This list lists achievements and distinctions of various presidents of the United States. It includes distinctions achieved in their earlier life and post-presidencies. Due to some confusion surrounding sovereignty of nations during presidential visits, only nations that were independent, sovereign, or recognized by the United States during the presidency are listed here as a precedent.
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First president who ascended to the presidency upon the death of a predecessor, and later was elected to the presidency in his own right.[lower-alpha 41][150][151][152][153]
First president to be Honorary President of the Boy Scouts of America[174][175]
First president to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.[84] He was also the first member of the Supreme Court to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery upon his death in 1930.[176][177]
First president to have been party leader in the United States Senate, having been minority leader from 1953 to 1955 and majority leader from 1955 to 1961.[273]
First president to have served as Senate Majority Whip, having served in that office from 1951 to 1953.[274]
First president (along with past president John F. Kennedy) to have participated in the first presidential debates.[259] He participated in four televised debates in 1960.
First non-incumbent vice president to be elected president.[286]
First president to attend an NFL game while in office.[287]
First president to name a vice president during a presidential term. The 25th Amendment had been passed in 1967, allowing the president to nominate a vice president should the office become vacant during a presidential term. Upon the resignation of Spiro Agnew in 1973, Nixon selected Gerald Ford as his successor. Ford was then confirmed by both the Senate and the House of Representatives and sworn in.
First president to be pardoned by another president (Gerald Ford).[301] The pardon of Richard Nixon in 1974, gave Nixon a full and unconditional pardon for any crimes he might have committed against the United States while president.[302][303][304]
First president to ascend to the presidency by the resignation of his predecessor.[84]
First president to ascend to the presidency without being elected to either the offices of the president or vice president.[84]
First president to pardon another president (Richard Nixon).[301] The pardon of Richard Nixon in 1974 gave Nixon a full and unconditional pardon for any crimes he might have committed against the United States while president.[302][303][304]
First president to use a nickname in an official capacity.[316] His full name is James Earl Carter Jr, but he is better known by his nickname, "Jimmy" Carter, which was used on all official documents while he was president.
First president to appoint a Secretary of Education (and first woman) (Shirley Hufstedler).[317]
First president to leave office with both parents still alive.[416] (Bush left office in 2009, while his parents both died in 2018, nine years after he left office).
First president to reach the age of 70 prior to his election to the presidency.[457]
First president to assume the office without having had any prior public service experience, military or political.[458][459]
First president to be a billionaire prior to assuming office.[460]
First president to have been divorced more than once. He married his first wife Ivana Trump in 1977 and divorced in 1992, married his second wife Marla Maples in 1993 and divorced in 1999.[329]
List of United States presidential candidate firsts
In both the 1789 and 1792 elections, each elector voted for Washington and for another candidate.
Adams served as Vice President under George Washington, and thus was the first vice president of the nation.
Washington powdered his own hair.
Adams and his wife Abigail had six children, including John Quincy Adams, the sixth president. Washington did not have any children by his own, and was only a stepfather.
Charles Adams, the second son of John Adams, died of liver cirrhosis on November 30, 1800, when his father was still President. He was a chronic alcoholic, and was estranged from his family at the time of his death.
Adams, who was born on October 30, 1735, and died on July 4, 1826, the 50th Independence Day of the United States, lived for 90years, 247days, and was the longest-lived president until 2001, when his record was broken by Ronald Reagan.
Jefferson's wife Martha died in 1782, 19 years before he was inaugurated. He was also the first president whose hostess was his daughter.
John Adams did not attend Jefferson's inauguration, due to personal problems.
Originally the runner-up in the presidential election was named vice president. Adams, Jefferson and Aaron Burr became vice presidents in this way.
Madison left office in 1817 and his mother Nelly Conway Madison died in 1829, only seven years before her son.
Monroe's daughter Mary married in 1820 at the Blue Room on the State Floor of the White House.
Adams was the eldest son of John Adams and his wife Abigail Adams.
Adams' father, former President John Adams, was still alive when he took office, and died in 1826.
Adams' son John Adams II married in the Blue Room on February 25, 1828.
Adams was nominated by James Madison in 1811 and confirmed by the Senate, but declined the appointment.
Jackson and his immediate predecessor John Quincy Adams were both born in 1767, but Adams was born only on July 11, while Jackson was born on March 15, making him 118 days older than his predecessor.
Jackson's parents and two brothers emigrated from Ireland in 1765, two years before he was born.
Jackson's father, Andrew Jackson Sr., died in an accident in late February 1767, around three weeks before his son was born.
Van Buren was born on December 5, 1782, 6years, 154days after the Declaration of Independence.
Dutch was Van Buren's first language. He was called as Careful Dutchman for this factor. He spoke English as a second language.
Harrison had 10 children from his wife Anna Harrison, and is allegedly believed to have a daughter from a slave.
Tyler's first wife, First Lady Letitia Christian Tyler, died on September 10, 1842, due to a massive stroke. Aged only 51, she is the shortest-lived First Lady in U.S. history.
Polk was aged 49years, 122days when he was inaugurated.
Polk was aged 53years, 225days when he died on June 15, 1849. He remains the shortest-lived President to die from natural causes.
Polk died in 1849, soon after leaving office. Jane Knox Polk, his mother, died in 1852, having outlived her son by three years.
Former president John Quincy Adams was the first president to have his photograph taken in 1843, while Polk had his photograph taken as an incumbent after he took office in 1845
Taylor was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal three times, first in 1846, second in 1847 and third in 1848.
Fillmore was born on January 7, 1800, six days after the 1800s began. He was also the first president who was born after the death of a former president, since he was born 24 days after the death of George Washington, who died on December 14, 1799.
Fillmore left office in 1853 and his father Nathaniel Fillmore died in 1863.
Buchanan served as a private in the War of 1812 during the defense of Baltimore, to date the first and only president to have only served in a non-officer capacity
Grant's father, Jesse Root Grant, died in 1873, and his mother Hannah Simpson Grant died in 1883. Neither attended the inauguration of their son.
It is widely believed that Garfield could simultaneously write Greek with his left hand and Latin with his right hand.
Arthur was staying at his home in New York in the night of September 19, 1881, when he got the news of Garfield's death. He took oath as the president immediately, with the oath being administered by a judge of New York Supreme Court, John Brady.
Harrison was the grandson of William Henry Harrison, being the son of W. H. Harrison's son John Scott Harrison, who is thus the only person to have been both the son of a president and the father of another president.
Roosevelt was elected vice president in 1900, ascended to the presidency after the assassination of William McKinley in 1901, and was elected in his own right in 1904.
In fact, Taft owned four cars when he was in office.
Taft served as solicitor general from 1890[168] to 1892. He became president in 1909.
Arizona and New Mexico were admitted to the Union under Taft's presidency.
Taft left office as president in 1913. He was appointed chief justice in 1921, by President Warren Harding.[172] As chief justice, he administered the oath of office to Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover.
With Proclamation 1354, Wilson declared a national emergency relating to water transportation and shipping in the United States.
Hoover left office in 1933, and died on October 20, 1964, 31years, 230days after leaving office.
Charles Custis, who served as Vice President under Hoover, had a Native American ancestry, and was the first such person ever to reach the post.
The last surviving member of Hoover's cabinet, Patrick J. Hurley, died on July 30, 1963, more than a year before Hoover's death on October 20, 1964.
Roosevelt's first inauguration took place on March 4, 1933. His second inauguration took place on January 20, 1937, and is the first inauguration to take place on that date.
On April 30, 1939, Roosevelt appeared at the opening ceremony of the 1939 New York World's Fair and gave a speech. The speech was televised, and Roosevelt became the first president of the United States to give a speech that is broadcast by television. Roosevelt's speech was seen on black and white television sets with 5 to 12-inch tubes.
Roosevelt won a record four presidential elections, and served four terms in office from 1933 to 1945. More precisely, Roosevelt served three full terms, and died 2 months and 24 days into his fourth term. After his death, the term limit was reduced to two terms.
Roosevelt's total vetoes were 635, though 9 were overridden.
Roosevelt issued 263 pocket vetoes.
Roosevelt visitedColombia, Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay in his administration. However, Theodore Roosevelt visited Panama, which was considered part of South America when he visited but no longer is.
Roosevelt traveled aboard a Boeing 314 Clipper during his secret 1943 mission to Casablanca. As a result of this trip, he also became the first president to visit Africa while in office. He visited Morocco, Liberia, Tunisia, Gambia, Egypt and Algeria.
Truman's second inauguration in 1949 was the first presidential inauguration televised. Millions of people watched the inauguration, broadcast as a single live program that aired on every network.[222] Many schoolchildren watched from their classrooms.[223] Truman authorized a holiday for federal employees so that they could also watch.[224] The ceremony, and Truman's speech, were also broadcast abroad through the Voice of America, and translated into other languages including Russian and German.[225] According to some calculations, the 1949 inauguration had more witnesses than all previous presidential inaugurations combined.[223][226]
Truman left office on January 20, 1953, and was succeeded by Dwight D. Eisenhower as the 34th president of the United States.
While being territories in prior administrations, Alaska and Hawaii would be formally admitted as states on January 3rd, 1959 and August 21, 1959, respectively
Eisenhower began his presidency on January 20, 1953, succeeding Harry S. Truman.[29]
Kennedy was born in 1917 and took office in 1961. But his four successors were older than him, the oldest of them being Lyndon B. Johnson, his immediate successor, who was born in 1908, and thus is the earliest-born president of the 20th century.
Kennedy and Nixon took part in four televised debates in 1960.[259]
Kennedy was assassinated by a gunshot to the head on November 22, 1963. His father Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. outlived him by six years, dying in 1969. His mother Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy outlived him by more than 30 years, dying in 1995. He has been, to date, the only president to be survived by both parents, and also the shortest-lived U.S. president, dying at the age of 46years, 177days.[51]
Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963. His maternal grandmother, Mary Josephine Hannon, died on August 8, 1964, at the age of 98. Already ailing at the time of her grandson's assassination, she was never told of that news by anyone until her death.[269]
While President Reagan first granted civilians access to government GPS technology, President Clinton removed Selective Availability and granted civilians unrestricted access to GPS satellites, "flipping the blue switch" and unleashing a worldwide revolution in civil and commercial applications, leading to the creation of GPS Block III.
Clinton's wife Hillary took office as a Senator from New York on January 3, 2001, which was 17 days before Clinton's term ended.
Biden was 78 years and 61 days old when he was sworn in as President, beating the previous age record held by Ronald Reagan, who was 77 years and 349 days old on his last day as President.
"THE 6th PRESIDENTIAL INAUGURATION". Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies. Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies. Retrieved July 5, 2021.
Baur, John E. (March 1955). "A President Visits Los Angeles: Rutherford B. Hayes' Tour of 1880". The Historical Society of Southern California Quarterly. 37 (1): 33–47. doi:10.2307/41168522. JSTOR41168522.
Green, F.M. (1901). "Chapter III: The Garfield Administration 1857–1863". Hiram college and Western reserve eclectic institute; fifty years of history, 1850–1900. The O.S. Hubbell printing co. pp.94–133. Retrieved November 25, 2016.
"Teddy Roosevelt travels to Panama". This Day in History, history.com. A+E Networks (published November 16, 2009). August 21, 2018. Retrieved November 17, 2018.
About Theodore RooseveltArchived April 7, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, "Roosevelt's attitude toward a league of nations varied with his changing emphases on realism, nationalism, and internationalism. He had called for a world league to enforce peace in his Nobel Peace Prize address of 1910, and he had affirmed the concept in 1914, two years before President Wilson espoused it."
"Travels of President Woodrow Wilson". Office of the Historian, Bureau of Public Affairs, United States Department of State. Retrieved November 17, 2018.
William Elliott Hazelgrove, Madam President: The Secret Presidency of Edith Wilson (Washington, D.C.: Regency Publishing, 2016); Brian Lamb, Who's Buried in Grant's Tomb?: A Tour of Presidential Gravesites (New York: Public Affairs, 2010), p. 119; Judith L. Weaver, "Edith Bolling, Wilson as First Lady: A Study in the Power of Personality, 1919–1920," Presidential Studies Quarterly 15, No. 1 (Winter, 1985), pp. 51–76; and Dwight Young and Margaret Johnson, Dear First Lady: Letters to the White House: From the Collections of the Library of Congress & National Archives (Washington, D.C.: National Geographic, 2008), p. 91.
"10,000,000 See Inauguration By Television: Total Greater Than All Witnessing Previous Ceremonies", Baltimore Sun. AP. January 21, 1949; accessed via ProQuest.
Sharkey, Nancy (July 28, 1985). "Follow-Up On The News; Nixon Guards". The New York Times. Archived from the original on January 31, 2021. Retrieved November 18, 2008. His sole reason was to save money for the government, according to his assistant, John Taylor....Mr. Nixon's wife, Pat, dropped Secret Service protection last year. The others on the agency's permanent-protection rolls are former Presidents Gerald R. Ford and Jimmy Carter, and President Lyndon B. Johnson's widow, Lady Bird.
The Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum (part of the National Archives and Records Administration). (no date listed). "President Carter's Trips as President" Retrieved January 2, 2021.
Rudin, Ken (December 23, 2009). "Today's Junkie segment on TOTN: a political review Of 2009". Talk of the Nation (Political Junkie blog). NPR. Retrieved April 18, 2010. We began with the historic inauguration on January 20—yes, the first president ever born in Hawaii
Pringle, Henry F. (1939). The Life and Times of William Howard Taft: A Biography. Vol.1 (2008 reprinted.). Newtown, CT: American Political Biography Press. ISBN978-0-945707-20-2.
Pringle, Henry F. (1939). The Life and Times of William Howard Taft: A Biography. Vol.2 (2008 reprinted.). Newtown, CT: American Political Biography Press. ISBN978-0-945707-19-6.