Living Presidents of the United States

The five living former presidents: George H. W. Bush (far left), Barack Obama (left), George W. Bush (center), Bill Clinton (right), and Jimmy Carter (far right).

This is the list of all of the living people who have served as President of the United States at each moment in U.S. history. Currently there are six living presidents, including the incumbent, Donald Trump.

Due to the line of succession outlined in Article 2, Section 1, Clause 6 of the United States Constitution (1789), Amendment 20, Section 3 (1933) and Amendment 25, Section 1 (1967) to the Constitution, there has never been a point where there is no serving President, meaning that from the point of death, resignation, or term end of one United States President, the powers and duties of the presidency are immediately passed to their successor under U.S. law, even before that person takes the oath of office.

This article also includes a list of all of the living people who have served as Vice President of the United States at each moment in U.S. history. Currently there are seven living vice presidents, including the incumbent, Mike Pence.

Timeline of living presidents

Gallery

There have been several gatherings of all the living presidents. Below are photographs of groups of persons who, at one time or another, comprised all living presidents (although several of these photographs were taken prior to or after the time period in which the persons depicted were the only living presidents).

• 
  1877 to 1881 (from left):

  • Grant
  • Hayes
• 
  1889 to 1893 (from left):

  • Hayes
  • Cleveland
  • B. Harrison
• 
  1893 to 1897 (from left):

  • B. Harrison
  • Cleveland
• 
  1901 to 1901 (from left):

  • McKinley
  • Cleveland
• 
  1909 to 1913 (from left):

  • T. Roosevelt
  • Taft
• 
  1919 to 1921 (from left):

  • Wilson
  • Taft
• 
  1924 to 1929 (from left):

  • Taft
  • Coolidge
• 
  1929 to 1930 (from left):

  • Taft
  • Coolidge
  • Hoover
• 
  1930 to 1933 (from left):

  • Coolidge
  • Hoover
• 
  1933 to 1945 (from left):

  • Hoover
  • F. D. Roosevelt
• 
  1945 to 1953 (from left):

  • Truman
  • Hoover
• 
  1953 to 1961 (from left):

  • Truman
  • Hoover
  • Eisenhower
• 
  1964 to 1969 (from left):

  • L. B. Johnson
  • Truman
  • Eisenhower
• 
  1969 to 1969 (from left):

  • Eisenhower
  • L. B. Johnson
  • Nixon
  • Truman
• 
  1972 to 1973 (from left):

  • Nixon
  • L. B. Johnson
• 
  1974 to 1977 (from left):

  • Nixon
  • Ford
• 
  1977 to 1981 (from left):

  • Carter
  • Ford
  • Nixon
• 
  1981 to 1989 (from left):

  • Reagan
  • Ford
  • Carter
  • Nixon
• 
  1989 to 1993 (from left):

  • Ford
  • Nixon
  • G. H. W. Bush
  • Reagan
  • Carter
• 
  1994 to 2001 (from left):

  • Clinton
  • G. H. W. Bush
  • Reagan
  • Carter
  • Ford
• 
  2004 to 2006 (from left):

  • G. H. W. Bush
  • Carter
  • Ford
  • G. W. Bush
  • Clinton
• 
  2006 to 2009 (from left):

  • G. H. W. Bush
  • G. W. Bush
  • Clinton
  • Carter
• 
  2009 to 2017 (from left):

  • G. H. W. Bush
  • Obama
  • G. W. Bush
  • Clinton
  • Carter

Statistics

• There have been six time periods when there was only one living President, no former president being alive:
  1. April 1789 to March 1797, the entirety of George Washington term as the first President
  2. December 1799 to March 1801, at the end of John Adams' presidency following Washington's death
  3. July 1875 to March 1877, at the end of Ulysses S. Grant's presidency following Andrew Johnson's death
  4. June 1908 to March 1909, at the end of Theodore Roosevelt's presidency following Grover Cleveland's death
  5. January 1933 to March 1933, at the end of Herbert Hoover's presidency following Calvin Coolidge's death
  6. January 1973 to August 1974, at the end of Richard Nixon's presidency following Lyndon B. Johnson's death
• There have been four time periods when six presidents (the incumbent and five former presidents) co-existed, including the current period:
  1. From March 1861 to July 1862, when Martin Van Buren, John Tyler, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, and Abraham Lincoln were alive.
  2. From January 1993 to April 1994, when six consecutive presidents, Nixon, Gerald Ford, Carter, Ronald Reagan, G. H. W. Bush, and Clinton, were alive.
  3. January 2001 to June 2004, when six consecutive presidents, Ford, Carter, Reagan, G. H. W. Bush, Clinton, and G. W. Bush, were alive.
  4. January 2017 to the present day, with Carter, G. H. W. Bush, Clinton, G. W. Bush, Obama and Donald Trump alive.
• Nixon is the only man to have been both the only living U.S. president (from January 1973 to August 1974) and one of six living presidents (from January 1993 to April 1994).

Timeline of living vice presidents

There have been four time periods when there was only one living vice president, first with the inauguration of John Adams in 1789 and most recently during the vice presidency of Thomas R. Marshall after the death of Levi P. Morton. Prior to the current period, there has been only one other time period when seven vice presidents (the incumbent and six former vice presidents) co-existed, between the 1993 inauguration of Al Gore and the 1994 death of Richard Nixon.