List of United States presidential firsts

The following lists achievements and distinctions of various presidents of the United States. It includes distinctions achieved in their earlier life and post-presidencies. Due to some confusion surrounding sovereignty of nations during presidential visits, only nations that were independent, sovereign, or recognized by the United States during the presidency are listed here as a precedent.

George Washington (1789–1797)

• First president of the United States
• First president to have been born in the 18th century
• First president to have been a military veteran
• First president to have served in the American Revolutionary War
• First president born in Virginia
• First president to be elected to a second term in office
• First president to own slaves
• First president to be an Episcopalian
• First president to be a Freemason
• First president to appear on a postage stamp
• First president to receive votes from every presidential elector in an election
• First president to be inaugurated in New York City
• First president to fill the entire body of the United States federal judges; including the United States Supreme Court
• First president to deliver a State of the Union address (1790)
• First president to have a first lady older in age
• First president to command a standing field army while in office (during the Whiskey Rebellion)
• First president who was not affiliated with any political party
• First president to go uncontested in an election
• First president to not have any biological children
• First president to be declared an honorary citizen of a foreign country, and an honorary citizen of France
• First president to deliver a farewell address
• First president to have a constitutional amendment passed during his tenure (the first 11 amendments were passed during his two terms)

John Adams (1797–1801)

• First president born in Massachusetts^[3]
• First president to live in the White House
• First president to have previously served as vice president
• First president to have previously served as an ambassador to a foreign country
• First president to be a lawyer
• First president who had never served in the military
• First president to not be a slave owner
• First president to wear a powdered wig tied in a queue in the fashion of the 18th century
• First president to receive more than 45% of the electoral vote while running for re-election, without being re-elected
• First president who attended one of the Ivy League colleges
• First president to have biological children
• First president to receive the oath of office from a chief justice of the Supreme Court
• First president not to veto any bills while in office
• First president to have a child (Charles Adams) die while in office
• First president to be defeated for a second term in office
• First president to not attend the inauguration of his successor
• First president to have a first lady younger in age
• First president to have a child (John Quincy Adams) serve as president of the United States
• First president to live to the age of 90.
• First president to have signed the Declaration of Independence
• First president to have visited Europe
• First president to meet a reigning British monarch
• First president to outlive another former president
• First president to be multilingual
• First president to not have any constitutional amendment be ratified during his term

Thomas Jefferson (1801–1809)

• First president to have previously been a governor
• First president to have previously served as secretary of state
• First president to have been widowed prior to his inauguration
• First president to be inaugurated in Washington, D.C.
• First president to have his inaugural speech reprinted in a newspaper
• First president whose inauguration was not attended by his immediate predecessor
• First president to live a full presidential term in the White House
• First president to defeat an opponent he had previously lost to in a presidential election
• First president who defeated an incumbent president
• First president whose election was decided in the United States House of Representatives
• First president to have an inaugural parade; occurred during his second inauguration
• First president to cite the doctrine of executive privilege
• First president to have a vice president elected under the Twelfth Amendment
• First president to have two different vice presidents
• First president to expand the country's territory
• First president to have pets at the White House; two grizzly bear cubs and a mockingbird
• First president to found a university after being in office; the University of Virginia in 1819
• First president to serve as rector of a university (University of Virginia)
• First president to deliver a State of the Union address via writing; this practice continued until 1913.
• First president to die on the Fourth of July
• First president to be outlived by another former president
• First president to father children while in office

James Madison (1809–1817)

• First president to have served in the United States House of Representatives
• First president to ask Congress for a declaration of war
• First president to serve as a wartime commander-in-chief
• First president to have an inaugural ball
• First president to issue a pocket veto
• First president to have a parent live throughout his presidency
• First president to have a second cousin as a future president (Zachary Taylor)
• First president to host a wedding in the White House
• First president to have a vice president die in office and the first president to have a vacancy in the office of vice president

James Monroe (1817–1825)

• First president to have served in the United States Senate
• First president to have a child marry at the White House
• First president to ride on a steamboat
• First president to have held over 50 years of elected public office positions by the end of his presidency
• First president to have held two cabinet positions at once prior to assuming office
• First president to have a foreign capital named after him (Monrovia, Liberia)

John Quincy Adams (1825–1829)

• First president to be the son of another president
• First president whose father lived to see him become president
• First president to have a foreign-born spouse
• First president to have a son marry at the White House
• First president to have a surviving photograph of him
• First president elected despite receiving fewer votes than his opponent
• First president to not win a majority of electoral votes
• First president to adopt a short haircut instead of long hair tied in a queue
• First president to have been inaugurated wearing long trousers instead of knee breeches
• First president to serve in Congress after serving in the presidency
• First president to die from a stroke
• First president to have been nominated to the Supreme Court
• First president to have any facial hair
• First president to have a foreign-born child
• First president who was not a Founding Father

Andrew Jackson (1829–1837)

• First president born in a log cabin
• First president born to immigrant parents
• First president to be inaugurated on the East Portico of the United States Capitol, facing the Library of Congress and Supreme Court
• First president to pay off the entire national debt
• First president born after the death of his father
• First president elected as a Democrat to the presidency
• First president to marry a divorced woman
• First president to kill someone in a duel
• First president to survive an assassination attempt while in office
• First president born in the Carolinas
• First president to ride on a railroad train
• First president to be censured by the Senate, although it was expunged in 1837
• First president to have previously administered the oath of office to a vice president of the United States (John C. Calhoun)
• First president to die outside of the original British Thirteen Colonies.

Martin Van Buren (1837–1841)

• First president born after the Declaration of Independence
• First president to be a non-native speaker of English
• First president not of British ancestry
• First president to have Dutch ancestry
• First president from the state of New York
• First president to be born a citizen of the United States and not a British subject
• First president to have multiple members of the same party (Whig) run against him
• First president to receive over 1 million votes in an election while in office
• First president from the Northern United States to have owned a slave
• First president to run for presidency on a third-party ticket
• First president to run for a second nonconsecutive term

William Henry Harrison (1841)

• First president elected as a Whig to the presidency
• First president to have 10 or more biological children
• First president to be a grandfather of a future president
• First president to give an inaugural address of more than 5,000 words
• First president to not issue an executive order
• First president to die in office
• First president to die in the White House
• First president to serve less than one full term in office
• First president to receive over 1 million votes in a presidential election before assuming office
• First president to have a photograph taken while in office

John Tyler (1841–1845)

• First president to ascend to the presidency by the death of his predecessor
• First president to have a veto overridden
• First president to face a vote of impeachment in the House (it was unsuccessful)
• First president to be widowed while in office
• First president to remarry while in office
• First president to be born after the ratification of the United States Constitution
• First president to be expelled from his political party while in office
• First president to be buried under a foreign flag
• First president to have links to the Confederate States of America
• First president to never win a presidential election
• First president to father children after leaving office

James K. Polk (1845–1849)

• First president to be under the age of 50 upon election and upon entering office
• First president to have served as speaker of the House of Representatives
• First president to be elected despite losing his states of birth and residence
• First president to be nominated by his party as a dark horse
• First president not to seek re-election upon the completion of his one term
• First president to die before reaching the age of 60
• First president to predecease a parent and a mother
• First president not to keep a pet during his term in office
• First president to have his cabinet photographed
• First president to have a surviving photograph taken of him while in office

Zachary Taylor (1849–1850)

• First president who had served in no prior elected office
• First president to serve in the Mexican–American War
• First president to take office while his party held a minority of seats in the Senate
• First president to win election with his party holding no majority in either chamber of Congress
• First president to win a presidential election in November
• First president to be awarded the Congressional Gold Medal more than once
• First president to use the term "First Lady"
• First president to be a second cousin of a previous president (James Madison)

Millard Fillmore (1850–1853)

• First president to establish a permanent White House library
• First president born in the 1800s
• First president to leave office while his father was alive
• First president to install a kitchen stove in the White House
• First president to formally have a direct communication with Japan

Franklin Pierce (1853–1857)

• First president born in New Hampshire
• First president born in the 19th century
• First president to install central heating in the White House
• First president to deliver his inaugural address from memory
• First president to affirm the oath of office rather than to swear it
• First president who had been elected to actively seek reelection but be defeated for nomination for a second term by his party
• First president to have a Christmas tree in the White House
• First president to keep his original cabinet members for his entire four-year term
• First president to have multiple vetoes overridden

James Buchanan (1857–1861)

• First president born in Pennsylvania
• First president to serve in the military and not become an officer during their service
• First president to defeat a sitting president of the same party at the nominating convention
• First president to be a bachelor
• First president to have never been married

Abraham Lincoln (1861–1865)

• First president born in Kentucky
• First president born outside of the original 13 colonies
• First president to hold a patent
• First president to be assassinated
• First president elected as a Republican to the presidency
• First president to have a beard
• First president born in the Southern United States who never owned slaves
• First president to have pet cats

Andrew Johnson (1865–1869)

• First president to ascend to the presidency by the assassination of his predecessor
• First president to be impeached by the House of Representatives
• First president to have members of his own party vote for impeachment
• First president to serve in the Senate after being president
• First president to issue more than twenty vetoes
• First president to have more than ten vetoes overridden

Ulysses S. Grant (1869–1877)

• First president born in Ohio
• First president born after the War of 1812
• First president to have both parents alive during his presidency
• First president to appear with a moustache in office
• First president to veto more than fifty bills
• First president to visit Ireland, Egypt, China, and Japan (in 1878–1879, after leaving the presidency)
• First president to publish his memoirs
• First president to issue more than 40 pocket vetoes
• First president to issue more than 100 executive orders
• First president to attend a synagogue service while in office
• First president to have served in the American Civil War
• First president to host an Indian chief in the White House
• First president to approve of and sign in a National Park
• First president to set aside federal land for wildlife protection
• First president to be placed under arrest while in office

Rutherford B. Hayes (1877–1881)

• First president to hold a state Thanksgiving dinner
• First president to hold the White House Easter Egg Roll
• First president to have a telephone installed in the White House
• First president to have a typewriter installed in the White House
• First president to visit the West Coast of the United States while in office
• First president to win the electoral vote but lose the popular vote.
• First president to be wounded in the American Civil War

James A. Garfield (1881)

• First president to be elected to the presidency directly from the House of Representatives
• First president to be left-handed or ambidextrous
• First president to die before reaching the age of 50
• First president to have served as a university president
• First president to deliver a campaign speech in a language other than English
• First president who was a mathematician (he found a proof of the Pythagorean theorem).

Chester A. Arthur (1881–1885)

• First president born in Vermont
• First president to take the oath of office in his own home
• First president to have an elevator installed in the White House

Grover Cleveland (1885–1889, 1893–1897)

• First president born in New Jersey
• First president to get married at the White House
• First president to have a child born in the White House
• First president to serve nonconsecutive terms
• First president to be filmed
• First president to veto more than 100 bills, with over 500, including over 200 pocket vetoes

Benjamin Harrison (1889–1893)

• First president to be the grandson of another president
• First president to have a lighted Christmas tree at the White House
• First president to have electric lighting installed in the White House
• First president to have his voice recorded.
• First president to create and designate a United States Prehistoric and Cultural Site
• First president to be portrayed wearing a modern long tie.

William McKinley (1897–1901)

• First president to ride in an automobile
• First president to campaign by telephone
• First president to use a modern campaign button for an election

Theodore Roosevelt (1901–1909)

• First president born in New York City
• First president who ascended to the presidency upon the death of a predecessor, and later was elected to the presidency in his own right
• First president (and first American) to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
• First president to ride in any sort of aircraft
• First president to ride in a submarine
• First president to travel outside the contiguous United States and to visit a foreign country while in office
• First president to have his offices in the West Wing
• First president to earn the Medal of Honor
• First president to issue over 1000 executive orders
• First president to call for global governance
• First president to fully campaign for a third presidential term.
• First president to be wounded in an assassination attempt while out of office
• First president to designate a National Wildlife Refuge
• First president to wear eyeglasses full time in office
• First president to appoint a Jew (Oscar Straus) to a cabinet office
• First president to be widowed and remarried prior to taking office
• First president to be portrayed wearing a modern long tie while in office.

William Howard Taft (1909–1913)

• First president to throw out a ceremonial first pitch
• First president to have weighed over 300 pounds
• First president to own an automobile
• First president to serve in the federal judiciary, having served on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
• First president to have been a former solicitor general
• First president to preside over all of the 48 contiguous states
• First president to visit Mexico while in office
• First president to use the Oval Office
• First president to serve on the Supreme Court
• First president to serve in all three branches of the federal government
• First president to be honorary president of the Boy Scouts of America
• First president to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery. He was also the first member of the Supreme Court to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery upon his death in 1930.

Woodrow Wilson (1913–1921)

• First president to declare a national emergency
• First president to have a PhD
• First president to visit Europe while in office
• First president to meet with the pope while in office
• First president to meet with a reigning British monarch while in office
• First president to hold a press conference or regular news briefings
• First president to appoint a Jew (Louis Brandeis) to the Supreme Court
• First president to attend a World Series game
• First president to be buried in Washington, D.C.
• First president to have the first lady perform presidential duties
• First president to serve in office during a World War

Warren G. Harding (1921–1923)

• First president born after the Civil War
• First president to have been a publisher
• First president to have been a lieutenant governor
• First president to be elected while being a sitting U.S. senator
• First president to learn about his victory over the radio
• First president to be elected on his birthday
• First president elected after women gained the right to vote
• First president to ride to and from his inauguration in a car
• First president to appoint a former president (William Howard Taft) to the Supreme Court
• First president to give his inaugural address over an amplified system
• First president to own and install a radio in the White House
• First president to learn to drive a car
• First president to visit Canada while in office
• First president to predecease his father
• First president to be heard on a radio broadcast, over Navy radio station NOF in Anacostia, Washington, D.C.
• First president to use the term "Founding Fathers"

Calvin Coolidge (1923–1929)

• First president to have the oath of office administered to him by a parent
• First president born on the Fourth of July
• First president to be sworn in by a former president
• First president to give a radio broadcast from the White House
• First president to visit Cuba while in office
• First president to be a Congregationalist
• First president to appear on U.S. coinage while alive and in office
• First president to serve as both governor and lieutenant governor of a state
• First president to be an honorary member of a Native American tribe

Herbert Hoover (1929–1933)

• First president born west of the Mississippi River and first born in Iowa
• First president who was a Quaker
• First president to have a telephone on his desk
• First president to have a post-presidency of more than 30 years
• First president to have a multiethnic and Native American vice president (Charles Curtis)
• First president to outlive his entire cabinet
• First president to be filmed in color
• First president to have a Canadian parent
• First president to have Swiss ancestry

Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933–1945)

• First president to be inaugurated on January 20 (per the Twentieth Amendment)
• First president to appoint a woman (Frances Perkins) to a cabinet post
• First president to appear five times on a national ticket, a record tied by Richard Nixon
• First president to appear on television
• First president to serve more than two terms
• First president to win four terms in an election
• First president to establish a presidential library
• First president to veto more than 600 bills
• First president to issue more than 250 pocket vetoes
• First president to visit South America and Africa while in office
• First president to fly in an airplane while in office
• First president to make a transatlantic flight
• First president to fly for state business in 1943
• First president to visit the Soviet Union, Iran and Haiti
• First president to establish the "First 100 Days" benchmark and tradition
• First president to be named Time Person of the Year
• First president to meet with a king of Saudi Arabia, Ibn Saud in 1945
• First president to use a wheelchair
• First president to have a child born in Canada
• First president to use Camp David as a presidential retreat

Harry S. Truman (1945–1953)

• First president born in Missouri
• First president to be assigned a Secret Service code name
• First president to serve in World War I
• First president to have a nationally televised inauguration
• First president to leave office on January 20 (after the passage of the Twentieth Amendment)
• First president and person to be issued a Medicare card
• First president to have his Farewell Address broadcast from the Oval Office
• First president to authorize the use of nuclear weapons against a foreign nation
• First president to meet a Swedish prime minister (he met Tage Erlander in 1952)
• First president to visit Germany

Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953–1961)

• First president born in Texas
• First president to serve in World War II
• First president to serve in both World Wars
• First president to preside over all fifty contemporary U.S. states
• First president to begin his presidency on January 20 (per the Twentieth Amendment)
• First president awarded the Order of Muhammad
• First president to travel by jet aircraft and helicopter
• First president and first American to be appointed to the British Order of Merit
• First president to have a pilot's license
• First president to give a televised news conference, in 1955
• First president to appear on color television
• First president to deliver an address from a communications satellite – the first message from space
• First president to visit a mosque
• First president to have received an honorary knighthood from a foreign nation (Eisenhower received 22 such honors)
• First president to receive the Army Distinguished Service Medal, the Navy Distinguished Service Medal, and the Legion of Merit
• First president to receive the Philippine Distinguished Service Star, the French Médaille militaire, the French Croix de Guerre 1939–1945, the Belgian , and the Luxembourgish Military Medal.
• First president to be made a Grand Cordon of the Japanese Order of the Chrysanthemum
• First president and American to receive the Soviet Order of Victory, for serving as Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force
• First president to receive an Emmy Award
• First president to authorize a National Park in a United States territory: Virgin Islands National Park
• First president to visit Switzerland, Turkey, Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Chile, South Korea, the Philippines, and Taiwan while in office
• First president of Pennsylvania Dutch descent
• First president to turn 70 in office.

John F. Kennedy (1961–1963)

• First president who was Catholic
• First president born in the 20th century
• First president to have been a Boy Scout
• First president of entirely Irish descent
• First president who had no ancestry from the American colonial period
• First president to have previously served in the United States Navy
• First president to receive the Purple Heart, awarded in 1943 after he was wounded in action aboard PT-109
• First president (along with future president Richard Nixon) to participate in the first televised presidential debates
• First president to win in a case of dueling electors without counsel
• First president to be awarded a Pulitzer Prize
• First president to have an inaugural poet; Robert Frost
• First president to use the Situation Room
• First president to visit Austria, Costa Rica, Venezuela, and Ireland while in office
• First president to have both his parents outlive him
• First president to have a grandparent outlive him
• First president to receive the Navy and Marine Corps Medal, awarded for his heroism as commanding officer of the Motor Torpedo Boat PT-109 when the ship was rammed and sunk by the Japanese destroyer Amagiri in 1943
• First president to ceremoniously grant a non-U.S. citizen honorary citizenship
• First president to have an airport named after him

Lyndon B. Johnson (1963–1969)

• First president to have been party leader in the Senate, having been minority leader from 1953 to 1955 and majority leader from 1955 to 1961
• First president to have served as Senate Majority Whip, having served in that office from 1951 to 1953
• First president to be inaugurated on an airplane. His inauguration was held aboard Air Force One in 1963.
• First president to be sworn in by a woman (Sarah T. Hughes)
• First president to visit Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Suriname, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala while in office.
• First president to appoint an African American (Thurgood Marshall) to the Supreme Court.
• First president to appoint an African American (Robert C. Weaver) to a cabinet post. Weaver was appointed the first United States secretary of housing and urban development in 1966.
• First president to use the presidential call button
• First president to receive the Silver Star

Richard Nixon (1969–1974)

• First president born in California
• First president (along with past president John F. Kennedy) to have participated in the first presidential debates. He participated in four televised debates in 1960.
• First non-incumbent vice president to be elected president
• First president to attend an NFL game while in office
• First president to travel on a regularly scheduled commercial flight while in office.
• First president to visit the People's Republic of China, Indonesia, Romania, Yugoslavia, Israel, Poland, Iceland, Jordan, and Syria while in office.
• First president to meet an emperor of Japan, having met Hirohito in 1971
• First president to visit all 50 states
• First president to resign from the presidency. The resignation of Nixon in 1974, was a result of the Watergate scandal. There were efforts by the House of Representatives to impeach the president for obstruction of justice, abuse of power, and contempt of Congress.
• First president to be pardoned by another president (Gerald Ford) The pardon of Richard Nixon in 1974, gave Nixon a full and unconditional pardon for any crimes he might have committed against the United States while president.
• First president to relinquish their Secret Service detail

Gerald Ford (1974–1977)

• First president born in Nebraska.
• First president to be an Eagle Scout, and receive the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award
• First president to serve as House Minority Leader, having served in that office from 1965 to 1973
• First president to serve as Republican Conference Chairman of the House of Representatives
• First president to ascend to the presidency by the resignation of his predecessor
• First president to ascend to the presidency without being elected to either the offices of the president or vice president
• First president to pardon another president (Richard Nixon). The pardon of Richard Nixon in 1974 gave Nixon a full and unconditional pardon for any crimes he might have committed against the United States while president.
• First president to visit Japan and Finland while in office
• First president to release a full report of his medical checkup to the public
• First president to have Polish ancestry
• First incumbent president to testify in a criminal trial (against Squeaky Fromme, who had attempted to assassinate him)

Jimmy Carter (1977–1981)

• First president born in Georgia
• First president who was born in a hospital.
• First president born after World War I.
• First president to graduate from the United States Naval Academy; part of the class of 1947
• First president to use a nickname (Jimmy) in an official capacity
• First president to walk on Pennsylvania Avenue during the inauguration parade
• First president to appoint a secretary of education (and first woman) (Shirley Hufstedler)
• First president to visit Nigeria and Guadeloupe while in office.
• First president to appoint a woman to be secretary of commerce (Juanita M. Kreps)
• First president who completed at least one full term in office and never made a nomination to the Supreme Court
• First president to have hosted an official papal visit at the White House. In 1979, Pope John Paul II became the first pontiff to visit a sitting president at the White House.
• First president to address the Knesset.
• First president to visit North Korea (post-office, on a diplomatic mission).
• First president to become a centenarian
• First president to have been married for over 75 years (Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter were married for .)
• First president to live to 40+ year post-presidency, Carter left the White House in 1981 and lived another 43 years after being president, until 2024.
• First president to live to the year when his official White House Christmas ornament was unveiled

Ronald Reagan (1981–1989)

• First president born in Illinois.
• First president to have been divorced. He married his first wife (Jane Wyman) in 1940, and the couple divorced in 1949.
• First president to be the head of a union (the Screen Actors Guild).
• First president to have been an actor.
• First president to nominate a woman to the Supreme Court (Sandra Day O'Connor).
• First president to be inaugurated at the West Front of the Capitol Building.
• First president to be re-elected over the age of 70, as he was 73 years old when he was re-elected in 1984.
• First president to attend a NASCAR race while in office.
• First president to visit the New York Stock Exchange, (on March 28, 1985) while in office.
• First president to attend and open an Olympic Games (the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles) while in office.
• First president to address both houses of the British parliament. (on June 8, 1982)
• First president to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
• First president to win a Golden Globe Award.
• First president to be wounded in an assassination attempt while in office and survive his injuries.
• First president to visit an independent Jamaica, Barbados, and Grenada while in office
• First president to visit the DMZ while in office.
• First president to temporarily transfer power to the vice president, invoking the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution

George H. W. Bush (1989–1993)

• First president to have been a naval aviator
• First president to have served as Ambassador to the United Nations (1971–1973)
• First president to have served as the chief of the United States Liaison Office in China (1974–1975)
• First president to have served as director of central intelligence (office is now the director of the Central Intelligence Agency) (January 1976 – January 1977)
• First president to have served as the chairperson of the Republican National Committee (1973–1974)
• First president to have served as acting president (when Reagan was sedated for eight hours due to colon surgery)
• First president to have the first Hispanic and first woman Surgeon General (Antonia Novello, M.D.)
• First president to visit Hungary, Malta, the Netherlands, Czechoslovakia, Singapore, Somalia, and the Russian Federation, as well as a reunified Germany while in office.
• First president to have received a Distinguished Flying Cross
• First president to formally pardon a turkey, officially sparking the Turkey Pardon Tradition
• First president to have been married for over 70 years (George H. W. and Barbara Bush were married for .)
• First president to have lived at both Number One Observatory Circle and the White House
• First president to have Swedish ancestry
• First president to see his vice presidential bust unveiled while in office

Bill Clinton (1993–2001)

• First president born in Arkansas
• First president born after World War II.
• First president to be a baby boomer
• First president to be a Rhodes Scholar
• First president whose inauguration was streamed on the Internet
• First president with an official White House website
• First president to nominate a woman for White House press secretary (Dee Dee Myers)
• First president to nominate a woman for secretary of state (Madeleine Albright)
• First president to nominate a woman for United States attorney general (Janet Reno)
• First president to appoint a Jewish woman (Ruth Bader Ginsburg) to the Supreme Court
• First president to nominate an openly gay ambassador (James C. Hormel).
• First president to address the Human Rights Campaign.
• First president to attend and open the FIFA World Cup while in office (1994).
• First president to address the AIPAC while in office.
• First president to host and perform in a jazz festival while in office.
• First president to attend the US Open while in office.
• First president to visit Ukraine, Belarus, Latvia, Kuwait, the Czech Republic, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Denmark, Ghana, Uganda, Rwanda, post-apartheid South Africa, Botswana, Senegal, Slovenia, Macedonia, Norway, Bulgaria, Kosovo, Bangladesh, Oman, Tanzania, Brunei, as well as reunited Vietnam while in office
• First president to visit Northern Ireland while in office.
• First president to visit and address the Palestinian National Authority while in office
• First president to visit Panmunjom and the Bridge of no return.
• First president to send an email
• First president to appoint an Asian American to a cabinet post (Norman Mineta)
• First president to establish GPS modernization
• First president to attend the World Economic Forum while in office.
• First president to be married to a member of Congress

George W. Bush (2001–2009)

• First president born in Connecticut
• First president to have an MBA
• First president to have completed a marathon.
• First president whose election victory was decided by the Supreme Court (Bush v. Gore)
• First president to have a State of the Union live broadcast on the Internet.
• First president to nominate an African American for secretary of state (Colin Powell)
• First president to nominate an African American woman for secretary of state (Condoleezza Rice)
• First president to deliver a radio address in Spanish (The weekly radio address on Cinco de Mayo in 2001 was delivered both in English and Spanish.)
• First president to have a 90% approval rating in the history of modern political polling
• First president to attend the Daytona 500 while in office (2004).
• First president to attend a Papal funeral while in office (death and funeral of Pope John Paul II)
• First president to open the Winter Olympic Games (the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City) while in office
• First president to deliver a State of the Union Address presided over by a female Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (Nancy Pelosi during the 2007 State of the Union Address).
• First president to attend the Olympic Games in a foreign country (the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing) while in office
• First president to leave office with both parents still alive
• First president to celebrate Diwali
• First president to visit Sweden, Lithuania, Qatar, Iraq, Slovakia, Georgia, Mongolia, Estonia, Albania, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, and Benin while in office
• First president to eulogize a former president who was also his father

Barack Obama (2009–2017)

• First president born outside of the 48 contiguous states
• First president born in Hawaii
• First president to be multiethnic; his European-American mother was from Kansas and his African father was from Kenya.
• First African American president
• First president to have served as president of the Harvard Law Review.
• First president to speak Indonesian (President Obama was able to converse in Indonesian when living in Jakarta from 1967 to 1971).
• First president to have a Catholic vice president (Joe Biden)
• First president to appoint a former first lady to the cabinet (Hillary Clinton as secretary of state).
• First president to publicly endorse same-sex marriage
• First president to nominate a woman for chair of the Federal Reserve (Janet Yellen)
• First president to appoint a Latino American to the Supreme Court (Sonia Sotomayor)
• First president to visit a federal prison
• First president to receive the Israeli Presidential Medal of Honour.
• First president to have his official photograph portrait taken with a digital camera.
• First president to light a diya for Diwali at the White House
• First president to address the African Union while in office
• First president to have visited the Arctic Circle while in office
• First president to visit Hiroshima, Japan, the location where the U.S. dropped the first atomic bomb used in warfare in 1945
• First president to write a scholarly article in a scholarly journal while president
• First president to visit an independent Trinidad and Tobago, Cambodia, Myanmar, Kenya, Ethiopia, and Laos while in office
• First president to visit Wales while in office.
• First president to attend Hannover Messe while in office.
• First president to make his presidential library digital, as opposed to a physical facility.
• First president to appear on a podcast while in office

Donald Trump (2017–2021, 2025–present)

• First president to assume the office without having had any prior public service experience, military or political
• First president to be a resident of Florida
• First president to launch their own cryptocurrency ($Trump)
• First president to own a social media platform (Truth Social)
• First president presumed to be a billionaire prior to assuming office
• First president to have a personal YouTube channel and reach 1 million subscribers
• First president to have been divorced more than once. He married his first wife Ivana Trump in 1977 and divorced in 1992, married his second wife Marla Maples in 1993 and divorced in 1999.
• First president to have children from three different wives
• First president to have an Orthodox Jewish rabbi (Marvin Hier) give a benediction at his inauguration
• First president to begin tenure with a net negative approval rating in the history of modern political polling
• First president to visit the Western Wall while in office
• First president to attend the March for Life rally while in office.
• First president to meet with two emperors of Japan while in office (Akihito and Naruhito)
• First president to meet with the supreme leader of North Korea while in office (President Trump met Kim Jong Un during the 2018 North Korea–United States Singapore Summit).
• First president to cross over the DMZ and enter North Korea while in office (2019 Koreas–United States DMZ Summit)
• First president to be impeached twice by the House of Representatives (in 2019 and in 2021)
• First president to have a Senate impeachment trial after his presidency (February 2021)
• First president to run for reelection (2020) and to be reelected after being impeached (2024)
• First president to be permanently banned from a social media platform (Twitter); however, the ban was lifted after a change in ownership.
• First president to send a presidential text alert (in this case as a test) through the National Wireless Emergency Alert System
• First president to directly oversee private spaceflight in the United States
• First president to not personally hand over the nuclear football to his successor since its inception.
• First president to be elected as a candidate from Florida (President Trump moved his residence from New York to Florida in 2019 and was elected as the first Floridian to become president in 2024).
• First president to invite foreign heads of state or government to an inauguration (Among others, Javier Milei, Viktor Orbán, and Giorgia Meloni were invited to his second inauguration.)
• First president to use the phrase "manifest destiny" during an inaugural address.
• First president to attend the Super Bowl while in office (Super Bowl LIX)
• First president to remove their predecessor's appointed board members at the Kennedy Center, as well as the first president to be elected chairman of the center
• First president to have two official state visits to the United Kingdom. (2019, 2025)
• First president to declare English as the official language of the U.S. (Executive Order 14224)
• First president to pardon a corporation. (Paul Weiss)
• First president to attend a UFC competition while in office.
• First president to visit the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque while in office.
• First president to invoke Section 740 of the Home Rule Act of 1973 and federalize the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia.
• First president to have a presidential library being built at a public college (Miami Dade College).
• First president to dismiss an appointed member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors (President Trump dismissed Lisa Cook on August 25, 2025).
• First president to attend the Ryder Cup while in office.
• First president to be awarded the Grand Order of Mugunghwa.
• First president to host the C5+1 format at the White House.
• First president to host the President of Syria at the White House (President Trump hosted President Al-Sharaa on November 10, 2025).
• First president to sign a United States Dollar bill while in office (historically, U.S. Dollar bank notes have been signed by the United States Secretary of the Treasury and the United States Treasurer).
• First president to attend an oral hearing at the Supreme Court while in office.

Campaign

• First president to be elected after his 70th birthday.
• First president to be re-elected over the age of 75, as he was 78 years old when he was re-elected in 2024.
• First person to win the presidency by defeating a female nominee for president (Hillary Clinton nominated by the Democrats).
• First president to have a female campaign manager (Kellyanne Conway, 2016) as well as to have two different ones (Susie Wiles, 2024)
• First president to attend and speak at the Libertarian National Convention (2024) and the first to have spoken at a convention for an opposing political party
• First former president to participate in a televised presidential debate against an incumbent president (Joe Biden, June 2024).
• First former president to participate in a against an incumbent vice president (Kamala Harris, September 2024).

Prosecutions

• First president to be indicted by a grand jury in a state case (March 2023).
• First president to be indicted by a grand jury in a federal case (June 2023).
• First president to be indicted by a grand jury in a federal case for actions taken while in office (August 2023).
• First president to stand trial for state criminal charges (April 2024).
• First president to be found guilty of committing felony offenses (May 2024; falsifying business records).
• First president to be sentenced for a felony offense (January 2025; unconditional discharge).
• First president to have a police booking photograph taken of them (August 2023), as well as display said photograph in the White House (January 2025).

Cabinet

• First president to appoint an Indian American to a cabinet-level position (Nikki Haley, as ambassador to the United Nations, 2017)
• First president to appoint an openly gay person to serve in an acting cabinet-level position (Richard Grenell, as director of national intelligence, 2020)
• First president to appoint an openly gay person as secretary of the treasury (Scott Bessent, 2025).
• First president to appoint a female White House chief of staff (Susie Wiles, 2025)
• First president to appoint a Latino American as secretary of state (Marco Rubio, 2025)
• First president to appoint a Pacific Islander American and Hindu to a cabinet-level position (Tulsi Gabbard, as director of national intelligence, 2025)
• First president to have a vice president cast a tie breaking vote for a cabinet nominee (Betsy DeVos, as secretary of education, 2017)
• First president to have a separate vice president cast a tie breaking vote for a cabinet nominee (Pete Hegseth, as secretary of defense, 2025)
• First president to appoint a Native American as secretary of homeland security (Markwayne Mullin, 2026)

Other appointments

• First president to appoint a Hasidic Jew to an U.S. administration position requiring Senate confirmation (Mitchell Silk, 2020)
• First president to appoint an Indian American and Hindu as director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (Kash Patel, 2025)

Joe Biden (2021–2025)

• First president to hold the office over the age of 78 and then turn 80 while in office.
• First president to be a member of the Silent Generation
• First president to have served as a senator for over 35 years
• First president to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom prior to taking office
• First president to have a sign language interpreter participate in White House press briefings daily
• First president to formally recognize the Armenian genocide
• First president to formally recognize Indigenous Peoples' Day
• First president to win over 80 million votes in an election (in 2020)
• First president to attend the Maccabiah Games
• First president to meet with two British monarchs while in office (Queen Elizabeth II and King Charles III)
• First president to travel to an active conflict zone not controlled by the United States military (Ukraine)
• First president to join a picket line while in office
• First president to bring a rescue dog to the White House (Major)
• First president to have one of his children convicted in a criminal trial while in office
• First president to participate in a televised debate against a former president (Donald Trump) and first to do so while in office
• First president to be subject to the presidential immunity doctrine established in Trump v. United States (2024)
• First president to suspend their reelection campaign after winning their party's primary
• First president to visit the Amazon rainforest while in office
• First president to visit Cape Verde and Angola while in office
• First president to grant a pardon to his child
• First president to become a great-grandfather while in office
• First president to write an Oval Office letter to and receive one from their successor and predecessor who were both the same person (Donald Trump)

Cabinet

• First president to serve with a female, Black, Asian American, Indian American, and Tamil American vice president (Kamala Harris)
• First president to appoint an openly gay person confirmed by the Senate to serve in a cabinet position (Pete Buttigieg, as secretary of transportation)
• First president to appoint a Native American as a cabinet secretary (Deb Haaland, as secretary of the interior)
• First president to appoint an African American as secretary of defense (Lloyd Austin)
• First president to appoint a Latino American as secretary of health and human services (Xavier Becerra)
• First president to appoint a female director of national intelligence (Avril Haines)
• First president to appoint a Latino American as secretary of homeland security (Alejandro Mayorkas)
• First president to appoint a female secretary of the treasury (Janet Yellen)

Other appointments

• First president to appoint an openly transgender federal official confirmed by the Senate (Rachel Levine, as Assistant Secretary for Health)
• First president to appoint an African American woman to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors (Lisa Cook).
• First president to appoint an African American and openly gay female White House press secretary (Karine Jean-Pierre)
• First president to have the National Security Council include an official dedicated to climate change (John Kerry, as special presidential envoy for climate)
• First president to have a national climate advisor (Gina McCarthy)
• First president to appoint an African American to lead the United States Environmental Protection Agency (Michael S. Regan)
• First president to appoint a Muslim American as an Article III judge (Zahid Quraishi)
• First president to appoint a female and Asian American United States trade representative (Katherine Tai)
• First president to appoint a Black woman and former federal public defender to the Supreme Court (Ketanji Brown Jackson)

See also

• List of First Lady of the United States firsts

Notes

References

Sources

• .
• Hardesty, Von. Air Force One: The Aircraft that Shaped the Modern Presidency. Chanhassen, Minnesota: Northword Press, 2003. .
• .

External links

• Presidential Firsts
• Inaugural Firsts
• List of Presidential birthplaces, libraries, museums and graves