US Presidents timeline

Timeline of American Presidents w/ major events/ themes for each administration

Election year Admin years President Big Events Major themes
>> prior yrs to do
1896 1897-1900 McKinley, William
  • tariff
  • pro-gold standard
  • Spanish-American War
  • assassinated by anarchist
  • Gold standard
  • economic recovery
  • Spanish-American War
1901 assumed office 1909-1905 Roosevelt, Theodore (TR)
  • progressivism
  • anti-trusts
  • aggressive foreign policy (Panama, "Great White Fleet", "Roosevelt Corollary")
1904 1905-1909 government intervention in the economy
1908 1909-1913 Taft, William Howard
  • managed progressivism (not as radical as TR)
  • aggressive anti-trust
  • tariff reform/ but not successful
1912 1913-1917 Wilson, Woodrow
  • progressive
  • segregated the US government (racist)
  • isolationist leading up to 1916 election
1916 1917-1921
  • entry to WWI
  • government control of the economy
  • League of Nations (after WWI)
1920 1921-1923 Harding, Warren
  • economic recovery from panic of 1920/21
  • recovery from WWI
  • "return to normalcy"
    • reducing taxes and regulations from the War
    • focusing on economy not regulations/
    • isolationist
  • "Teapot Dome scandal" (Alaska land deal corruption)
  • economy
  • scandal
1923 assumed office 1923-1925 Coolidge, Calvin
1924 1925-1929
1928 1929-1933 Hoover, Herbert
  • 1929 Stock Market crash
  • Smoot-Hawley Act (tariffs)
  • bank failures, etc.
  • lame duck period
  • Great Depression starts
  • inability to deal with it economically and politically
1932 1933-1937 Roosevelt, Franklin (FDR)
  • Great Depression/ New Deal
  • economic regulation
  • Fireside chats (radio talks)
  • "Nothing to fear but fear itself"
  • had poor economic response (NRA didn't work, didn't solve the depression), but had a very strong political response (public opinion, perception of dealing it, doing something, etc)
1936 1937-1941
  • social security and other
1940 1941-1944
  • war footing, preparation without official entry to the war
  • Pearl Harbor, Dec 7, 1941
1945 died in office
1945 assumed office 1945-1949 Truman, Harry S.
  • Truman doctrine
  • Cold War starts
1948 1949-1953
  • Korean War
1952 1953-1957 Eisenhower, Dwight
  • ends Korean War
  • Eisenhower doctrine
1956 1957-1961
  • "missile gap"
  • 1957 recession / crisis of confidence
  • Suez Canal crisis (US non-intervention)
  • 1950s "normalcy"
1960 1961-1963 Kennedy, John F (JFK)
  • Bay of Pigs
  • Berlin Wall Crisis
  • Cuban Missile Crisis
  • special forces/ Vietnam
1963 assumed office 1963-1965 Johnson, Lyndon Baines (LBJ)
  • 1964 Civil Rights law
1964 1965-1969
  • Tonkin Gulf Incindent
  • Vietnam escalation/ ground troops
1968 1969-1973 Nixon, Richard M.
  • escalates bombing of N. Vietnam
  • Vietnamization/ US troops withdrawal 1971
  • Detente / opening up of China
  • economic regulation/ inflation
  • Detente
1972 1974 resigned
  • bombing of Cambodia, Laos
  • 1973 Oil Crisis
  • Watergate
  • Watergate
1974 1974-1977 Ford, Gerald R.
  • Nixon pardon
  • inflation
1976 1977-1981 Carter, Jimmy
  • inflation / stagflation / gas crisis
  • loss of US international leadership
  • Iran Hostage Crisis
  • deregulation
  • "Malaise" (Crisis of Confidence) speech
1980 1981-1985 Reagan, Ronald
  • Reaganomics
  • Cold War escalation ("star wars, military spending, etc.")
  • optimism
  • American cultural hegemony
  • deregulation / Wall Street
  • Vietnam Memorial / Vets/ POW MIA
1984 1985-1989
  • Talks w/ Russians
1988 1989-1993 Bush, Herbert Walker (HW Bush)
  • Collapse of Soviet Union / "peace dividend"
  • Gulf War
  • denuclearization of former Soviet republics
  • "New World Order"
1992 1993-1997 Clinton, Bill
1996 1997-2001
2000 2001-2005 Bush, George W (GW Bush)
2004 2005-2009
2008 2009-2013 Obama, Barack
2012 2013-2017
2016 2017-2021 Trump, Donald
2020 2021- Biden, Joe