List of US Presidents: Every President in Order Explained

In this article:

• How the Numbering Works
• The Founding Era: Presidents 1–7
• Expansion and Division: Presidents 8–16
• Reconstruction and the Gilded Age: Presidents 17–25
• America Becomes a World Power: Presidents 26–32
• The Modern Presidency: Presidents 33–42
• The 21st Century So Far: Presidents 43–47
• The Complete List of US Presidents
• Presidents Who Served Twice or Non-Consecutively
• Notable Firsts in General Terms
• How to Remember the Order
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Conclusion

If you have ever tried to name every president in the list of US presidents in order, you know how quickly the list gets tricky. The early names come easily enough, then somewhere around the middle of the 1800s the names in the list of US presidents start to blur together, and by the time you reach the twentieth century you are second-guessing yourself. That is completely normal. The list is long, the numbering has a famous quirk in it, and a few presidents served such short terms that they are easy to forget entirely.

This guide gives you the complete list of US presidents, from George Washington to Donald Trump, in the correct order, with enough context to make the names stick. You will not just get a bare list of names. You will get the story in broad strokes: how the country grew, split apart, rebuilt itself, and became the nation it is today, told through the people who held its highest office.

How the Numbering Works

Here is the first thing to understand, because it clears up the most common confusion right away. There have been 47 presidencies in the list of US presidents, but only 46 distinct people have served as president of the United States in the list of US presidents.

That sounds like a mistake, but it is not. Two men each served two separate terms that were not back to back, so each of them counts twice in the numbering. Grover Cleveland was the 22nd president and then, after losing an election and winning again four years later, the 24th president. Donald Trump was the 45th president and then, after a gap of one term, the 47th president. Everyone else on the list appears exactly once.

This is why a list of US presidents runs from 1 to 47 even though only 46 individuals have held the job. When you see Cleveland or Trump listed twice, that is not an error. It is the numbering system doing exactly what it is supposed to do: counting terms in office, in order, including terms served by the same person at different times.

It also helps to know that not every president was elected to the office in the usual way. Some became president because the previous president died in office or resigned, and they finished out that term. A few of them then went on to win an election of their own. Others served only a short time and never won a presidential election at all.

The Founding Era: Presidents 1–7

The first seven presidents in the list of US presidents were the generation that built the country from scratch. George Washington set the pattern for everything that followed. He could easily have stayed in power for life, as kings did, but he stepped down after two terms and went home. That single decision shaped the presidency more than almost anything else in its early years.

John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe followed, and together with Washington they cover the first several decades of the republic. These were the years when the new nation figured out how its government was supposed to work in practice, bought huge stretches of territory, fought a second war with Britain, and began to see itself as a country that would keep expanding westward in the list of US presidents.

John Quincy Adams, the son of John Adams, and Andrew Jackson close out this opening era. Jackson in particular marked a turning point, because he represented a different kind of president: not a founding gentleman from Virginia or Massachusetts, but a military man from the frontier who spoke for ordinary voters in a new, louder democratic age.

Expansion and Division: Presidents 8–16

The middle of the nineteenth century was the most turbulent period in American history, and the presidents of this era in the list of US presidents reflect that. Martin Van Buren, William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, James K. Polk, Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, and James Buchanan presided over a country that was growing fast and arguing bitterly about slavery, new states, and the limits of federal power in the list of US presidents.

Harrison is one of the names people most often forget, because he died only a month into his presidency, making his the shortest presidency in American history. Tyler, his vice president, then set the important precedent that a vice president who takes over becomes the full president, not merely an acting caretaker.

Polk’s presidency saw a huge expansion of American territory, while Taylor and Fillmore, Pierce, and Buchanan each struggled with the sectional tensions that kept getting worse. By the time Abraham Lincoln took office as the 16th president in the list of US presidents, the country was splitting apart.

Lincoln led the nation through the Civil War, preserved the Union, and issued the Emancipation Proclamation, before being assassinated just as the war was ending. He remains one of the most widely admired figures in the entire list.

Reconstruction and the Gilded Age: Presidents 17–25

After the Civil War came the difficult work of rebuilding, and the presidents of this era in the list of US presidents are a mixed group. Andrew Johnson, who took over after Lincoln, clashed constantly with Congress over how Reconstruction should work and became the first president to be impeached, though he was not removed from office.

Ulysses S. Grant, the victorious Union general, served two terms in the list of US presidents during which the country wrestled with corruption scandals and the unfinished business of civil rights in the South.

Rutherford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield, and Chester A. Arthur followed. Garfield, like Harrison, is often forgotten because he was assassinated only months into his presidency. Arthur, his successor, surprised many people by turning out to be a serious reformer.

Then comes the famous double entry in the list of US presidents: Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison, and Grover Cleveland again. Cleveland is the only president besides Trump to serve two non-consecutive terms, which is why his name appears twice in the official numbering. William McKinley closes this era, a president whose time in office saw America step onto the world stage in a new way before he too was assassinated.

America Becomes a World Power: Presidents 26–32

Theodore Roosevelt, who took over after McKinley’s death, brought enormous energy to the office. He was young, forceful, and convinced that the president should be an active leader rather than a quiet administrator. William Howard Taft, his chosen successor, later became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, a unique distinction no other president shares.

Woodrow Wilson led the country through the First World War and pushed hard for a League of Nations, an idea that was ahead of its time in American politics in the list of US presidents. Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge presided over the prosperous 1920s, and Herbert Hoover took office just before the Great Depression began, an economic collapse that defined his presidency and reshaped American politics for a generation.

Franklin D. Roosevelt, elected four times, led the country through both the Depression and most of the Second World War, and remains the only president in the list of US presidents to serve more than two terms. After him, the Twenty-Second Amendment limited presidents to two elected terms.

The Modern Presidency: Presidents 33–42

Harry S. Truman took over when Roosevelt died in 1945 and made some of the biggest decisions of the early Cold War in the list of US presidents. Dwight D. Eisenhower, the general who had led Allied forces in Europe during the war, served two terms in the 1950s, a period of postwar prosperity and growing American influence around the world.

John F. Kennedy, the youngest elected president in the list of US presidents, inspired a generation with his youth and vision before his assassination in 1963 shocked the nation.

Lyndon B. Johnson pushed through major civil rights legislation and greatly expanded social programs, while also deepening American involvement in Vietnam, a war that divided the country.

Richard Nixon opened relations with China and then resigned in 1974 over the Watergate scandal, the only president ever to resign. Gerald Ford, who took over from Nixon, is the only person to become president without ever being elected president or vice president, since he had been appointed vice president after the previous vice president resigned.

Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and George H. W. Bush followed. Reagan’s two terms in the 1980s are remembered for his communication skills, economic policies, and role in the final years of the Cold War, while Bush, a former vice president, led the country through the end of the Cold War and the first Gulf War.

Bill Clinton closed this stretch of the list of US presidents with two terms in the 1990s, a decade of economic growth and rapid technological change.

The 21st Century So Far: Presidents 43–47

George W. Bush took office in 2001, and his presidency was defined by the September 11 attacks and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq that followed. Barack Obama followed him as the first Black president in American history, serving two terms during which healthcare reform and the economic recovery after the 2008 financial crisis were central issues.

Donald Trump then won the presidency as a political outsider, serving as the 45th president in the list of US presidents. Joe Biden, a longtime senator and former vice president, served as the 46th president. Trump then returned to office as the 47th president, becoming only the second person in American history to serve two non-consecutive terms.

That brings the list up to the present day, and it is worth pausing on how remarkable the full sweep of the list of US presidents really is. In less than 250 years, the office has passed from a general who led a revolution to a long line of lawyers, soldiers, governors, senators, and outsiders, each shaped by the crises of their own time.

The Complete List of US Presidents

Here is the full list of US presidents, in order, with a brief note on each president in the list of US presidents. Cleveland and Trump each appear twice in this list of US presidents, as explained above.

Presidents Who Served Twice or Non-Consecutively

Only two presidents have served non-consecutive terms in the list of US presidents, and they are worth understanding clearly because they cause most of the confusion about the numbering in the list of US presidents.

Grover Cleveland won the presidency in 1884, lost his re-election bid in 1888, and then won again in 1892. Because his two terms were separated by Benjamin Harrison’s presidency, he is counted as both the 22nd and 24th president. If you count people rather than presidencies, he is one person, not two.

Donald Trump followed a similar pattern much later. He served as the 45th president, lost re-election, and then won again to become the 47th president. That makes him the second person in American history to return to the office after leaving it.

Several other presidents served two consecutive terms, which is the more familiar pattern. Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Jackson, Grant, Wilson, Eisenhower, Reagan, Clinton, George W. Bush, and Obama each served two full elected terms in a row. Theodore Roosevelt served nearly eight years in total, having taken over after McKinley and then won an election of his own.

Franklin Roosevelt is the exception to every pattern, having been elected four times before term limits were introduced.

It is also worth noting the presidents who reached the office without winning a presidential election first. Tyler, Fillmore, Andrew Johnson, Arthur, Theodore Roosevelt, Coolidge, Truman, Lyndon Johnson, and Ford all became president on the death or resignation of a predecessor. Some of them then won an election in their own right. Others did not.

Notable Firsts in General Terms

The list of US presidents is also a record of firsts, and these milestones help explain why certain names stand out even if their presidencies were short or troubled.

Washington was the first president in the list of US presidents, and everything about the office was an experiment during his time. Adams and Jefferson were the first two presidents to come from the generation that signed the Declaration of Independence, and their rivalry and later friendship became one of the great stories of the early republic.

Lincoln was the first president from the Republican Party to win the office, and the first to lead the country through a civil war. Theodore Roosevelt was the youngest person to become president, taking office after an assassination when he was in his early forties. Kennedy was the youngest person ever elected to the office.

Franklin Roosevelt was the first and only president elected to a third and fourth term. Obama was the first Black president. Trump was the first president with no prior elected office or military command before winning the presidency, and the second to serve non-consecutive terms. Biden was the oldest person elected president at the time of his inauguration.

There are other firsts that matter in general terms: the first father and son to both serve as president were John Adams and John Quincy Adams, followed later by George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush. The first president to be impeached was Andrew Johnson. The first and only president to resign was Nixon. These milestones are useful memory hooks, because they give you a reason to remember a name beyond its position on a list.

How to Remember the Order

Memorizing all 47 entries in the list of US presidents in one sitting is a lot to ask, so it helps to learn the list in chunks rather than as one long string of names.

Start with the anchors. Almost everyone can remember Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, Kennedy, and Reagan. Those are your landmarks in the list of US presidents. Once you have the landmarks, fill in the gaps between them a few names at a time.

Learn the founding group as a set: Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, John Quincy Adams, Jackson. Then learn the Civil War group: Buchanan, Lincoln, Johnson, Grant. Then the turn-of-the-century group: McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, Taft, Wilson. Then the modern group: Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush, Obama, Trump, Biden, Trump.

Another useful trick is to pair up the tricky spots in the list of US presidents. Cleveland appears twice with Benjamin Harrison in between, so remember the sandwich: Cleveland, Harrison, Cleveland. Trump appears twice with Biden in between, so remember the same pattern near the end: Trump, Biden, Trump.

The short presidencies are also worth grouping together: Harrison, Taylor, Garfield, and Harding all died in office, and their successors — Tyler, Fillmore, Arthur, and Coolidge — are the names that follow them.

Finally, say the list out loud in order a few times. It feels old-fashioned, but it works far better than reading it silently. The rhythm of the names, especially the early ones, starts to stick after a few repetitions, and once you can get through the first twenty without stopping, the rest comes much more easily.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many presidents has the United States had? There have been 47 presidencies held by 46 distinct people in the list of US presidents. Grover Cleveland and Donald Trump each served two non-consecutive terms, so each counts twice in the official numbering.

Who was the first president of the United States? George Washington was the first president, serving from 1789 to 1797. He is widely regarded as the person who defined what the presidency should be.

Who is the current president? Donald Trump is the 47th president in the list of US presidents, serving his second, non-consecutive term after previously serving as the 45th president.

Which president served the longest? Franklin D. Roosevelt served the longest, having been elected four times. He served from 1933 until his death in 1945. After his presidency, the Twenty-Second Amendment limited future presidents to two elected terms.

Which president served the shortest time? William Henry Harrison served the shortest time, dying only about a month after taking office in 1841. He is followed in brevity by James A. Garfield, who was assassinated months into his presidency.

Has any president served more than two terms? Only Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was elected four times before the Twenty-Second Amendment was adopted. No president in the list of US presidents since then has served more than two elected terms, though some have served close to ten years in total when a partial term followed by two full terms is combined.

Conclusion

The complete list of US presidents is more than a trivia challenge. It is a timeline of the country itself, from a fragile new republic led by Washington to a modern superpower led, in turn, by 46 different people across 47 presidencies in the list of US presidents. Some of those presidents are household names, and some are barely remembered, but each of them held the office during a moment that mattered, and the order they appear in tells the story of how America changed.

If you take one thing away from this guide to the list of US presidents, let it be the numbering rule: 47 presidencies, 46 people, with Cleveland and Trump each counted twice because they served non-consecutive terms. Once that clicks, the rest of the list falls into place much more easily, era by era, from Washington all the way through to the present day.

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