Presidents of the United States: Full List in Order

Most people can name a few presidents, but the full list stretches back over 230 years and includes 46 individuals—one of whom technically served in two separate, nonconsecutive terms. From George Washington’s unanimous vote in 1789 to Joe Biden’s current tenure, the American presidency tells a story of power, tragedy, and, occasionally, sheer absurdity.

Total U.S. Presidents: 46 ·
First President: George Washington (1789-1797) ·
Longest-Serving: Franklin D. Roosevelt (12 years) ·
Most Children: John Tyler (15) ·
Current President: Joe Biden (2021-present)

The table below summarizes the key quantitative facts about the American presidency.

Who are all the presidents in order?

Forty-six people have occupied the Oval Office, though Grover Cleveland’s two nonconsecutive terms mean the country has seen 47 distinct presidencies. The list spans from the founding era to the present day.

1st to 10th Presidents

The first decade of the presidency established precedents that still shape the office today.

The implication: Virginia dominated the early presidency, supplying half of the first ten chief executives.

11th to 20th Presidents

This era saw the nation expand westward, fight the Civil War, and begin Reconstruction.

The catch: three presidents in this span died violently—Lincoln by assassination, Taylor and Garfield from illness and bullets.

21st to 30th Presidents

This period covers industrialization, the Gilded Age, and America’s emergence as a world power.

The pattern: Republican dominance defined these decades, with only Cleveland breaking the streak.

31st to 46th Presidents

The modern era brought economic depression, world wars, the Cold War, and dramatic social change.

What are the names of the 47 presidents?

The counting system accounts for Grover Cleveland, who served as both the 22nd and 24th president, making him the only chief executive to hold nonconsecutive terms. This creates the quirk of 46 individuals but 47 presidencies.

Full Names and Numbering

Each president holds a specific ordinal number based on the order they served, not the number of terms. John Quincy Adams was the 6th president despite being the son of the 2nd president. Benjamin Harrison was the 23rd president while his grandfather William Henry Harrison was the 9th.

Presidents with Multiple Terms

Only two presidents served two full terms before the 22nd Amendment limited service to two terms: Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. After FDR won four terms in the 1930s, constitutional amendments capped presidents to two elected terms maximum.

The lesson: crisis timing determines whether a president gets remembered as transformative or transitional.

What president fathered a child at 70 years old?

John Tyler, the 10th president, holds an unusual distinction. He fathered a son, Lyon Gardiner Tyler, in 1853 when he was 63 years old. Even more remarkably, Lyon would later father two children when his own father was 70 or older, making John Tyler a grandfather at that advanced age.

John Tyler’s Family

Tyler served from 1841 to 1845 and maintained an active family life throughout. He had 15 children across two marriages—more than any other president. His descendants continued the family line well into the 20th century, with Lyon born decades after Tyler’s presidency ended.

The implication: family legacies extend far beyond a president’s time in office, sometimes persisting for centuries.

Which President ran from jail?

No sitting president has ever run for reelection from a jail cell, but Eugene V. Debs came remarkably close in 1920. While imprisoned for sedition related to his anti-World War I stance, Debs ran as the Socialist Party candidate and received nearly one million votes.

Eugene V. Debs Campaign

Debs never actually served as president, but his 1920 campaign remains one of the most unusual in American history. President Warren G. Harding commuted Debs’ sentence shortly after taking office, bringing an end to the bizarre chapter where a prison inmate challenged the incumbent president.

What this means: even incarceration could not silence political ambition in the Progressive Era.

Who has been the worst president in US history?

Historians and political scientists regularly rank U.S. presidents, but the results vary significantly depending on methodology. James Buchanan frequently appears near the bottom due to his perceived failure to prevent the Civil War, while recent presidents often face polarized assessments.

Historical Rankings

Surveys conducted by C-SPAN and other organizations consistently place Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, and Franklin D. Roosevelt at the top. The bottom tiers typically include James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, and Warren G. Harding, though rankings shift with generational perspectives.

Common Criticisms

Buchanan’s failure to address sectional tensions before the Civil War, Harding’s administration scandals, and Andrew Johnson’s impeachment characterize the most criticized presidencies. Contemporary partisan divides make recent presidents difficult to assess objectively.

Summary

The American presidency spans nearly two and a half centuries, with 46 individuals shaping national policy during moments of crisis and prosperity. For students of American history, each presidency offers lessons in leadership under pressure—from Washington’s foundational precedents to FDR’s transformative New Deal. The office has weathered wars, depressions, resignations, and assassinations, proving remarkably resilient despite its relative youth compared to European monarchies. Each generation inherits an institution that has survived its own failures, demonstrating that American democracy can absorb remarkable shocks and endure.

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Early presidents like George Washington and Abraham Lincoln in this list are annually honored through Presidents Day dates and history, observed the third Monday in February.

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