| Previous Government Service | ||||||||||
| # | President | Party | Military Service | Cabinet Post(s) | Vice President | Senate | Congress | Governor | Mayor | Other |
| 1 | George Washington | None | General of the Armies (Army) | County surveyor of Mount Vernon | ||||||
| 2 | John Adams | Federalist | Yes (Washington) | Minister to Great Britain | ||||||
| 3 | Thomas Jefferson | Democratic-Republican | Colonel (Militia) | Secretary of State | Yes (Adams) | Virginia | Minister Plenipotentiary to France | |||
| 4 | James Madison | Democratic-Republican | Colonel (Militia) | Secretary of State | Virginia | |||||
| 5 | James Monroe | Democratic-Republican | Colonel (Militia) | Secretary of State, Secretary of War | Virginia | Virginia | Minister Plenipotentiary to France, Minister to Great Britain | |||
| 6 | John Quincy Adams | Democratic-Republican | Secretary of State | Massachusetts | Massachusetts | Minister to Netherlands, Minister to Great Britain, Minister to Germany, Minister to Russia | ||||
| 7 | Andrew Jackson | Democratic | Major General (Army) | Tennessee | Tennessee | Florida (Military) | ||||
| 8 | Martin Van Buren | Democratic | Secretary of State | Yes (Jackson) | New York | New York | Minister to Great Britain | |||
| 9 | William Henry Harrison | Whig | Major General (Army) | Ohio | Northwest Territory; Ohio | Indiana Territory; Louisana District; Northwest Territory | Minister to Gran Colombia | |||
| 10 | John Tyler | Whig | Captain (Militia) | Yes (Harrison) | Virginia | Virginia | Virginia | President Pro Tempore | ||
| 11 | James K. Polk | Democratic | Colonel (Militia) | Tennessee | Tennessee | Speaker of the House | ||||
| 12 | Zachary Taylor | Whig | Major General (Army) | |||||||
| 13 | Millard Fillmore | Whig | Major (Militia) | Yes (Taylor) | New York | |||||
| 14 | Franklin Pierce | Democratic | Brigadier General (Army) | New Hampshire | New Hampshire | US Attorney for District of New Hampshire | ||||
| 15 | James Buchanan | Democratic | Private (Militia) | Secretary of State | Pennsylvania | Pennsylvania | Minister to Great Britain | |||
| 16 | Abraham Lincoln | Republican | Captain (Militia) | Illinois | Illinois State Legislator, Postmaster of New Salem, IL, County surveyor of Sangamon County, IL | |||||
| 17 | Andrew Johnson | Democratic | Brigadier General (Army) | Yes (Lincoln) | Tennessee | Tennessee | Tennessee (Military) | Greenville, TN | Alderman of Greeneville, TN | |
| 18 | Ulysses Grant | Republican | General of the Armies (Army) | Acting Secretary of War | ||||||
| 19 | Rutherford B. Hayes | Republican | Major General (Army) | Ohio | Ohio | |||||
| 20 | James A. Garfield | Republican | Major General (Army) | Ohio | Ohio | |||||
| 21 | Chester A. Arthur | Republican | Brigadier General (Militia) | Yes (Garfield) | Collector of the Port of New York | |||||
| 22 | Grover Cleveland | Democratic | New York | Buffalo, NY | Sheriff of Erie, NY | |||||
| 23 | Benjamin Harrison | Republican | Brigadier General (Army) | Indiana | ||||||
| 24 | Grover Cleveland | Democratic | New York | Buffalo, NY | ||||||
| 25 | William McKinley | Republican | Captain (Army) | Ohio | Ohio | |||||
| 26 | Theodore Roosevelt | Republican | Colonel (Army) | Asst. Secretary of Navy | Yes (McKinley) | New York | US Civil Service Commission, Superintendent of New York Board of Police Commissioners | |||
| 27 | William Taft | Republican | Secretary of War | Cuba (Provisional); Philippines (Gov-General) | Solicitor General, US Court of Appeals Sixth Circuit, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court | |||||
| 28 | Woodrow Wilson | Democratic | New Jersey | |||||||
| 29 | Warren Harding | Republican | Ohio | Ohio (Lt. Gov) | ||||||
| 30 | Calvin Coolidge | Republican | Massachusetts | Northhampton, MA | ||||||
| 31 | Herbert Hoover | Republican | Secretary of Commerce | |||||||
| 32 | Franklin Roosevelt | Democratic | Asst. Secretary of Navy | New York | New York City, NY | |||||
| 33 | Harry Truman | Democratic | Coloniel (Army Reserve) | Yes (Roosevelt) | Missouri | Judge of Jackson County, MO | ||||
| 34 | Dwight Eisenhower | Republican | General of the Army (Army) | Occupied Germany (Military) | Supreme Commander of NATO | |||||
| 35 | John Kennedy | Democratic | Lieutenant (Navy Reserve) | Massachusetts | Massachusetts | |||||
| 36 | Lyndon Johnson | Democratic | Commander (Navy Reserve) | Yes (Kennedy) | Texas | Texas | House Majority Leader | |||
| 37 | Richard Nixon | Republican | Commander (Navy Reserve) | Yes (Eisenhower) | California | California | ||||
| 38 | Gerald Ford | Republican | Lieutenant Commander (Navy Reserve) | Yes (Nixon) | Michigan | House Minority Leader | ||||
| 39 | Jimmy Carter | Democratic | Lieutenant (Navy) | Georgia | ||||||
| 40 | Ronald Reagan | Republican | Captain (Army Reserve) | California | ||||||
| 41 | George H.W. Bush | Republican | Lieutenant (Navy Reserve) | Yes (Reagan) | Texas | Ambassador to the UN, Director of the CIA, Chief of US Liaison Office in Beijing | ||||
| 42 | William Clinton | Democratic | Arkansas | |||||||
| 43 | George W. Bush | Republican | First Lieutenant (Air Force Reserve) | Texas | ||||||
| 44 | Barack Obama | Democratic | Illinois | |||||||
| 45 | Donald Trump | Republican | ||||||||
| 46 | Joesph Biden | Democratic | Yes (Obama) | Delaware | Member of the New Castle County Council, DE | |||||
| 47 | Donald Trump | Republican | ||||||||