US Presidents Timeline
Home > Timelines >  US Presidents Timeline
US Presidents Timeline
Timeline Description: The American people fought the British to have their own country and government. This is the list of American presidents in timeline.
Date
1789
George Washington (1789-1797)
George Washington was elected America's first president. There was some debate about whether the people wanted a king or a president, but Mr. Washington was not interested in being a king.
1797
John Adams (1797-1801)
John Adams became America's second president. Mr. Adams was the first president to live in the White House.
1801
Thomas Jefferson (1801-1809)
Thomas Jefferson was elected the third president of the United States of America. He was most famous for writing the Declaration of Independence.
1809
James Madison (1809-1817)
James Madison was elected as the fourth United States president. He led the country through the War of 1812, and later became known as the father of the Bill of Rights.
1817
James Monroe  (1817-1825)
James Monroe became the country's fifth president. President Monroe's presidency was calm because there was little fighting between the political parties during his term.
1825
John Quincy Adams (1825-1829)
John Quincy Adams became America's sixth president. His father, John Adams, was America's second president. They were the first father/son in history to both be president!
1829
Andrew Jackson  (1829-1837)
Andrew Jackson was elected as the 7th U.S. president. He was a rough and tough president, and he was the first president to ride on a train.
1837
Martin Van Buren (1837-1841)
Martin Van Buren became the eighth American president. He served during an American depression, and most people did not consider him successful.
1841
William Henry Harrison  (1841)
William Henry Harrison became America's ninth president. He served the briefest term as president when he died only a month after moving into office.
1841
John Tyler (1841-1845)
John Tyler became the tenth American president. He took over President Harrison's term, but it wasn't an easy transition. President Tyler had fifteen children!
1845
James K. Polk (1845-1849)
James K. Polk was elected the 11th U.S. president. He served during the Mexican War and added the states of Texas and California the United States territory.
1849
Zachary Taylor (1849-1850)
Zachary Taylor became the 12th president of America. During his presidency the south threatened to leave the union, and Mr. Taylor tried to keep that from happening. He died during his second year in office.
1850
Millard Fillmore (1850-1853)
Millard Fillmore was elected as America's thirteenth president. He approved a compromise that kept the southern states from seceding, but the compromise didn't last.
1853
Franklin Pierce (1853-1857)
Franklin Pierce moved into office as the fourteenth president. Mr. Pierce did away with the compromise that President Fillmore had enacted.
1857
James Buchanan (1857-1861)
James Buchanan became America's 15th president. Mr. Buchanan failed to keep the southern states happy, and they seceded from the union.
1861
Abraham Lincoln (1861-1865)
Abraham Lincoln was elected as the sixteenth president. He abolished slavery in the country. In 1865 he was shot and killed by John Wilkes Booth.
1865
Andrew Johnson (1865-1869)
Andrew Johnson becomes the seventeenth president. Mr. Johnson was a southern senator who stayed loyal to the union.
1869
Ulysses S. Grant (1869-1877)
Ulysses S. Grant became the eighteenth United States president. Mr. Grant was the most famous union general during the Civil War.
1877
Rutherford B. Hayes (1877-1881)
Rutherford B. Hayes was elected the 19th American president. Mr. Hayes' wife was the first president's wife to graduate from college.
1881
James A. Garfield (1881)
James A. Garfield moved into office as the twentieth president. He was assassinated in his first year of office.
1881
Chester A. Arthur (1881-1885)
Chester A. Arthur became the twenty-first American president. He served during a fairly successful time in American history. He helped create the Civil Service.
1885
Grover Cleveland  (1885-1889)
Grover Cleveland stepped into office as the 22nd president. He served for two non-consecutive terms. This means the terms weren't back to back.
1889
Benjamin Harrison (1889-1893)
Benjamin Harrison became the country's twenty-third president. His grandfather was president too. He was William Henry Harrison, the ninth president.
1893
Grover Cleveland (1893-1897)
Grover Cleveland started his second term. An economic depression hit the country during Mr. Cleveland's second term, and he was not considered a successful president.
1897
William McKinley  (1897-1901)
William McKinley became the 25th president. He expanded America's territories by acquiring overseas colonies. He was assassinated.
1901
Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909)
Theodore Roosevelt was elected as America's twenty-sixth president. He traveled abroad during his presidency. He was the first president to do this.
1909
William Howard Taft (1909-1913)
William Howard Taft became the 27th president. He continued many of Roosevelt's policies and he later became a Supreme Court Justice.
1913
Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921)
Woodrow Wilson was elected the country's twenty-eighth president. At first he opposed America entering World War 1, but he ended up drafting the peace treaty that helped to end it.
1921
Warren G. Harding (1921-1923)
Warren G. Harding became the 29th president. President Harding's presidency was the first in which women were allowed to vote.
1923
Calvin Coolidge (1923-1929)
Calvin Coolidge stepped into office. He was the thirtieth president, and he had a prosperous presidency.
1929
Herbert Hoover (1929-1933)
Herbert Hoover became the thirty-first American president. A few months into office the stock market crashed, so Mr. Hoover ushered in the Great Depression.
1933
Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-1945)
Franklin D. Roosevelt became America's 32nd president. He led the country out of the Great Depression, and he also led the people to victory during World War 2. He is famous for his Pearl Harbor speech in 1941.
1945
Harry S. Truman (1945-1953)
Harry S. Truman was elected the thirty-third president. President Truman made the decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan. World War 2 ended five days later.
1953
Dwight D. Eisenhower became the 34th president. President Eisenhower helped end the Korean War.
1961
John F. Kennedy (1961-1963)
John F. Kennedy became the thirty-fifth American president. Mr. Kennedy worked with Martin Luther King to bring about the Civil Rights movement. He was assassinated during his third year as president.
1963
Lyndon B. Johnson (1963-1969)
Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as the 36th president. He took John F. Kennedy's place after President Kennedy was assassinated.
1969
Richard Nixon (1969-1974)
Richard Nixon became Americas' 37th president. He got mixed up in the Watergate scandal and ended up getting impeached. He is the only president to resign from the office of president.
1974
Gerald Ford became the thirty-eighth president. He came into office after President Nixon resigned.
1977
Jimmy Carter (1977-1981)
Jimmy Carter was elected as the 39th president. After his presidency ended, Mr. Carter traveled the world doing charity work.
1981
Ronald Reagan (1981-1989)
Ronald Reagan was elected as the fortieth American president. Mr. Reagan brought national pride back to the country after the hard times of the 60's and 70's. He also survived an assassin's bullet.
1989
George H. W. Bush (1989-1993)
George H. W. Bush became the forty-first president. President Bush ended the Cold War and led the first war with Iraq.
1993
Bill Clinton (1993-2001)
Bill Clinton was elected as the 42nd U.S. president. He did many good things for the country like the NAFTA trade agreement, but he was later faced impeachment.
2001
George W. Bush (2001-2009)
George W. Bush became the forty-third president. His father had been the forty-first president from 1989-1993. President Bush was in office on September 11, 2001, when terrorists attacked America.
2009
Barack Obama  (2009-present)
Barack Obama was elected America's forty-fourth president. He was the first African-American to be elected as president.