List of presidents of the United States by other offices held explained

This is a list of presidents of the United States by other offices (either elected or appointed) held. Every president of the United States except Donald Trump has served as at least one of the following:

• Vice President of the United States
• a member of Congress (either U.S. senator or representative)
• a governor of a state
• a Cabinet secretary
• a general of the United States Army

Federal government

Executive branch

Vice presidents

Vice President	President served under	Year(s) served	Notes
John Adams	George Washington	1789–1797	Incumbent vice president succeeded Washington after winning the 1796 election
Thomas Jefferson		1797–1801	Incumbent vice president succeeded Adams after winning the 1800 election
Martin Van Buren	Andrew Jackson	1833–1837	Incumbent vice president succeeded Jackson after winning the 1836 election
John Tyler	William Henry Harrison	1841	Became president after Harrison's death, ran for election in 1844 as nominee of Democratic Party before dropping out and endorsing Polk, the eventual winner
Millard Fillmore	Zachary Taylor	1849–1850	Became president after Taylor's death, lost nomination for Whig Party in 1852 election bid, later also ran unsuccessfully in the 1856 election
Andrew Johnson	Abraham Lincoln	1865	Became president after Lincoln's assassination, lost nomination for Democratic Party in 1868 election bid
Chester A. Arthur	James A. Garfield	1881	Became president after Garfield's assassination, failed to secure Republican Party nomination in 1884 election bid
Theodore Roosevelt	William McKinley	1901	Became president after McKinley's assassination, later elected to own term in 1904.
Calvin Coolidge	Warren G. Harding	1921–1923	Became president after Harding's death, later elected to own term in 1924.
Harry S. Truman	Franklin D. Roosevelt	1945	Became president after Roosevelt's death, later elected to own term in 1948.
Richard Nixon	Dwight D. Eisenhower	1953–1961	Lost as incumbent vice president in the 1960 election, later ran and won the 1968 election becoming the first former vice president to win the presidency.
Lyndon B. Johnson	John F. Kennedy	1961–1963	Became president after Kennedy's assassination, later elected to own term in 1964.
Gerald Ford	Richard Nixon	1973–1974	Became president after Nixon's resignation, lost 1976 election in bid for own term.
George H. W. Bush	Ronald Reagan	1981–1989	Incumbent vice president succeeded Reagan after winning the 1988 election
Joe Biden	Barack Obama	2009–2017	Did not run as incumbent vice president in the 2016 election, later ran and won the 2020 election becoming the second former vice president to win the presidency.

Fourteen former vice presidents (R. Johnson, Breckinridge, Morton, Stevenson, Fairbanks, Garner, Wallace, Barkley, Nixon, Humphrey, Mondale, Quayle, Gore, and Pence) all made failed runs for the presidency. Breckinridge was nominated by the Southern Democratic Party in 1860 but came in second in the Electoral College. Humphrey, Mondale, and Gore received their party's nominations and Nixon received his party's nomination. Nixon would later be elected in a second run for the presidency becoming the first former vice president to try and win the presidency post-vice presidency. In 1984, Mondale would be the second former vice president to try for the presidency. In 1988, Vice President George H. W. Bush would be elected president. In 2020, Biden was the third former vice president to try for the presidency, and the second to win the presidency post-vice presidency. Theodore Roosevelt, Coolidge, Truman and Lyndon B. Johnson would become president after a presidential death in office and go onto win their own subsequent elections.

Cabinet secretaries

Secretary	Office	President served under	Year(s) served
Thomas Jefferson	Secretary of State	George Washington	1790–1793
James Madison	Secretary of State	Thomas Jefferson	1801–1809
James Monroe	Secretary of State	James Madison	1811–1817
	Secretary of War		1814–1815
John Quincy Adams	Secretary of State	James Monroe	1817–1825
Martin Van Buren	Secretary of State	Andrew Jackson	1829–1831
James Buchanan	Secretary of State	James K. Polk	1845–1849
Ulysses S. Grant	Acting Secretary of War	Andrew Johnson	1867–1868
William Howard Taft	Secretary of War	Theodore Roosevelt	1904–1908
Herbert Hoover	Secretary of Commerce	Warren G. Harding	1921–1928
		Calvin Coolidge

Calvin Coolidge (as the vice president) and Herbert Hoover both served in the Cabinet of Warren G. Harding.

Ambassadors

President	Position	President served under	Year(s) served
John Adams	Minister to Britain	Congress of the Confederation	1785–1788
Thomas Jefferson	Minister Plenipotentiary to France	Congress of the Confederation	1785–1789
James Monroe	Minister Plenipotentiary to France	George Washington	1794–1796
	Minister to Britain	Thomas Jefferson	1803–1807
John Quincy Adams	Minister to the Netherlands	George Washington John Adams	1794–1797
		John Adams	1797–1801
	Minister to Russia	James Madison	1809–1814
	Minister to Britain	James Madison	1815–1817
Martin Van Buren	Minister to Britain	Andrew Jackson	1831–1832
William Henry Harrison	Minister to Gran Colombia	John Quincy Adams	1828–1829
James Buchanan	Minister to Britain	Franklin Pierce	1853–1856
George H. W. Bush	Ambassador to the United Nations	Richard Nixon	1971–1973
	Chief of the U.S. Liaison Office in Beijing	Gerald Ford	1974–1975

Other federal appointees

President	Office	President appointed by	Year(s) served
Franklin Pierce	United States Attorney for the District of New Hampshire	James K. Polk	1845–1847
Chester A. Arthur	Collector of the Port of New York	Ulysses S. Grant	1871–1878
Theodore Roosevelt	Member, United States Civil Service Commission	Benjamin Harrison	1889–1895
	Assistant Secretary of the Navy	William McKinley	1897–1898
William Howard Taft	Solicitor General	Benjamin Harrison	1890–1892
Franklin D. Roosevelt	Assistant Secretary of the Navy	Woodrow Wilson	1913–1920
George H. W. Bush	Director of Central Intelligence	Gerald Ford	1976–1977

Judicial branch

Other federal judges

Legislative branch

Senators

State	President	Year(s) served	Notes
California	Richard Nixon	1950–1953	Resigned to become vice president
Delaware	Joe Biden	1973–2009	Resigned to become vice president
Indiana	Benjamin Harrison	1881–1887
Illinois	Barack Obama	2005–2008	Third sitting senator elected to the presidency
Massachusetts	John Quincy Adams	1803–1808
	John F. Kennedy	1953–1960	Second sitting senator elected to the presidency
Missouri	Harry S. Truman	1935–1945	Resigned to become vice president
New Hampshire	Franklin Pierce	1837–1842
New York	Martin Van Buren	1821–1828
Ohio	William Henry Harrison	1825–1828
	Warren G. Harding	1915–1921	First sitting senator elected to the presidency
Pennsylvania	James Buchanan	1834–1845
Tennessee	Andrew Jackson	1797–1798
		1823–1825
	Andrew Johnson	1857–1862
		1875	Only former president in the Senate
	Lyndon B. Johnson	1949–1961	Senate minority leader 1953–1955 Senate majority leader 1955–1961 Resigned to become vice president
Virginia	James Monroe	1790–1794	First former senator to become president
	John Tyler	1827–1836	Only former president pro tempore to become president

A number of future presidents served together while in the Senate:

• Monroe served under Vice President Adams (1790–1794).
• Jackson served under Vice President Jefferson (1797–1798). Jackson later served with Van Buren (1823–1825). Van Buren also served with W.H. Harrison (1825–1828) and Tyler (1827–1828). Buchanan also served with Tyler (1834–1836) and later served with Pierce (1837–1842). Both Buchanan and Tyler served under Vice President Van Buren (1833–1837), while Buchanan and Pierce later served under Vice President Tyler (1841).
• B. Harrison briefly served under Vice President Arthur (1881).
• L. Johnson served with both Nixon (1950–1953) and Kennedy (1953–1960). L. Johnson and Kennedy both served under Vice President Nixon (1953–1961).
• Biden served under vice presidents Ford (1973–1974) and Bush (1981–1989) and later served with Obama (2005–2008).

James A. Garfield was elected senator for Ohio in 1880, but he did not take up the office due to being elected president later that year.

Seven former senators (Monroe, Adams, Jackson, W.H. Harrison, Pierce, Buchanan, and B. Harrison) were elected to the presidency without ever serving as the vice president between their departure from the Senate and the beginning of their presidencies.

Members of the House of Representatives

State	President	Year(s) served	Notes
California	Richard Nixon	1947–1950
Illinois	Abraham Lincoln	1847–1849
Massachusetts	John Quincy Adams	1831–1848	Only former president in the House of Representatives
	John F. Kennedy	1947–1953
	Gerald Ford	1949–1973	House minority leader 1965–1973 Resigned to become vice president
New Hampshire	Franklin Pierce	1833–1837
New York	Millard Fillmore	1833–1835
		1837–1843
Northwest Territory	William Henry Harrison	1799–1800	Served as a non-voting delegate
Ohio	William Henry Harrison	1816–1819
	Rutherford B. Hayes	1865–1867
	James A. Garfield	1863–1880	Republican floor leader 1877–1880 Only sitting representative elected to the presidency
	William McKinley	1877–1883
		1885–1891
Pennsylvania	James Buchanan	1821–1831
Tennessee	Andrew Jackson	1796–1797
	James K. Polk	1825–1839	Only former speaker to become president
	Andrew Johnson	1843–1853
Texas	Lyndon B. Johnson	1937–1949
	George H. W. Bush	1967–1971
Virginia	James Madison	1789–1797	First former representative to become president
	John Tyler	1816–1821

A number of future and former presidents served in the House together:

• Jackson served with Madison (1796–1797).
• W.H. Harrison served with Tyler (1816–1819).
• Buchanan served with Polk (1825–1831). Polk also served with J. Q. Adams (1831–1839). J. Q. Adams later served with Fillmore (1833–1835; 1837–1843), Pierce (1833–1837), A. Johnson (1843–1848), and Lincoln (1847–1848). A. Johnson and Lincoln would continue to serve alongside each other (1848–1849).
• Garfield served with both Hayes (1865–1867) and McKinley (1877–1880).
• Nixon served with L. Johnson (1947–1949), Kennedy (1947–1950), and Ford (1949–1950). Ford, who continued to serve alongside Kennedy (1950–1953), later served with G. H. W. Bush (1967–1971).

1835 was the year in which the most former and future presidents served together in Congress: six presidents (Representatives J.Q. Adams, Pierce, Fillmore, and Polk, and Senators Buchanan and Tyler), who all served under vice president (and future president) Martin Van Buren.

The time period between 1891 and 1915 (24 years) was the longest time period with no former or future presidents serving in Congress. In total, there were 65 years in which no former or future president was serving in Congress.

As of 2024, there were 10 presidents who served in both chambers of congress (J.Q. Adams, Jackson, Pierce, Buchanan, A. Johnson, Kennedy, L.B. Johnson, and Nixon), 2 presidents who served in both the Continental Congress and the Congress of the United States (Madison and Monroe), and 1 president who served in both the Congress of the United States and the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States (President John Tyler).

Continental Congress

President	State	Year(s) served	Body served
George Washington	Virginia	1774–1775	First Continental Congress
John Adams	Massachusetts	1774–1777
Thomas Jefferson	Virginia	1775–1776 1783–1784	Second Continental Congress Congress of the Confederation
James Madison	Virginia	1780–1783 1787–1788	Second Continental Congress, Congress of the Confederation
James Monroe	Virginia	1783–1786	Congress of the Confederation

State and territorial government

Governors

State / Territory	President	Year(s) served	Notes
American-occupied zone of Germany	Dwight Eisenhower	1945	Military Governor
Arkansas	Bill Clinton	1979–1981
		1983–1992
California	Ronald Reagan	1967–1975
Cuba	William Howard Taft	1906	Provisional Governor
Florida Territory	Andrew Jackson	1821	Military Governor
Georgia	Jimmy Carter	1971–1975
Indiana Territory	William Henry Harrison	1801–1813
Louisiana District	William Henry Harrison	1804–1805	Interim Authority
Massachusetts	Calvin Coolidge	1919–1921
New Jersey	Woodrow Wilson	1911–1913
New York	Martin Van Buren	1829
	Grover Cleveland	1883–1885
	Theodore Roosevelt	1899–1900
	Franklin D. Roosevelt	1929–1932
Northwest Territory	William Henry Harrison	1798–1799	Acting Governor
Ohio	Rutherford B. Hayes	1868–1872
		1876–1877
	William McKinley	1892–1896
Philippines	William Howard Taft	1901–1904	Governor-General
Tennessee	James K. Polk	1839–1841
	Andrew Johnson	1853–1857
		1862–1865	Military Governor
Texas	George W. Bush	1995–2000
Virginia	Thomas Jefferson	1779–1781
	James Monroe	1799–1802
		1811
	John Tyler	1825–1827

State legislators

See below for information about pre-1776 colonial offices held.

State legislature	President	Year(s)served	Notes
Georgia State Senate	Jimmy Carter	1963–1967
Illinois House of Representatives	Abraham Lincoln	1834–1842
Illinois Senate	Barack Obama	1997–2004
Massachusetts House of Representatives	Calvin Coolidge	1907–1909
Massachusetts Senate	John Quincy Adams	1802
	Calvin Coolidge	1912–1915
New Hampshire House of Representatives	Franklin Pierce	1829–1833	Speaker of the House 1832–1833
New York Senate	Martin Van Buren	1812–1820
	Franklin D. Roosevelt	1911–1913
New York State Assembly	Millard Fillmore	1829–1831
	Theodore Roosevelt	1882–1884	Assembly minority leader 1883
Ohio Senate	William Henry Harrison	1819–1821
	James A. Garfield	1859–1861
	Warren G. Harding	1899–1903
Pennsylvania House of Representatives	James Buchanan	1814–1816
Tennessee House of Representatives	James K. Polk	1823–1825
	Andrew Johnson	1835–1837
Tennessee Senate	Andrew Johnson	1841–1843
Virginia House of Delegates	Thomas Jefferson	1776–1779
	James Madison	1776–1777
	James Monroe	1782–1783
	John Tyler	1811–1816
		1823–1825

Other statewide offices

President	Office and jurisdiction	Year(s) served
Andrew Jackson	Justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court	1798–1804
Martin Van Buren	Attorney General of New York	1815–1819
Millard Fillmore	New York State Comptroller	1847–1849
Warren G. Harding	Lieutenant Governor of Ohio	1904–1906
Calvin Coolidge	Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts	1916–1919
Bill Clinton	Attorney General of Arkansas	1977–1979

Local government

President	Office and jurisdiction	Year(s) served
George Washington	County surveyor in Mount Vernon	1749–1751
Martin Van Buren	Surrogate of Columbia County, New York	1808–1812
Abraham Lincoln	Postmaster of New Salem, Illinois	1832–1833
	County Surveyor for Sangamon County, Illinois	1833–1834
Andrew Johnson	Alderman, Greeneville, Tennessee	1828–1830
	Mayor of Greeneville, Tennessee	1834–1835
Grover Cleveland	Sheriff of Erie County, New York	1871–1873
	Mayor of Buffalo, New York	1882–1883
William Howard Taft	Judge on the Superior Court of Cincinnati	1887–1890
Theodore Roosevelt	Superintendent of the New York Board of Police Commissioners	1895–1897
Calvin Coolidge	Mayor of Northampton, Massachusetts	1910–1911
Harry S. Truman	Judge of Jackson County, Missouri's Eastern District	1923–1925
	Presiding Judge of Jackson County, Missouri	1927–1935
Joe Biden	Member of the New Castle County, Delaware County Council	1970–1972

Presidents who had not previously held elective office

With previous experience in government

President	Term of office	Notes
Ulysses S. Grant	1867–1868	Acting Secretary of War
Herbert Hoover	1929–1933	Secretary of Commerce
Dwight Eisenhower	1945	Military Governor of American-occupied zone of Germany

With previous experience in the military

President	Term of office	Position(s)
Major General Zachary Taylor	1849–1850	Major general in the United States Army
General of the Army of the United States Ulysses S. Grant	1869–1877	Commanding General of the United States Army (1864–1869)
General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower	1953–1961	Supreme Allied Commander Europe (1951–1952)

Without previous experience in government or the military

Colonial governments

Colonial and confederate legislators

Legislature	President	Year(s) served	Notes
Confederate Congress	John Tyler	1861 - 1862	Delegate to the Provisional Confederate Congress and elected to the House of Representatives of the Confederate Congress of the Confederate States of America during the Civil War, but died before entering office
Massachusetts House of Representatives	John Adams	1768–1774	All served as regular members of their colonial legislature under the Kingdom of Great Britain before 1776.
Virginia House of Burgesses	George Washington	1758–1774
	Thomas Jefferson	1769–1774

See also

• List of former presidents of the United States who ran for office
• List of vice presidents of the United States by other offices held