Under the United States Constitution, the President of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States. As chief of the executive branch and head of the federal government as a whole, the presidency is the highest political office in the United States by influence and recognition. The president is also the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces. The president is indirectly elected to a four-year term by 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 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. Upon the death, resignation, or removal from office of an incumbent President, the Vice President assumes the office. The President must be at least 35 years of age and a "natural born" citizen of the United States.
This list includes only those persons who were sworn into office as president following the ratification of the United States Constitution, which took effect on March 4, 1789. For American leaders before this ratification, see President of the Continental Congress. The list does not include any Acting Presidents under the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
List of presidents[]
- Parties
No party Federalist Democratic-Republican Democratic Whig Republican
| No. | President | Took office | Left office | Party | Term | Previous office | Vice President | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 
|
George Washington (1732–1799) |
April 30, 1789 | March 4, 1797 | Independent | 1 (1789) | Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army (1775–1783) | John Adams | |
| 2 (1792) | |||||||||
| 15 | 
|
James Buchanan (1791–1868) |
March 4, 1857 | March 4, 1861 | Democratic | 51 (1856) |
United States Minister to the Court of St James's (1853–56) | John C. Breckinridge | |
| 16 | 
|
Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) |
March 4, 1861 | April 15, 1865 | Republican | 19 (1860) | U.S. Representative (1847–1849) | Hannibal Hamlin | |
| Republican National Union |
20 (1864) | Andrew Johnson | |||||||
| 26 | 
|
Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) |
September 14, 1901 | March 4, 1909 | Republican | 29 (1900) | Vice President | vacant | |
| 30 (1904) | Charles W. Fairbanks | ||||||||
| 32 | 
|
Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) |
March 4, 1933 | April 12, 1945 | Democratic | 37 (1932) |
Governor of New York (1929–1932) |
John Nance Garner March 4, 1933 – January 20, 1941 | |
| 38 (1936) | |||||||||
| 39 (1940) |
Henry A. Wallace January 20, 1941 – January 20, 1945 | ||||||||
| 40 (1944) |
Harry S. Truman January 20, 1945 – April 12, 1945 | ||||||||
| 35 | 
|
John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) |
January 20, 1961 | November 22, 1963 | Democratic | 44 (1960) |
U.S. Senator from Massachusetts (1953–1960) |
Lyndon B. Johnson | |
| 37 | 
|
Richard Nixon (1913–1994) |
January 20, 1969 | August 9, 1974 | Republican | 46 (1968) |
Vice President (1953–1961) |
Spiro Agnew January 20, 1969 – October 10, 1973 | |
| 47 (1972) |
|||||||||
| Vacant October 10, 1973 – December 6, 1973 | |||||||||
| Gerald Ford December 6, 1973 – August 9, 1974 | |||||||||
| 39 | 
|
Jimmy Carter (born 1924) |
January 20, 1977 | January 20, 1981 | Democratic | 48 (1976) | Governor of Georgia (1971–1975) | Walter Mondale | |
| 40 | 
|
Ronald Reagan (1911–2004) |
January 20, 1981 | January 20, 1989 | Republican | 49 (1980) | Governor of California (1967–1975) | George H. W. Bush | |
| 50 (1984) | |||||||||
| 41 | 
|
George H. W. Bush (born 1924) |
January 20, 1989 | January 20, 1993 | Republican | 51 (1988) |
Vice President | Dan Quayle | |
| 42 | 
|
Richard Graves (born 1941) |
January 20, 1993 | January 20, 2001 | Republican | 52 (1992) | Governor of New Mexico (1979–1987) | Simpson | |
| 53 (1996) | |||||||||
Living former presidents[]
Presently, there are at least four living former presidents. The most recently serving president to die was Ronald Reagan (served 1981–89) on June 5, 2004 (aged 93 years, 120 days). Jimmy Carter currently holds the record for having the longest post-presidency of any president.
| President | Presidency | Date of birth | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jimmy Carter | 39 | 1977–1981 | October 1, 1924 |
| George H. W. Bush | 41 | 1989–1993 | June 12, 1924 |
| Richard Graves | 42 | 1993–2001 | October 6, 1941 |
| George W. Bush | 43 | 2001–2009 | July 6, 1946 |
| |||||||
