How Many Presidents Served Two (Full) Terms?

The office of the president of the United States is invariably coveted. However, since the ratification of the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution in 1951, a number of presidents have been unable to hold their positions for more than eight years. Of the twenty-one, fourteen presidents have served the full two terms. One even served for three full terms.

So, which of the 46 US presidents held office for two full terms?

George Washington was elected unanimously for both his terms in the 1788-1789 and 1792 presidential elections. As the Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army and the president of the Constitutional Convention, Washington was a popular leader and was generally expected to become the first president.

Washington himself, however, was reluctant about taking the office of a civilian leader. He wished to retire to his farm at Mount Vernon, but instead, he followed his duty to his new country and became the first president.

George Washington presided over the establishment of much of the United States federal government, personally appointing all high-ranking officials of the executive and judicial branches. He implemented the First Bank of the United States, the United States Customs Service, and the United States Mint. He personally directed several military ventures while in office.

The first US president was also savvy in establishing peace with foreign powers through the 1793 Proclamation of Neutrality, which saw the US through the French Revolution. Additionally, Washington signed treaties with Great Britain and Spain, fostering trade and securing control of the American frontier. He also protected US shipping interests by re-establishing the United States Navy in 1794.

Washington’s disdain for political division was one of the main struggles of his presidency, as he tried to keep rival factions together. However, he was unable to maintain unity, and the government soon split into two distinct political parties. To this day, Washington is still the only US president to have never had a party affiliation.

After his presidency, George Washington retired to his home at Mount Vernon. He would only live for three more years, dying of a throat infection in 1799.

After defeating incumbent John Adams in 1800, Thomas Jefferson became the third president of the United States. Jefferson’s mentality during his first term was largely based on party politics. His first acts were to roll back changes made during the previous Federalist administration and align the country with Democratic-Republican (also called Jeffersonian) politics.

Jefferson repealed the Alien and Sedition Acts, reduced taxes, curbed the national debt, and rolled back government spending. However, the major accomplishment of Jefferson’s first term was the acquisition of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, which bought 530 million acres of land from war-torn France. Jefferson also placed trade embargos against Great Britain and France during the Napoleonic Wars to keep the United States neutral. However, this would only worsen foreign relations, eventually leading to war with Britain.

During his second term, Jefferson was largely focused on the trial of former Vice President Aaron Burr, who was tried for treason. The case ended in an acquittal. His second term also revolved around slavery. Although Jefferson was a slaveholder for the entirety of his life, he denounced the international slave trade, prompting Congress to approve the Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves in the United States in 1807.

Jefferson’s rejection of war with Britain dominated his final years in office. His decision to threaten economic action against Great Britain, however, hurt the United States. Despite this, Jefferson left his office in the hands of his preferred successor, James Madison. Thus began a generation of Jeffersonian influence in the American presidency.

James Madison defeated two Federalist opposers in the elections of 1808 and 1812, though his presidency was primarily dominated by increased tension with Britain and later the War of 1812.

The Napoleonic Wars were a large focus of Madison’s first presidential term. While American merchants initially benefited from the increased shipping activity of the wars in Europe, the British and the French eventually began attacking American merchants. These attacks, along with British impressment, led Madison’s administration to declare war on Great Britain, thus beginning the War of 1812.

The United States was largely unprepared for war, with a lackluster army and minimal financial backing. The American army failed to conquer Canada, and in 1814, the British entered Washington, DC, burning the White House and the Capitol.

However, the United States held its own against all odds and rallied together to triumph in many battles. After another American victory at the Battle of New Orleans, the war ended with the Treaty of Ghent in February 1815. Though neither party made significant concessions, the general American public felt they were victorious. This led to the soaring popularity of James Madison as well as the collapse of the Federalist Party.

Though a Democratic-Republican, Madison enacted several tariffs and increased military spending during his second term. This policy, however, did not dampen public support, and Madison left office in 1817 after his chosen successor, James Monroe, was elected.

4. James Monroe

Though James Monroe was a Democratic-Republican, he sought to eliminate political parties in the United States throughout his presidency. The Federalist Party lost national importance during Monroe’s presidency, and the Democratic-Republican Party also ceased to function as a unified party.

Monroe’s presidency is often referred to as the “Era of Good Feelings” due to the lessening of party conflicts in the United States. However, Monroe faced other issues during his presidency. The first of these issues was the Panic of 1819, which saw the first recession in United States history. To combat the financial crisis, Monroe enacted federally funded infrastructure projects while vetoing several other projects due to constitutionality concerns. Monroe also signed the Missouri Compromise, which admitted Missouri as a slave state but excluded all other slavery above the Mason-Dixon Line.

Foreign conflicts, including the First Seminole War, helped the United States acquire East and West Florida from the Spanish. Spain also ceded its claims to Oregon territory in the Pacific Northwest. Additionally, Monroe secured treaties with Great Britain, leading to a mended relationship between the two powers.

The most powerful position on foreign affairs, however, was made with the Monroe Doctrine, which declared the United States’ neutrality in European affairs while stating that there would be no support for European colonization in South America. Monroe was a personal believer in the revolutionary movements of Latin America, prompting the establishment of the Monroe Doctrine in 1823.

Monroe had no preferred successor among the four Democratic-Republicans that sought to be elected in 1824, but John Quincy Adams won out, succeeding Monroe as the next president.

Though he lost the election of 1824, Andrew Jackson beat the incumbent president in the election of 1828. He remained in office until 1837. Jackson focused on domestic policy and acted in a way that would forever affect the United States government.

The most infamous of Jackson’s domestic policies was the removal of Native Americans from the territories east of the Mississippi River. The “Trail of Tears” became the most well-known of these forced relocations. It was responsible for the displacement of over 60,000 people and the death of between 15,500 and 22,800 people.

Jackson also established the system of spoils in the federal government, whereby he was able to build the Democratic party in a unified fashion. Jackson also fought the Bank War, which led to the dissolution of the Second Bank of the United States. The struggle was also partially responsible for the second American financial crisis, the Panic of 1837.

Jackson’s most notorious “foreign” affairs decision was his recognition of the Republic of Texas, the short-lived independence of what would become the 28th state in the Union.

The Jacksonian Era is one of the most notorious and controversial in American history and caused his opponents to form the Whig Party, which favored modern economies, tariffs on imports, and internal infrastructure improvements. After Jackson’s presidency, biographer James Parton characterized him as a man of contradictions in the public eye in 1860. He was “dictator or democrat, ignoramus or genius, Satan or saint.”

Several single- and partial-term presidents succeeded Andrew Jackson, including Abraham Lincoln. However, in 1868, Ulysses S. Grant, the former General of the Union Army during the Civil War, was elected president.

During his presidency, Grant enacted Reconstruction in the American South in an attempt to bring unity to the fractured nation. By 1870, all former Confederate states were readmitted to the Union. However, Democratic leaders and former slave owners refused to acknowledge the Fifteenth Amendment, which granted formerly enslaved people citizenship. In response, Congress was supported by President Grant in enacting three Force Acts, which allowed federal response in states where freemen’s rights were not protected.

Grant, Attorney General Amos T. Akerman, and the newly formed Department of Justice also cracked down on Ku Klux Klan activity in the South, mobilizing federal troops to capture Klansmen. This helped the federal government to ensure fair elections in 1872 and largely disbanded the threat of the KKK.

Though his presidency was, at several times, characterized by corruption due to bribery, fraud, and cronyism, Grant responded to corruption charges. He occasionally appointed reformers and advanced the Civil Service Reform by creating the first Civil Service Commission. During his presidency, Grant was also at peace with much of the world, restoring relations with Britain and Spain. However, he did attempt to annex Santo Domingo, which the Senate disallowed.

In 1872, Grant’s administration signed the act of Congress to establish Yellowstone National Park, which began the history of national parks in the United States. Though his presidency was not perfect, Grant’s modern-day reputation is characterized by his enforcement of civil rights and the reconstruction of the Union after the Civil War.

Grover Cleveland holds the distinction of being the only president in United States history who served two non-consecutive terms. He won the election in 1884, lost in 1888, and was once again elected to the presidency in 1892. He was also the first Democrat to be elected after the Civil War.

Cleveland’s first term saw the expansion of government positions protected by the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act. He also signed the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887, which established the first independent federal agency, the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), and regulated the railroad industry.

During Cleveland’s first term, foreign policy was dominated by the Samoan Crisis, which ended in a tripartite protectorate between the US, the United Kingdom, and the German Empire in the Samoan Islands.

Cleveland’s second term, four years later, began with the Panic of 1893, which saw the United States slide into a severe depression. He repealed the Sherman Silver Purchase Act, which caused a blow to the popular movement for the silver standard and lowered tariffs.

In his second term, Cleveland also resisted intervention in Cuba and the annexation of Hawaii. He upheld the Monroe Doctrine by forcing Great Britain to come to an agreement with Venezuela over a border dispute.

Cleveland was replaced by the Free Silver Movement within the Democratic party. However, the 1896 election would be won by the Republican candidate, William McKinley. Cleveland was incredibly unpopular when he left office, though modern scholars describe him as an average or slightly above-average president.

Woodrow Wilson was elected in 1912 as a Democrat. Though he was the former governor of New Jersey, Wilson often worked with Southern leaders on the basis that he was a fellow Southerner, hailing from Virginia.

Wilson led the Progressive Movement, which helped, in turn, to establish modern American liberalism as we know it today. However, Wilson also enacted several racist policies, enforcing segregation and even hosting a showing of the film Birth of a Nation at the White House.

At the same time, Wilson oversaw legislative policies that had no progressive match until the New Deal of the 1930s. Wilson passed the Federal Reserve Act, the Clayton Antitrust Act, and the Federal Farm Loan Act, among other progressive reforms, including the Adamson Act, which established an eight-hour workday in the railroad industry and avoided strikes.

Wilson’s first term saw the beginning of World War I in 1914, in which Wilson declined to involve the United States. However, after Germany’s unrestricted submarine warfare, Wilson asked Congress to declare war and enact the Selective Service Act, which sent 10,000 soldiers per day to France by the summer of 1918.

At home, Wilson established the War Industries Board, regulated agriculture and food production, and nationalized the railroad system. He also encouraged Congress to enact the Espionage and Sedition Acts of 1917 and 1918, which would be used to deport non-citizen “radicals” during the First Red Scare of 1919 to 1920.

Wilson’s idea of using American influence to promote global democracy is now known as “Wilsonianism.” Wilson relied on this in 1918 when he laid out his Fourteen Points, or his principles for peace, and promoted the Treaty of Versailles with a nationwide tour in 1919 after the armistice with Germany. However, the treaty would never pass, as Wilson suffered a stroke in October 1919 that would incapacitate him for the rest of his presidency.

Though he rallied for a third term after his medical crisis, Wilson lost to Republican Warren G. Harding in 1920.

Dwight D. Eisenhower was a Republican from Kansas who served as the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe during World War II. He won both the 1952 and 1956 elections in landslide victories. However, the public’s opinion of Eisenhower had soured by the time he left office in 1961 after being defeated by John F. Kennedy.

Eisenhower’s presidency was dominated by the Cold War and foreign policy decisions. After negotiating the end of the Korean War and the partition of Korea, his policy of national security, known as the “New Look,” mandated the stockpile of nuclear weapons. As a result, the United States’ nuclear arsenal was increased heavily during Eisenhower’s presidency.

Following the Suez Crisis, the Eisenhower Doctrine strengthened US intervention in the Middle East. Elsewhere, however, existing ties were broken. Eisenhower ended relations with Cuba following the Cuban Revolution, which also resulted in the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion. He also allowed the CIA access to covert missions, resulting in events such as the Iranian and Guatemalan coups.

At home, Eisenhower continued several New Deal projects and established the Interstate Highway System. He presided over the foundation of NASA after the launch of Sputnik 1. He also upheld the Supreme Court decision in the 1954 case of Brown v. Board of Education. Though Eisenhower was not in favor of the ruling, he enforced the first major civil rights bill since the end of the Reconstruction Era.

The launch of Sputnik 1 and a poor economy led to the ousting of Republicans throughout the country, including Eisenhower. He was not succeeded by his preferred candidate, Richard Nixon, but by John F. Kennedy.

Ronald Reagan, the former Republican governor of California, took office in 1981. After two landslide victories in the 1980 and 1984 elections, Reagan and his shift toward conservatism took over the Oval Office.

During both terms, Reagan introduced massive tax cuts and the elimination of regulation. This economic policy, colloquially called “Reaganomics,” also relied on cutting non-military spending in the government. Though these policies helped the economy prosper in the 1980s, they heavily increased the national debt.

Reagan was not shy, however, about spending on military programs, as he sought to reverse the influence of the Soviet Union on the world and bring the Cold War to a close. He invested in new technology and supported the paramilitary overthrow of leftist governments, specifically in Central America and Afghanistan. Reagan’s administration also allowed covert arms sales to Iran, which in turn funded Contra rebels in Nicaragua, a group seeking to overthrow the local socialist government.

During his second term, Reagan attempted to lessen tensions between the USSR and the US by establishing a relationship with Mikhail Gorbachev and signing a major arms control agreement in 1987. In 1986, Reagan simplified the nation’s tax code by signing the Tax Reform Act. In the same year, he also granted amnesty to three million illegal immigrants with the Immigration Reform and Control Act.

Though Reagan has been criticized by some Democrats for his economic policies and the Iran-Contra Affair, he ranks as one of the most important presidents since Franklin D. Roosevelt. Today, the period of his presidency is known as the “Reagan Era” due to his push of the country toward conservatism.

The twice-former governor of Arkansas, Bill Clinton, became the 42nd president following victories in 1992 and 1996. Clinton’s presidency coincided with the birth of the Internet, which ushered in a period of economic expansion longer than the United States had ever seen in peacetime.

During his first term, Clinton passed the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993, which raised taxes and allowed for budget surpluses for the first time since the 1960s. He also ratified the North American Free Trade Agreement with Mexico and Canada, allowing for more economic expansion. Though he sought to implement a plan for universal healthcare, the Republican sweep of Congress in 1994 prevented any significant leeway. However, Clinton was able to block restrictions on abortion and expand healthcare for children.

Clinton’s second term was dominated by his denial of an affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. He was impeached for lying about the affair under oath but was acquitted by the Senate in 1998. After the crisis, he was able to recover and continue the deregulation of the industry in alignment with the rise of the dot-com bubble, making the ratio of debt held by the public to the country’s GDP fall from 47.8% to 33.6%.

Clinton is seen as an above-average president. Despite his impeachment, he held the highest exit approval rating, 66%, since the end of World War II.

12. George W. Bush

Narrowly winning the presidency in both 2000 and 2004, George W. Bush became the 43rd US president in January 2001.

Bush’s presidency was dramatically reshaped following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. In the wake of the event, Bush declared a global war on terrorism, and Congress formed the Department of Homeland Security. An invasion of Afghanistan was ordered to destroy the Taliban, followed by an invasion of Iraq, based on false allegations that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction.

Bush also signed the Patriot Act, a controversial piece of legislation that allowed for broader surveillance of suspected terrorists and American citizens. Bush was socially conservative, passing the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act and religious-based welfare initiatives. He also created the No Child Left Behind Act, a major education policy reform.

During his second term, Bush continued the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, launching a surge of troops in Iraq in 2007. This, along with the sliding economy and his poor response to Hurricane Katrina, plummeted his approval rating.

Following 9/11, his approval was the highest ever seen for a president. However, it fell to below 40% after the economy’s collapse in 2007-2008 and the disastrous governmental response to Hurricane Katrina. During his time in office, Bush also increased the national debt to over $33 trillion. For these reasons, most scholars categorize Bush as a below-average president.

13. Barack Obama

The first African-American, multiracial, and Hawaii-born president, Barack Obama, came into office in 2009 after his victory against Republican John McCain. He then won the 2012 presidential election, beating Republican Mitt Romney.

During his first 100 days in office, Obama expanded children’s healthcare, implemented ethics guidelines designed to curtail the influence of lobbyists on the executive branch, and won approval of a budget resolution that would lead to major healthcare reform. Obama also followed through on Bush’s promise to withdraw from Iraq, lifted the ban on funding for embryonic stem cell research, and supported the UN declaration on sexual orientation and gender identity.

In the next two years of his presidency, he introduced other landmark bills, such as the Affordable Care Act (often known as the ACA or Obamacare), the 2010 Don’t Ask Don’t Tell Repeal, which allowed LGBTQ+ troops to serve openly in the military, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform, and Consumer Protection Act. He also approved several measures that served as stimuli during the Great Recession.

In 2011, Obama was praised for ordering Operation Neptune Spear, which led to the killing of Osama bin Laden and the drone strike killing of al-Qaeda operative Anwar al-Awlaki. He also ordered military involvement in Libya, which led to the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi.

During his second term, Obama urged the Supreme Court to rule same-sex marriage bans as unconstitutional, leading to the nationwide legalization of same-sex marriage in 2015. In foreign policy, he normalized relations with Cuba and ordered military interventions in Syria and Iraq following gains made by ISIL. He also called for a ban on assault weapons and issued executive actions regarding climate change and immigration.

Obama was succeeded by Donald Trump in 2016. He is consistently ranked among the top tier of presidents by political scientists and historians of American history.

14. Franklin D. Roosevelt: The Only Three-Term President

The only president to have served longer than two terms was Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who held the office from 1933 until his death in 1945. FDR, as he is commonly referred to, was even elected to a fourth term in the 1944 elections. However, he died only three months into his last term. FDR is well-known and consistently ranks as one of the greatest presidents in American history.

FDR was so popular because of his policies that led America out of the Great Depression and weathered the storm of World War II. During his first and second terms, he implemented the New Deal, Social Security, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and the end of Prohibition.

During his third and fourth terms, after the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, FDR focused mainly on World War II. He worked extensively to support the war effort via the American economy, initiated the development of the first atomic bomb, and laid the groundwork for the United Nations, a term which he coined.

The United States has seen 46 presidents. Those who had more time in office, like the above two- (and three-) term leaders, have implemented varying policies and orders. The political climate of the United States is ever-changing and ever-evolving, something that is easy to see even between the first and second terms of some presidents. The president ultimately should reflect the American public, which we can see when we look at these 15 presidents and their actions over the past 250+ years.