# List of presidents of the American Bar Association

This list of the presidents of the American Bar Association includes all number presidents of the association, which was formed in 1878 to represent the interests of lawyers, and create and maintain a code of ethics. Since 1923, the ABA has accredited law schools. The American Bar Association is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States.
The association comprises 410,000 members, who are represented by a House of Delegates, the organization's primary body, which acts to create and adopt new policies and recommendations pertaining to the practice of law. The House of Delegates and the association itself are headed by the President, who generally serves a one-year term.

## Presidents

| # | Name | Term | State | Comments |
| 1 | James O. Broadhead | 1878–1879 | Missouri | American Bar Association co-founder |
| 2 | Benjamin H. Bristow | 1879–1880 | New York | |
| 3 | Edward John Phelps | 1880–1881 | Vermont | |
| 4 | Clarkson Nott Potter | 1881–1882 | New York | Former Congressman |
| 5 | Alexander Lawton | 1882–1883 | Georgia | |
| 6 | Cortlandt Parker | 1883–1884 | New Jersey | |
| 7 | John W. Stevenson | 1884–1885 | Kentucky | Governor/Senator |
| 8 | William Allen Butler | 1885–1886 | New York | |
| 9 | Thomas J. Semmes | 1886–1887 | Louisiana | |
| 10 | George G. Wright | 1887–1888 | Iowa | former Senator |
| 11 | David Dudley Field | 1888–1889 | New York | |
| 12 | Henry Hitchcock | 1889–1890 | Missouri | American Bar Association co-founder |
| 13 | Simeon E. Baldwin | 1890–1891 | Connecticut | |
| 14 | John Forrest Dillon | 1891–1892 | New York | |
| 15 | John Randolph Tucker | 1892–1893 | Virginia | |
| 16 | Thomas Cooley | 1893–1894 | Michigan | |
| 17 | James C. Carter | 1894–1895 | New York | |
| 18 | Moorfield Storey | 1895–1896 | Massachusetts | |
| 19 | James M. Woolworth | 1896–1897 | Nebraska | |
| 20 | William Wirt Howe | 1897–1898 | Louisiana | |
| 21 | Joseph H. Choate | 1898–1899 | New York | |
| 22 | Charles F. Manderson | 1899–1900 | Nebraska | former Senator |
| 23 | Edmund Wetmore | 1900–1901 | New York | |
| 24 | U.M. Rose | 1901–1902 | Arkansas | |
| 25 | Francis Rawle | 1902–1903 | Pennsylvania | |
| 26 | James Hagerman | 1902–1903 | Missouri | |
| 27 | Henry St. George Tucker, III | 1904–1905 | Virginia | |
| 28 | George R. Peck | 1905–1906 | Illinois | |
| 29 | Alton B. Parker | 1906–1907 | New York | |
| 30 | Jacob M. Dickinson | 1907–1908 | Illinois | future United States Secretary of War |
| 31 | Frederick William Lehmann | 1908–1910 | Missouri | Future US Solicitor General |
| 32 | Charles F. Libby | 1909–1910 | Maine | |
| 33 | Edgar Howard Farrar | 1910–1911 | Louisiana | |
| 34 | Stephen S. Gregory | 1911–1912 | Illinois | |
| 35 | Frank B. Kellogg | 1912–1913 | Minnesota | Future US Secretary of State |
| 36 | William Howard Taft | 1913–1914 | District of Columbia | Former US President Future US Supreme Court Chief Justice |
| 37 | Peter W. Meldrim | 1914–1915 | Georgia | |
| 38 | Elihu Root | 1915–1916 | New York | |
| 39 | George Sutherland | 1916–1917 | Utah | Future US Supreme Court Justice |
| 40 | Walter George Smith | 1917–1918 | Pennsylvania | |
| 41 | GeorgeT.Page | 1918–1919 | Illinois | |
| 42 | Hampton L. Carson | 1919–1921 | Pennsylvania | |
| 43 | William A. Biount | 1920–1921 | Florida | |
| 44 | Cordenio A. Severance | 1921–1922 | Minnesota | |
| 45 | John W. Davis | 1922–1923 | New York | |
| 46 | R. E. L. Saner | 1923–1924 | Texas | |
| 47 | Charles E. Hughes | 1925–1926 | New York | Future US Supreme Court Chief Justice |
| 48 | Chester Isaiah Long | 1926–1927 | Kansas | |
| 49 | Charles S. Whitman | 1926–1927 | New York | |
| 50 | Silas H. Strawn | 1927–1928 | Illinois | |
| 51 | Gurney E. Newlin | 1928–1929 | California | |
| 52 | Henry Upson Sims | 1929–1930 | Alabama | |
| 53 | Josiah Marvel | 1930–1931 | Delaware | |
| 54 | Charles A. Boston | 1930–1931 | New York | |
| 55 | Guy A. Thompson | 1931–1932 | Missouri | |
| 56 | Clarence E. Martin | 1932–1933 | West Virginia | |
| 57 | Earle W. Evans | 1933–1934 | Kansas | |
| 58 | Scott M. Loftin | 1934–1935 | Florida | |
| 59 | William L. Ransom | 1935–1936 | New York | |
| 60 | Frederick Harold Stinchfield | 1936–1937 | Minnesota | |
| 61 | Arthur T. Vanderbilt | 1937–1938 | New Jersey | |
| 62 | Frank J. Hogan | 1938–1939 | District of Columbia | |
| 63 | Charles A. Beardsley | 1939–1940 | California | |
| 64 | Jacob M. Lashley | 1940–1941 | Missouri | |
| 65 | Walter P. Armstrong | 1941–1942 | Tennessee | |
| 66 | George Maurice Morris | 1942–1943 | District of Columbia | |
| 67 | Joseph W. Henderson | 1943–1944 | Pennsylvania | |
| 68 | David A. Simmons | 1944–1945 | Texas | |
| 69 | Willis Smith | 1945–1946 | North Carolina | |
| 70 | Carl B. Rix | 1946–1947 | Wisconsin | |
| 71 | Tappan Gregory | 1947–1948 | Illinois | |
| 72 | Frank E. Holman | 1948–1949 | District of Columbia | |
| 73 | Harold J. Gallagher | 1949–1950 | New York | |
| 74 | Cody Fowler | 1950–1951 | Florida | |
| 75 | Howard L. Barkdull | 1951–1952 | Ohio | |
| 76 | Robert G. Storey | 1952–1953 | Texas | |
| 77 | William James Jameson | 1953–1954 | Montana | |
| 78 | Loyd Wright | 1954–1955 | California | |
| 79 | E. Smythe Gambrell | 1955–1956 | Georgia | |
| 80 | David Farrow Maxwell | 1956–1957 | Pennsylvania | |
| 81 | Charles S. Rhyne | 1957–1958 | District of Columbia | |
| 82 | Ross L. Malone, Jr. | 1958–1959 | New Mexico | Former Deputy Attorney General, 1952–53 |
| 83 | John D. Randall | 1959–1960 | Iowa | |
| 84 | Whitney N. Seymour, Sr. | 1960–1961 | New York | Former Assistant Solicitor General, 1931–33 |
| 85 | John C. Satterfield | 1961–1962 | Mississippi | |
| 86 | Sylvester C. Smith, Jr. | 1962–1963 | New Jersey | |
| 87 | Walter E. Craig | 1963–1964 | Arizona | |
| 88 | Lewis Franklin Powell, Jr. | 1964–1965 | Virginia | Future US Supreme Court Justice |
| 89 | Edward W. Kuhn | 1965–1966 | Tennessee | |
| 90 | Orison S. Marden | 1966–1967 | New York | |
| 91 | Earl F. Morris | 1967–1968 | Ohio | |
| 92 | William T. Gossett | 1968–1969 | Michigan | |
| 93 | Bernard Segal | 1969–1970 | Pennsylvania | First Jewish American president |
| 94 | Edward L. Wright | 1970–1971 | Arkansas | |
| 95 | Leon Jaworski | 1971–1972 | Texas | |
| 96 | Robert W. Meserve | 1972–1973 | Massachusetts | |
| 97 | Chesterfield Smith | 1973–1974 | Florida | |
| 98 | James D. Fellers | 1974–1975 | Oklahoma | |
| 99 | Lawrence E. Walsh | 1975–1976 | New York | |
| 100 | Justin A. Stanley | 1976–1977 | Illinois | |
| 101 | William B. Spann, Jr. | 1977–1978 | Georgia | |
| 102 | S. Shepherd Tate | 1978–1979 | Tennessee | |
| 103 | Leonard S. Janofsky | 1979–1980 | California | |
| 104 | William Reece Smith, Jr. | 1980–1981 | Florida | |
| 105 | David R. Brink | 1981–1982 | Minnesota | |
| 106 | Morris Harrell | 1982–1983 | Texas | |
| 107 | Wallace D. Riley | 1983–1984 | Michigan | |
| 108 | John C. Shepherd | 1984–1985 | Missouri | |
| 109 | William W. Falsgraf | 1983–1985 | Ohio | |
| 110 | Eugene C. Thomas | 1986–1987 | Idaho | |
| 111 | Robert MacCrate | 1987–1988 | New York | |
| 112 | Robert D. Raven | 1988–1989 | California | |
| 113 | L. Stanley Chauvin, Jr. | 1988–1989 | Kentucky | |
| 114 | John J. Curtin, Jr. | 1990–1991 | Massachusetts | |
| 115 | Sandy D'Alemberte | 1991–1992 | Florida | Future president of FSU |
| 116 | J. Michael McWilliams | 1992–1993 | Maryland | |
| 117 | R. William Ide, III | 1994–1995 | Georgia | |
| 118 | George Edward Bushnell Jr. | 1994–1995 | Michigan | |
| 119 | Roberta Cooper Ramo | 1995–1996 | New Mexico | First female president |
| 120 | N. Lee Cooper | 1996–1997 | Alabama | |
| 121 | Jerome J. Shestack | 1997–1998 | Pennsylvania | |
| 122 | Philip S. Anderson | 1998–1999 | Arkansas | |
| 123 | William G. Paul | 1999–2000 | Oklahoma | |
| 124 | Martha W. Barnett | 2000–2001 | Florida | |
| 125 | Robert Edward Hirshon | 2001–2002 | Michigan | |
| 126 | Alfred P. Carlton Jr. | 2002–2003 | North Carolina | |
| 127 | Dennis W. Archer | 2003–2004 | Michigan | First African-American president |
| 128 | Robert J. Grey, Jr. | 2004–2005 | Virginia | |
| 129 | Michael S. Greco | 2005–2006 | Massachusetts | First foreign-born president |
| 130 | Karen J. Mathis | 2006–2007 | Pennsylvania | |
| 131 | William H. Neukom | 2007–2008 | California | |
| 132 | H. Thomas Wells Jr. | 2008–2009 | Alabama | |
| 133 | Carolyn B. Lamm | 2009–2010 | District of Columbia | |
| 134 | Stephen N. Zack | 2010–2011 | Florida | First Hispanic American president |
| 135 | William T. Robinson III | 2011–2012 | Kentucky | |
| 136 | Laurel G. Bellows | 2012–2013 | Illinois | |
| 137 | James R. Silkenat | 2013–2014 | New York | |
| 138 | William C. Hubbard | 2014–2015 | South Carolina | |
| 139 | Paulette Brown | 2015–2016 | New Jersey | First woman of color |
| 140 | Linda Klein | 2016–2017 | Georgia | |
| 141 | Hilarie Bass | 2017–2018 | Florida | |
| 142 | Bob Carlson | 2018–2019 | Montana | |
| 143 | Judy Perry Martinez | 2019–2020 | Louisiana | |
| 144 | Patricia Lee Refo | 2020–2021 | Arizona | |
| 145 | Reginald M. Turner | 2021–2022 | Michigan | |
| 146 | Deborah Enix-Ross | 2022–2023 | New York | |
| 147 | Mary L. Smith | 2023–2024 | Illinois | First Native American (Cherokee) woman president. |
| 148 | William R. Bay | 2024–2025 | Missouri | |