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List of presidents of the United States by time in office
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The length of a full four-year term of office for a president of the United States usually amounts to 1,461 days (three common years of 365 days plus one leap year of 366 days). The listed number of days is calculated as the difference between dates, which counts the number of calendar days except the first day (day zero). If the first day were 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 |
Of the individuals elected president, 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 and Donald Trump were voted out of office after one term, but they were later elected to a second non-consecutive term. Consequently, while there have been 47 presidencies in the nation's history, only 45 people have been sworn into office.
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Presidents by time in office
Notes
- Of years evenly divisible by 100, only those also 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Incumbent president who was defeated for a second consecutive full term, but would win a second non-consecutive term in a later presidential election.
- 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.
- 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.
- Incumbent president who sought a second consecutive full term, but was defeated either for renomination or in a presidential election.
- 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.
- Initially sought a second consecutive term but withdrew his candidacy after winning the Democratic Party primaries.
- Sought election to a full term twice, first in 1852, but was defeated for renomination at the Whig National Convention, and then again in 1856 on the American (Know Nothing) ticket, but was defeated.
- Sought election to a full term in 1976, but was defeated.
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