Leader of the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War and served as the first President of the United States of America (1789–1797); presided over the Philadelphia Convention that drafted the United States Constitution in 1787; Washington is seen as a symbol of the United States and republicanism in practice; his devotion to civic virtue made him an exemplary figure among early American politicians; Washington died in 1799, and the funeral oration delivered by Henry Lee stated that of all Americans, he was "first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen"; he has been consistently ranked by scholars as one of the greatest U.S. Presidents.

Lincoln successfully led the country through its greatest internal crisis, the American Civil War, preserving the Union and ending slavery; he successfully rallied public opinion through his rhetoric and speeches; his Gettysburg Address is one example; before his election in 1860 as the first Republican president, Lincoln had been a country lawyer, an Illinois state legislator, a member of the United States House of Representatives, and twice an unsuccessful candidate for election to the U.S. Senate; Lincoln's assassination in 1865 was the first presidential assassination in U.S. history.

Only president to have seen combat in World War I; Truman's presidency was eventful in foreign affairs, with the end of World War II and his decision to use nuclear weapons against Japan, the founding of the United Nations, the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe, the Truman Doctrine to contain communism, the beginning of the Cold War, the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and the Korean War; he has never ranked lower than 9th place in presidential rankings.

Often referred to by his initials, "FDR", he was a central figure of the 20th century during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war; elected to four terms in office, he served from 1933 to 1945 and is the only U.S. president to have served more than two terms; during the Great Depression of the 1930s, Roosevelt created the New Deal to provide relief for the unemployed, recovery of the economy, and reform of the economic and banking systems; some of his other legacies include the Social Security system and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB); he and his wife, Eleanor, remain touchstones for modern American liberalism; Roosevelt's administration redefined American liberalism and realigned the Democratic Party based on his New Deal coalition of labor unions, farmers, ethnic, religious and racial minorities, intellectuals, the South, big city machines, and the poor and workers on relief; FDR is consistently ranked as one of the greatest American presidents.

A leader of the Republican Party and of the Progressive Party, he was a Governor of New York and a professional historian, naturalist, explorer, hunter, author, and soldier; most famous for his personality: his energy, his vast range of interests and achievements, his model of masculinity, and his "cowboy" image; originating from a story from one of Roosevelt's hunting expeditions, teddy bears are named after him; at 42 years old, he remains the youngest person to become president; first U.S. president to call for universal health care and national health insurance; first American to be awarded the Nobel Prize, winning its Peace Prize in 1906, for negotiating peace in the Russo-Japanese War;