English: This map shows the locations where all
US presidencies under the
current Constitution started and ended. Inset at the bottom of the map is a crop from
Article 2 where
the oath of office is specified (see
full page).
Of these 44 presidencies, all but nine had normal transitions happening at the completion of the term (whether a single term, or multiple after re-election). The locations for these normal transitions are marked with a green dot for where the oath of office was first taken, and a red dot for where the outgoing president stepped down. In all of these normal transitions, both the outgoing and incoming presidents where co-located in the same city, with the exceptions of John Adams who had left DC for his home on the night before Jefferson was inaugurated, and the asterisk placed by Washington DC is for the three other cases where the outgoing president chose to not attend the inauguration. These were John Quincy Adams, Andrew Johnson and Woodrow Wilson. (The best references found by this map's author indicate a significant probability that all three were within the city of Washington DC at the time of their successor's inauguration, but better sources may come to light, at which time a correction of this map will need to be considered).
For the nine cases where transition happened prior to the completion of term, these sets of names are shown in black and numbered chronologically, '1' through '9' (see chronological listing below). The locations where these presidencies were exited are marked with a red 'X', and the places where the oath was taken are marked with a green 'O'. Four of these nine were due to death by illness. Another four were due to assassination (names underlined in grey), and one was a resignation (noted by a superscript 'R'). In each of these cases, the vice president filled the vacancy by completing the term after taking the oath to become president. And of these nine, all but four had the new president taking the oath in the same city where the prior presidency was exited. The four non-colocated situations were Arthur after Garfield, Coolidge after Harding (with the latter involving much more distance between the pair), Truman after FDR, and Nixon being on-board Air Force One heading home to California at the moment when Ford was sworn in (see newspaper reference below).
For the starts of presidencies, all presidents took the oath in Washington DC, with these following six exceptions:
-1789: George Washington in New York City, New York (when the nation's capital was located there),
-1797: John Adams in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (after the capital had moved there),
-1881: Chester Arthur in New York City, New York (at the Arthur residence, following Garfield's assassination),
-1901: Theodore Roosevelt in Buffalo, New York (at the Ansley Wilcox residence, following McKinley's assassination),
-1923: Calvin Coolidge in Plymouth, Vermont (at the Coolidge residence, following Harding's death due to illness),
-1963: Lyndon Johnson in Dallas, Texas (onboard Air Force One at Love Field, following Kennedy's assassination).
For presidencies ending, the collective term used is "exits". This refers to normal stepping down as well as death (due to illness or assassination) and also for resignation. All exited their presidencies in Washington DC, with the following eight exceptions (*):
-1797: Washington (normal transition in Philadelphia, the nation's capital at that time),
-1801: John Adams had left Washington DC for his home on the night before Jefferson was inaugurated,
-1881: James Garfield (shot by an assassin in Washington DC, and died 11 weeks later in a beach cottage on the Jersey Shore in Elberon, New Jersey),
-1901: William McKinley (shot by an assassin in Buffalo, New York, and died 9 days later at the Milburn residence in Buffalo),
-1923: Warren Harding (succumbed to illness at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco, California),
-1945: Franklin D. Roosevelt (succumbed to illness at the Little White House in Warm Springs, Georgia),
-1963: John Kennedy (killed by an assassin in Dallas, Texas).
-1974: Richard Nixon ("Nixon was over mid-America - central Missouri - at 12:03 p.m. EDT when President Ford raised his hand for the oath.").[1]
* - The asterisk on the map notes that more accurate information is being sought for the exact locations of John Quincy Adams, Andrew Johnson and Woodrow Wilson at the moment their successors were sworn in (currently understood to be in the city of Washington DC, although they each had chosen not to attend the swearing in ceremony).
Of the four presidents that were assassinated (names are underlined in grey), Abraham Lincoln was killed in Washington DC. Of the four that died of illness while in office, William Henry Harrison and Zachary Taylor died in Washington DC, while Franklin Roosevelt died at the Little White House in Warm Springs, Georgia. The one president who resigned, Richard Nixon (name marked with an 'R'), did so with Nixon resigning in Washington DC and flying home toward California on Air Force One at the moment that Ford took the oath. The Air Force One airplane symbol appears a second time on the map because Lyndon Johnson took the oath onboard Air Force One (2:38 pm CST, November 22, 1963) while it was on the ground at Love Field in Dallas, and then flew to arrive back in Washington DC (~6:00 pm EST).
Chronologically, the sequence is (with the 9 incomplete-term transitions numbered):
-1789: Washington,
-1797: Adams succeeding Washington,
-1841: (1) Tyler succeeding Harrison,
-1850: (2) Fillmore succeeding Taylor,
-1865: (3) Johnson succeeding Lincoln,
-1881: (4) Arthur succeeding Garfield,
-1901: (5) Roosevelt succeeding McKinley,
-1923: (6) Coolidge succeeding Harding,
-1945: (7) Truman succeeding F.Roosevelt,
-1963: (8) L.Johnson succeeding Kennedy,
-1973: (9) Ford succeeding Nixon.
Between all presidencies listed after John Adams, there was one or more presidency transitions that took place in Washington DC.
Of the eight presidents who died in office, it has been noted that seven of these follow a pattern of presidencies occurring at a 20-year interval. See Curse of Tippecanoe. The first three deaths in office happened to presidencies at 10-year intervals.
(This image was created using GIMP, with minor edits in MS Paint.)