Donald Trump: What Happened Before the White House?

he is the most famous person on the planet and the most divisive equally loved it's equally abhorred it is impossible not to have an opinion about the brash Twitter loving 45th President of the United States yet few people truly understands what makes Trump Trump by going back into his past we are able to gain valuable insight into the vast complexities that make up the man in this week's by graphics we're looking at the Donald before he took up residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue [Music] Donald John Trump was born on June the 14th in 1946 the fourth of five children to Fred Trump and Mary McCloud Donald's grandfather also nicknamed Frederick migrators in 1885 from Germany he brought with him a reputation as one of the finest builders of his generation Frederick helps to change the face of Queens with his building projects they primarily consisted of the construction of solid though basic brick rental apartments Fred followed his father's path and became a prominent residential developer by the time Donald was in his teen years his father had amassed more than 27,000 apartments in such Brooklyn suburbs as Flatbush Sheepshead Bay Bensonhurst and Brighton Beach he also had extensive properties in the Queens neighborhoods of Coney Island's and Jamaica estates in addition to his residential housing portfolio Fred moved in to commercial developments during the Depression years of the 30s he built Trump markets which was a supermarkets built on the concept of serve yourself and save with war on the horizon he also got into construction on military bases Donald's mother Mary McLeod Trump was of Scottish heritage she met Frank in the early 1930s as a teenager when they were married in 1936 she was just twenty four years old they settled into a 23 room house in Queens vows was extravagance with a colonial style portico frame entrance and six imposing white marble pillars Fred's two Cadillacs FCT one and FCT two were parked in the driveway the Trump's were one of the few families to have an intercom system installed in their home not to mention a chauffeur and a personal Butler mrs. Trump was also a philanthropist who became passionately involved in a number of causes that were close to her heart she was the main driving force of the ladies helper of Jamaica facility as well as the Jamaica day care nursery Mary was also an ardent supporter of the National Kidney establishments of New York and the group mainstreaming partners of incredible Neck New York which provided help for people who were crippled of all of his children young Donald showed the most interest in his father's business ventures as a result Fred would sometimes take the boy onto construction sites with him as he developed his own personality Donald gains a bit of a reputation as a bully his parents were lacks in imposing discipline upon him on one occasion the trumps neighbor Martha Burnham came home to find the four year old Donald throwing stones at her son Dennis Donald had apparently targeted Dennis as an easy mark for his venom Martha warned her son to stay away from the nasty Trump boy by the time he was 8 Donald was the leader of a group of young thugs who would ride around Queens on their bicycles yelling out insults to be born and stopping to deal with other youngsters who they didn't like the look off he was known for saying whatever he wanted and acting impulsively fred's enrolled Donald's at a private education facility in Forest Hills called Q Forest School Fred happens to be on the board of trustees for that school this fact seems to have emboldened Donald's in his wayward behaviors taking the lead amongst a bunch of boys who were constant troublemakers he would pull girl's hair purposely bump into other students desks and talk out of turn in class Donald's grades they were mediocre at best this was mainly due though to lack of application rather than lack of ability a situation that greatly frustrated his teachers however on the playgrounds and the sports fields he displayed considerable ability his favorite gym game was dodgeball he displayed great dexterity and avoiding balls that were thrown at him and he was often the last man standing outdoors he excelled at baseball he was a talented player and a fierce competitor as a sixth grader his batting power was exceptional when he came up to batter the defending side would have to extend its fielders way out in order to handle his daunting right arm swing one morning when he was 12 years old Donald and his friend Peter Brandt jumped on the train to Manhattan such an excursion had not been authorized by Donald's parents getting off at Fifth Avenue and 53rd they spent the day strolling through Central Park buying curiosity is at novelty stores and wandering among the homeless one of the items that Donald purchased was a switchblade knife it was months later that Fred discovered the knife and the story of Donald's unauthorized trip to the city was uncovered Fred he was outraged he finally came to the realization that Donald was out of control and that something had to be done Fred decided that his fourth son was in dire need of some external discipline he enrolled Donald at the Rosia military boarding school about 70 miles away there would be no more comfortable living in the mansion and swirling around the neighborhood Donald in implementing this new strategy Fred acted quickly not even giving his son time to say his fat wells life was indeed vastly different at the military school the boys were required to wear a uniform that consisted of a thick fleece pullover and pants an alarm woke them up early in the morning and their entire day was regulated by the clock Donald's life was now completely controlled by Theodore Tobias the hands-on school administrator tobias was a no-nonsense World War two veteran who demanded excellence from his new recruits he knew that many of the boys that were sent to him with their to be toughen up and to have discipline imposed upon them and he took that responsibility very seriously as you might imagine all of this was a pretty serious shot for Donald his initial reaction was resentments and a natural tendency to buck the system he soon racked up a number of charges including not making his bed and not properly cleaning the sink yes administrator Tobias saw something else in the young Trump the boy was incredibly driven and always had a desire to be number one realizing the bucking the system was only going to get him in deeper trouble Donald's began trying to follow the rules the biggest improvement was with regard to his personal orderliness here on awards for the cleanliness of his personal area indeed his orderliness bordered on the obsessive winning him the nickname mr. fastidious Donald's loudmouth bluster quietened down as discipline was injected into his system he became soft-spoken and had an air of self-confidence he developed friendships despite often being regarded as a bit cocky and bragging too much about his father's wealth then during a senior year donald was made a company captain this put him in a position of oversight over younger boys he inspected their personal space and was responsible for generally keeping them in order his reputation was such that he very rarely had to raise his voice at his charges a simple step sometimes accompanied by a raised eyebrow was enough to impart his displeasure in his position as company captain Trump proved himself to be an effective delegator this develops to the extent that he would give the job of inspection of the boys under his commands to others while he retired to his room to recline on his bed this practice soon came to the attention of administrator Tobias who was less than impressed he removed Trump from his role as company captain and gave him a school administrative position instead Donald's then went on to frame this as a promotion for his stellar job in his pre yes roll so following his graduation from Rozier at the age of 18 he enrolled at Fordham University in the Bronx to study real estate he was determined to follow in his father's footsteps and enter the world of real estate development of course he was going to do it bigger and better than his old man and to do that he figured he needed a real estate degree in 1966 after two years at Fordham Donald transferred to the University of water business college here he was out of place while coming from a background of money he didn't have the Ivy League breeding of those he rubbed shoulders with he was rough and obtuse and soon proved himself to be the proverbial round hole in a landscape of square pegs on his first day the lecturer asked why every student there had decided to study real estate when it came to his turn Donald stood up and declared that he was going to become the king of New York City when it came to the real estate business drum graduated from Wharton in 1968 returning to New York with a degree in real estate at this time he was eligible for the draft to serve his country in Vietnam however a September 1968 physical exam resulted in a medical suspension due to bone goads in his heels setting himself up in an apartment in Queens Trump began working for his father in early 1969 from very start he felt a deep-seated need to prove to his father that he was a supremely talented real estate man the Trump way of doing business was called into question in 1973 when a handful of tenants took up a class-action lawsuit against the company claiming racial discrimination in violation of the Fair Housing Act the case was impossible to prove however and the Trump Organization paid a small settlement without any admission of guilt around this same time Donald was promoted to president of the company and his first act was to rename the company the former Elizabeth Trump and son became the Trump Organization one of his next moves was to hire aggressive attorney Roy Cohn Cohen had a reputation as a bulldog lawyer if anyone dared to file a suit against those who he worked for he would go out and destroy them in 1975 Donald met Ivana Maria zalnitch Kivar she was a beautiful sports skier who hailed from Czechoslovakia a remnants soon blossomed and after a two-year courtship the couple were married over the next five years Ivana was given management responsibilities in a number of business ventures she also bought from three children Donald Jr Ivanka and Eric the vast majority of Fred Trump's business was centered on middle-income housing in Brooklyn Queens and Staten Island - Donald's this was small-time he wanted to break into the large-scale commercial real estate in the heart of the Big Apple he set his sights on a project in Manhattan his target was the Commodore hotel the Commodore was a derelict mm room white elephants on 42nd Street Trump intended to completely remodel this into an upmarket Hyatt Hotel the Hyatt Empire was run by the Pritzker family despite having presences all over the states they had no representation in New York but the area surrounding the Commodore was extremely seedy in the Pritzker's were in need of some serious convincing for Donald however the seedy environment and the decrepit state of the hotel meant that he would be able to pick up the property at a steal of a price to make the purchase however he would need to borrow a lot of money the finance was secured by bank loans that were underwritten by both Fred Trump and the Hyatt organization Donald also managed to secure a 40-year tax exemption on the building the renovation of the Commodore and its metamorphosis into the Grand Hyatt Hotel proved to be a great success with Trump winning accolades from the city fathers along with an award for the tasteful and creative recycling of a distinguished Hotel the grand hyatt project coupled with the reflected reputation of his father established Donald as a legitimate player in the New York commercial real estate market shortly after the completion of the Hyatt Project Trump began negotiations to develop a 58 storey building on Fifth Avenue adjacent to famous New York landmark Tiffany & Company this 200 million dollar development was to be Trump's masterpiece it would feature a six story atrium that was lined with pink marble and an 80-foot waterfall the penthouse was to be Donald's personal living quarters with his officers just below the first couple of floors would then feature some of the world's most famous retailers the building opens in 1983 and was named Trump Tower it's opening received international attention and was attended by a number of celebrities at the same time that Donald was working on Trump Tower a local New York builder was attempting to repair derelict Woolman skate rink after two and a half months the work had stalemated there was a lot of public dissatisfaction that the ring was not reopened on time then Donald interjected himself into the whole affair when he wrote a letter to the mayor stating that he could supercharge the project and bring it in well under budget the mayor responded by calling his bluff Donald went straight to a concrete her that he had a working relationship with he convinced them to take the Wollman Rink project on for free with the guarantee that the publicity it would bring would far outweigh the costs involved the project went ahead on that basis and was completed under time and under budget by three-quarters of a million dollars the publicity and public appreciation that the Wolman ring project brought in was huge but it was all directed toward Donald Trump the contractor who had done the heavy work without payments barely even got a mention [Music] the early 1980s saw Trump moving into the gambling business he acquired all of the necessary licenses and then purchased a property in Atlantic City to do this project he partnered with the holiday in cooperation the parent company of Harrah's casinos in 1984 the facility opened as Harrah's at Trump Plaza the casino was a great success wetting Trump's appetite for more he actively sought our casinos that had failed gambling licenses finding one in the form of the Atlantic City Hilton hotels casino he acquired the property spending 310 million dollars on the purchase and upgrade it later reopened as Trump Castle always wanting to go one better Trump took over developments of the largest casino in the world at the time the Taj Mahal the Trump Taj Mahal opened in 1990 however Trump had to go into extreme debt in order to open the doors revenues would have to average a million dollars per day in order to cover costs this was simply an unheard-of number and the reality was it was never going to happen Trump indeed had to go through major bankruptcy restructuring in order to keep the casino going eventually ending up with just a 10% ownership stake around this same time Trump also established Trump's hotels and Casino resort's which became a publicly traded company throughout the 1980s and 1990s Trump never let up on his real estate developments despite his financial problems in 1985 he purchased 76 acres of western Manhattan in order to create a television city complex then in 1988 he purchased the Plaza Hotel for 407 million dollars then 1989 saw his first investment in Florida by this time he had also acquired a number of golf resorts across the country in 1992 Trump hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons when his affair with a 23 year old actress named Marla maples was exposed despite rumors Ivana refused to believe the truth until Marla followed the trumps on a skiing trip and confronted Ivana with the news that Donald was in love with her and that Ivana best give up on him this was too much for Ivana she filed for divorce leaving maples free to marry Donald which she did in 1993 they had one child together who they named Tiffany after the famous New York department store the marriage though it was rocky from the start and ended in divorce in 1999 ironically the proceedings were instigated by Donald when he learned that his wife was having an affair Donald was then associated with a number of women in the early 2000s back in 1998 he had met a Slovenian Beauty by the name of Melania canals over the next few years their relationship develops at the point where Melania became Donald's constant companion they were engaged in 2004 and married on January the 22nd 2005 in Palm Beach Florida the couple's only child Baron William Trump was born on March the 20th 2006 on October the 21st Trump hotels casinos and resorts restructured its debt resulting in Trump's ownership of the company dropping from 59 to 27% the company applied for bankruptcy re-emerged as Trump Entertainment Resorts Holdings Trump now put a premium on pushing his brands with the Trump logo being placed on all manner of products even released his own game Donald Trump's real estate tycoon Trump's political views they've undergone a metamorphosis over the years up until 1987 he was a Democrat however in that year he registered for the first time as a Republican toying with the idea of running for office he placed full-page ads in three papers espousing his views which were that America needed to stop propping up other countries and start looking after its own people in October of 1999 Trump established an exploratory panel to assess the viability of his running for the Reform party's candidate for presidential nominee in 2000 it was decided that his lack of profile on the West Coast would be too much of a detriment this led him to pass on the opportunity from that point onwards however he bided his time and increasingly made political comment for public consumption [Music] in 2003 Trump ventured into the world of reality television when he became the executive producer and star of The Apprentice the show in which contenders go through a series of challenges to win a job as Trump's apprentice was a huge success it propelled Donald Trump to worldwide recognition status and won in a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame Trump re-entered the political arena in 2001 when he raised questions about the legitimacy of President Barack Obama's birth certificate he doggedly held to this view despite Obama's insistence that he was born on US soil he seriously considered running for the top office again in 2012 but again decided that the time wasn't right then on June the 16th 2015 he famously announced from Trump Plaza that he would be throwing his hat into the ring for the Republican nomination for president in 2016 few people took him seriously but serious he was and history will record him for better or worse as the 45th President of the United States so I really hope you enjoyed that episode of biographic if you did there's a couple of things you could do right now one is hit that like button below also if you want more stuff like this we put out brand new videos every Monday and every Thursday so hit that subscribe button below and subscribe button doesn't do what it used to on YouTube if you actually want to get a notification about these videos please do hit that Bell button next 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Channel: Biographics

Views: 769,678

Keywords: donald trump biography, donald trump bio, who is donald trump, donald trump life, donald trump background, biography of donald trump, donald trump life story, donald trump family, donald trump parents, life of donald trump, trump business, trumps businesses, what did trump do, donald trump the apprentice, president, us president, donald trump us president

Id: PZhhCLpVAE8

Length: 18min 34sec (1114 seconds)

Published: Mon May 07 2018