List of presidents of the United States by time in office

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]

Longest presidency	Shortest presidency
Franklin D. Roosevelt 4,422 days (1933–1945)	William Henry Harrison 31 days (1841)

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 limitation.

Grover Cleveland is currently 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. It is anticipated that Donald Trump will become the second to do so upon his inauguration on January 20, 2025.

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	Succeeded to 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	Succeeded to 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	Succeeded to 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	Succeeded to 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	Succeeded to one partial term (3 years and 11 months)
36	Andrew Johnson	1,419	17th • April 15, 1865[h] – March 4, 1869	Succeeded to one partial term (3 years, 10 months, and 17 days)
37	Joe Biden	1,390[l]	46th • January 20, 2021 – Incumbent	Currently serving
38	Chester A. Arthur	1,262	21st • September 19, 1881[h] – March 4, 1885	Succeeded to one partial term (3 years, 5 months, and 13 days)
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	Succeeded to one partial term (2 years, 7 months, and 23 days)
41	Gerald Ford	895	38th • August 9, 1974[h] – January 20, 1977	Succeeded to one partial term (2 years, 5 months, and 11 days)[m]
42	Warren G. Harding	881	29th • March 4, 1921 – August 2, 1923[c]	One partial term; Died 2 years, 4 months, and 29 days into term
43	Zachary Taylor	492	12th • March 4, 1849 – July 9, 1850[c]	One partial term; 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]	One partial term; Died 31 days into term

Notes

1. 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. 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. 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. 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 November 10, 2024
13. Sought election to a full term in 1976, but was defeated.

See also

• List of vice presidents of the United States by time in office

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. 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.

External links

• Millercenter.org, American President: A Reference Resource
• Whitehouse.gov, The Presidents