United States presidents and control of congress

In United States history, the degree to which the President

President of the United States

The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

's political party has control over the House of Representatives

United States House of Representatives

The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...

and Senate

United States Senate

The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...

often determines his or her political strength - such as the ability to pass sponsored legislation, ratify treaties, and have Cabinet

United States Cabinet

The Cabinet of the United States is composed of the most senior appointed officers of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States, which are generally the heads of the federal executive departments...

members and judges approved. Moreover, it appears to have a strong effect on his or her historical ranking, especially in conjunction with years served and number of elections won.
Of the top 18 presidents in the 2000 Wall Street Journal poll, all had:

both houses for 100% of their time in office except, of the top six, Washington, and of the remaining twelve, Adams, James Polk, Grover Cleveland, Woodrow Wilson, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan.
the house for at least 75% of their time in office except Polk, Eisenhower and Reagan.
the senate for at least 75% of their time in office except Adams, Cleveland and Eisenhower.
won two elections and/or served more than four years except Adams, Polk and John F. Kennedy.
the inclusion of all full-term presidents who controlled both houses except Martin Van Buren, Calvin Coolidge and Jimmy Carter.

Many presidents' elections produced what is known as a coattail effect

Coattail effect

The coattail effect is the tendency for a popular political party leader to attract votes for other candidates of the same party in an election...

, in which the success of a presidential candidate also leads to electoral success for other members of his or her party. In fact, all newly-elected presidents except Zachary Taylor, Richard Nixon and George H. W. Bush were accompanied by control of at least one house of Congress.

Other ways of referring to "control of the Congress", include "majority party in power," "composition of each chamber", "history of the House of Representatives", "composition of Congress", "control of Congress timeline," "control of Congress through the years," "main party in power" and "historical control or power of the Senate."

Emphasized relationship of main table

Rank	President	Percent of time controlling House	Percent of time controlling Senate	Won re-election or served more than four years
1	George Washington	75	100	Yes
2	Abraham Lincoln	100	100	Yes
3	Franklin Roosevelt	100	100	Yes
4	Thomas Jefferson	100	100	Yes
5	Theodore Roosevelt	100	100	Yes
6	Andrew Jackson	100	100	Yes
7	Harry Truman	75	75	Yes
8	Ronald Reagan	0	75	Yes
9	Dwight Eisenhower	25	25	Yes
10	Woodrow Wilson	75	75	Yes
11	James Polk	50	100	No (chose not to seek reelection for health reasons)
12	Grover Cleveland	75	50	Yes
13	John Quincy Adams	100	50	No
14	William McKinley	100	100	Yes
15	James Madison	100	100	Yes
16	James Monroe	100	100	Yes
17	John F. Kennedy	100	100	No (assassinated)
18	Lyndon Johnson	100	100	Yes
Rank	President	Percent of time controlling House	Percent of time controlling Senate	Won re-election or served more than four years

Comparing presidential ranking with congressional control and terms won/served

#	President	Party	House with (years)	Senate with (years)	House opposed (years)	Senate opposed (years)	Years served	Elections won	Ranking in CSPAN 2009 poll
1	George Washington George Washington George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...	Federalist-leaning	6	8	2	0	8	2	02
2	John Adams John Adams John Adams was an American lawyer, statesman, diplomat and political theorist. A leading champion of independence in 1776, he was the second President of the United States...	Federalist	4	4	0	0	4	1	17
3	Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...	Democratic-Republican	8	8	0	0	8	2	07
4	James Madison James Madison James Madison, Jr. was an American statesman and political theorist. He was the fourth President of the United States and is hailed as the “Father of the Constitution” for being the primary author of the United States Constitution and at first an opponent of, and then a key author of the United...	D-R	8	8	0	0	8	2	20
5	James Monroe James Monroe James Monroe was the fifth President of the United States . Monroe was the last president who was a Founding Father of the United States, and the last president from the Virginia dynasty and the Republican Generation...	D-R	8	8	0	0	8	2	14
6	John Quincy Adams John Quincy Adams John Quincy Adams was the sixth President of the United States . He served as an American diplomat, Senator, and Congressional representative. He was a member of the Federalist, Democratic-Republican, National Republican, and later Anti-Masonic and Whig parties. Adams was the son of former...	D-R	2	2	2	2	4	1	19
7	Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson was the seventh President of the United States . Based in frontier Tennessee, Jackson was a politician and army general who defeated the Creek Indians at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend , and the British at the Battle of New Orleans...	Democratic	8	8	0	0	8	2	13
8	Martin Van Buren Martin Van Buren Martin Van Buren was the eighth President of the United States . Before his presidency, he was the eighth Vice President and the tenth Secretary of State, under Andrew Jackson ....	Democratic	4	4	0	0	4	1	31
9	William Henry Harrison William Henry Harrison William Henry Harrison was the ninth President of the United States , an American military officer and politician, and the first president to die in office. He was 68 years, 23 days old when elected, the oldest president elected until Ronald Reagan in 1980, and last President to be born before the...	Whig			0	0		1	39
10	John Tyler John Tyler John Tyler was the tenth President of the United States . A native of Virginia, Tyler served as a state legislator, governor, U.S. representative, and U.S. senator before being elected Vice President . He was the first to succeed to the office of President following the death of a predecessor...	Whig/none	2	4	2	0	4	0	35
11	James K. Polk James K. Polk James Knox Polk was the 11th President of the United States . Polk was born in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. He later lived in and represented Tennessee. A Democrat, Polk served as the 17th Speaker of the House of Representatives and the 12th Governor of Tennessee...	Democratic	2	4	2	0	4	1	12
12	Zachary Taylor Zachary Taylor Zachary Taylor was the 12th President of the United States and an American military leader. Initially uninterested in politics, Taylor nonetheless ran as a Whig in the 1848 presidential election, defeating Lewis Cass...	Whig	0	0	1	1	1	1	29
13	Millard Fillmore Millard Fillmore Millard Fillmore was the 13th President of the United States and the last member of the Whig Party to hold the office of president...	Whig	0	0	3	3	3	0	37
14	Franklin Pierce Franklin Pierce Franklin Pierce was the 14th President of the United States and is the only President from New Hampshire. Pierce was a Democrat and a "doughface" who served in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate. Pierce took part in the Mexican-American War and became a brigadier general in the Army...	Democratic	2	4	2	0	4	1	40
15	James Buchanan James Buchanan James Buchanan, Jr. was the 15th President of the United States . He is the only president from Pennsylvania, the only president who remained a lifelong bachelor and the last to be born in the 18th century....	Democratic	2	4	2	0	4	1	42
16	Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...	Republican	4	4	0	0	4	2	01
17	Andrew Johnson Andrew Johnson Andrew Johnson was the 17th President of the United States . As Vice-President of the United States in 1865, he succeeded Abraham Lincoln following the latter's assassination. Johnson then presided over the initial and contentious Reconstruction era of the United States following the American...	Democratic	0	0	4	4	4	0	41
18	Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant was the 18th President of the United States as well as military commander during the Civil War and post-war Reconstruction periods. Under Grant's command, the Union Army defeated the Confederate military and ended the Confederate States of America...	Republican	6	8	2	0	8	2	23
19	Rutherford B. Hayes Rutherford B. Hayes Rutherford Birchard Hayes was the 19th President of the United States . As president, he oversaw the end of Reconstruction and the United States' entry into the Second Industrial Revolution...	Republican	0	2	4	2	4	1	33
20	James Garfield James Garfield James Abram Garfield served as the 20th President of the United States, after completing nine consecutive terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. Garfield's accomplishments as President included a controversial resurgence of Presidential authority above Senatorial courtesy in executive...	Republican			0	0		1	28
21	Chester A. Arthur Chester A. Arthur Chester Alan Arthur was the 21st President of the United States . Becoming President after the assassination of President James A. Garfield, Arthur struggled to overcome suspicions of his beginnings as a politician from the New York City Republican machine, succeeding at that task by embracing...	Republican	2	4	2	0	4	0	32
22, 24	Grover Cleveland Grover Cleveland Stephen Grover Cleveland was the 22nd and 24th president of the United States. Cleveland is the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms and therefore is the only individual to be counted twice in the numbering of the presidents...	Democratic	6	4	2	4	8	2	21
23	Benjamin Harrison Benjamin Harrison Benjamin Harrison was the 23rd President of the United States . Harrison, a grandson of President William Henry Harrison, was born in North Bend, Ohio, and moved to Indianapolis, Indiana at age 21, eventually becoming a prominent politician there...	Republican	2	4	2	0	4	1	30
25	William McKinley William McKinley William McKinley, Jr. was the 25th President of the United States . He is best known for winning fiercely fought elections, while supporting the gold standard and high tariffs; he succeeded in forging a Republican coalition that for the most part dominated national politics until the 1930s...	Republican	4	4	0	0	4	2	16
26	Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...	Republican	8	8	0	0	8	1	04
27	William Howard Taft William Howard Taft William Howard Taft was the 27th President of the United States and later the tenth Chief Justice of the United States...	Republican	2	4	2	0	4	1	24
28	Woodrow Wilson Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...	Democratic	6	6	2	2	8	2	09
29	Warren G. Harding Warren G. Harding Warren Gamaliel Harding was the 29th President of the United States . A Republican from Ohio, Harding was an influential self-made newspaper publisher. He served in the Ohio Senate , as the 28th Lieutenant Governor of Ohio and as a U.S. Senator...	Republican	2	2	0	0	2	1	38
30	Calvin Coolidge Calvin Coolidge John Calvin Coolidge, Jr. was the 30th President of the United States . A Republican lawyer from Vermont, Coolidge worked his way up the ladder of Massachusetts state politics, eventually becoming governor of that state...	Republican	6	6	0	0	6	1	26
31	Herbert Hoover Herbert Hoover Herbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States . Hoover was originally a professional mining engineer and author. As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted partnerships between government and business...	Republican	2	4	2	0	4	1	34
32	Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...	Democratic	12	12	0	0	12	4	03
33	Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...	Democratic	6	6	2	2	8	1	05
34	Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...	Republican	2	2	6	6	8	2	08
35	John F. Kennedy John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....	Democratic	3	3	0	0	3	1	06
36	Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...	Democratic	5	5	0	0	5	1	11
37	Richard Nixon Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...	Republican	0	0	6	6	6	2	27
38	Gerald R. Ford	Republican	0	0	2	2	2	0	22
39	Jimmy Carter Jimmy Carter James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...	Democratic	4	4	0	0	4	1	25
40	Ronald Reagan Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....	Republican	0	6	8	2	8	2	10
41	George H. W. Bush George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...	Republican	0	0	4	4	4	1	18
42	Bill Clinton Bill Clinton William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...	Democratic	2	2	6	6	8	2	15
43	George W. Bush George W. Bush George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....	Republican	6	4	2	4	8	2	36
44	Barack Obama Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...	Democratic	2	3	1	0	3	1	n/a
#	President	Party	House with (years)	Senate with (years)	House opposed (years)	Senate opposed (years)	Years served	Elections won	Ranking in CSPAN 2009 poll

Emphasized relationship of main table

Comparing presidential ranking with congressional control and terms won/served

See also