President of the United States first ballot. Pursuant to the Twentieth Amendment, the four-year term of office for both the president and vice president begins at noon on January 20. The first presidential and vice presidential terms to begin on this date, known as Inauguration Day, were the second terms of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Vice President John Nance Garner in 1937. Previously, Inauguration Day was on March 4. As a result of the date change, the first term (1933–37) of both men had been shortened by days. Before executing the powers of the office, a president is required to recite the presidential oath
President of the Continental Congress one-year term was John Hanson (November 5, 1781 to November 4, 1782). Terms and backgrounds of the 14 persons who served as president of the Continental Congress: Because Hanson was the first president to serve under the Articles of Confederation, his grandson later promoted him as the "first President of the United States" and waged a successful campaign to have Hanson's statue placed in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol, even though, according to historian Gregory Stiverson, Hanson was not one of Maryland's foremost leaders of the Revolutionary era. In reality, beyond a similarity of title, the office of president