Only Trump Among the Former US Leaders is Not a Descendant of Slaveholders

Media: Only Trump Among the Former US Leaders is Not a Descendant of Slaveholders

According to Reuters, President Joe Biden and all living former US presidents, except for Donald Trump, are direct descendants of slaveholders, based on a genealogical study of the American political elite.

The study reveals that at least 100 members of the current Congress, accounting for at least 8% of Democrats and 28% of Republicans, are direct descendants of colonizers who owned black slaves. Prominent politicians in this group include Republican Senators Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham, as well as Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren.

Biden and all living former US presidents, except for Donald Trump, are also direct descendants of slaveholders. Jimmy Carter, George Bush, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama all have ancestral ties to slaveholders. Trump's German ancestors immigrated to the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, while his Scottish mother, Mary Anne MacLeod, arrived in America only in 1930.

Reuters notes that it attempted to obtain comments regarding the discovered slaveholding past of over 100 modern US leaders. The agency contacted each of the 100 congressmen and 18 presidents, governors, or judges, providing them with documents confirming their connection to a slaveholding ancestor. None of the 118 leaders, Reuters reports, contested the findings that at least one of their ancestors owned slaves. The agency received responses from 24 out of the 100 legislators. Nine stated that they had no comments, while the remaining 67 did not respond.

The institution of slavery existed in the British American colonies and the United States from 1619 to 1865.