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The president of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States, indirectly elected to a four-year term by the American people through the Electoral College. The officeholder leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces.

Since the office was established in 1789, 45 people have served in 46 presidencies. The first president, George Washington, won a unanimous vote of the Electoral College; one, Grover Cleveland, served two non-consecutive terms and is therefore counted as the 22nd and 24th president of the United States (giving rise to the discrepancy between the number of presidents and the number of persons who have served as president).

There are five living former presidents. The most recent to die was George H. W. Bush, on November 30, 2018.

The presidency of William Henry Harrison, who died 31 days after taking office in 1841, was the shortest in American history. Franklin D. Roosevelt served the longest, over twelve years, before dying early in his fourth term in 1945. He is the only U.S. president to have served more than two terms. Since the ratification of the Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1951, no person may be elected president more than twice, and no one who has served more than two years of a term to which someone else was elected may be elected more than once.

Four presidents died in office of natural causes (William Henry Harrison, Zachary Taylor, Warren G. Harding, and Franklin D. Roosevelt), four were assassinated (Abraham Lincoln, James A. Garfield, William McKinley and John F. Kennedy), and one resigned (Richard Nixon, facing impeachment). John Tyler was the first vice president to assume the presidency during a presidential term, and set the precedent that a vice president who does so becomes the fully functioning president with his presidency, as opposed to a caretaker president. The Twenty-fifth Amendment to the Constitution put Tyler's precedent into law in 1967. It also established a mechanism by which an intra-term vacancy in the vice presidency could be filled. Richard Nixon was the first president to fill a vacancy under this provision when he selected Gerald Ford for the office following Spiro Agnew's resignation in 1973. The following year, Ford became the second to do so when he chose Nelson Rockefeller to succeed him after he acceded to the presidency. As no mechanism existed for filling an intra-term vacancy in the vice presidency before 1967, the office was left vacant until filled through the next ensuing presidential election and subsequent inauguration.

Throughout most of its history, American politics has been dominated by political parties. The Constitution is silent on the issue of political parties, and at the time it came into force in 1789, no organized parties existed. Soon after the 1st Congress convened, factions began rallying around dominant Washington administration officials, such as Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson. Greatly concerned about the capacity of political parties to destroy the fragile unity holding the nation together, Washington remained unaffiliated with any political faction or party throughout his eight-year presidency. He was, and remains, the only U.S. president never affiliated with a political party.

Presidents

Portrait		President		Term of office & Election			Prior political and military experience	Party	Home state	Vice president
rowspan="3" style="background-color:Template:Independent (politician)/meta/color" |		1	George Washington (1732–1799)	April 30, 1789	March 4, 1797	1788–1789	Member of the Virginia House of Burgesses Delegate from Virginia to the Continental Congress Commander in Chief of the Continental Army Senior Officer of the United States Army	Unaffiliated	Virginia	John Adams
1792
				7 years, 308 days
rowspan="2" style="background-color:Template:Federalist Party/meta/color" |		2	John Adams (1735–1836)	March 4, 1797	March 4, 1801	1796	Delegate from Massachusetts to the Continental Congress Chairman of the Marine Committee United States Envoy to France United States Minister to the Netherlands United States Minister to the United Kingdom Vice President of the United States	Federalist	Massachusetts	Thomas Jefferson
4 years
rowspan="3" style="background-color:Template:Democratic-Republican Party/meta/color" |		3	Thomas Jefferson (1723–1846)	March 4, 1801	March 4, 1809	1800	Delegate from Virginia to the Continental Congress Governor of Virginia Delegate from Virginia to the Congress of the Confederation Minister Plenipotentiary for Negotiating Treaties of Amity and Commerce United States Minister to France United States Secretary of State Vice President of the United States	Democratic- Republican	Virginia	Aaron Burr
1804						George Clinton
				8 years
rowspan="5" style="background-color:Template:Democratic-Republican Party/meta/color" |		4	James Madison (1751–1836)	March 4, 1809	March 4, 1817		1808	Delegate from Virginia to the Congress of the Confederation U.S. Representative from Virginia United States Secretary of State	Democratic- Republican	Virginia
Vacant after Apr. 20, 1812
1812						Elbridge Gerry
						Vacant after Nov. 23, 1814
				8 years
rowspan="3" style="background-color:Template:Democratic-Republican Party/meta/color" |		5	James Monroe (1758–1831)	March 4, 1817	March 4, 1825	1816	Delegate from Virginia to the Congress of the Confederation U.S. Senator from Virginia United States Minister to France United States Minister to the United Kingdom Governor of Virginia United States Secretary of War United States Secretary of State	Democratic- Republican	Virginia	Daniel D. Tompkins
1820
				8 years
style="background-color:Template:Democratic-Republican Party/meta/color" |		6	John Quincy Adams (1767–1848)	March 4, 1825	March 4, 1829	1824	United States Minister to the Netherlands United States Minister to Prussia United States Minister to Russia United States Minister to the United Kingdom State Senator from Massachusetts U.S. Senator from Massachusetts U.S. Representative from Massachusetts United States Secretary of State	Democratic- Republican	Massachusetts	John C. Calhoun
rowspan="2" style="background-color:Template:National Republican Party/meta/color" |								National Republican
4 years
rowspan="4" style="background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/color" |		7	Andrew Jackson (1767–1845)	March 4, 1829	March 4, 1837	1828	U.S. Representative from Tennessee Justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court Territorial Governor of Florida U.S. Senator from Tennessee	Democratic	Tennessee
Vacant after Dec. 28, 1832
1832						Martin Van Buren
				8 years
rowspan="2" style="background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/color" |		8	Martin Van Buren (1782–1862)	March 4, 1837	March 4, 1841	1836	Surrogate of Columbia County State Senator from New York Attorney General of New York U.S. Senator from New York Governor of New York United States Secretary of State United States Minister to the United Kingdom Vice President of the United States	Democratic	New York	Richard Mentor Johnson
4 years
rowspan="2" style="background-color:Template:Whig Party (US)/meta/color" |		9	William Henry Harrison (1773–1841)	March 4, 1841	April 4, 1841	1840	Secretary of the Northwest Territory U.S. Representative from the Northwest Territory Governor of the Indiana Territory U.S. Representative from Ohio State Senator from Ohio U.S. Senator from Ohio United States Minister to Gran Colombia	Whig	Ohio	John Tyler
31 days
style="background-color:Template:Whig Party (US)/meta/color" |		10	John Tyler (1773–1841)	April 4, 1841	March 4, 1845		U.S. Representative from Virginia Governor of Virginia U.S. Senator from Virginia President pro tempore of the U.S. Senate Vice President of the United States	Whig	Virginia	Vacant throughout presidency
rowspan="2" style="background-color:Template:Independent (politician)/meta/color" |								Unaffiliated
3 years, 335 days
rowspan="2" style="background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/color" |		11	James K. Polk (1795–1849)	March 4, 1845	March 4, 1849	1844	U.S. Representative from Tennessee Chair of the House Ways and Means Committee Speaker of the U.S. House of the Representatives Governor of Tennessee	Democratic	Tennessee	George M. Dallas
4 years
rowspan="2" style="background-color:Template:Whig Party (US)/meta/color" |		12	Zachary Taylor (1784–1850)	March 4, 1849	July 9, 1850	1848	Major general of the United States Army	Whig	Kentucky	Millard Fillmore
1 year, 127 days
rowspan="2" style="background-color:Template:Whig Party (US)/meta/color" |		13	Millard Fillmore (1800–1874)	July 9, 1850	March 4, 1853		Comptroller of New York U.S. Representative from New York Chair of the House Ways and Means Committee Vice President of the United States	Whig	New York	Vacant throughout presidency
2 years, 238 days