List of presidents of the United States

The president of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States, indirectly elected to a four-year term by the American people through the Electoral College. The officeholder leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces.

Since the office was established in 1789, 45 people have served in 46 presidencies. The first president, George Washington, won a unanimous vote of the Electoral College; one, Grover Cleveland, served two non-consecutive terms and is therefore counted as the 22nd and 24th president of the United States (giving rise to the discrepancy between the number of presidents and the number of persons who have served as president).

There are five living former presidents. The most recent to die was George H. W. Bush, on November 30, 2018.

The presidency of William Henry Harrison, who died 31 days after taking office in 1841, was the shortest in American history. Franklin D. Roosevelt served the longest, over twelve years, before dying early in his fourth term in 1945. He is the only U.S. president to have served more than two terms. Since the ratification of the Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1951, no person may be elected president more than twice, and no one who has served more than two years of a term to which someone else was elected may be elected more than once.

Four presidents died in office of natural causes (William Henry Harrison, Zachary Taylor, Warren G. Harding, and Franklin D. Roosevelt), four were assassinated (Abraham Lincoln, James A. Garfield, William McKinley and John F. Kennedy), and one resigned (Richard Nixon, facing impeachment). John Tyler was the first vice president to assume the presidency during a presidential term, and set the precedent that a vice president who does so becomes the fully functioning president with his presidency, as opposed to a caretaker president. The Twenty-fifth Amendment to the Constitution put Tyler’s precedent into law in 1967. It also established a mechanism by which an intra-term vacancy in the vice presidency could be filled. Richard Nixon was the first president to fill a vacancy under this provision when he selected Gerald Ford for the office following Spiro Agnew’s resignation in 1973. The following year, Ford became the second to do so when he chose Nelson Rockefeller to succeed him after he acceded to the presidency. As no mechanism existed for filling an intra-term vacancy in the vice presidency before 1967, the office was left vacant until filled through the next ensuing presidential election and subsequent inauguration.

Throughout most of its history, American politics has been dominated by political parties. The Constitution is silent on the issue of political parties, and at the time it came into force in 1789, no organized parties existed. Soon after the 1st Congress convened, factions began rallying around dominant Washington administration officials, such as Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson. Greatly concerned about the capacity of political parties to destroy the fragile unity holding the nation together, Washington remained unaffiliated with any political faction or party throughout his eight-year presidency. He was, and remains, the only U.S. president never affiliated with a political party.

Presidents

Presidency		President		Party		Election	Vice President
1	April 30, 1789 – March 4, 1797		George Washington		Unaffiliated	1788–89	John Adams
						1792
2	March 4, 1797 – March 4, 1801		John Adams		Federalist	1796	Thomas Jefferson
3	March 4, 1801 – March 4, 1809		Thomas Jefferson		Democratic- Republican	1800	Aaron Burr
						1804	George Clinton
4	March 4, 1809 – March 4, 1817		James Madison		Democratic- Republican	1808
							Vacant after Apr. 20, 1812
						1812	Elbridge Gerry
							Vacant after Nov. 23, 1814
5	March 4, 1817 – March 4, 1825		James Monroe		Democratic- Republican	1816	Daniel D. Tompkins
						1820
6	March 4, 1825 – March 4, 1829		John Quincy Adams		Democratic- Republican	1824	John C. Calhoun
					National Republican
7	March 4, 1829 – March 4, 1837		Andrew Jackson		Democratic	1828
							Vacant after Dec. 28, 1832
						1832	Martin Van Buren
8	March 4, 1837 – March 4, 1841		Martin Van Buren		Democratic	1836	Richard Mentor Johnson
9	March 4, 1841 – April 4, 1841		William Henry Harrison		Whig	1840	John Tyler
10	April 4, 1841 – March 4, 1845		John Tyler		Whig		Vacant throughout presidency
					Unaffiliated
11	March 4, 1845 – March 4, 1849		James K. Polk		Democratic	1844	George M. Dallas
12	March 4, 1849 – July 9, 1850		Zachary Taylor		Whig	1848	Millard Fillmore
13	July 9, 1850 – March 4, 1853		Millard Fillmore		Whig		Vacant throughout presidency
14	March 4, 1853 – March 4, 1857		Franklin Pierce		Democratic	1852	William R. King
							Vacant after Apr. 18, 1853
15	March 4, 1857 – March 4, 1861		James Buchanan		Democratic	1856	John C. Breckinridge
16	March 4, 1861 – April 15, 1865		Abraham Lincoln		Republican	1860	Hannibal Hamlin
					National Union	1864	Andrew Johnson
17	April 15, 1865 – March 4, 1869		Andrew Johnson		National Union		Vacant throughout presidency
					Democratic
18	March 4, 1869 – March 4, 1877		Ulysses S. Grant		Republican	1868	Schuyler Colfax
						1872	Henry Wilson
							Vacant after Nov. 22, 1875
19	March 4, 1877 – March 4, 1881		Rutherford B. Hayes		Republican	1876	William A. Wheeler
20	March 4, 1881 – September 19, 1881		James A. Garfield		Republican	1880	Chester A. Arthur
21	September 19, 1881 – March 4, 1885		Chester A. Arthur		Republican		Vacant throughout presidency
22	March 4, 1885 – March 4, 1889		Grover Cleveland		Democratic	1884	Thomas A. Hendricks
							Vacant after Nov. 25, 1885
23	March 4, 1889 – March 4, 1893		Benjamin Harrison		Republican	1888	Levi P. Morton
24	March 4, 1893 – March 4, 1897		Grover Cleveland		Democratic	1892	Adlai Stevenson I
25	March 4, 1897 – September 14, 1901		William McKinley		Republican	1896	Garret Hobart
							Vacant after Nov. 21, 1899
						1900	Theodore Roosevelt
26	September 14, 1901 – March 4, 1909		Theodore Roosevelt		Republican		Vacant through Mar. 4, 1905
						1904	Charles W. Fairbanks
27	March 4, 1909 – March 4, 1913		William Howard Taft		Republican	1908	James S. Sherman
							Vacant after Oct. 30, 1912
28	March 4, 1913 – March 4, 1921		Woodrow Wilson		Democratic	1912	Thomas R. Marshall
						1916
29	March 4, 1921 – August 2, 1923		Warren G. Harding		Republican	1920	Calvin Coolidge
30	August 2, 1923 – March 4, 1929		Calvin Coolidge		Republican		Vacant through Mar. 4, 1925
						1924	Charles G. Dawes
31	March 4, 1929 – March 4, 1933		Herbert Hoover		Republican	1928	Charles Curtis
32	March 4, 1933 – April 12, 1945		Franklin D. Roosevelt		Democratic	1932	John Nance Garner
						1936
						1940	Henry A. Wallace
						1944	Harry S. Truman
33	April 12, 1945 – January 20, 1953		Harry S. Truman		Democratic		Vacant through Jan. 20, 1949
						1948	Alben W. Barkley
34	January 20, 1953 – January 20, 1961		Dwight D. Eisenhower		Republican	1952	Richard Nixon
						1956
35	January 20, 1961 – November 22, 1963		John F. Kennedy		Democratic	1960	Lyndon B. Johnson
36	November 22, 1963 – January 20, 1969		Lyndon B. Johnson		Democratic		Vacant through Jan. 20, 1965
						1964	Hubert Humphrey
37	January 20, 1969 – August 9, 1974		Richard Nixon		Republican	1968	Spiro Agnew
						1972
							Vacant, Oct. 10 – Dec. 6, 1973
							Gerald Ford
38	August 9, 1974 – January 20, 1977		Gerald Ford		Republican		Vacant through Dec. 19, 1974
							Nelson Rockefeller
39	January 20, 1977 – January 20, 1981		Jimmy Carter		Democratic	1976	Walter Mondale
40	January 20, 1981 – January 20, 1989		Ronald Reagan		Republican	1980	George H. W. Bush
						1984
41	January 20, 1989 – January 20, 1993		George H. W. Bush		Republican	1988	Dan Quayle
42	January 20, 1993 – January 20, 2001		Bill Clinton		Democratic	1992	Al Gore
						1996
43	January 20, 2001 – January 20, 2009		George W. Bush		Republican	2000	Dick Cheney
						2004
44	January 20, 2009 – January 20, 2017		Barack Obama		Democratic	2008	Joe Biden
						2012
45	January 20, 2017 – January 20, 2021		Donald Trump		Republican	2016	Mike Pence
46	January 20, 2021 – Incumbent		Joe Biden		Democratic	2020	Kamala Harris