2009 Barack Hussein Obama II was elected the 44th President

Born Honolulu, Hawaii; August 4, 1961. He is the first African American to hold the office. Nine months after his election, Obama was named the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize laureate. During his first two years in office, Obama signed into law economic stimulus legislation in response to the Great Recession in the form of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Re-authorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010.

2001 George Walker Bush was inaugurated the 43rd President

Born New Haven, Connecticut; July 6, 1946. Bush was elected president in 2000 after a close and controversial election, becoming the fourth president to be elected while receiving fewer popular votes nationwide than his opponent. He is the second president to have been the son of a former president, the first being John Quincy Adams (with the other familial presidential relations being grandfather-grandson of the Harrisons, as well as the Roosevelts being 5th cousins).

1993 William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton was elected the 42nd President

Born Hope, Arkansas, as William Jefferson Blythe III; August 19, 1946. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president from the baby boomer generation. Clinton became the first Democrat since Franklin D. Roosevelt to be elected president twice. He passed welfare reform and the State Children's Health Insurance Program, providing health coverage for millions of children.

1989 George Herbert Walker Bush was elected the 41st President

Born Milton, Massachusetts; June 12, 1924. He is the oldest former President and Vice President, and the last former President who is a veteran of World War II. Graduating Yale University in 1948, he moved his family to West Texas and entered the oil business, becoming a millionaire by the age of 40. Bush is often referred to as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush 41", "Bush the Elder", Bush I, or "George Bush, Sr." to distinguish him from his son, former President George W. Bush.

1981 Ronald Wilson Reagan was elected the 40th President

Born Tampico, Illinois; February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004. Prior to his presidency, he served as the 33rd Governor of California (1967–1975), and was a radio, film and television actor. In his first term he survived an assassination attempt, took a hard line against labor unions, announced a new War on Drugs, and ordered an invasion of Grenada. He was re-elected in a landslide in 1984, proclaiming that it was "Morning in America".

1977 Jimmy Carter was elected the 39th President

James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr., born Plains, Georgia in October 1, 1924. He was awarded the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office. The end of his presidential tenure was marked by the 1979–1981 Iran hostage crisis, the 1979 energy crisis, the Three Mile Island nuclear accident, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the United States boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow (the only U.S. boycott in Olympic history), and the eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington state.

1974 Gerald Rudolph Ford is sworn in as the 38th President

Born Omaha, Nebraska, as Leslie Lynch King, Jr.; July 14, 1913 – December 26, 2006. Vice President Ford is sworn in as President after the resignation of President Nixon. He presided over the worst economy in the four decades since the Great Depression, with growing inflation and a recession during his tenure. Ford lived longer than any other U.S. president, living 93 years and 165 days, while his 895-day presidency remains the shortest of all presidents who did not die in office.

1969 Richard Milhous Nixon was elected the 37th President

Born Yorba Linda, California; January 9, 1913 – April 22, 1994. Nixon waged an unsuccessful presidential campaign in 1960, narrowly losing to John F. Kennedy. He was serving from 1969 to 1974, when he became the only president to resign the office. In retirement, Nixon's work as an elder statesman, authoring nine books and undertaking many foreign trips, helped to rehabilitate his public image.

1963 Lyndon Baines Johnson was sworn in as the 36th President

Born Stonewall, Texas; August 27, 1908 – January 22, 1973. Often referred to as LBJ, was sworn in as President, hours after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.  He is one of only four people who served in all four elected federal offices of the United States: Representative, Senator, Vice President, and President. Johnson is ranked favorably by some historians because of his domestic policies.

1961 John Fitzgerald Kennedy was elected the 35th President

Born Brookline, Massachusetts; May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963. Commonly known as "Jack" or by his initials JFK, serving from January 1961 until he was assassinated in November 1963. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963. Lee Harvey Oswald was accused of the crime and arrested that evening. Jack Ruby shot and killed Oswald two days later, before a trial could take place.

1959 Hawaii was admitted the 50th state to the Union

Its capital and largest city is Honolulu on the island of Oʻahu. Hawaii is the most recent of the 50 U.S. states (joined the Union on August 21, 1959), and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. The eight "main islands" are (from the northwest to southeast) Niʻihau, Kauaʻi, Oʻahu, Molokaʻi, Lānaʻi, Kahoʻolawe, Maui and the island of Hawaiʻi (called "The Big Island"). Hawaii is the only U.S. state not to be located in the Americas and also the only state with an Asian plurality.

1959 Alaska was admitted to the Union as the 49th state

Alaska capital is Juneau, largest city is Anchorage. Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. Alaska's economy is dominated by the oil, natural gas, and fishing industries, tourism is also a significant part of the economy. The United States purchased Alaska from Russia on March 30, 1867, for $7.2 million ($120 million adjusted for inflation) at approximately two cents per acre ($4.74/km²).

1953 Dwight David Eisenhower was elected the 34th President

Born Denison, Texas; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969. He was a five-star general in the U.S. Army during World War II and served as Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe. In 1951, he became the first supreme commander of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization). Among his enduring innovations, he launched the Interstate Highway System; the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which led to the internet.

1945 Harry S. Truman becoming the 33rd President

Born Lamar, Missouri; May 8, 1884 – December 26, 1972. The final running mate of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1944, Truman succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when Roosevelt died after months of declining health. Under Truman, the U.S. successfully concluded World War II; in the aftermath of the conflict, tensions with the Soviet Union increased, marking the start of the Cold War.

1933 Franklin Delano Roosevelt is elected the 32nd President

Born Hyde Park, New York; January 30, 1882 – April 12, 1945. President of the United States (1933–1945), served for 12 years and four terms, until his death in 1945. He was the only president ever to serve more than eight years. The only president ever to do so, and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic depression and total war.

1929 Herbert Clark Hoover was elected the 31st President

Born West Branch, Iowa; August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964 to a Quaker family, was a professional mining engineer. Hoover, who had made a small fortune in mining, was the first of two Presidents to redistribute their salary (President Kennedy was the other; he donated all his paychecks to charity). He is generally ranked lower than average among U.S. Presidents.

1923 John Calvin Coolidge was sworn in as the 30th President

Born Plymouth Notch, Vermont; July 4, 1872 – January 5, 1933. Vice President Coolidge was sworn in as President, the day following the death of President Harding, who died of a heart attack at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco. Elected in his own right in 1924, he gained a reputation as a small-government conservative, and also as a man who said very little.

1921 Warren Gamaliel Harding was elected the 29th President

Born Blooming Grove, Ohio; November 2, 1865 – August 2, 1923. Republican from Ohio who served in the Ohio Senate and in the U.S. Senate where he protected alcohol interests and moderately supported women's suffrage. Harding was the first sitting U.S. president to visit Canada, having visited Vancouver on July 26, 1923. He has been viewed as a more modern politician who embraced technology and who was sensitive to the plights of minorities, women, and labor.

1913 Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President

Born Staunton, Virginia; December 28, 1856 – February 3, 1924. Narrowly re-elected in 1916 around the slogan, "He kept us out of war", Wilson's second term was dominated by American entry into World War I. For his sponsorship of the League of Nations, Wilson was awarded the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize. He was too ill to leave Washington when his term ended, and he died there in 1924.

1912 Arizona was admitted the 48th state to the Union

Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is noted for its desert climate in its southern half, with very hot summers and quite mild winters. The northern half of the state features forests of pine, Douglas fir, and spruce trees, a very large, high plateau (the Colorado Plateau) and some mountain ranges, as well as large, deep canyons. About one-quarter of the state is made up of Indian Reservations that serve as the home of a number of Native American tribes.

1912 New Mexico becoming the 47th state

New Mexico capital is Santa Fe, the largest city is Albuquerque. New Mexico, or Nuevo México in Spanish, is often incorrectly believed to have taken its name from the nation of Mexico. However, New Mexico was given its name in 1563, and again in 1581, by Spanish explorers who believed the area contained wealthy Indian cultures similar to those of the Mexica (Aztec) Empire. Mexico, formerly known as New Spain, adopted its name centuries later in 1821, after winning independence from Spanish rule.

1909 William Howard Taft was elected the 27th President

Born Cincinnati, Ohio; September 15, 1857 – March 8, 1930. Riding a wave of popular support for fellow Republican Roosevelt, Taft won an easy victory in his 1908 bid for the presidency. In 1921, after the First World War, President Warren G. Harding appointed Taft Chief Justice of the United States. He served in this capacity until shortly before his death in 1930. He is the only person to have served in both of these offices. In surveys of presidential scholars, Taft is usually ranked near the middle of lists of all American Presidents.

1907 Oklahoma was admitted the 46th state to the Union

Capital and largest city is Oklahoma city. The state's name is derived from the Choctaw words okla and humma, meaning "red people". Its residents are known as Oklahomans or, informally "Okies". In addition to having a prevalence of English, German, Scottish, Scotch-Irish and Native American ancestry, more than 25 Native American languages are spoken in Oklahoma, second only to California.

1901 Theodore Roosevelt was sworn in as 26th president

Born New York City, New York; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919. Vice President Theodore Roosevelt was sworn in as president, after the assassination of President McKinley. He was 42 years old when sworn in as President, making him the youngest president ever. Roosevelt was also the first of only three sitting presidents to have won the Nobel Peace Prize (1906). The teddy bear is named for him, despite his contempt for being called "Teddy".

1897 William McKinley became the 25th President

Born Niles, Ohio; January 29, 1843 – September 14, 1901. McKinley was the last President to have served in the American Civil War. Serving from March 4, 1897, until his assassination in September 1901 by Leon Czolgosz, a second-generation Polish-American with anarchist leanings. He is generally placed near the middle in rankings of American presidents.

1896 Utah became the 45th state

Utah's state capital and largest is Salt Lake City. Utah is the most religiously homogeneous state in the Union. Approximately 62% of Utahans are reported to be members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or LDS (Mormons; headquarters in Salt Lake City), which greatly influences Utah culture and daily life. 

1889 Benjamin Harrison becomes the 23rd President

Born North Bend, Ohio; August 20, 1833 – March 13, 1901. He was the grandson of the ninth President, William Henry Harrison. His administration is remembered most for economic legislation, including the McKinley Tariff and the Sherman Antitrust Act; notably as well, federal spending reached one billion dollars for the first time during his term.

1885,1893 Grover Cleveland was the 22nd and 24th President

Born Caldwell, New Jersey; March 18, 1837 – June 24, 1908. Stephen Grover Cleveland is the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms (1885–1889 and 1893–1897) and to be counted twice in the numbering of the presidents. He was the only Democrat elected to the presidency in the era of Republican political domination dating from 1861 to 1913.

1890 Wyoming became the 44th state

Cheyenne is the capital and the most populous city in Wyoming. Wyoming also is the only state whose boundaries were acquired through four separate purchases: first during the Louisiana Purchase, second from the Annexation of Texas, third from the Oregon Country, and fourth and finally from the Mexican-American War.

1890 Idaho became the 43rd state

The capital and largest city is Boise. Idaho's nickname is the "Gem State", because nearly every known type of gemstone has been found there. In addition, Idaho is one of only two places in the world where star garnets can be found in any significant quantities, the other being India. Idaho is sometimes called the "Potato State" owing to its popular and widely distributed crop.

1889 Washington became the 42nd state

Its capital is Olympia, largest city is Seattle. Approximately 60 percent of Washington's residents live in the Seattle metropolitan area. The state's name is often reversed and referred to as "Washington state" to distinguish it from Washington, D.C., also named for George Washington. Another nickname is "the Evergreen State".

1889 Montana became the 41st state

Montana's capital city is Helena, largest is Billings. The state's name is derived from the Spanish word montaña (mountain). Smaller island ranges are found throughout the state, for a total of 77 named ranges that are part of the Rocky Mountains. The economy is primarily based on agriculture, including ranching and cereal grain farming.

1889 South Dakota became the 40th state

Pierre is the state capital and Sioux Falls, with a population of about 159,000, is South Dakota's largest city. Humans have inhabited the area for several millennia, with the Sioux becoming dominant by the early 19th century. In the late 19th century, European-American settlement intensified after a gold rush in the Black Hills and the construction of railroads from the east. 

1889 North Dakota became the 39th state

North Dakota capital is Bismarck and the largest city is Fargo. The U.S. Air Force operates air bases near Minot and Grand Forks. North Dakota has weathered the Great Recession with a boom in natural resources, particularly oil extraction from the Bakken formation, which lies beneath the western part of the state.

1881 Chester Alan Arthur became the 21st President

Born Fairfield, Vermont; October 5, 1829 – November 18, 1886. Vice President Arthur succeeded James Garfield upon the latter's assassination. Shortly after becoming President, Arthur was diagnosed with Bright's disease, a kidney ailment now referred to as nephritis. He attempted to keep his condition private, but by 1883 rumors of his illness began to circulate; he had become thinner and more aged in appearance, and struggled to keep the pace of the presidency.

1881 James Abram Garfield was inaugurated the 20th President

Born Moreland Hills, Ohio; November 19, 1831 – September 19, 1881. Garfield's presidency lasted just 200 days – from March 4, 1881, until his death on September 19, 1881, as a result of being shot by assassin Charles J. Guiteau on July 2, 1881. Only William Henry Harrison's presidency, of 31 days, was shorter. Garfield was the second of four United States Presidents who were assassinated.

1877 Rutherford Birchard Hayes the 19th President

Born Delaware, Ohio; October 4, 1822 – January 17, 1893.  Hayes lost the popular vote to Democrat Samuel J. Tilden, but he won an intensely disputed electoral college vote after a Congressional commission awarded him 20 contested electoral votes. The result was the Compromise of 1877, in which the Democrats acquiesced to Hayes's election and Hayes ended all federal army intervention in Southern politics. That caused the collapse of Republican state governments and led to a solidly Democratic South.

1876 Colorado became the 38th state

Denver is the capital and the most highly populated city of Colorado. The state was named for the Colorado River, which Spanish explorers named the Río Colorado for the ruddy (Spanish: colorado) silt the river carried from the mountains. Colorado is nicknamed the "Centennial State" because it became a state in the centennial year of the United States Declaration of Independence.

1869 Ulysses S. Grant was elected the 18th President

Born Hiram Ulysses Grant, Point Pleasant, Ohio; April 27, 1822 – July 23, 1885. As president, Grant led the Radical Republicans in their effort to eliminate vestiges of Confederate nationalism and slavery, protect African American citizenship and defeat the Ku Klux Klan. During his second term the country's economy was devastated by the Panic of 1873, while investigations exposed corruption scandals in the administration.

1867 Nebraska became the 37th state

Its state capital is Lincoln, largest city is Omaha. The state is crossed by many historic trails, but it was the California Gold Rush that first brought large numbers of non-indigenous settlers to the area. There are wide variations between winter and summer temperatures, and violent thunderstorms and tornadoes are common. Ethnically, the largest group of Nebraskans are German-American (Sandra Bullock, Leonardo DiCaprio, Meryl Streep, Bruce Willis).