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, 45 men have served in 46 presidencies. The first president, George Washington, won a unanimous vote of the Electoral College. 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 individuals who have served as president.
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 one resigned (Richard Nixon, facing impeachment and removal from office). 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 own administration.
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.
The incumbent president is Joe Biden, who assumed office on January 20, 2021.
| Portrait | scope=col | Name | scope=col class=unsortable | Term | scope=col colspan=2 | Party | scope=col class=unsortable | Election | scope=col class=unsortable | Vice President |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| scope=row | 1 | data-sort-value="Washington, George" | George Washington | – | Unaffiliated | class=nowrap | 1788–1789 1792 | John Adams | ||
| scope=row | 2 | data-sort-value="Adams, John" | John Adams | – | Federalist | 1796 | Thomas Jefferson | |||
| scope=row | 3 | data-sort-value="Jefferson, Thomas" | Thomas Jefferson | – | Democratic- Republican | 1800 1804 | Aaron Burr George Clinton | |||
| scope=row | 4 | data-sort-value="Madison, James" | James Madison | – | Democratic- Republican | 1808 1812 | George Clinton Vacant after April 20, 1812 Elbridge Gerry Vacant after November 23, 1814 | |||
| scope=row | 5 | data-sort-value="Monroe, James" | James Monroe | – | Democratic- Republican | 1816 1820 | Daniel D. Tompkins | |||
| scope=row | 6 | data-sort-value="Adams, John Quincy" | John Quincy Adams | – | Democratic- Republican National Republican | 1824 | John C. Calhoun | |||
| scope=row | 7 | data-sort-value="Jackson, Andrew" | Andrew Jackson | – | Democratic | 1828 1832 | John C. Calhoun Vacant after December 28, 1832 Martin Van Buren | |||
| scope=row | 8 | data-sort-value="Van Buren, Martin" | Martin Van Buren | – | Democratic | 1836 | Richard Mentor Johnson | |||
| scope=row | 9 | data-sort-value="Harrison, William Henry" | William Henry Harrison | – | Whig | 1840 | John Tyler | |||
| scope=row | 10 | data-sort-value="Tyler, John" | John Tyler | April 4, 1841 – | Whig Unaffiliated | Vacant throughout presidency | ||||
| scope=row | 11 | data-sort-value="Polk, James K" | James K. Polk | – | Democratic | 1844 | George M. Dallas | |||
| scope=row | 12 | data-sort-value="Taylor, Zachary" | Zachary Taylor | – | Whig | 1848 | Millard Fillmore | |||
| scope=row | 13 | data-sort-value="Fillmore, Millard" | Millard Fillmore | – | Whig | Vacant throughout presidency | ||||
| scope=row | 14 | data-sort-value="Pierce, Franklin" | Franklin Pierce | – | Democratic | 1852 | William R. King Vacant after April 18, 1853 | |||
| scope=row | 15 | data-sort-value="Buchanan, James" | James Buchanan | – | Democratic | 1856 | John C. Breckinridge | |||
| scope=row | 16 | data-sort-value="Lincoln, Abraham" | Abraham Lincoln | – | Republican National Union | 1860 1864 | Hannibal Hamlin Andrew Johnson | |||
| scope=row | 17 | data-sort-value="Johnson, Andrew" | Andrew Johnson | – | National Union Democratic | Vacant throughout presidency | ||||
| scope=row | 18 | data-sort-value="Grant, Ulysses S" | Ulysses S. Grant | – | Republican | 1868 1872 | Schuyler Colfax Henry Wilson Vacant after November 22, 1875 | |||
| scope=row | 19 | data-sort-value="Hayes, Rutherford B." | Rutherford B. Hayes | – | Republican | 1876 | William A. Wheeler | |||
| scope=row | 20 | data-sort-value="Garfield, James A" | James A. Garfield | – | Republican | 1880 | Chester A. Arthur | |||
| scope=row | 21 | data-sort-value="Arthur, Chester A." | Chester A. Arthur | – | Republican | Vacant throughout presidency | ||||
| scope=row | 22 | data-sort-value="Cleveland, Grover, 1" | Grover Cleveland | – | Democratic | 1884 | Thomas A. Hendricks Vacant after November 25, 1885 | |||
| scope=row | 23 | data-sort-value="Harrison, Benjamin" | Benjamin Harrison | – | Republican | 1888 | Levi P. Morton | |||
| scope=row | 24 | data-sort-value="Cleveland, Grover, 2" | Grover Cleveland | – | Democratic | 1892 | Adlai Stevenson I | |||
| scope=row | 25 | data-sort-value="McKinley, William" | William McKinley | – | Republican | 1896 1900 | Garret Hobart Vacant after November 21, 1899 Theodore Roosevelt | |||
| scope=row | 26 | data-sort-value="Roosevelt, Theodore" | Theodore Roosevelt | – | Republican | 1904 | Vacant through March 4, 1905 Charles W. Fairbanks | |||
| scope=row | 27 | data-sort-value="Taft, William Howard" | William Howard Taft | – | Republican | 1908 | James S. Sherman Vacant after October 30, 1912 | |||
| scope=row | 28 | data-sort-value="Wilson, Woodrow" | Woodrow Wilson | – | Democratic | 1912 1916 | Thomas R. Marshall | |||
| scope=row | 29 | data-sort-value="Harding, Warren G." | Warren G. Harding | – | Republican | 1920 | Calvin Coolidge | |||
| scope=row | 30 | data-sort-value="Coolidge, Calvin" | Calvin Coolidge | – | Republican | 1924 | Vacant through March 4, 1925 Charles G. Dawes | |||
| scope=row | 31 | data-sort-value="Hoover, Herbert" | Herbert Hoover | – | Republican | 1928 | Charles Curtis | |||
| scope=row | 32 | data-sort-value="Roosevelt, Franklin D" | Franklin D. Roosevelt | – | Democratic | 1932 1936 1940 1944 | John Nance Garner Henry A. Wallace Harry S. Truman | |||
| scope=row | 33 | data-sort-value="Truman, Harry S." | Harry S. Truman | – | Democratic | 1948 | Vacant through January 20, 1949 Alben W. Barkley | |||
| scope=row | 34 | data-sort-value="Eisenhower, Dwight D" | Dwight D. Eisenhower | – | Republican | 1952 1956 | Richard Nixon | |||
| scope=row | 35 | data-sort-value="Kennedy, John F." | John F. Kennedy | – | Democratic | 1960 | Lyndon B. Johnson | |||
| scope=row | 36 | data-sort-value="Johnson, Lyndon B" | Lyndon B. Johnson | – | Democratic | 1964 | Vacant through January 20, 1965 Hubert Humphrey | |||
| scope=row | 37 | data-sort-value="Nixon, Richard" | Richard Nixon | – | Republican | 1968 1972 | Spiro Agnew Vacant: October 10December 6, 1973 Gerald Ford | |||
| scope=row | 38 | data-sort-value="Ford, Gerald" | Gerald Ford | – | Republican | Vacant through December 19, 1974 Nelson Rockefeller | ||||
| scope=row | 39 | data-sort-value="Carter, Jimmy" | Jimmy Carter | – | Democratic | 1976 | Walter Mondale | |||
| scope=row | 40 | data-sort-value="Reagan, Ronald" | Ronald Reagan | – | Republican | 1980 1984 | George H. W. Bush | |||
| scope=row | 41 | data-sort-value="Bush, George H. W." | George H. W. Bush | – | Republican | 1988 | Dan Quayle | |||
| scope=row | 42 | data-sort-value="Clinton, Bill" | Bill Clinton | – | Democratic | 1992 1996 | Al Gore | |||
| scope=row | 43 | data-sort-value="Bush, George W." | George W. Bush | – | Republican | 2000 2004 | Dick Cheney | |||
| scope=row | 44 | data-sort-value="Obama, Barack" | Barack Obama | – | Democratic | 2008 2012 | Joe Biden | |||
| scope=row | 45 | data-sort-value="Trump, Donald" | Donald Trump | – | Republican | 2016 | Mike Pence | |||
| scope=row | 46 | data-sort-value="Biden, Joe" | Joe Biden | – Incumbent | Democratic | 2020 | Kamala Harris |
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