Biographies of US Presidents (POTUS)

The President of the United States of America ("POTUS") is the head of state of the United States. Under the US Constitution, the President is also the chief executive of the federal government and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces.

The American President is widely considered to be the most powerful person on the earth, and is usually one of the world's best-known public figures. During the Cold War, the President was sometimes referred to as "the leader of the free world," a phrase that is still invoked today.

The United States was the first nation to create the office of President as the head of state in a modern republic. Today the office is widely emulated all over the world in nations with a presidential system of government.

This is a list of the current presidential line of succession, as specified by the Presidential Succession Act of 1947 (3 U.S.C. § 19) and subsequent amendments to include newly created cabinet officers.

The President biographies presented here are from the book The Presidents of the United States of America written by Frank Freidel and Hugh S. Sidey (contributing author), published by the White House Historical Association http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/ with the cooperation of the National Geographic Society.

Chronological 1789 to 1889		Chronological 1889 to Present
	Washington, George 1789-97		Harrison, Benjamin 1889-93
	Adams, John 1797-1801		Cleveland, Grover 1893-97
	Jefferson, Thomas 1801-09		McKinley, William 1897-1901
	Madison, James 1809-17		Roosevelt, Theodore 1901-09
	Monroe, James 1817-25		Taft, William H. 1909-13
	Adams, John Quincy 1825-29		Wilson, Woodrow 1913-21
	Jackson, Andrew 1829-37		Harding, Warren 1921-23
	Van Buren, Martin 1837-41		Coolidge, Calvin 1923-29
	Harrison, William Henry 1841		Hoover, Herbert 1929-33
	Tyler, John 1841-45		Roosevelt, Franklin D. 1933-45
	Polk, James 1845-49		Truman, Harry 1945-53
	Taylor, Zachary 1849-50		Eisenhower, Dwight 1953-61
	Fillmore, Millard 1850-53		Kennedy, John F. 1961-63
	Pierce, Franklin 1853-57		Johnson, Lyndon 1963-69
	Buchanan, James 1857-61		Nixon, Richard 1969-74
	Lincoln, Abraham 1861-65		Ford, Gerald 1974-77
	Johnson, Andrew 1865-69		Carter, Jimmy 1977-81
	Grant, Ulysses S. 1869-77		Reagan, Ronald 1981-89
	Hayes, Rutherford B. 1877-81		Bush, George H.W. 1989-93
	Garfield, James 1881		Clinton, William J. 1993-2001
	Arthur, Chester 1881-85		Bush, George W. 2001-2009
	Cleveland, Grover 1885-89		Barack Obama 2009-present