List of Presidents of the United States

For lists of U.S. Presidents based on other criteria such as age or home state, see Template:Lists of US Presidents and Vice Presidents.

White House, official residence of the president of the United States, May 2006

The president of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States, indirectly elected to a four-year term via the Electoral College. The officeholder leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces. Since the office was established in 1789, 46 individuals have served 47 presidencies. The first president, George Washington, won a unanimous vote of the Electoral College; one, Grover Cleveland, served two non-consecutive terms and is therefore counted as the 22nd and 24th president of the United States, giving rise to the discrepancy between the number of presidencies and the number of persons who have served as president. The incumbent president is Claire Hale Underwood.

The presidency of William Henry Harrison, who died 31 days after taking office in 1841, was the shortest in American history. 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. 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.

Four presidents died in office of natural causes (William Henry Harrison, Zachary Taylor, Warren G. Harding, and Franklin D. Roosevelt), four were assassinated (Abraham Lincoln, James A. Garfield, William McKinley and John F. Kennedy), and three resigned (Richard Nixon, Garrett Walker, and Frank Underwood). John Tyler was the first vice president to assume the presidency during a presidential term, and set the precedent that a vice president who does so becomes the fully functioning president with his presidency.

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. 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.

Presidents

Unaffiliated (1)           Democratic-Republican (1)           Democratic (11)           Republican (7)           National Union (2)
Presidency		President		Prior office	Party		Term	Vice President
1	April 30, 1789 – March 4, 1797		George Washington 1732–1799 (Lived: 67 years)	Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army (1775–1783)		Unaffiliated	(1788–89) 1 (1789)	John Adams
							(1792) 2 (1793)
3	March 4, 1801 – March 4, 1809		Thomas Jefferson 1743–1826 (Lived: 83 years)	2nd Vice President of the United States		Democratic- Republican	(1800) 4 (1801)	Aaron Burr March 4, 1801 – March 4, 1805
							(1804) 5 (1805)	George Clinton March 4, 1805 – March 4, 1809
16	March 4, 1861 – April 15, 1865 (Died in office)		Abraham Lincoln 1809–1865 (Lived: 56 years)	U.S. Representative for Illinois' 7th District (1847–1849)		Republican (National Union)	(1860) 19 (1861)	Hannibal Hamlin March 4, 1861 – March 4, 1865
							(1864) 20 (1865) (1865)	Andrew Johnson March 4 – April 15, 1865 (Succeeded to presidency)
17	April 15, 1865 – March 4, 1869		Andrew Johnson 1808–1875 (Lived: 66 years)	16th Vice President of the United States		National Union April 15, 1865 – c. 1868		rowspan=2 Template:CNone
						Democratic c. 1868 – March 4, 1869
32	March 4, 1933 – April 12, 1945 (Died in office)		Franklin D. Roosevelt 1882–1945 (Lived: 63 years)	44th Governor of New York (1929–1932)		Democratic	(1932) 37 (1933)	John N. Garner March 4, 1933 – January 20, 1941
							(1936) 38 (1937)
							(1940) 39 (1941)	Henry A. Wallace January 20, 1941 – January 20, 1945
							(1944) 40 (1945) (1945)	Harry S. Truman January 20 – April 12, 1945 (Succeeded to presidency)
33	April 12, 1945 – January 20, 1953		Harry S. Truman 1884–1972 (Lived: 88 years)	34th Vice President of the United States		Democratic		Template:CNone
							(1948) 41 (1949)	Alben W. Barkley January 20, 1949 – January 20, 1953
34	January 20, 1953 – January 20, 1961		Dwight D. Eisenhower 1890–1969 (Lived: 78 years)	Supreme Allied Commander Europe (1949–1952) (No prior elected office)		Republican	(1952) 42 (1953)	Richard Nixon
							(1956) 43 (1957)
35	January 20, 1961 – November 22, 1963 (Died in office)		John F. Kennedy 1917–1963 (Lived: 46 years)	U.S. Senator (Class 1) from Massachusetts (1953–1960)		Democratic	(1960) 44 (1961) (1963)	Lyndon B. Johnson (Succeeded to presidency)
36	November 22, 1963 – January 20, 1969		Lyndon B. Johnson 1908–1973 (Lived: 64 years)	37th Vice President of the United States		Democratic		Template:CNone
							(1964) 45 (1965)	Hubert Humphrey January 20, 1965 – January 20, 1969
37	January 20, 1969 – August 9, 1974 (Resigned from office)		Richard Nixon 1913–1994 (Lived: 81 years)	36th Vice President of the United States (1953–1961)		Republican	(1968) 46 (1969)	Spiro Agnew January 20, 1969 – October 10, 1973 (Resigned from office)
							(1972) 47 (1973) (1974)
								Template:CNone
								Gerald Ford December 6, 1973 – August 9, 1974 (Succeeded to presidency)
38	August 9, 1974 – January 20, 1977		Gerald Ford 1913–2006 (Lived: 93 years)	40th Vice President of the United States		Republican		Template:CNone
								Nelson Rockefeller December 19, 1974 – January 20, 1977
39	January 20, 1977 – January 20, 1981		Jimmy Carter Born 1924 (99 years old)	76th Governor of Georgia (1971–1975)		Democratic	(1976) 48 (1977)	Walter Mondale
40	January 20, 1981 – January 20, 1989		Ronald Reagan 1911–2004 (Lived: 93 years)	33rd Governor of California (1967–1975)		Republican	(1980) 49 (1981)	George H. W. Bush
							(1984) 50 (1985)
41	January 20, 1989 – January 20, 1993		George H. W. Bush 1924-2018 (Lived: 94 years)	43rd Vice President of the United States		Republican	(1988) 51 (1989)	Dan Quayle
42	January 20, 1993 – January 20, 2001		Bill Clinton Born 1946 (77 years old)	40th & 42nd Governor of Arkansas (1979–1981 & 1983–1992)		Democratic	(1992) 52 (1993)	Al Gore
							(1996) 53 (1997)
43	January 20, 2001 – January 20, 2009		George W. Bush Born 1946 (77 years old)	46th Governor of Texas (1995–2000)		Republican	(2000) 54 (2001)	Dick Cheney
							(2004) 55 (2005)
44	January 20, 2009 – January 20, 2013		44th President	N/A		Democratic	(2008) 56 (2009)	N/A
45	January 20, 2013 – October 28, 2014		Garrett Walker Born 1962 (61 years old)	Governor of Colorado		Democratic	(2012) 57 (2013) (2014)	Jim Matthews
								Frank Underwood
46	October 28, 2014 – January 20, 2017 February 17, 2017 – March 15, 2017		Frank Underwood 1959-2017 (Lived: 58 years)	Vice President of the United States (2013-2014)		Democratic		Donald Blythe
							(2016) 58 (2017) (2017)	Claire Underwood
47	March 15, 2017 – Incumbent		Claire Hale Underwood Born 1965 (58 years old)	Vice President of the United States (2017)		Democratic

Living former presidents

As of April 2024, there are, at least, five living former presidents:

President	Term of office	Date of birth
Jimmy Carter	1977–1981	(1924-10-01) October 1, 1924
Bill Clinton	1993–2001	(1946-08-19) August 19, 1946
George W. Bush	2001–2009	(1946-07-06) July 6, 1946
44th President	2009–2013	N/A
Garrett Walker	2013–2014	(1962-07-18) July 18, 1962

Trivia

• In the continuity of the show, we know that Garrett Walker was elected President in 2012, and would have run for re-election in 2016. He was the 45th President, and he mentions, just before he announces his resignation, that Frank Underwood will be the 46th. How this works out in terms of who was President before him has not been explained. However, through portraits, photographs and mentions of former Presidents, this list has been started.