Living presidents of the United States Living presidents of the United States This article shows the variation in the number of living presidents of the United States from the inauguration of the first president of the United States in 1789 until the present. The following table includes all persons who have taken the presidential oath of office. (Persons who served as Acting President of the United States or as President of the Continental Congress are not included.) Currently, in addition to the incumbent, Donald Trump, there are four living former presidents: Jimmy Carter (1977–1981), Bill Clinton (1993–2001), George W. Bush (2001–2009), and Barack Obama (2009–2017). Number
Oval Office grandfather clock clocks have all been disabled since an order by Harry S. Truman, due to the difficulty of keeping them all synchronized. Jimmy Carter said that, during the last stages of the Iran hostage crisis negotiations when he spent forty-eight hours continuously in the Oval Office, "No matter who was with me, we watched the big grandfather clock by the door." Due to its location, the clock has appeared in the background of many photographs of successive American Presidents receiving world leaders and during meetings in the Oval Office: The clock was mentioned specifically by the former FBI director James Comey,