United States Presidents

George Washington

1st President (1789–1797), No Party (Federalist-leaning), Virginia Dynasty / Early Republic; Foreign Policy: neutrality (Neutrality Proclamation 1793), Domestic Policy: strong federal government (Hamiltonian economic plan); Major Actions: established Cabinet system (1789), suppressed Whiskey Rebellion (1794), issued Farewell Address warning against parties/alliances (1796)

John Adams

2nd President (1797–1801), Federalist, Federalist Era; Foreign Policy: avoided war with France (Quasi-War 1798–1800), Domestic Policy: strong central authority; Major Actions: XYZ Affair (1797), Alien and Sedition Acts (1798), Midnight Judges / Judiciary Act (1801)

Thomas Jefferson

3rd President (1801–1809), Democratic-Republican, Jeffersonian Democracy; Foreign Policy: expansionism (Louisiana Purchase), Domestic Policy: limited government, agrarianism; Major Actions: Louisiana Purchase (1803), Embargo Act (1807), Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804–1806)

James Madison

4th President (1809–1817), Democratic-Republican, War of 1812 Era; Foreign Policy: war with Britain, Domestic Policy: strengthened federal authority during war; Major Actions: War of 1812 (1812–1815), Burning of Washington (1814), Hartford Convention fallout (1815)

James Monroe

5th President (1817–1825), Democratic-Republican, Era of Good Feelings; Foreign Policy: Monroe Doctrine (1823), Domestic Policy: nationalism; Major Actions: Missouri Compromise (1820), Monroe Doctrine (1823), acquisition of Florida via Adams-Onís Treaty (1819)

John Quincy Adams

6th President (1825–1829), Democratic-Republican/National Republican, Corrupt Bargain Era; Foreign Policy: nationalist diplomacy, Domestic Policy: internal improvements; Major Actions: “Corrupt Bargain” election (1824), American System support, Tariff of Abominations (1828)

Andrew Jackson

7th President (1829–1837), Democrat, Jacksonian Democracy; Foreign Policy: limited, Domestic Policy: populism, executive power expansion; Major Actions: Indian Removal Act (1830), Bank War (1832), Nullification Crisis (1832–1833)

Martin Van Buren

8th President (1837–1841), Democrat, Jacksonian Democracy; Foreign Policy: avoided conflicts, Domestic Policy: laissez-faire; Major Actions: Panic of 1837, Independent Treasury System (1840), continued Indian removal policies

William Henry Harrison

9th President (1841), Whig, Antebellum; Foreign Policy: none significant, Domestic Policy: Whig agenda planned; Major Actions: shortest presidency (died 1841), symbol of common man campaign (1840), Tippecanoe legacy

John Tyler

10th President (1841–1845), Whig (expelled), Antebellum; Foreign Policy: expansionism, Domestic Policy: states’ rights; Major Actions: annexation of Texas (1845), vetoed national bank bills, Webster-Ashburton Treaty (1842)

James K. Polk

11th President (1845–1849), Democrat, Manifest Destiny; Foreign Policy: expansionism, Domestic Policy: territorial growth; Major Actions: Mexican-American War (1846–1848), Oregon Treaty (1846), acquisition of Southwest (Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo 1848)

Zachary Taylor

12th President (1849–1850), Whig, Sectional Crisis; Foreign Policy: minimal, Domestic Policy: anti-expansion of slavery; Major Actions: opposed Compromise of 1850, California statehood debate, died in office (1850)

Millard Fillmore

13th President (1850–1853), Whig, Sectional Crisis; Foreign Policy: opening Japan, Domestic Policy: compromise; Major Actions: Compromise of 1850, Fugitive Slave Act (1850), Perry Expedition groundwork

Franklin Pierce

14th President (1853–1857), Democrat, Sectional Crisis; Foreign Policy: expansionism, Domestic Policy: pro-Southern; Major Actions: Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854), Bleeding Kansas, Gadsden Purchase (1853)

James Buchanan

15th President (1857–1861), Democrat, Sectional Crisis; Foreign Policy: limited, Domestic Policy: pro-slavery stance; Major Actions: Dred Scott decision support (1857), failure to stop secession (1860–1861), Lecompton Constitution controversy

Abraham Lincoln

16th President (1861–1865), Republican, Civil War; Foreign Policy: prevent European recognition of Confederacy, Domestic Policy: preserve Union; Major Actions: Emancipation Proclamation (1863), Civil War leadership (1861–1865), Gettysburg Address (1863)

Andrew Johnson

17th President (1865–1869), Democrat, Reconstruction; Foreign Policy: purchase Alaska, Domestic Policy: lenient Reconstruction; Major Actions: Reconstruction conflicts, vetoed Civil Rights Act (1866), impeached (1868)

Ulysses S. Grant

18th President (1869–1877), Republican, Reconstruction; Foreign Policy: peaceful arbitration, Domestic Policy: civil rights enforcement; Major Actions: Enforcement Acts (1870–1871), Ku Klux Klan suppression, Credit Mobilier scandal

Rutherford B. Hayes

19th President (1877–1881), Republican, End of Reconstruction; Foreign Policy: neutrality, Domestic Policy: reform; Major Actions: Compromise of 1877, ended Reconstruction, civil service reform efforts

James Garfield

20th President (1881), Republican, Gilded Age; Foreign Policy: limited, Domestic Policy: reform; Major Actions: civil service reform advocacy, assassinated (1881), fought patronage system

Chester A. Arthur

21st President (1881–1885), Republican, Gilded Age; Foreign Policy: modernization, Domestic Policy: reform; Major Actions: Pendleton Civil Service Act (1883), naval modernization, Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)

Grover Cleveland

22nd President (1885–1889), Democrat, Gilded Age; Foreign Policy: anti-imperialism, Domestic Policy: limited government; Major Actions: Interstate Commerce Act (1887), vetoed pensions, fought corruption

Benjamin Harrison

23rd President (1889–1893), Republican, Gilded Age; Foreign Policy: expansionism, Domestic Policy: economic regulation; Major Actions: Sherman Antitrust Act (1890), McKinley Tariff (1890), admitted western states

Grover Cleveland

24th President (1893–1897), Democrat, Gilded Age; Foreign Policy: anti-imperialism, Domestic Policy: economic conservatism; Major Actions: Panic of 1893, Pullman Strike (1894), repeal of Sherman Silver Purchase Act

William McKinley

25th President (1897–1901), Republican, Imperialism; Foreign Policy: expansionism, Domestic Policy: pro-business; Major Actions: Spanish-American War (1898), annexation of Philippines, Hawaii annexed (1898)

Theodore Roosevelt

26th President (1901–1909), Republican, Progressive Era; Foreign Policy: Big Stick diplomacy, Domestic Policy: trust-busting; Major Actions: Panama Canal (1904), Square Deal reforms, Northern Securities case (1904)

William Howard Taft

27th President (1909–1913), Republican, Progressive Era; Foreign Policy: Dollar Diplomacy, Domestic Policy: trust regulation; Major Actions: trust prosecutions, Payne-Aldrich Tariff (1909), split Republican Party

Woodrow Wilson

28th President (1913–1921), Democrat, Progressive Era / WWI; Foreign Policy: moral diplomacy, Domestic Policy: reform; Major Actions: Federal Reserve Act (1913), WWI leadership (1917–1918), League of Nations proposal (1919)

Warren G. Harding

29th President (1921–1923), Republican, Roaring Twenties; Foreign Policy: isolationism, Domestic Policy: pro-business; Major Actions: Teapot Dome scandal, Washington Naval Conference (1921), tax cuts

Calvin Coolidge

30th President (1923–1929), Republican, Roaring Twenties; Foreign Policy: isolationism, Domestic Policy: laissez-faire; Major Actions: economic prosperity, Kellogg-Briand Pact (1928), limited regulation

Herbert Hoover

31st President (1929–1933), Republican, Great Depression; Foreign Policy: limited, Domestic Policy: voluntarism; Major Actions: Great Depression response, Hoovervilles, Smoot-Hawley Tariff (1930)

Franklin D. Roosevelt

32nd President (1933–1945), Democrat, New Deal / WWII; Foreign Policy: interventionism, Domestic Policy: New Deal; Major Actions: New Deal programs (1933–1939), WWII leadership (1941–1945), Social Security Act (1935)

Harry S. Truman

33rd President (1945–1953), Democrat, Early Cold War; Foreign Policy: containment, Domestic Policy: Fair Deal; Major Actions: atomic bombs on Japan (1945), Truman Doctrine (1947), Marshall Plan (1948)

Dwight D. Eisenhower

34th President (1953–1961), Republican, Cold War; Foreign Policy: containment, Domestic Policy: moderate conservatism; Major Actions: Interstate Highway Act (1956), Eisenhower Doctrine (1957), Brown v. Board enforcement (1954)

John F. Kennedy

35th President (1961–1963), Democrat, Cold War / New Frontier; Foreign Policy: containment, Domestic Policy: civil rights beginnings; Major Actions: Cuban Missile Crisis (1962), Bay of Pigs (1961), space race expansion

Lyndon B. Johnson

36th President (1963–1969), Democrat, Great Society; Foreign Policy: Vietnam escalation, Domestic Policy: civil rights; Major Actions: Civil Rights Act (1964), Voting Rights Act (1965), Medicare/Medicaid (1965)

Richard M. Nixon

37th President (1969–1974), Republican, Cold War / Détente; Foreign Policy: détente, Domestic Policy: conservatism; Major Actions: Watergate scandal (1972–1974), opened China (1972), EPA creation (1970)

Gerald R. Ford

38th President (1974–1977), Republican, Post-Watergate; Foreign Policy: détente, Domestic Policy: healing; Major Actions: pardoned Nixon (1974), Helsinki Accords (1975), economic struggles

James “Jimmy” Carter

39th President (1977–1981), Democrat, Post-Vietnam; Foreign Policy: human rights, Domestic Policy: energy reform; Major Actions: Camp David Accords (1978), Iran Hostage Crisis (1979–1981), energy crisis response

Ronald Reagan

40th President (1981–1989), Republican, Conservative Era; Foreign Policy: anti-communism, Domestic Policy: Reaganomics; Major Actions: tax cuts (1981), Cold War escalation and end, Iran-Contra Affair (1986)

George H. W. Bush

41st President (1989–1993), Republican, End of Cold War; Foreign Policy: multilateralism, Domestic Policy: moderate; Major Actions: Gulf War (1991), fall of USSR (1991), NAFTA groundwork

William J. Clinton

42nd President (1993–2001), Democrat, Post-Cold War; Foreign Policy: globalization, Domestic Policy: centrism; Major Actions: NAFTA (1994), impeachment (1998), economic boom

George W. Bush

43rd President (2001–2009), Republican, War on Terror; Foreign Policy: interventionism, Domestic Policy: security; Major Actions: 9/11 response (2001), Iraq War (2003), Patriot Act (2001)

Barack Obama

44th President (2009–2017), Democrat, Modern Era; Foreign Policy: multilateralism, Domestic Policy: reform; Major Actions: Affordable Care Act (2010), killed Osama bin Laden (2011), Paris Climate Agreement (2015)

Donald J. Trump

45th President (2017–2021), Republican, Modern Populism; Foreign Policy: America First, Domestic Policy: nationalism; Major Actions: Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (2017), impeachment (2019, 2021), COVID-19 response (2020)