1789 George Washington is unanimously elected the first President of the United States by the U.S. Electoral College.
1789 George Washington is inaugurated at Federal Hall in New York City, beginning his term as the 1st President of the United States
1793 George Washington holds the first Cabinet meeting as President of the United States.
1796 U.S. President George Washington issues his Farewell Address, which warns against partisan politics and foreign entanglements.
1800 U.S. President John Adams becomes the first President of the United States to live in the Executive Mansion (later renamed the White House).
1801 An electoral tie between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr is resolved when Jefferson is elected President of the United States and Burr Vice President by the United States House of Representatives.
1809 James Madison succeeds Thomas Jefferson as the President of the United States.
1825 After no presidential candidate received a majority of electoral votes, the United States House of Representatives elects John Quincy Adams President of the United States.
1825 John Quincy Adams officially succeeds James Monroe as President of the United States.
1828 U.S. presidential election: Andrew Jackson is elected President of the United States.
1835 Unsuccessful assassination attempt against President Andrew Jackson in the United States Capitol - first assassination attempt against a President of the United States.
1835 Unsuccessful assassination attempt against President Andrew Jackson in the United States Capitol - first assassination attempt against a President of the United States.
1841 Martin Van Buren, President of the United States is succeeded by William Henry Harrison.
1841 President William Henry Harrison dies of pneumonia becoming the first President of the United States to die in office and at one month, the elected president with the shortest term served. He is succeeded by Vice President John Tyler.
1841 John Tyler is inaugurated as the 10th President of the United States.
1849 End of Term for President of the United States James Knox Polk.
1849 In New York City, James Knox Polk becomes the first President of the United States to have his photograph taken.
1850 President Zachary Taylor dies while in office and Vice President Millard Fillmore becomes the 13th President of the United States (he is inaugurated the next day).
1856 The American Party (Know-Nothings) convene in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to nominate their first Presidential candidate, former President Millard Fillmore.
1856 U.S. presidential election, 1856: Democrat James Buchanan defeats former President Millard Fillmore, representing a coalition of "Know-Nothings" and Whigs, and ohn C. Fr
1857 End of term for President of the United States Franklin Pierce. He is succeeded by James Buchanan.
1860 The U.S. Constitutional Union Party holds its convention and nominates John Bell for President of the United States.
1860 U.S. presidential election, 1860: Abraham Lincoln beats John C. Breckinridge, Stephen A. Douglas, and John Bell and is elected as the 16th President of the United States, the first Republican to hold that offi
1861 End of term for President of the United States James Buchanan. He is succeeded by Abraham Lincoln.
1862 American Civil War: Preliminary announcement of the Emancipation Proclamation by President Abraham Lincoln
1863 President of the United States Abraham Lincoln signs the National Currency Act into law.
1868 After Andrew Johnson tried to dismiss United States Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, he becomes the first President of the United States to be impeached by the United States House of Representatives. Johnson would later be acquitted by the United States Senate.
1868 President Andrew Johnson is acquitted during his impeachment trial, by one vote in the United States Senate.
1872 Victoria Woodhull becomes the first woman nominated for President of the United States, although she is a year too young to qualify and does not appear on the ballot.
1879 Women's rights: American President Rutherford B. Hayes signs a bill allowing female attorneys to argue cases before the Supreme Court of the United States.
1881 Rutherford Birchard Hayes is succeeded as President of the United States by James Abram Garfield.
1881 James Abram Garfield, President of the United States is shot by lawyer Charles Julius Guiteau. He survives the assassination attempt but he suffers from infection of his wound.
1885 Grover Cleveland replaces Chester A. Arthur as President of the United States.
1889 President Grover Cleveland signs a bill admitting North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Washington as U.S. states.
1889 Grover Cleveland, 24th President of the United States (1885 - 1889) is succeeded by Benjamin Harrison (1889-1893).
1893 End of term for President of the United States Benjamin Harrison. He is succeeded by Stephen Grover Cleveland.
1897 William McKinley succeeds Grover Cleveland as President of the United States.
1901 With the death of William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt succeeds him as President of the United States.
1902 Theodore Roosevelt became the first American President to ride in an automobile when he rode in a Columbia Electric Victoria through Hartford, Connecticut.
1906 Theodore Roosevelt signs the Antiquities Act into law, authorizing the President to restrict the use of certain parcels of public land with historical or conservation value.
1906 US President Theodore Roosevelt leaves for a trip to Panama to inspect the construction progress of the Panama Canal (this was the first time a sitting President of the United States made an official trip outside of the United States).
1909 End of term for Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States. He is succeeded by William Howard Taft.
1913 End of term for President of the United States William Howard Taft. He is succeeded by Thomas Woodrow Wilson.
1916 President Woodrow Wilson sends 12,000 United States troops over the U.S.-Mexico border border to pursue Pancho Villa; 13th Cavalry regiment enters Mexican territory.
1917 World War I: President Woodrow Wilson calls for "peace without victory" in Europe.
1921 Change of US presidency from Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921) to Warren G. Harding (1921-1923)
1922 President of the United States, Warren G. Harding introduces the first radio in the White House.
1923 Warren G. Harding, 29th President of the United States, (1921 - 1923) dies in office and is succeeded by Calvin Coolidge (1923-1929).
1924 Calvin Coolidge becomes the first President of the United States to deliver a radio broadcast from the White House.
1925 Calvin Coolidge becomes the first President of the United States to have his inauguration broadcasted on radio.
1928 New York Governor Alfred E. Smith becomes the first Catholic nominated by a major political party for U.S. President, at the Democratic National Convention in Houston, Texas.
1929 Herbert Hoover is inaugurated as the 31st President of the United States, succeeding Calvin Coolidge.
1933 In Miami, Florida, Giuseppe Zangara attempts to assassinate President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt, but instead kills Chicago, Illinois Mayor Anton J. Cermak.
1933 Great Depression: President Franklin D. Roosevelt declares a "bank holiday", closing all United States banks and freezing all financial transactions (the 'holiday' ended on March 13).
1933 Great Depression: Franklin Delano Roosevelt addresses the nation for the first time as President of the United States. This was also the first of his "Fireside Chats".
1937 President Franklin D. Roosevelt proposes a plan to enlarge the Supreme Court of the United States.
1941 World War II: President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signs the Lend-Lease Act into law, allowing American-built war supplies to be shipped to the Allies on loan.
1942 World War II: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs executive order 9066 allowing the United States military to define areas as exclusionary zones. These zones affect the Japanese on the West Coast, and Germans and Italians primarily on the East Coast.
1942 World War II: President Franklin Delano Roosevelt orders General Douglas MacArthur out of the Philippines as American defense of the nation collapses.
1943 Franklin D. Roosevelt becomes the first President of the United States to travel by airplane while in office (Miami, Florida to Morocco to meet with Winston Churchill to discuss World War II).
1945 Franklin D. Roosevelt is inaugurated to an unprecedented fourth term as President of the United States.
1945 World War II: President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill leave to meet with Soviet leader Joseph Stalin at the Yalta Conference.
1945 World War II: President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin begin the Yalta Conference (ends February 11)
1948 President Harry Truman signs the Marshall Plan which authorizes $5 billion in aid for 16 countries.
1948 U.S. presidential election, 1948: Harry S. Truman defeats Thomas E. Dewey for the US presidency.
1951 The Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution, limiting Presidents to two terms, is ratified.
1953 President Harry S. Truman announces the United States has developed a hydrogen bomb.
1953 Change of US presidency from Harry S. Truman (1945-1953) to Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953-1961).
1954 President Dwight Eisenhower warns against United States intervention in Vietnam
1957 Dwight D. Eisenhower inaugurated for second term as President of the United States.
1958 President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the Alaska Statehood Act into United States law
1960 November 1
1961 John F. Kennedy becomes the 35th President of the United States.
1961 In Washington, DC John F. Kennedy delivers the first live presidential news conference. In it, he announces that the Soviet Union has freed the two surviving crewmen of a USAF RB-47 reconnaissance plane shot down by Soviet flyers over the Barents Sea July 1, 1960. (see RB-47H shot down)
1961 President of the United States John F. Kennedy establishes the Peace Corps.
1961 The Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, allowing residents of Washington, DC to vote in presidential elections.
1963 John F. Kennedy assassination: In Dallas, Texas, U.S. President John F. Kennedy is assassinated, Texas Governor John B. Connally is seriously wounded, and Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson is sworn in as the 36th President of the United States.
1967 The body of President John F. Kennedy is moved to a permanent burial place at Arlington National Cemetery.
1972 President of the United States Richard Nixon orders the development of a space shuttle program.
1974 Richard Nixon becomes the first President of the United States to resign from office, an action taken to avoid being removed by impeachment in response to his role in the Watergate scandal. His Vice President, Gerald Ford, takes the oath of office and becomes the 38th President.
1976 Patricia Hearst is sentenced to seven years in prison for her role in a 1974 bank robbery. An executive clemency order from U.S. President Jimmy Carter will set her free after only 22 months.
1977 Jimmy Carter succeeds Gerald Ford as the 39th President of the United States.
1981 Ronald Reagan succeeds Jimmy Carter as the 40th President of the United States. Minutes after Reagan becomes president, Iran releases 52 American hostages that had been held captive for 444 days and the Iran hostage crisis ends. Tim Harkins was born in Flowood, MS.
1983 Strategic Defense Initiative: President Ronald Reagan makes his initial proposal to develop technology to intercept enemy missiles. The media dub this plan "Star Wars."
1983 Martin Luther King Day: At the White House Rose Garden, President Ronald Reagan signs a bill creating a federal holiday on the third Monday of every January to honor American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
1985 Cold War: In Geneva, U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev meet for the first time.
1985 U.S. President Ronald Reagan sells the rights to his autobiography to Random House for a record US$3 million.
1987 On a vote of 58-42, the United States Senate rejects President Ronald Reagan's nomination of Robert Bork to the U.S. Supreme Court.
1991 Arkansas Governor William J. Clinton announces he will seek the 1992 Democratic Party nomination for President of the United States.
1992 George H. W. Bush becomes the first President of the United States to address the Australian Parliament.
1994 U.S. President Bill Clinton and Russian President Boris Yeltsin sign the Kremlin Accords, which stop the preprogrammed aiming of nuclear missiles toward each country's targets, and also provide for the dismantling of the nuclear arsenal in Ukraine.
1997 Bill Clinton starts his second term as President of the United States.
1999 President Bill Clinton is acquitted by the United States Senate in his impeachment trial.
1999 Texas Governor George W. Bush announces he will seek the Republican Party's nomination for President of the United States.
2001 George W. Bush is sworn in as the 43rd President of the United States.
2004 A videotape of Osama Bin Laden speaking airs on Arabic TV, in which he threatens terrorist attacks on the United States, and taunts the president, George W. Bush, over the September 11 Terrorist attacks.
2005 George W. Bush is inaugurated in Washington, D.C. for his second term as the 43rd President of the United States.