After serving as the nation's first vice president under George Washington, John Adams became the nation's second president in 1797.
Frustrated of his role as VP, Adams once told his wife Abigail, "My country has in its wisdom contrived for me the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived or his imagination conceived."
After bitterly losing the election, Adams didn't attend Jefferson's inauguration. They stopped speaking for several years, but eventually reconciled and remained friends until the day they died. They died five hours apart on July 4, 1826.
Thomas Jefferson served as John Adams' vice president, then defeated him in the election of 1800.
Van Buren only served one term, as he was defeated by the Whig party's William Henry Harrison in 1840.
President William Henry Harrison died in 1841, making John Tyler the president. He was the first vice president to assume the presidency due to the death of a president.
Tyler was also the first president to marry while in office. After his first wife, Letitia Christian Tyler, died in 1842, he secretly wed Julia Gardiner Tyler in 1844.
Millard Fillmore became president when President Zachary Taylor died in 1850.
Fillmore was a member of the Whig party, and he was the last president who was neither Democrat nor Republican. He served as president until 1853.
Andrew Johnson took over the presidency after President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in 1865.
Johnson fought with the Republican-controlled Congress, vetoing their legislation to protect freed slaves. This resulted in the House of Representatives voting to impeach him, but the Senate acquitted him by one vote.
In 1881, Chester A. Arthur succeeded President James Garfield after he was assassinated just six months into his presidency.
Arthur's wife had died in 1880, so his sister Mary Arthur McElroy served as first lady and White House hostess.
After President William McKinley was assassinated, his vice president Theodore Roosevelt took over in 1901.
At 42 years old, Roosevelt became the youngest president to assume office.
Calvin Coolidge became president after President Warren G. Harding died in 1923 from a heart attack.
At approximately 2:30 a.m., Coolidge learned he had become president while visiting his family in Vermont. His father was a notary public and swore him in with the family Bible.
When Franklin D. Roosevelt died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1945, Harry S. Truman became the new president.
Lyndon B. Johnson took office after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963. His inauguration was held aboard Air Force One at Dallas Love Field, following the assassination.
Despite passing landmark legislation such as Medicare, Head Start, the Voting Rights Act, and the Civil Rights Act, LBJ couldn't end the Vietnam War and decided not to run for a second term. He retired in 1969.
Nixon was the first US president in history to resign from office. He did so after the Watergate scandal came to light in 1974.
Richard Nixon served as vice president from 1953 to 1961 under Dwight D. Eisenhower's presidency, and then as president from 1969 to 1974.
Gerald Ford assumed office after Nixon resigned in 1974. He had previously been appointed vice president in 1973, following the resignation of Spiro Agnew from that office.
Ford granted Nixon a full pardon for the events of the Watergate scandal. He ran for another term in 1976, but lost to Jimmy Carter.
George H.W. Bush served as Ronald Reagan's vice president from 1981 to 1989 before serving one term as president.
Bush, who was president between 1989 and 1993, lost his reelection campaign to Bill Clinton.
Joe Biden served as President Barack Obama's vice president for eight years before winning the 2020 presidential election.
Becoming president at the age of 78, Biden is the oldest president in US history, and the first to have a female vice president; Kamala Harris.
Sources: (Business Insider) (Independent) (History Things)
Martin Van Buren served under President Andrew Jackson before being elected president in 1836.
Truman's presidency included the end of World War II, the outbreak of the Korean War, and the beginning of the Cold War.
Throughout the political history of the United States, 15 men who served as vice president went on to become president themselves. Some were unexpectedly inaugurated after the president's resignation, assassination, or illness. Others, like current Head of State Joe Biden, ran for office after their term as vice president ended.
Curious? Click on to discover all the US vice presidents who became presidents themselves.
15 US vice presidents who became presidents themselves
Meet the VPs who moved into the Oval Office
LIFESTYLE Politicians
Throughout the political history of the United States, 15 men who served as vice president went on to become president themselves. Some were unexpectedly inaugurated after the president's resignation, assassination, or illness. Others, like current Head of State Joe Biden, ran for office after their term as vice president ended.
Curious? Click on to discover all the US vice presidents who became presidents themselves.