The White House, official residence of the president of the United States, in July 2008
The presidency of William Henry Harrison, who died 31 days after taking office in 1841, was the shortest in American history.[6]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.[7] 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.[8]
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, political factions began rallying around dominant Washington administration officials, such as Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson.[11] 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.[12]
The incumbent president is Joe Biden, who assumed office on January 20, 2021.[13]
^Presidents are numbered according to uninterrupted periods served by the same person. For example, George Washington served two consecutive terms and is counted as the first president (not the first and second). Upon the resignation of 37th president, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford became the 38th president even though he simply served out the remainder of Nixon's second term and was never elected to the presidency in his own right. Grover Cleveland was both the 22nd president and the 24th president because his two terms were not consecutive. A vice president who temporarily becomes acting president under the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the Constitution is not counted, because the president remains in office during such a period.
^Reflects the president's political party at the start of their presidency. Changes during their time in office are noted. Also reflects the vice president's political party unless otherwise noted beside the individual's name.
^Political parties had not been anticipated when the Constitution was drafted, nor did they exist at the time of the first presidential election in 1788–89. When they did develop, during Washington's first term, Adams joined the faction that became the Federalist Party. The elections of 1792 were the first ones in the United States that were contested on anything resembling a partisan basis.[18]
^The 1796 presidential election was the first contested American presidential election and the only one in which a president and vice president were elected from opposing political parties. Federalist John Adams was elected president, and Jefferson of the Democratic-Republicans was elected vice president.[20]
^Early during John Quincy Adams' term, the Democratic-Republican Party dissolved; his allies in Congress and at the state level were referred to as "Adams' Men" during the Adams presidency. When Andrew Jackson became president in 1829, this group became the "Anti-Jackson" opposition, and organized themselves as the National Republican Party.[26]
^John Calhoun, formerly a Democratic-Republican, founded the Nullifier Party in 1828 to oppose the Tariff of 1828 and advance the cause of states' rights, but was brought on as Andrew Jackson's running mate in the 1828 presidential election in an effort to broaden the democratic coalition led by Jackson.[27]
^John Tyler succeeded to the presidency upon the death of William Henry Harrison.[32]
^John Tyler was elected vice president on the Whig Party ticket in 1840. His policy priorities as president soon proved to be opposed to most of the Whig agenda, and he was expelled from the party five months after assuming office.[33]
^Millard Fillmore succeeded to the presidency upon the death of Zachary Taylor.[37]
^When he ran for reelection in 1864, Republican Abraham Lincoln formed a bipartisan electoral alliance with War Democrats by selecting Democrat Andrew Johnson as his running mate, and running on the National Union Party ticket.[41]
^Andrew Johnson succeeded to the presidency upon the death of Abraham Lincoln.[42]
^While president, Andrew Johnson tried and failed to build a party of loyalists under the National Union banner. Near the end of his presidency, Johnson rejoined the Democratic Party.[42]
^Chester A. Arthur succeeded to the presidency upon the death of James A. Garfield.[47]
^Theodore Roosevelt succeeded to the presidency upon the death of William McKinley.[52]
^Calvin Coolidge succeeded to the presidency upon the death of Warren G. Harding.[57]
^Harry S. Truman succeeded to the presidency upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt.[61]
^Lyndon B. Johnson succeeded to the presidency upon the death of John F. Kennedy.[65]
Dinnerstein, Leonard (1962). "The Accession of John Tyler to the Presidency". Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. 70 (4). Virginia Historical Society: 447–458. JSTOR4246893.
Goldman, Ralph Morris (1951). Party Chairmen and Party Faction, 1789–1900: A Theory of Executive Responsibility and Conflict Resolution. University of Chicago Press. OCLC1243718246.
Media related to President of the United States at Wikimedia Commons
Quotations related to List of presidents of the United States at Wikiquote
United States
Politics