Did You Know They Were Adopted? / “Pentru viață” magazine, Spring 2014

For those who still believe an adopted child is bound to fail, here is a revealing list of first-rate personalities who were adopted as children.

Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple, never met his natural father, because he had been put up for adoption as soon as he was born, in 1955, when abortion was illegal in the US. His parents could not get married because his father was a Syrian Muslim and his mother’s parents opposed.

Bill Clinton, ex-president of the United States, was raised by his grandparents in his first years of life, because his father had died before he was born.

Justinian the Great, Byzantine emperor of Thracian-Roman origin, was adopted by his uncle, the future emperor Justin I.

Nelson Mandela, ex-president of South Africa, whose father died when he was nine, was unofficially adopted by a local tribal chief.

Nancy Reagan, former American First Lady, was adopted by her uncle and aunt after her parents divorced.

Michael Reagan was adopted soon after birth by US President Ronald Reagan and his first wife.

Eleanor Roosevelt was raised by her maternal grandmother after her mother and brother died of diphtheria.

Photo: The White House, The Library of Congress, Wikipedia, cinemagia.ro, robgallagher.org, felicitymartin.co.uk