By Gabriel Akinadewo
*Four presidents assassinated
*Four died of natural causes
*One resigned
*William Henry Harrison served the shortest (31 days)
*Franklin D. Roosevelt served the longest (12 years)
*Grover Cleveland (22nd and 24th president) and Donald Trump (45th and 47th president) staged dramatic comebacks
*John Tyler first vice president to assume presidency
*See the only president who never affiliated with a political party
Today is July 4. Two hundred and fifty years ago, the most powerful nation in the world, the United States (U.S.), got its independence from Britain.
Since then, the country has had 47 presidencies.
From George Washington (first) to Abraham Lincoln (16th) and now Donald Trump (45th and 47th), the president has proved to be world’s most powerful man.
He is the Head of State and Head of Government, elected to a four-year term via the Electoral College.
Under the U.S. Constitution, the office holder leads the executive branch of the Federal Government and is the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.
The White House is the official residence of the president.
The first president, George Washington, after the American War of Independence in 1776, won a unanimous vote of the Electoral College.
Donald Trump, who assumed office on January 20, 2025, is the incumbent president.
Since the office was established in 1789, 45 men have served in 47 presidencies. The discrepancy is due to the nonconsecutive terms of Grover Cleveland (counted as the 22nd and 24th president) and Trump (counted as the 45th and 47th president).
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 12 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 22nd Amendment to the U.S. 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 and removal from office).
John Tyler was the first vice president to assume the presidency during a presidential term, setting the precedent that a vice president who does so becomes the fully functioning president with a new, distinct administration.
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 organised parties existed.
Soon after the 1st Congress convened, political factions began rallying around dominant Washington administration officials, such as Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson.
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 remains the only U.S. president who never affiliated with a political party.
See list of Presidents of God’s Own Country below:
GEORGE WASHINGTON | 1789-1797
JOHN ADAMS | 1797-1801
THOMAS JEFFERSON | 1801-1809
JAMES MADISON | 1809-1817
JAMES MONROE | 1817-1825
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS | 1825-1829
ANDREW JACKSON | 1829-1837
MARTIN VAN BUREN | 1837-1841
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON | 1841
JOHN TYLER | 1841-1845
JAMES K. POLK | 1845-1849
ZACHARY TAYLOR | 1849-1850
MILLARD FILLMORE | 1850-1853
FRANKLIN PIERCE | 1853-1857
JAMES BUCHANAN | 1857-1861
ABRAHAM LINCOLN | 1861-1865
ANDREW JOHNSON | 1865-1869
ULYSSES S. GRANT | 1869-1877
RUTHERFORD B. HAYES | 1877-1881
JAMES A. GARFIELD | 1881
CHESTER A. ARTHUR | 1881-1885
GROVER CLEVELAND | 1885-1889 / 1893-1897
BENJAMIN HARRISON | 1889-1893
WILLIAM MCKINLEY | 1897-1901
THEODORE ROOSEVELT | 1901-1909
WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT | 1909-1913
WOODROW WILSON | 1913-1921
WARREN G. HARDING | 1921-1923
CALVIN COOLIDGE | 1923-1929
HERBERT HOOVER | 1929-1933
FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT | 1933-1945
HARRY S. TRUMAN | 1945-1953
DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER | 1953-1961
JOHN F. KENNEDY | 1961-1963
LYNDON B. JOHNSON | 1963-1969
RICHARD M. NIXON | 1969-1974
GERALD R. FORD | 1974-1977
JIMMY CARTER | 1977-1981
RONALD REAGAN | 1981-1989
GEORGE H.W. BUSH | 1989-1993
BILL CLINTON | 1993-2001
GEORGE W. BUSH | 2001-2009
BARACK OBAMA | 2009-2017
DONALD J. TRUMP | 2017-2021 / 2025-
JOE BIDEN | 2021-2025
