Talk:List of presidents of the United States

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Frequently asked questions

This section is here to provide answers to some questions that have been previously discussed on this talk page.
Note: This FAQ is only here to let people know that these points have previously been addressed, not to prevent any further discussion of these issues.

To view an explanation to the answer, click the [show] link to the right of the question.

General Concerns and Questions

Q1: John Hanson was actually the first president.

A1: John Hanson was the first President of the Continental Congress to serve a term under the Articles of Confederation. This office is different from President of the United States, which was only created after the US Constitution took effect in 1789.

Related Talk discussions: [1], [2], [3], [4], [5]

Q2: __________ was acting president for a short time, why isn't he on the list?

A2: A period during which a vice-president or other person temporarily becomes Acting President under the Twenty-fifth Amendment is not a presidency, because the president remains in office during such a period.

Related Talk discussions: [6], [7], [8]

Q3: Grover Cleveland is listed twice, William McKinley was actually the 24th president.

A3: Cleveland served two non-consecutive terms, so while McKinley was in fact the 24th person to serve as president, Cleveland was both the 22nd and 24th president. Or another way: the next president after Benjamin Harrison was the 24th president. It should also be noted that almost all reference materials enumerate Cleveland in this way.

Related Talk discussions: [9], [10], [11], [12]

Q4: Harry Truman's middle name was "S". Since it's not an initial, it should not have the period after it.

A4: Harry Truman's middle name was in fact S; however, most reference materials still use the period. Truman himself signed his own name as "Harry S. Truman". Both with or without the period may be regarded as correct.

Related Talk discussions: [13], [14], [15], [16]

Q5: Democratic is an adjective. Presidents of this party should be listed as the noun, "Democrat".

A5: The correct name of the political party is the Democratic Party. In this case, the adjective is used to describe the party, which is what the list is showing. Note that Democrat Party can be seen as an epithet - see Democrat Party (epithet).

Related Talk discussions: [17]

Q6: Please add another column to the list for ___________.

A6: Every effort was made to show the most sought-after information in a concise table. Those interested in president lists based on other criteria should see Template:Lists of US Presidents and Vice Presidents.

Related Talk discussions: [18], [19], [20], [21], [22], [23], [24]

Q7: I have an issue with one of the pictures used.

A7: It is recommended that the same picture from the president's individual article infobox be used on this list by default. However, any clear view of the face will work since the pictures are so small. Keep in mind that some images on external sites may be subject to copyright, and therefore difficult to bring into Wikipedia. If you have a specific concern about an image, feel free to discuss it here.

Related Talk discussions: [25], [26], [27], [28], [29], [30], [31], [32], [33], [34], [35], [36], [37]

List of presidents of the United States is a featured list, which means it has been identified as one of the best lists produced by the Wikipedia community. If you can update or improve it, please do so.

This article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page as Today's featured list on January 20, 2025.

Article milestones
Date	Process	Result
June 15, 2005	Featured list candidate	Promoted
October 30, 2008	Featured list removal candidate	Demoted
June 26, 2009	Featured list candidate	Not promoted
March 3, 2021	Peer review	Reviewed
September 9, 2022	Featured list candidate	Promoted
Current status: Featured list

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This article has previously been nominated to be moved. Please review the prior discussions if you are considering re-nomination.

Move logs: List of presidents of the United States
List of Presidents of the United States

Discussions:

RM, List of Presidents of the United States → List of presidents of the United States, No move, 23 July 2012, discussion
RM, List of Presidents of the United States → List of presidents of the United States, No consensus, 20 May 2018, discussion
- MRV, Overturn and relist, 10 June 2018, discussion
RM, List of Presidents of the United States → List of presidents of the United States, Moved, 27 July 2019, discussion

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Enhanced Protections Against Vandalism

One user altered the names of several presidents, including George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. I quickly reverted the changes, but it appears that individuals with Extended-confirmed-protected access are engaging in vandalism and may continue to do so.

Given the current situation—and the fact that this article undergoes major changes every four years—I recommend temporarily elevating it to Administrators-only protection for at least the next few months. -- Gorba (talk) 14:07, 14 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

"Admin-only for a few months" is much to extreme and not called for here. There are more reasonable protections that you can request at WP:RPP, but this page, like many other high-traffic and/or high-profile pages, has plenty of regular editors that monitor and protect it. - \\'cԼF 22:30, 1 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Updated photo for #47

I would like to request President #47 photo be updated to his current image instead of one that is 8-years old. This would be more accurate representation. Thank you. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2600:4040:B563:6A00:9906:93F5:7A83:312F (talk) 22:40, 28 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Now that consensus has been reached per the previous discussion, are there any further objections to updating both Cleveland's and Trump's photos for their respective second presidencies? Assadzadeh (talk) 00:33, 1 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Like you said, the consensus is in... just do it. Best not to drag this any further. If anyone has an issue, they can wait six months and then start a new discussion about it, (and if needed, another RfC). - \\'cԼF 08:51, 1 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Thewolfchild thank you for the feedback. Both Cleveland's and Trump's portraits now match those on their respective presidency pages.

Now that this issue has been resolved, can someone please archive all the discussions? I would do it myself, but am unfamiliar how to do so. Assadzadeh (talk) 16:04, 1 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

No need to ping, I watch this page, and no need to archive, there is a bot attached to this page that does that. If you would to know how to manually archive a talk page, either your own user talk page, or article talk pages that don't have a bot (usually low traffic ones), take a look at H:ARC. - \\'cԼF 22:23, 1 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Extended-confirmed-protected edit request on 11 March 2025

This edit request has been answered. Set the |answered= parameter to no to reactivate your request.

I'm gonna add the full birth and death date --LoOkAtMyVoIcE (talk) 23:47, 11 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

A couple things, if "you're gonna" edit the page, then just edit the page, no need to announce it with an edit request. Now, if you can't edit the page, that's where you would use this template. But in that case, you would be asking that someone else, who can edit the page, do it for you, and in that case, you would, along with this template, request the edit you're seeking in a "please change 'X' to 'Y'" format, and also be sure to include any sources, if applicable. I'm going to deny your request, because the current format of this list came to being after some time and effort, of many editors. As such, if you want it changed, you should start a discussion, stating why you believe the change should be made, and seek consensus to support it. Good luck - \\'cԼF 03:49, 12 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

~~@Thewolfchild that was so much more useful than just removing a nonsense request, surely. Remsense ‥ 论 22:34, 12 March 2025 (UTC)~~[reply]

Glad you think so. We should always make an effort to assist new editors if we can, even if it's just a short note with some guidance. Thanks. - \\'cԼF 03:11, 13 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

That's a nice sentiment, but of course in reality we have to weigh when we're actually likely to help. Seeing where the user has ended up, you struck out and wasted your time (and a bit of mine) in this case. Remsense ‥ 论 03:38, 13 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Well, he wasn't blocked when I posted that, we don't have crystal balls and I'm not about to dig through every editor's history to try and intuit if they're an legitimate editor or a vandal. What I do know, however, is the guideline "assume good faith". You should give that read, it's not only guideline, but a core tenet of the project, being one of Wikipedia's five pillars.

So, you may find that outright deleting a post that you shouldn't have, followed by posting increasingly snarky comments to me because I dealt with the request in a more appropriate manner, to be "a waste of time", but that's on you. I, however, do not find this to be a waste of time. Whether I'm educating a seemingly new user, or a more experienced, but wayward user, like yourself, this is almost always a worthwhile endeavour. That said, do you intend to "waste" more time here, with some 'must-have-last-word-isms'? Because, afaic, we're done here. - \\'cԼF 04:10, 13 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Portraits whilst in office

File:TrumpPortrait (3x4a).jpg was taken on 15 January 2025, five days before Trump became president. File:Bill Clinton.jpg was taken on 1 January 1993, nineteen days before Clinton became president. (I've not checked anyone before Nixon, but it's possible that other photos weren't taken during a presidency.) Since we have plenty of photos for each president in living memory, why not depict each one with a picture from his time in office? We're already using different pictures for Cleveland and Trump, so it's not as if we feel tied to illustrating each president with a single picture that's overall the president's best illustrative portrait. Nyttend (talk) 23:58, 15 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The preference has been to use official White House photos, regardless of its date. Also, why is it important to depict each president with a picture from his time in office, as long as the one posted accurately depicts it? Finally, there was a long discussion regarding which photos to use for Trump's and Cleveland's presidencies, before deciding to use different photos for each term of their presidencies. Please refer here. Assadzadeh (talk) 02:44, 16 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

"We're already using different pictures for Cleveland and Trump..." - that is a very recent change, and not one for the better. We should be using the same image for the same man. (imho) - \\'cԼF 04:50, 17 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Per the closed discussion the consensus was to use different photos for each president's term, So, are you suggesting that we reverse course? Assadzadeh (talk) 10:18, 17 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Dude, what I said is right there. I don't think it's in any way opaque or difficult to grasp, nor is there a need to reinterpret it as saying something else. I'm aware of the most recent consensus and the discussion that led to it, I took part in it. I'm aware of the changes that resulted from that consensus, changes to an otherwise long-standing practice on this page. I was merely pointing out that a) the change was recent and b) I disagreed with it. Both are facts.

The only other thing I would add is that at the end of this month, if someone wanted to start another discussion, seeking a new consensus to restore the previous practice of using the same photo for presidents with multiple entries, they could. (Maybe I'll even do it myself... who knows?) I just think the other way was better. (Again: I.M.H.O) Have a nice day. - \\'cԼF 09:08, 18 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

IMHO, I don't think starting another discussion would yield a different consensus, as the majority were in favor of using different photos for presidents with non-consecutive terms. Assadzadeh (talk) 13:44, 18 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I appreciate & respect your expertise on this site, but this is one of the most absurd things I’ve ever read. A consensus was quite clearly reached. I’ve seen this very page (old Trump photo, Biden photo, new Trump photo) go viral on Twitter, TikTok, & even seen people mention it in-person as this is one of the most reliable sources when Googling “list of US presidents” and was quite proud in being a part in making that happen. I still check this page periodically because the constant changing of photos a few months ago was just that bizarre & I want to make sure no power-hungry user will go around changing the photo without permission (not calling YOU out, just speaking in terms of the general user base). If there is another consensus, I will be sure to vote again. Thanks. TrumpPhoto (talk) 02:38, 20 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]