Donald Trump’s Early Life Story
45th President of the United States | Donald Trump’s Early Life
Entering into the 2016 presidential race with a catchy slogan “Make America Great Again”, Donald J. Trump easily won the presidential election without having a long-term political career. His life story is an inspiration to many people.
What’s the secret behind Trump’s political success? There is not a single answer to that question — but we know that he was blessed by a great financial heritage that was left behind by his deceased real estate father Fred Trump. The Trump family continues to do well in real estate.
To fully understand the highly successful but controversial Donald Trump, you have to reflect on the throwback of Donald Trump from his early days.
Donald Trump’s Early Years
Among his parents’ 5 children, Trump places fourth. Born on June 14, 1946 in New York to a wealthy father (Fred Trump), who made millions of dollars from real estate, Trump had an uncouth behavior when he was in his early teens.
Some of Trump’s childhood classmates recall that, he was a bully who would always say anything that crossed his mind. Moreover, he was not good at obeying rules. While attending the Kew-Forest School, Trump would break rules by illegally riding between cars. This early disobedience acts of Donald worried his father.
It was hard for his father to figure out Trump’s misbehavior to the detriment of his responsibilities in building the Trump empire.
Determined to nip his son’s waywardness in the bud, Fred Trump enrolled Donald to a military academy at New York. At that time, Trump was 13. The hope was that the hard military training would discipline Trump to become a useful product to his family and society at large.
Trump at Military Academy
Donald Trump’s Early Life
Trump’s social and academic performance at the military school wasn’t bad at all. In his own words, Trump had been tooting a trumpet of academic excellence at the academy. Believing that he is academically smarter than his predecessor, Trump dared ex-president Obama to release his academic records. However, Trump and his associates took legal measures to protect the release of his academic records at his former schools. At the turn of this irony, one cannot help but to wonder why a superb student would hide his academic results from the inquisitive eyes of the public.
His training at the academy lasted for 5 years (1959-64), during which he was believed to have been a great student leader. When he was 17, Trump was made a captain during his senior year. In his position as captain, he took a strong stance on discipline, but his tenure would not last. Barely a month later, Trump was ousted from his commanding position and given a new task in the academy staff.
There are claims that Trump was fired from the captain position because of bad leadership style he exhibited in that position. But to Trump, he believed that the switch of position was a actually a promotion that was necessitated by his good job done. As commander-in-chief, Trump says his years at the academy have shaped him to be the best leader he is today. On the contrary, some of Trump’s classmates gave a different picture about his life at the academy— they think he was a Ladies Man who frequently left campus to party with beautiful girls. Since he was good at athletics, Trump easily won the hearts of ladies.
From Fordham University to Wharton Business School
Trump was supposed to be a military man, but he deferred military service based on fitness issues. He entered Fordham University in 1964. By 1966, Trump had left Fordham on a transfer to the Wharton School of Business (University of Pennsylvania). Diverting from military service, Trump graduated from Pennsylvania in 1968 with an an economics degree. He was now following his family’s business footprints.
The Journey to Real Estate
After acquiring his economics degree, Trump fully entered into Fred Trump’s real estate businesses. Securing a one- million dollar loan from his dad, he went on to take over the affairs of his father’s company and rebranded it as the Trump Organization. His elder brother Fred Trump Jr. ,was supposed to man the family’s business, but due to his passion for flying aircraft and (and later addiction to alcohol), Donald stepped in as the rightful one to manage their real estates.
In 1971, sensing the economic opportunities that prevailed in the city, Trump moved in (from Queens) to settle at Manhattan. This became the defining moment of his successful life. At Manhattan, Trump began building a mighty empire that would fetch him fame, name, and fortunes. He carried out numerous construction projects in the city and also managed his father’s residential buildings in New York City. One of his first successful deals was the transformation of the Commodore Hotel into Grand Hyatt Hotel.
In Manhattan, Trump erected a skyscraper known as the Trump Tower. Trump would go on to be tagged as a billionaire president; the first of his kind. His collection of real estate properties are now on a global scale. Trump is also an accomplished author who wrote a best-seller “The Art of the Deal, 1987”.
Bankruptcy and “The Apprentice”
Donald J. Trump’s The Apprentice
Every business move flourished for Trump until the early 1990s when his casinos ran into bankruptcy. But once again, in 2003, Trump was smart enough to financially revive himself by serving as a television celebrity who hosted a show dubbed “The Apprentice”. The NBC show saw Trump rake in hundreds of millions of dollars. The hit program provided a platform for contestants to vie for positions in the Trump companies.
Racial Discrimination and Accusations
Trump’s name has been tied to racism since his early days. In 1973, the Justice Department accused the Trump Organization of racial prejudice. The allegations were that the Trumps were engaged in racially discriminatory acts against African-Americans — in the renting of their apartments. The Trumps denied those accusations leveled against them, but they promised to offer more accommodation to blacks who wanted to patronize their apartments. As president of the United States, Trump’s policies derived inspiration from his childhood antics and years of experience in the business and entertainment world.
