Longest presidency
Shortest presidency

Franklin D. Roosevelt
4,422 days
(1933–1945)

William Henry Harrison
31 days
(1841)

This is a list of presidents of the United States by time in office. The listed number of days is calculated as the difference between dates, which counts the number of calendar days except the last day. The length of a full four-year presidential term of office usually amounts to 1,461 days (three common years of 365 days plus one leap year of 366 days). If the last day is included, all numbers would be one day more, except Grover Cleveland would have two more days, as he served two non-consecutive terms.[a]

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.

Presidents by time in office

Rank President Length
in days		 Order of presidency Number of terms
1 Franklin D. Roosevelt 4,422[b] 32nd • March 4, 1933 – April 12, 1945[c] Three full terms; died 2 months and 23 days into fourth term
2
tie		 Thomas Jefferson 2,922 3rd • March 4, 1801 – March 4, 1809 Two full terms
James Madison 2,922 4th • March 4, 1809 – March 4, 1817 Two full terms
James Monroe 2,922 5th • March 4, 1817 – March 4, 1825 Two full terms
Andrew Jackson 2,922 7th • March 4, 1829 – March 4, 1837 Two full terms
Ulysses S. Grant 2,922 18th • March 4, 1869 – March 4, 1877 Two full terms[d]
Grover Cleveland 2,922[e] 22nd • March 4, 1885 – March 4, 1889
24th • March 4, 1893 – March 4, 1897		 Two full terms (non-consecutive)[f]
Woodrow Wilson 2,922 28th • March 4, 1913 – March 4, 1921 Two full terms
Dwight D. Eisenhower 2,922 34th • January 20, 1953 – January 20, 1961 Two full terms
Ronald Reagan 2,922 40th • January 20, 1981 – January 20, 1989 Two full terms
Bill Clinton 2,922 42nd • January 20, 1993 – January 20, 2001 Two full terms
George W. Bush 2,922 43rd • January 20, 2001 – January 20, 2009 Two full terms
Barack Obama 2,922 44th • January 20, 2009 – January 20, 2017 Two full terms
14 George Washington 2,865[g] 1st • April 30, 1789 – March 4, 1797 Two full terms
15 Harry S. Truman 2,840 33rd • April 12, 1945[h] – January 20, 1953 One partial term (3 years, 9 months, and 8 days), followed by one full term
16 Theodore Roosevelt 2,728 26th • September 14, 1901[h] – March 4, 1909 One partial term (3 years, 5 months, and 18 days), followed by one full term[i]
17 Calvin Coolidge 2,041 30th • August 2, 1923[h] – March 4, 1929 One partial term (1 year, 7 months, and 2 days), followed by one full term
18 Richard Nixon 2,027 37th • January 20, 1969 – August 9, 1974[j] One full term; resigned 1 year, 6 months, and 20 days into second term
19 Lyndon B. Johnson 1,886 36th • November 22, 1963[h] – January 20, 1969 One partial term (1 year, 1 month, and 29 days), followed by one full term
20 William McKinley 1,654[a] 25th • March 4, 1897 – September 14, 1901[c] One full term; assassinated: died 6 months and 10 days into second term, 8 days after being shot
21 Abraham Lincoln 1,503 16th • March 4, 1861 – April 15, 1865[c] One full term; assassinated: died 1 month and 11 days into second term, 1 day after being shot
22
tie		 John Quincy Adams 1,461 6th • March 4, 1825 – March 4, 1829 One full term[f]
Martin Van Buren 1,461 8th • March 4, 1837 – March 4, 1841 One full term[f][k]
James K. Polk 1,461 11th • March 4, 1845 – March 4, 1849 One full term
Franklin Pierce 1,461 14th • March 4, 1853 – March 4, 1857 One full term[f]
James Buchanan 1,461 15th • March 4, 1857 – March 4, 1861 One full term
Rutherford B. Hayes 1,461 19th • March 4, 1877 – March 4, 1881 One full term
Benjamin Harrison 1,461 23rd • March 4, 1889 – March 4, 1893 One full term[f]
William Howard Taft 1,461 27th • March 4, 1909 – March 4, 1913 One full term[f]
Herbert Hoover 1,461 31st • March 4, 1929 – March 4, 1933 One full term[f]
Jimmy Carter 1,461 39th • January 20, 1977 – January 20, 1981 One full term[f]
George H. W. Bush 1,461 41st • January 20, 1989 – January 20, 1993 One full term[f]
Donald Trump 1,461 45th • January 20, 2017 – January 20, 2021 One full term[f]
34 John Adams 1,460[a] 2nd • March 4, 1797 – March 4, 1801 One full term[f]
35 John Tyler 1,430 10th • April 4, 1841[h] – March 4, 1845 One partial term (3 years and 11 months)
36 Andrew Johnson 1,419 17th • April 15, 1865[h] – March 4, 1869 One partial term (3 years, 10 months, and 17 days)
37 Chester A. Arthur 1,262 21st • September 19, 1881[h] – March 4, 1885 One partial term (3 years, 5 months, and 13 days)
38 Joe Biden 1,139[l] 46th • January 20, 2021 – Incumbent Currently serving
39 John F. Kennedy 1,036 35th • January 20, 1961 – November 22, 1963[c] Assassinated: died 2 years, 10 months, and 2 days into term
40 Millard Fillmore 969 13th • July 9, 1850[h] – March 4, 1853 One partial term (2 years, 7 months, and 23 days)
41 Gerald Ford 895 38th • August 9, 1974[h] – January 20, 1977 One partial term (2 years, 5 months, and 11 days)[m]
42 Warren G. Harding 881 29th • March 4, 1921 – August 2, 1923[c] Died 2 years, 4 months, and 29 days into term
43 Zachary Taylor 492 12th • March 4, 1849 – July 9, 1850[c] Died 1 year, 4 months, and 5 days into term
44 James A. Garfield 199 20th • March 4 – September 19, 1881[c] Assassinated: died 6 months and 15 days into term; 79 days after being shot
45 William Henry Harrison 31 9th • March 4 – April 4, 1841[c] Died 31 days into term

Notes

  1. ^ a b c Of years evenly divisible by 100, only those evenly divisible by 400 are leap years. The years 1800 and 1900 are divisible by 100, but not by 400. John Adams's term and William McKinley's first term did not include a 366-day leap year, so those terms were one day shorter than a normal full term. 2000, being divisible by 400, had 366 days, thus Bill Clinton's second term was not shorter than his first.
  2. ^ The Twentieth Amendment (ratified in 1933) moved Inauguration Day from March 4 to January 20. The 1937 presidential inauguration was the first to take place on the new date. As a result, Franklin D. Roosevelt's first term in office (1933–1937) was only 1,418 days long, 1 month and 12 days shorter than a normal term.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Died in office
  4. ^ Did not seek re-election in 1876. He sought a non-consecutive third term in 1880, but was defeated for renomination at the Republican National Convention.
  5. ^ Each of Grover Cleveland's two non-consecutive terms in office was 1,461 days long.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Incumbent president who sought a second consecutive full term, but was defeated either for renomination or in a presidential election.
  7. ^ Due to logistical delays, George Washington's first term began 1 month and 26 days after the scheduled start of operations of the new government under the Constitution. As a result, the term was only 1,404 days long.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Succeeded to presidency.
  9. ^ Did not seek re-election in 1908. In 1912, he ran for a non-consecutive second full term, this time on the Progressive Party ticket, but was defeated.
  10. ^ Resigned from office
  11. ^ Subsequently sought a non-consecutive second term, first in 1844, but was defeated for renomination at the Democratic National Convention, and then again in 1848 (this time on the Free Soil Party ticket), but was defeated.
  12. ^ As of March 4, 2024
  13. ^ Sought election to a full term in 1976, but was defeated.

See also

References

  1. ^ Cleaves, Freeman (1939). Old Tippecanoe: William Henry Harrison and His Time. C. Scribner's Sons. p. 152.
  2. ^ Ingersoll, Jared. "Death of the President". University of Virginia's Miller Center of Public Affairs. Archived from the original on October 8, 2010. Retrieved November 2, 2010.
  3. ^ Russell, Francis (1962). The Shadow of Blooming Grove – Warren G. Harding in His Times. Easton Press. p. 591. ISBN 0070543380.
  4. ^ a b Martin, Paul "Lincoln's Missing Bodyguard", Smithsonian Magazine, April 8, 2010, Retrieved November 15, 2010
  5. ^ Donald (1996), p. 597.
  6. ^ "Big Ben Parker and President McKinley's Assassination". Math.buffalo.edu. Retrieved August 8, 2011.
  7. ^ "Nixon Resigns". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 31, 2008.

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