Famous firsts for US presidents

1

George Washington

April 30, 1789 - March 4, 1797

First and only president to win unanimously by the Electoral College.

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2

John Adams

March 4, 1797 - March 4, 1801

First president to live in the White House.

The day after moving in to the White House, Adams wrote to his wife, Abigail, “I pray heaven to bestow the best of blessings on this house and on all that shall hereafter inhabit it. May none but honest and wise men ever rule under this roof!”

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5

James Monroe

March 4, 1817 - March 4, 1825

First president to travel on a steamboat.

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6

John Quincy Adams

March 4, 1825 - March 4, 1829

First and only president to speak eight foreign languages, either partially or fluently.

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8

Martin Van Buren

March 4, 1837 - March 4, 1841

First president born as a U.S. citizen, as he was born after the Declaration of Independence was signed.

“As to the presidency, the two happiest days of my life were those of my entrance upon the office and my surrender of it.”

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9

William Henry Harrison

March 4, 1841 - April 4, 1841

First president to die in office. After only 32 days, his tenure was the shortest.

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13

Millard Fillmore

July 10, 1850 - March 4,1853

First president to leave office with no estate or independent wealth awaiting him.

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16

Abraham Lincoln

March 4, 1861 - April 15, 1865

First president to be assassinated in office.

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18

Ulysses S. Grant

March 4, 1869 - March 4, 1877

First president to graduate from West Point, and the first to have served in the Civil War.

“To maintain peace in the future, it is necessary to be prepared for war.”

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21

Chester A. Arthur

September 20, 1881 - March 4, 1885

First president to enact a general federal immigration law — restricting poor people, criminals and the insane from entering the country.

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22 & 24

Grover Cleveland

1st term: March 4, 1885 - March 4, 1889
2nd term: March 4, 1893 - March 4, 1897

First president to serve nonconsecutive terms.

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23

Benjamin Harrison

March 4, 1889 - March 4, 1893

First president to install electricity at the White House.

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25

William McKinley

March 4, 1897 - September 14, 1901

First president to campaign by telephone.

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26

Theodore Roosevelt

September 14, 1901 - March 4, 1909

First president and the first American to win a Nobel Peace Prize — for helping to end the Russo-Japanese War.

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28

Woodrow Wilson

March 4, 1913 - March 4, 1921

First and only president to earn a Ph.D. — in political science from Johns Hopkins University.

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29

Warren G. Harding

March 4, 1921 - August 2, 1923

First president born after the Civil War, and the first elected after women gained the right to vote.

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31

Herbert Hoover

March 4, 1929 - March 4, 1933

First president born west of the Mississippi River.

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32

Franklin D. Roosevelt

March 4, 1933 - April 12, 1945

First president elected four times, and the first to address the public through regular radio broadcasts called “fireside chats.”

“We have faith that future generations will know here, in the middle of the twentieth century, there came a time when men of good will found a way to unite, and produce, and fight to destroy the forces of ignorance, and intolerance, and slavery, and war.”

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33

Harry S. Truman

April 12, 1945 - January 20, 1953

First and only president to authorize the use of an atomic bomb against a foreign country.

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34

Dwight D. Eisenhower

January 20, 1953 - January 20, 1961

First and only president to serve in both world wars.

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35

John F. Kennedy

January 20, 1961 - November 22, 1963

First Catholic president, and the first and only president to receive a Purple Heart — for his battle wounds during World War II.

Asked to explain how he had come to be a hero, Kennedy quipped, “It was involuntary. They sank my boat.”

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36

Lyndon B. Johnson

November 22, 1963 - January 20, 1969

First and only president to be sworn in on an airplane — aboard Air Force One after John F. Kennedy's assassination in 1963.

“This is a sad time for all people. We have suffered a loss that cannot be weighed. For me, it is a deep personal tragedy. I know that the world shares the sorrow that Mrs. Kennedy and her family bear. I will do my best. That is all I can do. I ask for your help — and God’s.”

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37

Richard Nixon

January 20, 1969 - August 9, 1974

First and only president to resign from office, the result of the Watergate scandal.

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39

Jimmy Carter

January 20, 1977 - January 20, 1981

First president to live to the age of 100 after leaving the White House.

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40

Ronald Reagan

January 20, 1981 - January 20, 1989

First president to have been divorced, and the first to nominate a woman to the Supreme Court.

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41

George H.W. Bush

January 20, 1989 - January 20, 1993

First and only president to have been U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

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42

Bill Clinton

January 20, 1993 - January 20, 2001

First president whose inauguration was streamed on the internet.

“Together we have the power to determine exactly what we want the internet to become ... to be an instrument of empowerment, education, enlightenment, economic advance and community-building all across America, regardless of the race, the income, the geography of our citizens.”

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43

George W. Bush

January 20, 2001 - January 20, 2009

First president to have an MBA.

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44

Barack Obama

January 20, 2009 - January 20, 2017

First Black president and the first president to speak Indonesian, learning the language while living in Jakarta as a child.

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45

Donald Trump

January 20, 2017 - January 20, 2021

First president to win without either political or military experience, and the first president to be convicted of felony crimes.

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46

Joe Biden

January 20, 2021 - January 20, 2025

First president to receive more than 80 million votes in an election.

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