) was a politician and 
businessman in Oregon. He twice served as Mayor of Portland from March 15, 1854
to April 1,1855 and a second term beginning in 1857. He was a prominent figure in the early development of Portland, and co-founded the first bank in Oregon in 1859. Ladd also built the first brick building in the city of Portland. A portion of his former estate, the Ladd Carriage House, was on the National Register of Historic Places until 2008. Ladd arrived in Portland from his native Vermont on April 8, 1851. Originally a Democrat, he became a Republican in 1864 when he supported Abraham Lincoln’s re-election.

 
The Ladd Carriage House in 1953