The President of the United States is the elected head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces. The president is indirectly elected to a four-year term by the people through an Electoral College (or by the House of Representatives, should the Electoral College fail to award an absolute majority of votes to any person).
Since the office was established in 1789, 41 people have served as president. The first, George Washington, won a unanimous vote of the Electoral College. Grover Cleveland served two non-consecutive terms in office, and is counted as the nation's 22nd and 24th president, while Theodore Roosevelt served four nonconsecutive terms in with two consecutive terms each time and is counted as the 26th and 28th presidents. William Henry Harrison spent the shortest time in office, dying 31 days after taking office in 1841. Theodore Roosevelt served the most, with 5,650 days (over 15 years) in office. The current president is Joe Biden, whose term of office commenced on January 20, 2017.
Of the individuals elected as president, three died in office of natural causes (William Henry Harrison, Zachary Taylor, and Franklin D. Roosevelt) and five were assassinated (Abraham Lincoln, James A. Garfield, William McKinley, James M. Cox, and John F. Kennedy). John Tyler was the first vice president to assume the presidency intra-term, and set the precedent that a vice president who does so becomes the fully functioning president with his own 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. No president since the passage of the amendment has needed to fill a vice presidential vacancy.
List
Presidents of the United States | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No. | President | Term | Vice President | Term | No. | ||||
Federalist Party (1)
Democratic Republican Party (4)
Democratic Party (15)
Whig Party (4) | |||||||||
1 | George Washington | April 30, 1789 - March 4, 1797 | John Adams | April 30, 1789 - March 4, 1797 | 1 | ||||
2 | John Adams | March 4, 1797 - March 4, 1801 | Thomas Jefferson | March 4, 1797 - March 4, 1801 | 2 | ||||
3 | Thomas Jefferson | March 4, 1801 - March 4, 1809 | Aaron Burr | March 4, 1801 - March 4, 1805 | 3 | ||||
George Clinton | March 4, 1805 - April 20, 1812 | 4 | |||||||
4 | James Madison | March 4, 1809 - March 4, 1817 | |||||||
vacant | April 20, 1812 - March 4, 1813 | ||||||||
Elbridge Gerry | March 4, 1813 - November 23, 1814 | 5 | |||||||
vacant | November 23, 1814 - March 4, 1817 | ||||||||
5 | James Monroe | March 4, 1817 - March 4, 1825 | Daniel D. Tompkins | March 4, 1817 - March 4, 1825 | 6 | ||||
6 | John Q. Adams | March 4, 1825 - March 4, 1829 | John C. Calhoun | March 4, 1825 - December 28, 1832 | 7 | ||||
7 | File:479px-Andrew Jackson drawn on stone by Lafosse, 1856-crop.jpg | Andrew Jackson | March 4, 1829 - March 4, 1837 | ||||||
vacant | December 28, 1832 - March 4, 1833 | ||||||||
Martin Van Buren | File:Martin-Van Buren-9515025-1-402-1-.jpg | March 4, 1833 - March 4, 1837| | 8 | ||||||
8 | File:Martin-Van Buren-9515025-1-402-1-.jpg | Martin Van Buren | March 4, 1837 - March 4, 1841 | Richard Mentor Johnson | March 4, 1837 - March 4, 1841 | 9 | |||
9 | William Henry Harrison | March 4, 1841 - April 4, 1841 | John Tyler | March 4, 1841 - April 4, 1841 | 10 | ||||
10 | John Tyler | April 4, 1841 - March 4, 1845 | vacant | April 4, 1841 - March 4, 1845 | |||||
11 | James K. Polk | March 4, 1845 - March 4, 1849 | George M. Dallas | March 4, 1845 - March 4, 1849 | 11 | ||||
12 | Zachary Taylor | March 4, 1849 - July 9, 1850 | Millard Fillmore | March 4, 1849 - July 9, 1850 | 12 | ||||
13 | Millard Fillmore | July 9, 1850 - March 4, 1853 | vacant | July 9, 1850 - March 4, 1853 | |||||
14 | Franklin Pierce | March 4, 1853 - March 4, 1857 | William R. King | March 4, 1853 - April 18, 1853 | 13 | ||||
vacant | April 18, 1853 - March 4, 1857 | ||||||||
15 | James Buchanan | March 4, 1857 - March 4, 1861 | John C. Breckinridge | March 4, 1857 - March 4, 1861 | 14 | ||||
16 | Abraham Lincoln | March 4, 1861 - April 15, 1865 | Hannibal Hamlin | March 4, 1861 - March 4, 1865 | 15 | ||||
Andrew Johnson | File:250px-Andrew Johnson photo portrait head and shoulders, c1870-1880-Edit1.jpg | March 4, 1865 - April 15, 1865 | 16 | ||||||
17 | File:250px-Andrew Johnson photo portrait head and shoulders, c1870-1880-Edit1.jpg | Andrew Johnson | April 15, 1865 - March 4, 1869 | vacant | Arpil 15, 1865 - March 4, 1869 | ||||
18 | Ulysses S. Grant | March 4, 1869 - March 4, 1877 | Schuyler Colfax | March 4, 1869 - March 4, 1873 | 17 | ||||
Henry Wilson | March 4, 1873 - November 22, 1875 | 18 | |||||||
vacant | November 22, 1875 - March 4, 1877 | ||||||||
19 | Rutherford B. Hayes | March 4, 1877 - March 4, 1881 | William A. Wheeler | March 4, 1877 - March 4, 1881 | 19 | ||||
20 | File:473px-James Abram Garfield, photo portrait seated.jpg | James A. Garfield | March 4, 1881 - September 19, 1881 | Chester A. Arthur | March 4, 1881 - September 19, 1881 | 20 | |||
21 | Chester A. Arthur | September 19, 1881 - March 4, 1885 | vacant | September 19, 1881 - March 4, 1885 | |||||
22 | Grover Cleveland | March 4, 1885 - March 4, 1889 | Thomas A. Hendricks | March 4, 1885 - November 25, 1885 | 21 | ||||
vacant | November 25, 1885 - March 4, 1889 | ||||||||
23 | Benjamin Harrison | March 4, 1889 - March 4, 1893 | Levi P. Morton | March 4, 1889 - March 4, 1893 | 22 | ||||
24 | Grover Cleveland | March 4, 1893 - March 4, 1897 | Adlai E. Stevenson I | March 4, 1893 - March 4, 1897 | 23 | ||||
25 | William McKinley | March 4, 1897 - September 14, 1901 | Garret Hobart | March 4, 1897 - November 21, 1899 | 24 | ||||
vacant | November 21, 1899 - March 4, 1901 | ||||||||
Theodore Roosevelt | March 4, 1901 - September 14, 1901 | 25 | |||||||
26 | Theodore Roosevelt | September 14, 1901 - March 4, 1909 (first two terms) |
vacant | September 14, 1901 - March 4, 1905 | |||||
Charles W. Fairbanks | March 4, 1905 - March 4, 1909 | 26 | |||||||
27 | William Howard Taft | March 4, 1909 - March 4, 1913 | James S. Sherman | March 4, 1909 - October 30, 1912 | 27 | ||||
vacant | October 30, 1912 - March 4, 1913 | ||||||||
28 | Theodore Roosevelt | March 4, 1913 - March 4, 1921 (second two terms) |
Hiram Johnson | March 4, 1913 - March 4, 1921 | 28 | ||||
29 | James M. Cox | March 4, 1921 - July 15, 1923 | Al Smith | March 4, 1921 - July 15, 1923 | 29 | ||||
30 | Al Smith | July 15, 1923 - March 4, 1933 | vacant | July 15, 1923 - March 4, 1925 | |||||
John W. Davis | March 4, 1925 - March 4, 1933 | 30 | |||||||
31 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | March 4, 1933 - April 12, 1945 | Herbert Hoover | March 4, 1933 - January 20, 1941 | 31 | ||||
Henry A. Wallace | January 20, 1941 - April 12, 1945 | 32 | |||||||
32 | Henry A. Wallace | April 12, 1945 - January 20, 1949 | vacant | April 12, 1945 - January 20, 1949 | |||||
33 | George C. Marshall | January 20, 1949 - January 20, 1953 | Rexford Tugwell | January 20, 1949 - January 20, 1953 | 33 | ||||
34 | Richard M. Nixon | January 20, 1953 - January 20, 1961 | Harold Stassen | January 20, 1953 - January 20, 1961 | 34 | ||||
35 | John F. Kennedy, Sr. | January 20, 1961 - November 22, 1963 | Lyndon B. Johnson | January 20, 1961 - November 22, 1963 | 35 | ||||
36 | Lyndon B. Johnson | November 22, 1963 - January 20, 1973 | vacant | November 22, 1963 - January 20, 1965 | |||||
Nelson A. Rockefeller | January 20, 1965 - January 20, 1973 | 36 | |||||||
37 | John Connally | January 20, 1973 - January 20, 1977 | Henry M. Jackson | January 20, 1973 - January 20, 1977 | 37 | ||||
38 | Robert F. Kennedy | January 20, 1977 - January 20, 1985 | Birch Bayh | File:Birch bayh 1.jpg | January 20, 1977 - January 20, 1985 | 38 | |||
39 | Jack Kemp | January 20, 1985 - January 20, 1993 | Howard Baker | January 20, 1985 - January 20, 1993 | 39 | ||||
40 | Gary Hart | January 20, 1993 - January 20, 2001 | John Glenn | January 20, 1993 - January 20, 2001 | 40 | ||||
41 | Colin Powell | January 20, 2001 - January 20, 2009 | Al Gore | January 20, 2001 - January 20, 2009 | 41 | ||||
42 | John F. Kennedy, Jr. | January 20, 2009 - present (incumbent) |
Joe Biden | January 20, 2009 - present (incumbent) |
42 |
Living former presidents
Presently there are two living former presidents, Gary Hart, the 40th president, and his successor Colin Powell. The most recent death of a former president was that of Jack Kemp on May 2, 2009.