List of presidents of the United States by time in office: Difference between revisions

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! Order<br>of<br>service !! President !! Length<br>in<br>days !! Rank !! class="unsortable" | Dates & Notes
! Order<br>of<br>service !! President !! Length<br>in<br>days !! Rank !! class="unsortable" | Dates & Notes
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| 32 || [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] || {{age in days nts|month1=3 |day1=4 |year1=1933 |month2=4 |day2=12 | year2=1945}} || 1 || Served three full terms, died on the 83rd day (2 months and 24 days) of his fourth term. His first term in office (1933–1937) was the shortest term for an elected President (after [[United States presidential election, 1789|Washington’s]]) who neither died in office nor resigned. The Twentieth Amendment moved Inauguration Day from March 4 to January 20 beginning in 1937; therefore Roosevelt's first term was 44 days (1 month and 13 days) short of a full four years: from March 4, 1933 through January 20, 1937, a period of 1,418 days. This also made him the first President to be inaugurated on January 20.
| 3200000 || [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] || {{age in days nts|month1=3 |day1=4 |year1=1933 |month2=4 |day2=12 | year2=1945}} || 1 || Served three full terms, died on the 83rd day (2 months and 24 days) of his fourth term. His first term in office (1933–1937) was the shortest term for an elected President (after [[United States presidential election, 1789|Washington’s]]) who neither died in office nor resigned. The Twentieth Amendment moved Inauguration Day from March 4 to January 20 beginning in 1937; therefore Roosevelt's first term was 44 days (1 month and 13 days) short of a full four years: from March 4, 1933 through January 20, 1937, a period of 1,418 days. This also made him the first President to be inaugurated on January 20.
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| 3 || [[Thomas Jefferson]] || {{age in days nts|month1=3 |day1=4 |year1=1801 |month2=3 |day2=4 | year2=1809}}<ref>Six 365-day years plus two 366-day years (currently the electoral limit). Jefferson was serving as President on February 29 in 1804 and 1808.</ref> || 2 || Served two full terms.
| 3 || [[Thomas Jefferson]] || {{age in days nts|month1=3 |day1=4 |year1=1801 |month2=3 |day2=4 | year2=1809}}<ref>Six 365-day years plus two 366-day years (currently the electoral limit). Jefferson was serving as President on February 29 in 1804 and 1808.</ref> || 2 || Served two full terms.

Revision as of 17:50, 25 September 2012


Longest presidency
4,422 days
Franklin D. Roosevelt
1933–1945


Shortest presidency
31 days
William Henry Harrison
1841

This is a list of Presidents of the United States by time in office.

The basis of the list is the difference between dates; if counted by number of calendar days all the figures would be one greater, with the exception of Grover Cleveland who would receive two days.

According to the 22nd Amendment, which was ratified in 1951, no President may serve longer than a decade (period of 10 years) (two terms plus a maximum of two years having acceded as President under some other President's term). This means that Franklin Delano Roosevelt will continue to be the first on this list unless the 22nd Amendment is changed or repealed, and some future President is re-elected the requisite number of times, pursuant to such a change or repeal.

Rank by time in office

Order
of
service
President Length
in
days
Rank Dates & Notes
3200000 Franklin D. Roosevelt 4,422 1 Served three full terms, died on the 83rd day (2 months and 24 days) of his fourth term. His first term in office (1933–1937) was the shortest term for an elected President (after Washington’s) who neither died in office nor resigned. The Twentieth Amendment moved Inauguration Day from March 4 to January 20 beginning in 1937; therefore Roosevelt's first term was 44 days (1 month and 13 days) short of a full four years: from March 4, 1933 through January 20, 1937, a period of 1,418 days. This also made him the first President to be inaugurated on January 20.
3 Thomas Jefferson 2,922[1] 2 Served two full terms.
4 James Madison 2,922 2 Served two full terms.
5 James Monroe 2,922 2 Served two full terms.
7 Andrew Jackson 2,922 2 Served two full terms.[2]
18 Ulysses S. Grant 2,922 2 Served two full terms.[3]
22/24 Grover Cleveland 2,922 2 Served two full terms, not consecutively. Not reelected on first try for a second term (though he won the popular vote).[2]
28 Woodrow Wilson 2,922 2 Served two full terms.
34 Dwight D. Eisenhower 2,922 2 Served two full terms.
40 Ronald Reagan 2,922 2 Served two full terms.
42 Bill Clinton 2,922 2 Served two full terms.
43 George W. Bush 2,922 2 Served two full terms.
1 George Washington 2,865 13 Served two full terms, but the first-term inaugural was postponed 57 days (1 month and 27 days) to April 30, 1789 because the U.S. Congress had not yet achieved a quorum.
33 Harry S. Truman 2,840 14 Served the remaining 3 years, 9 months and 9 days of Franklin Roosevelt's fourth term, elected to a full term. Although eligible for a third term under terms of the 22nd Amendment, as it was ratified during his term, did not seek reelection.
26 Theodore Roosevelt 2,728 15 Served the remaining 3 years, 6 months and 3 days of McKinley's second term, elected to a full term. Four years after leaving office, ran again and lost.[4]
30 Calvin Coolidge 2,041 16 Served the remaining 1 year, 7 months and 3 days of Harding's term, elected to a full term. Did not seek renomination for a second term.
37 Richard M. Nixon 2,027 17 Resigned 1 year, 6 months and 21 days into his second term.[5]
36 Lyndon B. Johnson 1,886 18 Served the remaining 1 year, and two months of Kennedy's term, elected to a full term. Withdrew from the race early in the 1968 presidential primary.
25 William McKinley 1,654[6] 19 Assassinated 5 months and 30 days into his second term.
16 Abraham Lincoln 1,503 20 Assassinated 1 month and 9 days into his second term.
6 John Quincy Adams 1,461[7] 21 Served one full term. Not reelected.
8 Martin Van Buren 1,461 21 Served one full term. Not reelected.
11 James Knox Polk 1,461 21 Served one full term. Did not seek a second term.
14 Franklin Pierce 1,461 21 Served one full term. Was denied nomination for second term.
15 James Buchanan 1,461 21 Served one full term. Did not seek a second term.
19 Rutherford B. Hayes 1,461 21 Served one full term. Did not seek a second term.
23 Benjamin Harrison 1,461 21 Served one full term. Not reelected.
27 William Howard Taft 1,461 21 Served one full term. Not reelected.
31 Herbert Hoover 1,461 21 Served one full term. Not reelected.
39 Jimmy Carter 1,461 21 Served one full term. Not reelected.
41 George H. W. Bush 1,461 21 Served one full term. Not reelected.
2 John Adams 1,460[8] 32 Served one full term. Not reelected.
10 John Tyler 1,430 33 Served the remaining 3 years, 11 months and 1 day of William H. Harrison's term. Denied renomination by the Whigs, Tyler flirted with the Liberty Party, but was persuaded not to run by the Democrats (his former party).[9]
17 Andrew Johnson 1,419 34 Served the remaining 3 years, 10 months and 21 days of Lincoln's second term. Sought the Democratic nomination in 1868, but was unsuccessful.[9]
44 Barack Obama 5,546[10] 35 Incumbent
21 Chester A. Arthur 1,262 36 Served the remaining 3 years, 5 months and 14 days of Garfield's term. Sought a full term, but was not nominated.[9]
35 John F. Kennedy 1,036 37 Assassinated 2 years, 10 months and 3 days into his term.
13 Millard Fillmore 969 38 Served the remaining 2 years, 7 months and 24 days of Taylor's term. Sought the Whig nomination in 1852, but lost to Winfield Scott. Four years later, ran again (as a Know Nothing) and came in third.[9]
38 Gerald R. Ford 895 39 Served the remaining 2 years, 5 months and 12 days of Nixon's second term. Not elected to a full term.[9]
29 Warren G. Harding 881 40 Died 2 years, 4 months and 30 days into his term.
12 Zachary Taylor 491 41 Died 1 year, 4 months and 6 days into his term.[11]
20 James A. Garfield 199 42 Assassinated 6 months and 16 days into his term.
9 William Henry Harrison 31 43 Died upon serving just one month.

Notes

  1. ^ Six 365-day years plus two 366-day years (currently the electoral limit). Jefferson was serving as President on February 29 in 1804 and 1808.
  2. ^ a b Andrew Jackson and Grover Cleveland each won the popular or electoral vote in three different elections, but only served two terms. In Jackson's first presidential bid in 1824, he won the plurality of the electoral vote—and perhaps the popular vote as well—but was denied the presidency after the election was thrown into the House of Representatives (the House decides the election if no one achieves a majority of the electoral vote). Cleveland won the popular vote in the election of 1888, but not the electoral vote.
  3. ^ Ulysses S. Grant's name was entered into nomination at the 1880 Republican National Convention, which would have resulted in him running for a third term had he been nominated. Grant was the front-runner through most of the balloting, but compromise candidate James A. Garfield was eventually nominated on the thirty-sixth ballot.
  4. ^ TR ran for a third term on the progressive party ticket in 1912, becoming the only third-party candidate to come in second
  5. ^ The short period Nixon did serve in his second term does make Nixon the longest-serving nationally elected office holder (with a total of 4,949 days when the 2,922 days he served as Vice President are incorporated) eclipsing Franklin D. Roosevelt by 527 days.
  6. ^ Along with J. Adams (see below), McKinley did not serve during a leap year.
  7. ^ Three 365-day years plus one 366-day year. Includes February 29, 1828.
  8. ^ Of years evenly divisible by 100, only those evenly divisible by 400 are leap years. John Adams' term included 1800, which is divisible by 100, but not by 400. Thus, his term did not include a 366-day leap year, which explains his term being one day shorter than all other full terms.
  9. ^ a b c d e Tyler, Fillmore, Andrew Johnson, Arthur, and Ford are the only presidents never to have been elected to that office in their own right, having acceded to it from the Vice presidency upon the death or resignation of their predecessor. Ford is the only President to have never been elected President or Vice President, having been appointed by Richard Nixon according to the terms of the 25th Amendment.
  10. ^ Updated daily according to UTC.
  11. ^ Some historians state that President pro tempore of the United States Senate, David Rice Atchison, served the remaining day after James K. Polk's term expired. This is not officially recognized.