This is the list of all of the living people who have served as President of the United States at each moment in U.S. history. Currently there are six living presidents, including the incumbent, Donald Trump.
Due to the line of succession outlined in Article 2, Section 1, Clause 6 of the United States Constitution (1789), Amendment 20, Section 3 (1933) and Amendment 25, Section 1 (1967) to the Constitution, there has never been a point where there is no serving President, meaning that from the point of death, resignation, or term end of one United States President, the powers and duties of the presidency are immediately passed to their successor under U.S. law, even before that person takes the oath of office.
This article also includes a list of all of the living people who have served as Vice President of the United States at each moment in U.S. history. Currently there are seven living vice presidents, including the incumbent, Mike Pence.
There have been several gatherings of all the living presidents, a number of which can be seen below.
There have been six time periods when there was only one living President, first with the inauguration of President George Washington in 1789, and most recently during the presidency of Richard Nixon following the 1973 death of Lyndon B. Johnson. There have been four time periods when six presidents (the incumbent and five former presidents) co-existed, including the current period.
There have been six men who have been the only living U.S. president (no former president being alive): George Washington (as the first President from April 1789 to March 1797), John Adams (from Washington's death in December 1799 to March 1801), Ulysses S. Grant (from Andrew Johnson's death in July 1875 to March 1877), Theodore Roosevelt (from Grover Cleveland's death in June 1908 to March 1909), Herbert Hoover (from Calvin Coolidge's death in January to March 1933), and Richard Nixon (from Lyndon B. Johnson's death in January 1973 to August 1974).
During four periods in the history of the United States, there have been six men alive to have been president. The first such period was from March 1861 to July 1862 (when Martin Van Buren, John Tyler, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, and Abraham Lincoln were alive). In the course of the two later periods, from January 1993 to April 1994 (when Nixon, Gerald Ford, Carter, Ronald Reagan, G. H. W. Bush, and Clinton were alive) and January 2001 to June 2004 (when Ford, Carter, Reagan, G. H. W. Bush, Clinton, and G. W. Bush were alive) all six men were inaugurated consecutively. The fourth period began in January 2017 and extends to the present day, with Carter, G. H. W. Bush, Clinton, G. W. Bush, Obama and Donald Trump alive.
Nixon is the only man to have been both the only living U.S. president (from January 1973 to August 1974) and one of the six living presidents (from January 1993 to April 1994).
There have been 20 presidencies during which a president has not died, the most recent being Obama's. This does not include the presidencies of William Henry Harrison, James A. Garfield, Warren G. Harding, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and John F. Kennedy (who were themselves the only presidents to die during their presidencies), nor the presidency of incumbent Trump (no president has died since Ford, who died during G. W. Bush's presidency). Conversely, only twice (during the presidencies of Grant and Nixon) has there been as many as three deaths during a presidency. (This does not count Lincoln's presidency, whose own death was the third during his term.) The longest streak of presidencies without a presidential death is four: no president died during the presidencies of Ford, Carter, Reagan, or G. H. W. Bush.
Because of his serving over three terms, F. D. Roosevelt holds the distinction of serving over the longest period during which no presidential deaths or transitions occurred. The only other president alive during his term was Hoover, whose own presidency had ended a period of time when he was the only living president from January to March 1933. Hoover outlived F. D. Roosevelt by nearly 20 years.
The longest period between deaths of U.S. presidents was the 26 years and 202 days between the deaths of Washington on December 14, 1799, and Thomas Jefferson on July 4, 1826. The shortest was the five hours between the deaths of Jefferson at around 12:50 p.m. and J. Adams at approximately 6:00 p.m. on July 4, 1826, which immediately followed the longest.
The second longest period between deaths was the 21 years and three months between the deaths of L. B. Johnson on January 22, 1973, and Nixon on April 22, 1994.
Only three times (in 1826, 1862, and 1901) have two presidents died in the same year. The first (mentioned above) was the only time that two have died on the same day. The second (between the deaths of Tyler and Van Buren) happened 187 days apart, and the third (between Benjamin Harrison's death and William McKinley's assassination) happened 185 days apart.
Truman died on December 26, 1972, just 25 days before Nixon's second term began on January 20, 1973. L. B. Johnson died on January 22, 1973, just two days after Nixon's second term had begun. They died only 27 days apart, yet in two different years and two different presidential terms.
Following his presidency's end in 1841, Van Buren lived to see a record eight presidencies prior to his death in July 1862. Two presidents have lived to see six succeeding presidencies: Tyler and Carter.
If one includes future as well as past and current U.S. presidents, the record sits at eighteen, on four occasions:
Between Rutherford B. Hayes's birth on October 4, 1822, and Jefferson's death on July 4, 1826, the following presidents were alive: J. Adams, Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, Van Buren, W. H. Harrison, Tyler, James K. Polk, Zachary Taylor, Fillmore, Pierce, Buchanan, Lincoln, A. Johnson, Grant, and Hayes. This list includes every U.S. president from the 2nd to the 19th (from March 1797 to March 1881).
Between B. Harrison's birth on August 20, 1833, and Madison's death on June 28, 1836, the following presidents were alive: Madison, J. Q. Adams, Jackson, Van Buren, W. H. Harrison, Tyler, Polk, Taylor, Fillmore, Pierce, Buchanan, Lincoln, A. Johnson, Grant, Hayes, Garfield, Chester A. Arthur, and B. Harrison. This list includes every U.S. president from the 4th to the 23rd (from March 1809 to March 1893) with the exception of the 5th, Monroe (from March 1817 to March 1825), and the 22nd, Cleveland (from March 1885 to March 1889).
Between Cleveland's birth on March 18, 1837, and W. H. Harrison's death on April 4, 1841, the following presidents were alive: J. Q. Adams, Jackson, Van Buren, W. H. Harrison, Tyler, Polk, Taylor, Fillmore, Pierce, Buchanan, Lincoln, A. Johnson, Grant, Hayes, Garfield, Arthur, Cleveland, and B. Harrison. This list includes every U.S. president from the 6th to the 24th (from March 1825 to March 1897), counting Cleveland as both the 22nd and 24th U.S. president.
Between McKinley's birth on January 29, 1843, and Jackson's death on June 8, 1845, the following presidents were alive: J. Q. Adams, Jackson, Van Buren, Tyler, Polk, Taylor, Fillmore, Pierce, Buchanan, Lincoln, A. Johnson, Grant, Hayes, Garfield, Arthur, Cleveland, B. Harrison, and McKinley. This list includes every U.S. president from the 6th to the 25th (from March 1825 to September 1901) with the exception of the 9th, W. H. Harrison (from March to April 1841).
Since January 20, 1981 (a period of 7009114134400000000♠36 years, 61 days), there have been at least four presidents living (which is by far the longest such period in history).
Carter holds the record for having the longest post-presidency of any president (7009114134400000000♠36 years, 61 days).
There have been four time periods when there was only one living vice president, first with the inauguration of John Adams in 1789 and most recently during the vice presidency of Thomas R. Marshall after the death of Levi P. Morton. Prior to the current period, there has been only one other time period when seven vice presidents (the incumbent and six former vice presidents) co-existed, between the 1993 inauguration of Al Gore and the 1994 death of Richard Nixon.
