Editing President of the United States (section)

== Political affiliation ==

[[Political parties in the United States|Political parties]] have dominated [[Politics of the United States|American politics]] for most of the nation's history. Though the [[Founding Fathers of the United States|Founding Fathers]] generally spurned political parties as divisive and disruptive, and their rise had not been anticipated when the U.S. Constitution was drafted in 1787, organized political parties developed in the U.S. in the mid-1790s nonetheless. They evolved from [[political faction]]s, which began to appear almost immediately after the Federal government came into existence. Those who supported the [[Presidency of George Washington|Washington administration]] were referred to as "pro-administration" and would eventually form the [[Federalist Party]], while those in opposition largely joined the emerging [[Democratic-Republican Party]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.senate.gov/history/partydiv.htm|title=U.S. Senate: Party Division|publisher=U.S. Senate|access-date=January 2, 2017}}</ref>

Greatly concerned about the very real capacity of political parties to destroy the fragile unity holding the nation together, Washington remained [[Independent politician|unaffiliated]] with any political faction or party throughout his eight-year presidency. He was, and remains, the only U.S. president never to be affiliated with a political party.<ref name="GWpps">{{Cite web|url=http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/dec/31/george-washingtons-views-political-parties-america/|title=George Washington's views on political parties in America|last=Jamison|first=Dennis|date=December 31, 2014|website=[[The Washington Times]]|access-date=July 1, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mountvernon.org/george-washington/the-first-president/political-parties/|title=Political Parties|publisher=Mount Vernon Ladies' Association|location=Mount Vernon, Virginia|access-date=March 24, 2019}}</ref> Since Washington, every U.S. president has been affiliated with a political party at the time of assuming office.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.enchantedlearning.com/history/us/pres/list.shtml|title=The Presidents of the United States of America|website=Enchanted Learning|access-date=August 2, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.presidentsusa.net/partyofpresidents.html|title=Political Parties of the Presidents|website=Presidents USA|access-date=August 2, 2018}}</ref>

The number of presidents per political party by their affiliation at the time they were first sworn into office (alphabetical, by last name) are:
{| class=wikitable
|-
! colspan=2| Party
! {{vertical header|Number of<br>presidents}}
! Name(s)
|-
| style="background-color:{{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}" |
| [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]
| style="text-align: center;" |19
| [[Chester&nbsp;A.&nbsp;Arthur]], [[George&nbsp;H.&nbsp;W.&nbsp;Bush]], [[George&nbsp;W.&nbsp;Bush]], [[Calvin&nbsp;Coolidge]], [[Dwight&nbsp;D.&nbsp;Eisenhower]], [[Gerald&nbsp;Ford]], [[James&nbsp;A.&nbsp;Garfield]], [[Ulysses&nbsp;S.&nbsp;Grant]], [[Warren&nbsp;G.&nbsp;Harding]], [[Benjamin&nbsp;Harrison]], [[Rutherford&nbsp;B.&nbsp;Hayes]], [[Herbert&nbsp;Hoover]], [[Abraham&nbsp;Lincoln]],{{Efn-ua|Republican Abraham Lincoln was elected for a second term as part of the [[National Union Party (United States)|National Union Party]] ticket with Democrat Andrew Johnson in 1864.}} [[William&nbsp;McKinley]], [[Richard&nbsp;Nixon]], [[Ronald&nbsp;Reagan]], [[Theodore&nbsp;Roosevelt]], [[William&nbsp;Howard&nbsp;Taft]], and [[Donald&nbsp;Trump]]
|-
| style="background: {{party color|Democratic Party (United States)}};" |
| [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
| style="text-align: center;" |15
| '''[[Joe Biden]] (incumbent)''', [[James&nbsp;Buchanan]], [[Jimmy&nbsp;Carter]], [[Grover&nbsp;Cleveland]], [[Bill&nbsp;Clinton]], [[Andrew&nbsp;Jackson]], [[Lyndon&nbsp;B.&nbsp;Johnson]], [[John&nbsp;F.&nbsp;Kennedy]], [[Barack Obama]], [[Franklin&nbsp;Pierce]], [[James&nbsp;K.&nbsp;Polk]], [[Franklin&nbsp;D.&nbsp;Roosevelt]], [[Harry&nbsp;S.&nbsp;Truman]], [[Martin&nbsp;Van&nbsp;Buren]], and [[Woodrow&nbsp;Wilson]]
|-
| style="background-color:{{party color|Democratic-Republican Party}}" |
| [[Democratic-Republican Party|Democratic-Republican]]
| style="text-align: center;" |4
| [[John&nbsp;Quincy&nbsp;Adams]], [[Thomas&nbsp;Jefferson]], [[James&nbsp;Madison]], and [[James&nbsp;Monroe]]
|-
| style="background-color:{{party color|Whig Party (United States)}}" |
| [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig]]
| style="text-align: center;" |4
| [[Millard&nbsp;Fillmore]], [[William&nbsp;Henry&nbsp;Harrison]], [[Zachary&nbsp;Taylor]], and [[John&nbsp;Tyler]]{{Efn-ua|Former Democrat John Tyler was elected vice president on the Whig Party ticket with Harrison in 1840. Tyler's policy priorities as president soon proved to be opposed to most of the Whig agenda, and he was expelled from the party in September 1841.}}
|-
| style="background-color:{{party color|Federalist Party}}" |
| [[Federalist Party|Federalist]]
| style="text-align: center;" |1
| [[John&nbsp;Adams]]
|-
| style="background-color:{{party color|National Union Party (United States)}}" |
| nowrap | [[National Union Party (United States)|National Union]]
| style="text-align: center;" |1
| [[Andrew&nbsp;Johnson]]{{Efn-ua|Democrat Andrew Johnson was elected vice president on the National Union Party ticket with Republican Abraham Lincoln in 1864. Later, while president, Johnson tried and failed to build a party of loyalists under the National Union banner. Near the end of his presidency, Johnson rejoined the Democratic Party.}}
|-
| style="background:#f5f5f5" |
| [[Independent politician|''No party'']]
| style="text-align: center;" |1
| [[George&nbsp;Washington]]
|}