| George Washington |
1 |
1732 |
1799 |
1789-97 |
No party |
Led the United States to victory over England in the War of Independence (1775-83) before being elected as the first of the US Presidents. |
John Adams |
| John Adams |
2 |
1735 |
1826 |
1797-1801 |
Federalist |
Asserted his will in his party and thus prevented a war against France who had provoked one with attacks by French pirates. |
Thomas Jefferson |
| Thomas Jefferson |
3 |
1743 |
1826 |
1801-09 |
Democrat |
A flawless Democrat who in 1803 almost doubled the land size of the USA through the purchase of Louisiana (for $15 mio). |
Aaron Burr & George Clinton |
|
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| James Madison |
4 |
1751 |
1836 |
1809-17 |
Democrat |
Waged war in 1812-14 against England but had to flee Washington after British troops took the city and burned it down. |
George Clinton & Elbridge Gerry |
| James Monroe |
5 |
1758 |
1831 |
1817-25 |
Democrat |
Purchased Florida from Spain for $ 5 mio in 1819. Introduced the so-called “Monroe Doctrine” in 1823 declaring the independence of all US states against “old Europe” and non-interference in European conflicts. |
Daniel D. Tompkins |
| John Quincy Adams |
6 |
1767 |
1848 |
1825-29 |
No party |
Attempted to introduce a civil service against the will of the people and the Senate which was understandably doomed to failure. |
John C. Calhoun |
| Andrew Jackson |
7 |
1767 |
1845 |
1829-37 |
Democrat |
A general before becoming president, he triumphed in the Battle of New Orleans against superior British troops in January 1815, unaware that the “Treaty of Ghent” had been agreed in 1814. |
John C. Calhoun & Martin Van Buren |
| Martin Van Buren |
8 |
1782 |
1862 |
1837-41 |
Democrat |
Prevented the spread of slavery and declined the accession of Texas to the Union fearing it would trigger a war with Mexico. |
Richard Johnson |
| William Harrison |
9 |
1773 |
1841 |
1841 |
Whig |
Died of pneumonia just 1 month after taking office. |
John Tyler |
| John Tyler |
10 |
1790 |
1862 |
1841-45 |
Whig |
Annexed Texas and successfully admitted it to the union in 1845. Texas had been independent of Mexico since 1836. |
Vacant |
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|
| James Knox Polk |
11 |
1795 |
1849 |
1845-49 |
Democrat |
Specified the 49° latitude as the border between the US and Canada in 1846, waged war against Mexico (1846-48) then subsequently purchased land areas of Mexico for $15 m which later became California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado. |
George M. Dallas |
| Zachary Taylor |
12 |
1784 |
1850 |
1849-50 |
Whig |
Taylor, a conservative, himself owned slaves but he switched to the Whigs and fought against slavery. Adopted the slave-free California into the Union and died a short time later of cholera. |
Milliard Fillmore |
| Millard Fillmore |
13 |
1800 |
1874 |
1850-53 |
Whig |
Searched for an ideal solution to the slave conflict between North and South but ended up causing greater alienation between the parties. |
Vacant |
| Franklin Pierce |
14 |
1804 |
1869 |
1853-57 |
Democrat |
Also tried to prevent the impending civil war, but found no way of appeasing the South. Paid in the “Gadsden Purchase” $10 m for parts of Arizona and New Mexico. |
William R. King |
| James Buchanan |
15 |
1791 |
1868 |
1857-61 |
Democrat |
Was against slavery, yet supported the accession to the union of slave state Kansas. Was unable to prevent 7 southern states banding together to form the self-governing Confederacy of Confederate States. |
John C. Breckinridge |
| Abraham Lincoln |
16 |
1809 |
1865 |
1861-65 |
Republican |
The unavoidable occurred – four more states joined the Confederacy and the American Civil War began with the attack by the South on Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina on 12 April 1861. By 1865, numerous and costly battles took place, among others in Gettysburg (1-3 July 1863) where the Southern General Robert E. Lee lost. On 9 April 1865 Lee was definitively defeated, ending the war. 5 days later Lincoln was shot dead in a theater, the first of four US presidents to have been assassinated while in office. |
Hannibal Hamlin & Andrew Johnson |
| Jefferson Davis |
|
1808 |
1889 |
1861-65 |
|
President of the southern Confederate States of America during the American Civil War 1861-1865 and is not considered one of the official US Presidents. |
Alexander H. Stephens |
| Andrew Johnson |
17 |
1808 |
1875 |
1865-69 |
Democrat |
Angered by his conciliatory course towards the defeated South, the Republicans launched impeachment proceedings against him. In vain – they failed by just one vote. Purchased Alaska for $ 7.2 m from Russia. |
Vacant |
| Ulysses S. Grant |
18 |
1822 |
1885 |
1869-77 |
Republican |
Grant was a victorious general in the Civil War and accompanied the reconstruction of the united country. In 1870 he gave black males the vote. His general George Custer was crushingly defeated at the Battle of Little Big Horn (June 25, 1876) by Sioux and Cheyenne Indians led by Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse. |
Schulyer Colfax & Henry Wilson |
| Rutherford B. Hayes |
19 |
1822 |
1893 |
1877-81 |
Republican |
Withdrew the last union troops from the south in 1877 thus completing the reunion. |
William A. Wheeler |
| James A. Garfield |
20 |
1831 |
1881 |
1881 |
Republican |
The second of four US presidents to have been killed by gunshot in office. Shot just four months after taking office by Charles Guiteau. He died shortly afterwards from the consequences. |
Chester A. Arthur |
| Chester A. Arthur |
21 |
1830 |
1886 |
1881-85 |
Republican |
Reformed the civil service in a fight against corruption in 1883. |
Vacant |
| Grover Cleveland |
22 |
1837 |
1908 |
1885-89 |
Democrat |
Founded the Trade Commission to nationalize the railways of individual US states. Ended the war against the Apaches in 1886 with the arrest of their chief Geronimo. |
Thomas Hendricks |
|
| Benjamin Harrison |
23 |
1833 |
1901 |
1889-93 |
Republican |
Successfully combated the formation of industry monopolies with the help of the so-called anti-trust law. Ended the Indian Wars in 1890 through the carnage at “Wounded Knee” in South Dakota. |
Levin P. Morton |
| Grover Cleveland |
24 |
1837 |
1908 |
1893-97 |
Democrat |
The only US president ever to hold office twice with a break between terms. Led the country through the fierce economic crisis of 1893. |
Adlai E. Stevenson |
| William McKinley |
25 |
1843 |
-1901 |
1897-1901 |
Republican |
Battle for Cuba and war against Spain (1898), which was suspected to have caused the explosion aboard the battleship “Maine”. After defeating Cuba it was occupied by the military. Spain was forced to cede Puerto Rico and Guam and sell the Philippines to the US for $20 m. McKinley also took Hawaii into the Union in 1898. The third of four US presidents to have been assassinated in office in 1901. |
Garret Hobart & Theodore Roosevelt |
| Theodore Roosevelt |
26 |
1858 |
1919 |
1901-09 |
Republican |
Supported a rebellion in Panama in order to purchase the land required for the construction of the Panama Canal which Colombia had refused him. Roosevelt stood for a hard but successful foreign policy. In 1906 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for contributing significantly to the end of the Russo-Japanese War. |
Charles W. Fairbanks |
| William H. Taft |
27 |
1857 |
1930 |
1909-13 |
Republican |
Passed an act in 1913 making a national income tax possible. Took Arizona and New Mexico into the Union. |
James S. Sherman |
| Woodrow Wilson |
28 |
1856 |
1924 |
1913-21 |
Democrat |
Fough against child labor, gave women the right to vote and re-regulated legal working hours. Wanted to remain neutral in the first World War but was forced to declare war on Germany on 4 June 1917 after German U-boat attacks. Wilson also vainly attempted wanted to prevent the 1920 Prohibition (ban on alcohol). |
Thomas R. Marshall |
| Warren G. Harding |
29 |
1865 |
1923 |
1921-23 |
Republican |
In order to combat the high unemployment of the post-war period, in 1921 he set a fixed immigration quota for the first time ever. After his death, various corruption scandals came to light. |
Calvin Coolidge |
| Calvin Coolidge |
30 |
1872 |
1933 |
1921-29 |
Republican |
Was very entrepreneur-friendly, lowered their taxes but forced the government to save. |
Charles G. Dawes |
| Herbert C. Hoover |
31 |
1874 |
1964 |
1929-33 |
Republican |
Had his hands full with the 1929 stock market crash (Black Thursday) on 24 October (known in Europe as Black Friday), which he managed inadequately with 15 million unemployed. |
Charles Curtis |
| Franklin D. Roosevelt |
32 |
1882 |
1945 |
1933-45 |
Democrat |
The only US president to be in office for longer than 8 years. He demonstrated greater economic understanding than his predecessor and cranked up the economy with the use of government funds (New Deal). In 1941, he led America into the Second World War, but already planned the founding of the UN for the time after. He died just before war end (12 April 1945) of a cerebral hemorrhage. |
John N. Garner, Henry A. Wallace & Harry S. Truman |
| Harry S. Truman |
33 |
1884 |
1972 |
1945-53 |
Democrat |
Made good but also deadly decisions. On the one hand, supported the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe and founded NATO. On the other hand, authorized the dropping of atomic bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima, led the US into the Korean War and triggered a “witch hunt” of alleged communists in his own country (containment). |
Alban W. Barkley |
| Dwight D. Eisenhower |
34 |
1890 |
1969 |
1953-61 |
Republican |
The Supreme Commander of the Allies first finished the Korean War and tried but failed to reduce tensions with Russia in the “Cold War”. Admitted Alaska and Hawaii as US States in 1959. |
Richard Nixon |
| John F. Kennedy |
35 |
1917 |
1963 |
1961-63 |
Democrat |
Gave the order in 1961 for the unsuccessful invasion of Cuba (“Bay of Pigs” incident), forced the Soviets to withdraw all nuclear missiles stationed in Cuba with a naval blockade in 1962, and signed an agreement with the UK and Russia to stop nuclear weapons tests in 1963. Hopefully the last of four US presidents to have been assassinated while in office. JFK was shot and killed on 22nd November 1963 in Dallas. |
Lyndon B. Johnson |
| Lyndon B. Johnson |
36 |
1908 |
1973 |
1963-69 |
Democrat |
Put some of the laws designed by Kennedy into practice, i.e. he fought against poverty, gave blacks new civil and voting rights. Sent the first troops to Saigon in 1965 to support the South during the Vietnam War until 1973. |
Hubert H. Humphrey |
| Richard M. Nixon |
37 |
1913 |
1994 |
1969-74 |
Republican |
Ended the Vietnam War in 1973, concluded the SALT armament control treaty with the Soviets and approved the admission of China to the UN. With these measures alone he reduced East-West tensions. Forced to step down in 1974 after the “Watergate Affair” (unauthorized spying on the campaign trail 1972). Of all the US presidents so far, he’s the only one to resign. |
Spiro Agnew & Gerald Ford |
| Gerald R. Ford |
38 |
1913 |
2006 |
1974-77 |
Republican |
Ford took office shortly before the recession of 1975 with 8.5 million unemployed, an oil crisis and high inflation rate. Supported détente with the signing of the CSCE Helsinki Accords. |
Nelson Rockefeller |
| James „Jimmy“ Carter |
39 |
1924 |
|
1977-81 |
Democrat |
After the war with Vietnam was lost Carter, inexperienced in foreign policy, took office. He tried to uplift the country morally and economically but failed. The “Peanut Farmer” succeeded in initiating the Middle East peace talks at Camp David. |
Walter Mondale |
| Ronald W. Reagan |
40 |
1911 |
2004 |
1981-89 |
Republican |
The former movie actor increased the national debt by tax cuts and interest rate increases. A hawk in foreign policy, he initiated a military buildup with the NATO “double-track” decision. Ordered attacks on Grenada (1983) and Gaddafi (1986). Reagan was severely injured in an assassination attempt in 1981. |
George Bush |
| George Bush |
41 |
1924 |
|
1989-93 |
Republican |
George Bush was one of the few US presidents with foreign policy experience but this didn’t prevent him from going to war: in 1989 in Panama against Noriega and in 1990-1991 against Iraq (to liberate Kuwait). He broke his election promise (“no new taxes”) losing credibility in his own country doing so. |
Dan Quayle |
| William „Bill“ Clinton |
42 |
1946 |
|
1993-01 |
Democrat |
The professor of law reduced the budget deficit left by his predecessors, created new jobs and modernized the education system. His sex incident (with Monica Lewinsky) resulted in an impeachment but failed. |
Al Gore |
| George W. Bush |
43 |
1946 |
|
2001-09 |
Republican |
His tenure began with the biggest terrorist of all time, the attacks of 11 September 2001. As a result, he declared “war on terrorism”, marched into Afghanistan (7 Oct 2001) and then in March 2003 into Iraq. The domestically controversial Bush failed to shine during Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and finished his term with a major economic crisis. |
Dick Cheney |
| Barack Obama |
44 |
1961 |
|
Since 2009 |
Democrat |
The lawyer and Nobel Peace Prize winner (2009) is the first black US president in office. With the slogan “Yes we can” and with the help of the Internet, he won the election against McCain. Obama’s policy promotes peace, disarmament and social justice. Many of his campaign promises were voted out by the Republican dominated Senate. |
Joe Biden |