Presidents - By Party in Congress

Party when elected, parties in Congress


Presidents by majority party in Congress
Same party in both Houses  Different in one or both Houses
P+PresidentDates  DatesChamber
FGeorge Washington1789-1797      
FJohn Adams1797-1801      
DRThomas Jefferson1801-1809 *      
DRJames Madison1809-1817      
DRJames Monroe1817-1825      
DRJohn Quincy Adams1825-1827 *   1827-1829 Both
DAndrew Jackson1829-1837      
DMartin Van Buren1837-1841      
WWilliam Harrison    1841-1841 Both (1)
WJohn Tyler1841-1843 *   1843-1845 Both
DJames K Polk1845-1847   1847-1849 House
WZachary Taylor    1849-1850 Both
WMillard Fillmore    1850-1853 Both
DFranklin Pierce1853-1855   1855-1857 House
DJames Buchanan1857-1859 *   1859-1861 House
RAbraham Lincoln1861-1865 *      
DAndrew Johnson1865-1869      
RUlysees S Grant1869-1875   1875-1877 House
RRutherford B Hayes    1877-1879
1879-1881
House
Both
RJames Garfield    1881-1881 Both (2)
RChester Arthur1881-1883   1883-1885 House
DGrover Cleveland    1885-1889 Senate
RBenjamin Harrison1889-1891 *   1891-1893 House
DGrover Cleveland1893-1895   1895-1897 Both
RWilliam McKinley1897-1901      
RTheodore Roosevelt1901-1909      
RWilliam H Taft1909-1911   1911-1913 House
DWoodrow Wilson1913-1919 *   1919-1921 Both
RWarren G Harding1921-1923      
RCalvin Coolidge1923-1929      
RHerbert C Hoover1929-1931   1931-1933 House
DFranklin Roosevelt1933-1945 *      
DHarry S Truman1945-1947
1949-1953
  1947-1949 Both
RDwight D Eisenhower1953-1955   1955-1961 Both
DJohn F Kennedy1961-1963      
DLyndon B Johnson1963-1969      
RRichard M Nixon    1969-1974 Both
RGerald R Ford    1974-1977 Both
DJimmy Carter1977-1981      
RRonald Reagan    1981-1987
1987-1989
House
Both
RGeorge H W Bush    1989-1993 Both
DWilliam J Clinton1993-1995   1995-1997
1997-2001
Senate
Both
(P+) Political Party: F=Federalist; DR=Democratic Republican; D=Democrat; R=Republican; W=Whig
* Until and including 1933 a newly elected President took office on March 4, but the new Congress did not convene until December. In the marked cases, the new President was faced with a lame duck Congress with one or both Houses of a different party.
(1) A lame duck Congress. He died before the new Whig Congress assembled under his successor, John Tyler.
(2) A lame duck Congress. He was assassinated before the new Republican Congress assembled under his successor, Chester Arthur.

Presidents by Zodiac birth signs.

Aries - March 21 to April 19
JohnTyler
Thomas Jefferson

Taurus - April 20 to May 20
James Buchanan
Ulysses S Grant
James Monroe
Harry S Truman

Gemini - May 21 to June 20
John F Kennedy
George Bush

Cancer - June 21 to July 22
Calvin Coolidge
John Quincy Adams
Gerald Ford

Leo - July 23 to August 22
Herbert Hoover
Bill Clinton
Benjamin Harrison

Virgo - August 23 to September 22
Lyndon B Johnson
William H Taft

Libra - September 23 to October 22
Jimmy Carter
Rutherford B Hayes
Chester Arthur
Dwight D Eisenhower

Scorpio - October 23 to November 21
Theodore Roosevelt
John Adams
James K Polk
Warren G Harding
James Garfield

Sagittarius - November 22 to December 21
Franklin Pierce
Zachary Taylor
Martin Van Buren

Capricorn - December 22 to January 19
Woodrow Wilson
Andrew Johnson
Millard Fillmore
Richard M Nixon

Aquarius - January 20 to February 18
William McKinley
Franklin D Roosevelt
Ronald Reagan
William H Harrison
Abraham Lincoln

Pisces - February 19 to March 20
George Washington
Andrew Jackson
James Madison
Grover Cleveland



Presidents by political party

Democratic (14)
James Buchanan
Jimmy Carter
Grover Cleveland
Bill Clinton
Andrew Jackson
Andrew Johnson
Lyndon B Johnson
John F Kennedy
Franklin Pierce
James Polk
Franklin D Roosevelt
Harry S Truman
Martin Van Buren
Woodrow Wilson

Federalist (2)
George Washington (Note i)
John Adams

Democratic Republican (4)
John Quincy Adams
Thomas Jefferson
James Madison
James Monroe

Republican (17)
Chester A Arthur
George Bush
Calvin Coolidge
Dwight D Eisenhower
Gerald R Ford
James A Garfield
Ulysses S Grant
Warren Harding
Benjamin Harrison
Rutherford B Hayes
Herbert Hoover
Abraham Lincoln
William McKinley
Richard M Nixon
Ronald Reagan
Theodore Roosevelt
William H Taft

Whig (4)
Millard Fillmore
William Henry Harrison
Zachary Taylor
John Tyler (Note ii)

(Note i): Washington abhorred the idea of political parties and in fact, did not belong to one but it is clear his beliefs were Federalist.
(Note ii): Tyler ran for VP as a Whig but after becomig President (due to sudden death of W. Harrison) he tried to please everyone and the Whigs soon expelled him.



Presidents by historical ranking. *
  1Franklin D Roosevelt
  2Abraham Lincoln
  3Theodore Roosevelt
  4George Washington
  5Thomas Jefferson
  6Woodrow Wilson
  7Harry Truman
  8Dwight D Eisenhower
  9James Madison
10John F Kennedy
11Andrew Jackson
12John Adams
13Lyndon B Johnson
14James Polk
15James Monroe
16Bill Clinton
17John Quincy Adams
18William McKInley
19Grover Cleveland
20Ronald Reagan
21William H Taft
22Martin Van Buren
23Richard M Nixon
24Rutherford B Hayes
25Jimmy Carter
26James Garfield
27Chester Arthur
28William H Harrison
29Herbert Hoover
30Benjamin Harrison
31George Bush
32Gerald R Ford
33Zachary Taylor
34John Tyler
35Millard Fillmore
36Calvin Coolidge
37Franklin Pierce
38Ulysses S Grant
39James Buchanan
40Andrew Johnson
41Warren Harding
* Source: Siena College Research Institute Survey of US historians, 1994. On the Internet.

See publisher's comments.

Publisher's Comments

The "historical rankings" are included with this product and placed appropriately with the chart of Zodiac birth signs because we consider them in the same category of arrant nonsense, but fun to read. The importance of either chart ranks well below rumor or trivia.

The Survey polled historians. Why historians? We don't have a clue. Why academia believe historians have more meaningful insights and judgements into the importance of events on people's lives befuddles us. Why not engineers, farmers, truck drivers, teachers, the clergy, housewives?

Knowledge of the historical record does not translate into superior judgement of importance.

Those who doubt the last statement need only look at the survey. We love Teddy Roosevelt and think he is one of the great Presidents, but look at the chart. He is ranked higher than George Washington! Even the most outrageous elevation of importance does not raise Teddy Roosevelt to the same level, much less a higher ranking, than Washington.

Another example of the ridiculous -- William H. Harrison. Harrison was, no doubt, a great American with a superb military and public service record. His aspirations for the future may have been of the highest caliber; but he died. He was President for only one month. His wife was just packing to join him in the White House when he died. How can he be ranked at all? He can't.

If historians want to establish rank based on past, non-Presidential achievements and sincerity of purpose, they must move Herbert Hoover much higher up the list. On the other hand, if they only want to consider the political party, they should label the results accordingly.

The answer became pretty clear when historians marched before Congress during recent impeachment hearings of President Clinton and espoused all manner of malarkey to support a clearly biased political agenda. If Accountants ever behave this way we will have a woeful mess. As one might expect, highly biased academic settings, combined with historians who want to advance agendas, will most certainly produce awful results. The surveyors would be well advised to conduct future surveys across a more general base and leave the historians to piddle around in their labyrinth of make believe and revisionism.

To provoke thought we have developed our opinion of rankings.


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