Famous firsts for US presidents
By Megan Duzor | VOA News
Illustrations by Till Noon
Which president was the first to install electricity in the White House? The first to earn a Ph.D.? The
first to have their inauguration streamed on the internet? U.S. history is filled with presidential feats that
were the first of their kind. Here is a look at some of the U.S. presidents and the milestones they set.
1
George Washington
April 30, 1789 – March 4, 1797
First and only president to win unanimously by the Electoral College.
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2
John Adams
March 4, 1797 – March 4, 1801
First president to live in the White House.
The day after moving in to the White House, Adams wrote to his wife, Abigail, “I pray heaven to bestow the best of blessings on this house and on all that shall hereafter inhabit it. May none but honest and wise men ever rule under this roof!”
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5
James Monroe
March 4, 1817 – March 4, 1825
First president to travel on a steamboat.
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6
John Quincy Adams
March 4, 1825 – March 4, 1829
First and only president to speak eight foreign languages, either partially or fluently.
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8
Martin Van Buren
March 4, 1837 – March 4, 1841
First president born as a U.S. citizen, as he was born after the Declaration of Independence was signed.
“As to the presidency, the two happiest days of my life were those of my entrance upon the office and my surrender of it.”
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9
William Henry Harrison
March 4, 1841 – April 4, 1841
First president to die in office. After only 32 days, his tenure was the shortest.
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13
Millard Fillmore
July 10, 1850 – March 4,1853
First president to leave office with no estate or independent wealth awaiting him.
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16
Abraham Lincoln
March 4, 1861 – April 15, 1865
First president to be assassinated in office.
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18
Ulysses S. Grant
March 4, 1869 – March 4, 1877
First president to graduate from West Point, and the first to have served in the Civil War.
“To maintain peace in the future, it is necessary to be prepared for war.”
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21
Chester A. Arthur
September 20, 1881 – March 4, 1885
First president to enact a general federal immigration law — restricting poor people, criminals and the insane from entering the country.
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22 & 24
Grover Cleveland
1st term: March 4, 1885 – March 4, 1889
2nd term: March 4, 1893 – March 4, 1897
First president to serve nonconsecutive terms.
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23
Benjamin Harrison
March 4, 1889 – March 4, 1893
First president to install electricity at the White House.
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25
William McKinley
March 4, 1897 – September 14, 1901
First president to campaign by telephone.
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26
Theodore Roosevelt
September 14, 1901 – March 4, 1909
First president and the first American to win a Nobel Peace Prize — for helping to end the Russo-Japanese War.
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28
Woodrow Wilson
March 4, 1913 – March 4, 1921
First and only president to earn a Ph.D. — in political science from Johns Hopkins University.
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29
Warren G. Harding
March 4, 1921 – August 2, 1923
First president born after the Civil War, and the first elected after women gained the right to vote.
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31
Herbert Hoover
March 4, 1929 – March 4, 1933
First president born west of the Mississippi River.
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32
Franklin D. Roosevelt
March 4, 1933 – April 12, 1945
First president elected four times, and the first to address the public through regular radio broadcasts called “fireside chats.”
“We have faith that future generations will know here, in the middle of the twentieth century, there came a time when men of good will found a way to unite, and produce, and fight to destroy the forces of ignorance, and intolerance, and slavery, and war.”
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33
Harry S. Truman
April 12, 1945 – January 20, 1953
First and only president to authorize the use of an atomic bomb against a foreign country.
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34
Dwight D. Eisenhower
January 20, 1953 – January 20, 1961
First and only president to serve in both world wars.
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35
John F. Kennedy
January 20, 1961 – November 22, 1963
First Catholic president, and the first and only president to receive a Purple Heart — for his battle wounds during World War II.
Asked to explain how he had come to be a hero, Kennedy quipped, “It was involuntary. They sank my boat.”
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36
Lyndon B. Johnson
November 22, 1963 – January 20, 1969
First and only president to be sworn in on an airplane — aboard Air Force One after John F. Kennedy’s assassination in 1963.
“This is a sad time for all people. We have suffered a loss that cannot be weighed. For me, it is a deep personal tragedy. I know that the world shares the sorrow that Mrs. Kennedy and her family bear. I will do my best. That is all I can do. I ask for your help — and God’s.”
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37
Richard Nixon
January 20, 1969 – August 9, 1974
First and only president to resign from office, the result of the Watergate scandal.
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39
Jimmy Carter
January 20, 1977 – January 20, 1981
First president to live to the age of 100 after leaving the White House.
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40
Ronald Reagan
January 20, 1981 – January 20, 1989
First president to have been divorced, and the first to nominate a woman to the Supreme Court.
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41
George H.W. Bush
January 20, 1989 – January 20, 1993
First and only president to have been U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
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42
Bill Clinton
January 20, 1993 – January 20, 2001
First president whose inauguration was streamed on the internet.
“Together we have the power to determine exactly what we want the internet to become … to be an instrument of empowerment, education, enlightenment, economic advance and community-building all across America, regardless of the race, the income, the geography of our citizens.”
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43
George W. Bush
January 20, 2001 – January 20, 2009
First president to have an MBA.
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44
Barack Obama
January 20, 2009 – January 20, 2017
First Black president and the first president to speak Indonesian, learning the language while living in Jakarta as a child.
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45
Donald Trump
January 20, 2017 – January 20, 2021
First president to win without either political or military experience, and the first president to be convicted of felony crimes.
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46
Joe Biden
January 20, 2021 – January 20, 2025
First president to receive more than 80 million votes in an election.