Of the individuals elected president of the United States, four died of natural causes while in office (William Henry Harrison,[1] Zachary Taylor,[2] Warren G. Harding[3] and Franklin D. Roosevelt), four were assassinated (Abraham Lincoln,[4] James A. Garfield,[4] [5] William McKinley[6] and John F. Kennedy) and one resigned from office (Richard Nixon).[7]
William Henry Harrison spent the shortest time in office, while Franklin D. Roosevelt spent the longest. Roosevelt is the only American 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, after serving more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected president, to a second term. The amendment contained a grandfather clause that explicitly exempted the incumbent president, then Harry S. Truman, from the new term limitations.
Grover Cleveland is the only president to leave office and return for a second non-consecutive term. Consequently, while there have been 46 presidencies in the nation's history, only 45 people have been sworn into office as Cleveland is numbered as both the 22nd and 24th president.
| data-sort-type="number" | Rank ! | data-sort-type="text" | President ! | Length in days | Order of presidency | Number of terms |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Three full terms; died into fourth term | |||||
| 2 tie | Two full terms | |||||
| Two full terms | ||||||
| Two full terms | ||||||
| Two full terms | ||||||
| Two full terms | ||||||
| 2,922 | Two full terms (non-consecutive) | |||||
| Two full terms | ||||||
| nowrap | Two full terms | |||||
| Two full terms | ||||||
| Two full terms | ||||||
| Two full terms | ||||||
| Two full terms | ||||||
| 14 | Two full terms | |||||
| 15 | One partial term, followed by one full term | |||||
| 16 | One partial term, followed by one full term | |||||
| 17 | One partial term, followed by one full term | |||||
| 18 | One full term; resigned into second term | |||||
| 19 | One partial term, followed by one full term | |||||
| 20 | One full term; assassinated: died into second term, days after being shot | |||||
| 21 | One full term; assassinated: died into second term, day after being shot | |||||
| 22 tie | One full term | |||||
| One full term | ||||||
| One full term | ||||||
| One full term | ||||||
| One full term | ||||||
| One full term | ||||||
| One full term | ||||||
| One full term | ||||||
| One full term | ||||||
| One full term | ||||||
| One full term | ||||||
| One full term | ||||||
| 34 | One full term | |||||
| 35 | One partial term | |||||
| 36 | One partial term | |||||
| 37 | Currently serving | |||||
| 38 | One partial term | |||||
| 39 | nowrap | Assassinated died into term | ||||
| 40 | One partial term | |||||
| 41 | One partial term | |||||
| 42 | Died into term | |||||
| 43 | Died into term | |||||
| 44 | Assassinated died into term; days after being shot | |||||
| 45 | nowrap | Died into term |