History & Society

presidents of the United States

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In contrast to many countries with parliamentary forms of government, where the office of president, or head of state, is mainly ceremonial, in the United States the president is vested with great authority and is arguably the most powerful elected official in the world. The U.S. president is the head of the executive branch of the country’s federal government. The powers and responsibilities of the office, as defined in Article II of the U.S. Constitution, include appointing high-ranking officials of executive agencies and departments and members of the federal judiciary (subject to confirmation by the U.S. Senate), serving as commander in chief of the U.S. military, making treaties with foreign governments, and signing or vetoing legislation passed by Congress.

The president is elected to a four-year term via an electoral college system. Since the Twenty-second Amendment was adopted in 1951, the American presidency has been limited to a maximum of two terms.

The table below lists all of the presidents of the United States.

Presidents of the United States
no. president birthplace political party term
*Died in office.
**Resigned from office.
1 George Washington Va. Federalist 1789–97
2 John Adams Mass. Federalist 1797–1801
3 Thomas Jefferson Va. Democratic-Republican 1801–09
4 James Madison Va. Democratic-Republican 1809–17
5 James Monroe Va. Democratic-Republican 1817–25
6 John Quincy Adams Mass. National Republican 1825–29
7 Andrew Jackson S.C. Democratic 1829–37
8 Martin Van Buren N.Y. Democratic 1837–41
9 William Henry Harrison Va. Whig 1841*
10 John Tyler Va. Whig 1841–45
11 James K. Polk N.C. Democratic 1845–49
12 Zachary Taylor Va. Whig 1849–50*
13 Millard Fillmore N.Y. Whig 1850–53
14 Franklin Pierce N.H. Democratic 1853–57
15 James Buchanan Pa. Democratic 1857–61
16 Abraham Lincoln Ky. Republican 1861–65*
17 Andrew Johnson N.C. Democratic (Union) 1865–69
18 Ulysses S. Grant Ohio Republican 1869–77
19 Rutherford B. Hayes Ohio Republican 1877–81
20 James A. Garfield Ohio Republican 1881*
21 Chester A. Arthur Vt. Republican 1881–85
22 Grover Cleveland N.J. Democratic 1885–89
23 Benjamin Harrison Ohio Republican 1889–93
24 Grover Cleveland N.J. Democratic 1893–97
25 William McKinley Ohio Republican 1897–1901*
26 Theodore Roosevelt N.Y. Republican 1901–09
27 William Howard Taft Ohio Republican 1909–13
28 Woodrow Wilson Va. Democratic 1913–21
29 Warren G. Harding Ohio Republican 1921–23*
30 Calvin Coolidge Vt. Republican 1923–29
31 Herbert Hoover Iowa Republican 1929–33
32 Franklin D. Roosevelt N.Y. Democratic 1933–45*
33 Harry S. Truman Mo. Democratic 1945–53
34 Dwight D. Eisenhower Texas Republican 1953–61
35 John F. Kennedy Mass. Democratic 1961–63*
36 Lyndon B. Johnson Texas Democratic 1963–69
37 Richard M. Nixon Calif. Republican 1969–74**
38 Gerald R. Ford Neb. Republican 1974–77
39 Jimmy Carter Ga. Democratic 1977–81
40 Ronald Reagan Ill. Republican 1981–89
41 George Bush Mass. Republican 1989–93
42 Bill Clinton Ark. Democratic 1993–2001
43 George W. Bush Conn. Republican 2001–09
44 Barack Obama Hawaii Democratic 2009–17
45 Donald Trump N.Y. Republican 2017–21
46 Joe Biden Pa. Democratic 2021–
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica This article was most recently revised and updated by Brian Duignan.