U.S. Federal Officeholder Database

Phil Murphy was elected Governor of New Jersey in 2017 and re-elected in 2021. A former Goldman Sachs executive and U.S. Ambassador to Germany, he focused on progressive economic policies, marijuana legalization, and expanding healthcare access. New Jersey governors are limited to two consecutive terms.

Millard Fillmore was born January 7, 1800, into poverty, receiving little formal education before largely teaching himself law while working as an apprentice. He rose through New York politics, serving in the state assembly and then the U.S. House of Representatives, before being chosen as Zachary Taylor's running mate in 1848. He became President in July 1850 after Taylor's sudden death, and his presidency (1850–1853) was defined by the Compromise of 1850, a package of laws intended to ease tensions between free and slave states, including the highly controversial Fugitive Slave Act, which Fillmore signed and enforced despite significant moral objections from abolitionists. He failed to win his party's nomination for a full term in 1852, and the Whig Party itself disintegrated shortly afterward, largely over the same slavery divisions his presidency had tried to paper over.

John Tyler was born March 29, 1790, into a prominent Virginia political family. He served in the Virginia House of Delegates, the U.S. House of Representatives, as Governor of Virginia, and as a U.S. Senator before being chosen as William Henry Harrison's running mate in 1840. He became President in April 1841 after Harrison died just one month into his term, and Tyler firmly established the precedent that a vice president fully assumes the presidency, title included, rather than serving merely as an acting president — a precedent later formalized by the 25th Amendment. His presidency (1841–1845) was marked by conflict with his own party, as he broke with Whig leadership over economic policy, leading most of his cabinet to resign and the Whigs to formally expel him from the party while he was still in office. His most lasting achievement was the annexation of Texas, finalized just before he left office.

Born November 20, 1942, in Scranton, Pennsylvania, before his family moved to Delaware when he was ten. He became a lawyer and, at age 29, one of the youngest people ever elected to the U.S. Senate, representing Delaware starting in 1973 — a victory overshadowed by tragedy when his wife and infant daughter were killed in a car accident just weeks after his election. He served in the Senate for 36 years, becoming a leading voice on foreign policy and criminal justice, before being chosen as Barack Obama's running mate and serving two terms as Vice President from 2009 to 2017. After unsuccessful presidential runs in 1988 and 2008, he won the presidency in 2020, defeating incumbent Donald Trump, and served as the 46th President of the United States starting in 2021, becoming the oldest person ever inaugurated at age 78. His presidency included the American Rescue Plan pandemic relief package, a major infrastructure bill, and continued support for Ukraine following Russia's invasion. After facing intense scrutiny over his age and mental acuity — particularly following a widely criticized debate performance against Trump in June 2024 — he dropped out of the 2024 re-election race, and his replacement, Kamala Harris, lost to Trump.

George Herbert Walker Bush (1924–2018) was the 41st President of the United States, serving from 1989 to 1993. Before the presidency, he had one of the most varied résumés in American politics: Navy pilot in World War II, U.S. congressman from Texas, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, U.S. envoy to China, Director of the CIA, and Vice President under Ronald Reagan for two terms. As president, he oversaw the end of the Cold War, the reunification of Germany, and led the U.S. coalition in the Gulf War (Operation Desert Storm). He was also the patriarch of a major political family — his son George W. Bush became the 43rd president, and another son, Jeb Bush, served as governor of Florida.

Gerald Rudolph Ford (1913–2006) was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977. He holds the unique distinction of being the only person to serve as both Vice President and President without being elected to either office — he was appointed VP by Richard Nixon in 1973 after Spiro Agnew resigned, then became president when Nixon himself resigned over Watergate in 1974. Before that, he spent over two decades as a U.S. Representative from Michigan, including serving as House Minority Leader. As president, his most controversial early act was granting a full pardon to Nixon, which likely cost him politically. He also worked to restore public trust in government after Watergate and navigated the end of the Vietnam War, including the fall of Saigon.

Lyndon B. Johnson Nickname: "LBJ" (his initials became his popular shorthand, echoing FDR's own initialism). He was also known as "Landslide Lyndon," a somewhat sarcastic nod to his razor-thin (and disputed) 1948 Senate primary win in Texas. Short bio: Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973) was the 36th President of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He assumed the presidency after the assassination of John F. Kennedy and was elected in his own right in 1964 in a landslide victory. Before the presidency, he had a long career representing Texas, first in the House of Representatives and then in the Senate, where he became one of the most powerful and effective Senate Majority Leaders in history. As president, he pushed through sweeping domestic legislation known as the "Great Society," including the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the creation of Medicare and Medicaid. His presidency was ultimately overshadowed by the escalating and increasingly unpopular Vietnam War, which led him to decline to seek re-election in 1968.

Richard Milhous Nixon (1913–1994) was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 until his resignation in 1974. Before the presidency, he served in the House and Senate representing California, then as Vice President under Dwight Eisenhower for two terms. He narrowly lost the 1960 presidential election to John F. Kennedy before making a political comeback to win the presidency in 1968. His time in office included major foreign policy achievements — most notably opening diplomatic relations with China and pursuing détente with the Soviet Union — as well as ending U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. However, his presidency ended in disgrace over the Watergate scandal, a cover-up of a break-in at Democratic Party headquarters, which led him to resign in 1974 rather than face near-certain impeachment. He remains the only U.S. president to have resigned from office.

Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) was the 33rd President of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. He became president upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt, having served as Vice President for only 82 days and having been kept largely out of the loop on major wartime decisions — including the existence of the atomic bomb. As president, he made the decision to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end World War II, oversaw the early Cold War with the Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan, presided over the founding of NATO, and led the U.S. into the Korean War. He also famously fired General Douglas MacArthur for insubordination. Despite low approval ratings during his presidency, he's remembered for his plainspoken honesty and decisiveness, encapsulated by the sign on his desk: "The Buck Stops Here."

Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) was the 30th President of the United States, serving from 1923 to 1929. He rose from Massachusetts state politics — including a stint as governor, where he gained national attention for firmly handling the 1919 Boston Police Strike — to become Vice President under Warren G. Harding. He assumed the presidency after Harding's sudden death in 1923 and was elected to a full term in 1924. His presidency was marked by a hands-off, pro-business philosophy, tax cuts, and general economic prosperity during the "Roaring Twenties," though this era's excesses would help set the stage for the Great Depression shortly after he left office. He famously declined to run for another term, stating simply, "I do not choose to run."

Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) was the 26th President of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909. He became president at age 42 — the youngest in history at the time — after the assassination of William McKinley, having previously served as Vice President, Governor of New York, and Assistant Secretary of the Navy. He gained national fame leading the "Rough Riders" cavalry unit during the Spanish-American War. As president, he was a progressive reformer known for trust-busting large monopolies, championing conservation (establishing national parks, forests, and monuments), and pursuing an assertive foreign policy summarized by his motto "speak softly and carry a big stick" — including overseeing construction of the Panama Canal. After leaving office, he ran for a third term in 1912 under the Progressive "Bull Moose" Party, splitting the Republican vote.

Chester Alan Arthur (1829–1886) was the 21st President of the United States, serving from 1881 to 1885. He came up through New York's political patronage system, serving as Collector of the Port of New York — a powerful position tied to the corrupt spoils system — before being tapped as running mate for James Garfield in 1880 to balance the ticket. He became president when Garfield was assassinated just months into his term, in a shooting carried out by a disgruntled office-seeker angry over being denied a political appointment. Surprising many who expected him to continue business as usual, Arthur underwent something of a political transformation in office, championing and signing the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act of 1883, which began replacing the patronage system with a merit-based civil service. He did not seek re-election in 1884, in part due to declining health.

Andrew Johnson (1808–1875) was the 17th President of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. He assumed the presidency following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, having served only about six weeks as Vice President. A Democrat from Tennessee who remained loyal to the Union during the Civil War (the only sitting senator from a seceding state to do so), he was added to Lincoln's 1864 ticket to promote national unity. As president during the difficult Reconstruction era, he clashed repeatedly with the Republican-controlled Congress over how to rebuild the South and treat former Confederates, favoring lenient policies that alarmed many Republicans. His conflicts with Congress culminated in his impeachment by the House in 1868 over his attempt to remove Secretary of War Edwin Stanton — he was acquitted in the Senate by a single vote, narrowly avoiding removal from office.

George Mifflin Dallas (1792–1864) was a Pennsylvania lawyer, diplomat, and politician who served as Vice President under James K. Polk from 1845 to 1849. Before that, he had a varied career including serving as U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania, Mayor of Philadelphia, U.S. Attorney, and Minister to Russia. As Vice President, he was a strong advocate for territorial expansion (aligning with Polk's expansionist agenda, including the annexation of Texas), and his tie-breaking vote in the Senate helped lower tariffs via the Walker Tariff of 1846. After his vice presidency, he served as U.S. Minister to the United Kingdom under President Franklin Pierce.

Martin Van Buren (1782–1862) was the 8th President of the United States, serving from 1837 to 1841. He was the first president born after American independence (making him the first president who was a U.S. citizen from birth rather than a British subject) and the first whose native language was not English — he grew up speaking Dutch. A skilled political organizer, he helped build the modern Democratic Party and served as Andrew Jackson's Secretary of State and then Vice President before winning the presidency himself. His single term was dominated by the Panic of 1837, a severe economic depression that devastated his popularity and largely doomed his re-election chances. He lost his 1840 re-election bid to William Henry Harrison, and later ran again unsuccessfully in 1848 as a third-party candidate for the anti-slavery Free Soil Party.

George Clinton (1739–1812) was the 4th Vice President of the United States, serving under both Thomas Jefferson (second term, 1805–1809) and James Madison (first term, 1809–1812), making him the first VP to serve under two different presidents. Before that, he had an enormously long career as Governor of New York, holding the office for a record 21 years (1777–1795 and 1801–1804) — a record that stood for nearly two centuries. He was also a general in the Continental Army during the American Revolution and a vocal Anti-Federalist who opposed ratification of the U.S. Constitution, fearing it granted too much power to the federal government. He died in office as Vice President in 1812, becoming the first VP to die while serving.

Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) served as the 2nd Vice President of the United States under John Adams from 1797 to 1801, then became the 3rd President from 1801 to 1809. He is best known as the principal author of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Before his vice presidency, he served as Governor of Virginia, U.S. Minister to France, and the first Secretary of State under George Washington. As Adams's VP, the two men were political rivals from opposing parties (Jefferson led the Democratic-Republicans), making for an unusually tense working relationship. As president, his most significant achievement was the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, which doubled the size of the United States, and he commissioned the Lewis and Clark Expedition to explore the new western territory. He was also a polymath with deep interests in architecture, science, philosophy, and education, founding the University of Virginia later in life.

John Adams (1735–1826) served as the 1st Vice President of the United States under George Washington from 1789 to 1797, then became the 2nd President from 1797 to 1801. A leading voice for American independence, he was a key figure at the Continental Congress, helped select Thomas Jefferson to draft the Declaration of Independence, and later served as a diplomat in Europe, helping negotiate the Treaty of Paris that ended the Revolutionary War. As Vice President, he found the role frustrating and largely powerless, famously describing it as "the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived." As president, his term was dominated by tensions with France (the "Quasi-War") and the controversial Alien and Sedition Acts, which curtailed civil liberties and hurt his popularity. He lost re-election to his own VP-turned-rival Thomas Jefferson in 1800, in one of the young nation's first bitter partisan contests.

Donald Trump is an American businessman and politician who served as the 45th President of the United States from 2017 to 2021 and was re-elected as the 47th President, taking office again in January 2025. Born on June 14, 1946, in Queens, New York, he built his career in real estate development, eventually taking over his family's business and expanding it into a global brand encompassing hotels, casinos, and golf courses, while also gaining fame as the host of the reality TV show "The Apprentice." He entered politics as a Republican and won the 2016 presidential election in an upset victory over Hillary Clinton, governing on an "America First" platform focused on immigration restriction, deregulation, and trade protectionism. After losing the 2020 election to Joe Biden, he faced numerous legal challenges and controversies, including impeachments and criminal indictments, before mounting a political comeback and winning the presidency again in the 2024 election.

Fred George Aandahl was an American Republican politician from North Dakota. He served as the 23rd governor of North Dakota from 1945 to 1951 and as a U.S. representative from 1951 to 1953.

Leon Abbett was an American Democratic Party politician and lawyer who served two nonconsecutive terms as the 26th Governor of New Jersey from 1884 to 1887 and 1890 to 1893. His official state biography refers to Abbett as "undoubtedly the most powerful person in New Jersey in the late nineteenth century" and "the first urban-oriented governor" of New Jersey. He was popularly known as the "Great Commoner" for his advocacy on behalf of ordinary citizens, and presided over a wide range of reforms during his time as governor. He failed in two attempts to win election to the United States Senate.

Leon Abbett was an American Democratic Party politician and lawyer who served two nonconsecutive terms as the 26th Governor of New Jersey from 1884 to 1887 and 1890 to 1893. His official state biography refers to Abbett as "undoubtedly the most powerful person in New Jersey in the late nineteenth century" and "the first urban-oriented governor" of New Jersey. He was popularly known as the "Great Commoner" for his advocacy on behalf of ordinary citizens, and presided over a wide range of reforms during his time as governor. He failed in two attempts to win election to the United States Senate.