List of Presidents of the United States by time in office

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

William Henry Harrison daguerreotype edit.jpg
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 more than two terms plus a maximum of two years having acceded as President under some other President's term (or more than one term following more than two years having acceded under some other President's term). This means it is likely that Franklin Delano Roosevelt will continue to be the first on this list unless the 22nd Amendment is changed or repealed and some future President is re-elected the requisite number of times pursuant to such a change or repeal.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 Notes&dates
32 Franklin D. Roosevelt Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. 1 Served three full terms, died on the 83rd day (2 months and 24 days) of his fourth term.[1]
3 Thomas Jefferson Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. 2 Served two full terms.
4 James Madison Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. 2 Served two full terms.
5 James Monroe Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. 2 Served two full terms.
7 Andrew Jackson Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. 2 Served two full terms.
18 Ulysses S. Grant Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. 2 Served two full terms.
22/24 Grover Cleveland 2,922 2 Served two full terms non-consecutively.
28 Woodrow Wilson Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. 2 Served two full terms.
34 Dwight D. Eisenhower Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. 2 Served two full terms.
40 Ronald Reagan Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. 2 Served two full terms.
42 Bill Clinton Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. 2 Served two full terms.
43 George W. Bush Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. 2 Served two full terms.
1 George Washington Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. 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 Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. 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 re-election.
26 Theodore Roosevelt Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. 15 Served the remaining 3 years, 6 months and 3 days of McKinley's second term. Elected to a full term. Did not seek reelection in 1908. In 1912, he was defeated for another term as president.
44 Barack Obama Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. 16 Incumbent. Began second term on January 20, 2013. Accurate as of 28 March 2024.[2]
30 Calvin Coolidge Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. 17 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 full term.
37 Richard M. Nixon Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. 18 Resigned 1 year, 6 months and 21 days into his second term.[3]
36 Lyndon B. Johnson Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. 19 Served the remaining 1 year, and 2 months of Kennedy's term. Elected to a full term. Withdrew from the race for renomination.
25 William McKinley 1,654 20 Assassinated 6 months and 2 days into his second term; died 8 days after being shot (194 days into his second term). First term was one day shorter than a normal term due to leap days.[4]
16 Abraham Lincoln 1,503 21 Assassinated 1 month and 11 days into his second term.
6 John Quincy Adams 1,461 22 Served one full term. Not re-elected.
8 Martin Van Buren 1,461 22 Served one full term. Not re-elected.
11 James Knox Polk 1,461 22 Served one full term. Did not seek a second term.
14 Franklin Pierce 1,461 22 Served one full term. Not renominated.
15 James Buchanan 1,461 22 Served one full term. Did not seek a second term.
19 Rutherford B. Hayes 1,461 22 Served one full term. Did not seek a second term.
23 Benjamin Harrison 1,461 22 Served one full term. Not re-elected.
27 William Howard Taft 1,461 22 Served one full term. Not re-elected.
31 Herbert Hoover 1,461 22 Served one full term. Not re-elected.
39 Jimmy Carter 1,461 22 Served one full term. Not re-elected.
41 George H. W. Bush 1,461 22 Served one full term. Not re-elected.
2 John Adams 1,460 33 Served one full term. Not re-elected. Term was one day shorter than a normal term due to leap days.[4]
10 John Tyler 1,430 34 Served the remaining 3 years, 11 months and 1 day of William H. Harrison's term. Not renominated.
17 Andrew Johnson 1,419 35 Served the remaining 3 years, 10 months and 21 days of Lincoln's second term. Not renominated.
21 Chester A. Arthur 1,262 36 Served the remaining 3 years, 5 months and 14 days of Garfield's term. Not renominated.
35 John F. Kennedy 1,036 37 Assassinated 2 years, 10 months and 2 days into his term.
13 Millard Fillmore 969 38 Served the remaining 2 years, 7 months and 24 days of Taylor's term. Not renominated.
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.
29 Warren G. Harding 881 40 Died 2 years, 4 months and 30 days into his term.
12 Zachary Taylor 492 41 Died 1 year, 4 months and 6 days into his term.
20 James A. Garfield 199 42 Assassinated 120 days into his term, and died on the 80th day after the shooting (6 months and 16 days into his term, which totaled 200 days).
9 William Henry Harrison 31 43 Died upon serving just one month.

Notes

  1. 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 43 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.
  2. Updated daily according to UTC.
  3. The short period Nixon did serve in his second term makes Nixon the longest combined service as president and vice president with a total of 4,949 days (2,922 days as vice president), eclipsing Franklin D. Roosevelt by 527 days.
  4. 4.0 4.1 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. Thus, John Adams's term and McKinley's first term did not include a 366-day leap year, so those terms were one day shorter than all other full terms. The year 2000 is divisible by 400, so Bill Clinton served regular-length terms.