US Presidents Table
| # | President | Term | Party |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | George Washington | 1789-1797 | Independent |
| 2 | John Adams | 1797-1801 | Federalist |
| 3 | Thomas Jefferson | 1801-1809 | Democratic-Republican |
| 4 | James Madison | 1809-1817 | Democratic-Republican |
| 5 | James Monroe | 1817-1825 | Democratic-Republican |
| 6 | John Quincy Adams | 1825-1829 | Democratic-Republican |
| 7 | Andrew Jackson | 1829-1837 | Democratic |
| 8 | Martin Van Buren | 1837-1841 | Democratic |
| 9 | William Henry Harrison | 1841 | Whig |
| 10 | John Tyler | 1841-1845 | Whig / Independent |
| 11 | James K. Polk | 1845-1849 | Democratic |
| 12 | Zachary Taylor | 1849-1850 | Whig |
| 13 | Millard Fillmore | 1850-1853 | Whig |
| 14 | Franklin Pierce | 1853-1857 | Democratic |
| 15 | James Buchanan | 1857-1861 | Democratic |
| 16 | Abraham Lincoln | 1861-1865 | Republican / National Union |
| 17 | Andrew Johnson | 1865-1869 | National Union / Democratic |
| 18 | Ulysses S. Grant | 1869-1877 | Republican |
| 19 | Rutherford B. Hayes | 1877-1881 | Republican |
| 20 | James A. Garfield | 1881 | Republican |
| 21 | Chester A. Arthur | 1881-1885 | Republican |
| 22 | Grover Cleveland | 1885-1889 | Democratic |
| 23 | Benjamin Harrison | 1889-1893 | Republican |
| 24 | Grover Cleveland | 1893-1897 | Democratic |
| 25 | William McKinley | 1897-1901 | Republican |
| 26 | Theodore Roosevelt | 1901-1909 | Republican |
| 27 | William Howard Taft | 1909-1913 | Republican |
| 28 | Woodrow Wilson | 1913-1921 | Democratic |
| 29 | Warren G. Harding | 1921-1923 | Republican |
| 30 | Calvin Coolidge | 1923-1929 | Republican |
| 31 | Herbert Hoover | 1929-1933 | Republican |
| 32 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | 1933-1945 | Democratic |
| 33 | Harry S. Truman | 1945-1953 | Democratic |
| 34 | Dwight D. Eisenhower | 1953-1961 | Republican |
| 35 | John F. Kennedy | 1961-1963 | Democratic |
| 36 | Lyndon B. Johnson | 1963-1969 | Democratic |
| 37 | Richard Nixon | 1969-1974 | Republican |
| 38 | Gerald Ford | 1974-1977 | Republican |
| 39 | Jimmy Carter | 1977-1981 | Democratic |
| 40 | Ronald Reagan | 1981-1989 | Republican |
| 41 | George H. W. Bush | 1989-1993 | Republican |
| 42 | Bill Clinton | 1993-2001 | Democratic |
| 43 | George W. Bush | 2001-2009 | Republican |
| 44 | Barack Obama | 2009-2017 | Democratic |
| 45 | Donald Trump | 2017-2021 | Republican |
| 46 | Joe Biden | 2021-2025 | Democratic |
| 47 | Donald Trump | 2025- | Republican |
The United States has had 47 presidencies but only 45 presidents, and the table's numbering keeps that arithmetic honest: the number attaches to the term, not the person, so Grover Cleveland appears twice (22 and 24, either side of Benjamin Harrison) and Donald Trump appears twice (45 and 47, either side of Joe Biden). Everything else on the list is one number, one man, one unbroken line since Washington took the first oath in April 1789.
The term column is a history of the rules themselves. Washington's voluntary two-term ceiling held for 150 years until Franklin D. Roosevelt won four elections and died 82 days into the fourth; the 22nd Amendment, ratified in 1951, converted the custom into constitutional law. Short terms mark the deaths: William Henry Harrison lasted 31 days, James Garfield barely six months, and the 25th Amendment now governs the vacancies those moments create.
The party column tells the realignment story at a glance: an Independent founder, a Federalist decade, thirty-six years of Democratic-Republican dominance, the Whig interlude, and then - from 1861 onward - nothing but Democrats and Republicans. Third parties have never taken the office, which is why the two-party era reads as a clean two-color ladder down the right-hand column.
How to use
- Read any number's row for the basics: the president, the term years, and the party elected under. The 19th-century rows carry slashes where loyalties shifted mid-service (Lincoln's National Union ticket, Andrew Johnson's drift from the Democrats).
- Use the term column for elapsed-time questions: 'who was president in 1963' resolves to the row whose years contain 1963 (Kennedy, then Johnson after November); 'who served longest' resolves to FDR at twelve years, the reason the 22nd Amendment exists.
- Explain the double numbers with the two non-consecutive pairs: Cleveland 22/24 (1885-89, 1893-97) and Trump 45/47 (2017-21, 2025-). Presidents who served consecutive terms (Wilson, Reagan, Obama) hold a single number.
- For succession cases, trace the vice presidents who finished other people's terms: Tyler after Harrison, Fillmore after Taylor, Johnson after Lincoln, Arthur after Garfield, Ford after Nixon - nine in all, four of them never elected in their own right.
Frequently asked questions
Why are there 47 presidencies but only 45 presidents?
Because two men served twice with a gap in between: Grover Cleveland is both the 22nd and 24th president (his terms bracket Benjamin Harrison's), and Donald Trump is both the 45th and 47th (bracketing Joe Biden). The numbering follows presidencies - a second, non-consecutive term earns a new number, which is why the count of people is two lower than the count of numbers.
Who served the shortest and longest terms?
Shortest: William Henry Harrison, 31 days in 1841 - he delivered the longest inaugural address in cold, wet weather and died of what was diagnosed as pneumonia. Longest: Franklin D. Roosevelt, just over twelve years across four elections (1933-1945), the tenure that produced the 22nd Amendment's two-term cap.
Which presidents were never elected to the office?
Gerald Ford is the only person to serve as both vice president and president without being elected to either office, succeeding Nixon's resignation in 1974. Before him, Millard Fillmore, Andrew Johnson and Chester Arthur each completed a deceased president's term and were never elected in their own right.
Has any president served under more than one party label?
The slashes in the party column mark mid-era label changes rather than modern party-hopping: Lincoln ran for re-election in 1864 under the National Union banner, Andrew Johnson shifted from National Union toward the Democrats, and John Tyler was expelled by the Whigs while still in office. No modern president has changed parties while serving.