This is a list of presidents of the United States by time in office. The basis of the list is the difference between dates; if counted by number of calendar days all the figures would be one greater, with the exception of Grover Cleveland, who would receive two days.
Since 1789, there have been 44 people sworn into office as President of the United States, and 45 presidencies, as Grover Cleveland served two non-consecutive terms and is counted chronologically as both the 22nd and 24th president. Of the individuals elected president, four (William Henry Harrison,[1] Zachary Taylor,[2] Warren G. Harding,[3] and Franklin D. Roosevelt) died of natural causes while in office, four (Abraham Lincoln,[4] James A. Garfield,[4][5] William McKinley,[6] and John F. Kennedy) were assassinated, and one (Richard Nixon[7]) resigned from office.
William Henry Harrison spent the shortest time in office, and Franklin D. Roosevelt spent the longest. Roosevelt is the only US president to have served more than two terms. Following ratification of the Twenty-second Amendment in 1951, presidents—beginning with Dwight D. Eisenhower—have been ineligible for election to a third term or for election to a second full term after serving more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected president. The amendment contained a grandfather clause that explicitly exempted the incumbent president, then Harry S. Truman, from the new term limitations, which first applied to his successor, Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Presidents by time in office
Rank | President | Length in days |
Order of presidency | Number of terms |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | 4,422[a] | 32nd • March 4, 1933 – April 12, 1945[b] | Three full terms; died 2 months and 23 days into fourth term |
2 tie |
Thomas Jefferson | 2,922 | 3rd • March 4, 1801 – March 4, 1809 | Two full terms |
James Madison | 2,922 | 4th • March 4, 1809 – March 4, 1817 | Two full terms | |
James Monroe | 2,922 | 5th • March 4, 1817 – March 4, 1825 | Two full terms | |
Andrew Jackson | 2,922 | 7th • March 4, 1829 – March 4, 1837 | Two full terms | |
Ulysses S. Grant | 2,922 | 18th • March 4, 1869 – March 4, 1877 | Two full terms[c] | |
Grover Cleveland | 2,922[d] | 22nd • March 4, 1885 – March 4, 1889 | Two full terms (non-consecutive)[e] | |
24th • March 4, 1893 – March 4, 1897 | ||||
Woodrow Wilson | 2,922 | 28th • March 4, 1913 – March 4, 1921 | Two full terms | |
Dwight D. Eisenhower | 2,922 | 34th • January 20, 1953 – January 20, 1961 | Two full terms | |
Ronald Reagan | 2,922 | 40th • January 20, 1981 – January 20, 1989 | Two full terms | |
Bill Clinton | 2,922[f] | 42nd • January 20, 1993 – January 20, 2001 | Two full terms | |
George W. Bush | 2,922 | 43rd • January 20, 2001 – January 20, 2009 | Two full terms | |
Barack Obama | 2,922 | 44th • January 20, 2009 – January 20, 2017 | Two full terms | |
14 | George Washington | 2,865[g] | 1st • April 30, 1789 – March 4, 1797 | Two full terms |
15 | Harry S. Truman | 2,840 | 33rd • April 12, 1945[h] – January 20, 1953 | One partial term (3 years, 9 months, and 8 days), followed by one full term |
16 | Theodore Roosevelt | 2,728 | 26th • September 14, 1901[h] – March 4, 1909 | One partial term (3 years, 5 months, and 18 days), followed by one full term[i] |
17 | Calvin Coolidge | 2,041 | 30th • August 2, 1923[h] – March 4, 1929 | One partial term (1 year, 7 months, and 2 days), followed by one full term |
18 | Richard Nixon | 2,027 | 37th • January 20, 1969 – August 9, 1974[j] | One full term; resigned 1 year, 6 months, and 20 days into second term |
19 | Lyndon B. Johnson | 1,886 | 36th • November 22, 1963[h] –January 20, 1969 | One partial term (1 year, 1 month, and 29 days), followed by one full term |
20 | William McKinley | 1,654[f] | 25th • March 4, 1897 – September 14, 1901[b] | One full term; assassinated 6 months and 10 days into second term, 8 days after being shot |
21 | Abraham Lincoln | 1,503 | 16th • March 4, 1861 – April 15, 1865[b] | One full term; assassinated 1 month and 11 days into second term, 1 day after being shot |
22 tie |
John Quincy Adams | 1,461 | 6th • March 4, 1825 – March 4, 1829 | One full term[e] |
Martin Van Buren | 1,461 | 8th • March 4, 1837 – March 4, 1841 | One full term[e][k] | |
James K. Polk | 1,461 | 11th • March 4, 1845 – March 4, 1849 | One full term | |
Franklin Pierce | 1,461 | 14th • March 4, 1853 – March 4, 1857 | One full term | |
James Buchanan | 1,461 | 15th • March 4, 1857 – March 4, 1861 | One full term | |
Rutherford B. Hayes | 1,461 | 19th • March 4, 1877 – March 4, 1881 | One full term | |
Benjamin Harrison | 1,461 | 23rd • March 4, 1889 – March 4, 1893 | One full term[e] | |
William Howard Taft | 1,461 | 27th • March 4, 1909 – March 4, 1913 | One full term[e] | |
Herbert Hoover | 1,461 | 31st • March 4, 1929 – March 4, 1933 | One full term[e] | |
Jimmy Carter | 1,461 | 39th • January 20, 1977 – January 20, 1981 | One full term[e] | |
George H. W. Bush | 1,461 | 41st • January 20, 1989 – January 20, 1993 | One full term[e] | |
33 | John Adams | 1,460[f] | 2nd • March 4, 1797 – March 4, 1801 | One full term[e] |
34 | John Tyler | 1,430 | 10th • April 4, 1841[h] – March 4, 1845 | One partial term (3 years and 11 months) |
35 | Andrew Johnson | 1,419 | 17th • April 15, 1865[h] – March 4, 1869 | One partial term (3 years, 10 months, and 17 days) |
36 | Chester A. Arthur | 1,262 | 21st • September 19, 1881[h] – March 4, 1885 | One partial term (3 years, 5 months, and 13 days) |
37 | Donald Trump | 2,845[l] | 45th • January 20, 2017 – Incumbent | Serving first term |
38 | John F. Kennedy | 1,036 | 35th • January 20, 1961 – November 22, 1963[b] | Assassinated 2 years, 10 months, and 2 days into term |
39 | Millard Fillmore | 969 | 13th • July 9, 1850[h] – March 4, 1853 | One partial term (2 years, 7 months, and 23 days) |
40 | Gerald Ford | 895 | 38th • August 9, 1974[h] – January 20, 1977 | One partial term (2 years, 5 months, and 11 days)[m] |
41 | Warren G. Harding | 881 | 29th • March 4, 1921 – August 2, 1923[b] | Died 2 years, 4 months, and 29 days into term |
42 | Zachary Taylor | 492 | 12th • March 4, 1849 – July 9, 1850[b] | Died 1 year, 4 months, and 5 days into term |
43 | James A. Garfield | 199 | 20th • March 4 – September 19, 1881[b] | Assassinated 6 months and 15 days into term, 79 days after being shot |
44 | William Henry Harrison | 31 | 9th • March 4 – April 4, 1841[b] | Died 31 days into term |
Notes
- ^ The Twentieth Amendment (ratified in 1933) moved Inauguration Day from March 4 to January 20. The 1937 presidential inauguration was the first to take place on the new date. As a result, Franklin D. Roosevelt's first term in office (1933–1937) was only 1,418 days long, 1 month and 12 days shorter than a normal term.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Died in office
- ^ Did not seek re-election in 1876. He sought a non-consecutive third term in 1880, but was defeated for renomination at the Republican National Convention.
- ^ Each of Grover Cleveland's two non-consecutive terms in office was 1,461 days long.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Incumbent president who sought a second consecutive full term, but was defeated in a quadrennial presidential election.
- ^ a b c Of years evenly divisible by 100, only those evenly divisible by 400 are leap years. The years 1800 and 1900 are divisible by 100, but not by 400. Thus, John Adams's term and McKinley's first term did not include a 366-day leap year, so those terms were one day shorter than a normal full term. The year 2000 is divisible by 400 and so did include one, thus Clinton's second term was not shorter than his first.
- ^ Due to logistical delays, George Washington's first term began 1 month and 26 days after the scheduled start of operations of the new government under the Constitution. As a result, the term was only 1,404 days long.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Succeeded to presidency.
- ^ Did not seek re-election in 1908. In 1912, he ran for a non-consecutive second full term, this time on the Progressive Party ticket, but was defeated.
- ^ Resigned from office
- ^ Subsequently sought a non-consecutive second term, first in 1844, but was defeated for renomination at the Democratic National Convention, and then again in 1848 (this time on the Free Soil Party ticket), but was defeated.
- ^ As of November 4, 2024.
- ^ Sought election to a full term in 1976, but was defeated.
References
- ^ Cleaves, Freeman (1939). Old Tippecanoe: William Henry Harrison and His Time. C. Scribner's Sons. p. 152.
- ^ Ingersoll, Jared. "Death of the President". University of Virginia's Miller Center of Public Affairs. Archived from the original on October 8, 2010. Retrieved November 2, 2010.
- ^ Russell, Francis (1962). The Shadow of Blooming Grove – Warren G. Harding in His Times. Easton Press. p. 591. ISBN 0070543380.
- ^ a b Martin, Paul "Lincoln's Missing Bodyguard", Smithsonian Magazine, April 8, 2010, Retrieved November 15, 2010
- ^ Donald (1996), p. 597.
- ^ "Big Ben Parker and President McKinley's Assassination". Math.buffalo.edu. Retrieved August 8, 2011.
- ^ "Nixon Resigns". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 31, 2008.