Harvard College) is a private university located in Cambridge,
Massachusetts, and a member of the Ivy League. Established in 1636 by the colonial Massachusetts legislature, Harvard is the first corporation chartered in the United States and oldest institution of higher learning in the United States.During his 40-year tenure as Harvard president (1869–1909), Charles William Eliot radically transformed Harvard from a regional college into a modern research university with national scope. Eliot's reforms included elective courses, small classes, and entrance examinations. The Harvard model influenced American education nationally, at both college and secondary levels.
Among the best-known graduates of Harvard University are American political leaders John Hancock, John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, George W. Bush, Al Gore, Barack Obama and others.