# Heights of presidents and presidential candidates of the United States

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A record of the heights of the presidents and presidential candidates of the United States is useful for evaluating what role, if any, height plays in presidential elections in the United States. Some observers have noted that the taller of the two major-party candidates tends to prevail, and argue this is due to the public's preference for taller candidates.
The tallest U.S. president was Abraham Lincoln at 6 feet 4 inches (193 centimeters), while the shortest was James Madison at 5 feet 4 inches (163 centimeters).
Donald Trump the current president is 6 feet 3 inches (190 centimeters), according to physical examination summary from February 2019.

## U.S. presidents by height order

| Rank | № | President | Height (imperial) | Height (metric) |
| 1 | 16 | Abraham Lincoln | 6 ft 4 in | 193 cm |
| 2 | 36 | Lyndon B. Johnson | 6 ft 3+1⁄2 in | 192 cm |
| 3 | 45, 47 | Donald Trump | 6 ft 3 in | 190 cm |
| 4 | 3 | Thomas Jefferson | 6 ft 2+1⁄2 in | 189 cm |
| 4 | 42 | Bill Clinton | 6 ft 2+1⁄2 in | 189 cm |
| 6 | 21 | Chester A. Arthur | 6 ft 2 in | 188 cm |
| 6 | 32 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | 6 ft 2 in | 188 cm |
| 6 | 41 | George H. W. Bush | 6 ft 2 in | 188 cm |
| 9 | 1 | George Washington | 6 ft 1+1⁄2 in | 187 cm |
| 9 | 44 | Barack Obama | 6 ft 1+1⁄2 in | 187 cm |
| 11 | 7 | Andrew Jackson | 6 ft 1 in | 185 cm |
| 11 | 35 | John F. Kennedy | 6 ft 1 in | 185 cm |
| 11 | 40 | Ronald Reagan | 6 ft 1 in | 185 cm |
| 14 | 5 | James Monroe | 6 ft 0 in | 183 cm |
| 14 | 10 | John Tyler | 6 ft 0 in | 183 cm |
| 14 | 15 | James Buchanan | 6 ft 0 in | 183 cm |
| 14 | 20 | James A. Garfield | 6 ft 0 in | 183 cm |
| 14 | 29 | Warren G. Harding | 6 ft 0 in | 183 cm |
| 14 | 38 | Gerald Ford | 6 ft 0 in | 183 cm |
| 14 | 46 | Joe Biden | 6 ft 0 in | 183 cm |
| 21 | 27 | William Howard Taft | 5 ft 11+1⁄2 in | 182 cm |
| 21 | 31 | Herbert Hoover | 5 ft 11+1⁄2 in | 182 cm |
| 21 | 37 | Richard Nixon | 5 ft 11+1⁄2 in | 182 cm |
| 21 | 43 | George W. Bush | 5 ft 11+1⁄2 in | 182 cm |
| 25 | 22, 24 | Grover Cleveland | 5 ft 11 in | 180 cm |
| 25 | 28 | Woodrow Wilson | 5 ft 11 in | 180 cm |
| 27 | 34 | Dwight D. Eisenhower | 5 ft 10+1⁄2 in | 179 cm |
| 28 | 14 | Franklin Pierce | 5 ft 10 in | 178 cm |
| 28 | 17 | Andrew Johnson | 5 ft 10 in | 178 cm |
| 28 | 26 | Theodore Roosevelt | 5 ft 10 in | 178 cm |
| 28 | 30 | Calvin Coolidge | 5 ft 10 in | 178 cm |
| 32 | 39 | Jimmy Carter | 5 ft 9+1⁄2 in | 177 cm |
| 33 | 13 | Millard Fillmore | 5 ft 9 in | 175 cm |
| 33 | 33 | Harry S. Truman | 5 ft 9 in | 175 cm |
| 35 | 19 | Rutherford B. Hayes | 5 ft 8+1⁄2 in | 174 cm |
| 36 | 9 | William Henry Harrison | 5 ft 8 in | 173 cm |
| 36 | 11 | James K. Polk | 5 ft 8 in | 173 cm |
| 36 | 12 | Zachary Taylor | 5 ft 8 in | 173 cm |
| 36 | 18 | Ulysses S. Grant | 5 ft 8 in | 173 cm |
| 40 | 6 | John Quincy Adams | 5 ft 7+1⁄2 in | 171 cm |
| 41 | 2 | John Adams | 5 ft 7 in | 170 cm |
| 41 | 25 | William McKinley | 5 ft 7 in | 170 cm |
| 43 | 8 | Martin Van Buren | 5 ft 6 in | 168 cm |
| 43 | 23 | Benjamin Harrison | 5 ft 6 in | 168 cm |
| 45 | 4 | James Madison | 5 ft 4 in | 163 cm |

## Electoral success as a function of height

Folk wisdom about U.S. presidential politics holds that the taller of the two major-party candidates always wins or almost always wins since the advent of the televised presidential debate. The topic is also popular among essayists and popular science writers.
A number of studies have been published, but many have methodological issues, including varied and unjustified date ranges from which elections are sampled in order to calculate percentages of elections in which taller candidates have won. One 2001 study approached the issue by measuring the support of candidates in terms of popular votes, giving evidence for an advantage for taller candidates. Other studies have also compared presidential height to the average height of the population.
According to a 2013 study, significantly taller candidates were more likely to win the popular vote, while they were not more likely to win U.S. presidential elections: the number of taller candidates who won elections did not differ in a statistically significant manner from chance. It also found that the winning probability of the taller candidate increases to the present day, affecting studies which only analyze elections from the recent past.

### Mentions in popular culture

* In Ray Bradbury's 1953 dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451, when Mildred and her friends discuss the success of one presidential candidate over the other in a recent election, they talk only about the attractiveness of the winning candidate over the loser. One of their points is "You just don't go running a little short man like that against a tall man."
* A 1975 book called First Impressions: The Psychology of Encountering Others notes: "Elevator Shoes, Anyone? One factor which has a far-reaching influence on how people are perceived, at least in American society, is height. From 1900 to 1968 the man elected U.S. president was always the taller of the two candidates. (Richard Nixon was slightly shorter than George McGovern.)"
* A 1978 book titled The Psychology of Person Identification states: "They also say that every President of the USA elected since the turn of the [20th] century has been the taller of the two candidates (Jimmy Carter being an exception)."
* A 1988 article in the Los Angeles Times fashion section about a haberdasher devoted to clothing shorter men included a variation of the tale: "Stern says he just learned that Dukakis is 5 feet, 8 inches. 'Did you know,' he adds, noticeably disappointed, 'that since 1900 the taller of the two candidates always wins?'"
* A 1997 book called How to Make Anyone Fall in Love with You discusses the issue in a section about the importance of height: "What about height? One assumes the taller the better, because our culture venerates height. In fact, practically every president elected in the United States since 1900 was the taller of the two candidates."
* A 1999 book, Survival of the Prettiest by Nancy Etcoff, repeated a version of the legend in a section on the power of heights: "... Since 1776 only [two Presidents,] James Madison and Benjamin Harrison[,] have been below-average height. The easiest way to predict the winner in a United States election is to bet on the taller man: in this century you would have had an unbroken string of hits until 1972 when Richard Nixon beat George McGovern."
* A chapter titled "Epistemology at the Core of Postmodernism" in the 2002 book Telling the Truth: Evangelizing Postmodernisms makes this observation: "I remember the subversive effect the observation had on me that in every U.S. presidential race, the taller of the two candidates had been elected. It opened up space for a counterdiscourse to the presumed rationality of the electoral process."

## Comparative table of heights of United States presidential candidates

| Taller candidate was elected | Shorter candidate was elected |
| Winner and opponent were of the same height | Comparison data unavailable |
| Election | Winner in Electoral College | Height | Height | Main opponent(s) during election | Height | Height | Difference | Difference |
| 2024 | Donald Trump | 6 ft 3 in | 190 cm | Kamala Harris | 5 ft 4+1⁄2 in | 164 cm | 10+1⁄2 in | 27 cm |
| 2020 | Joe Biden | 6 ft 0 in | 183 cm | Donald Trump | 6 ft 3 in | 190 cm | 3 in | 8 cm |
| 2016 | Donald Trump | 6 ft 3 in | 190 cm | Hillary Clinton | 5 ft 5 in | 165 cm | 10 in | 25 cm |
| 2012 | Barack Obama | 6 ft 1+1⁄2 in | 187 cm | Mitt Romney | 6 ft 1+1⁄2 in | 187 cm | 0 in | 0 cm |
| 2008 | Barack Obama | 6 ft 1+1⁄2 in | 187 cm | John McCain | 5 ft 9 in | 175 cm | 4+1⁄2 in | 11 cm |
| 2004 | George W. Bush | 5 ft 11+1⁄2 in | 182 cm | John Kerry | 6 ft 4 in | 193 cm | 4+1⁄2 in | 11 cm |
| 2000 | George W. Bush | 5 ft 11+1⁄2 in | 182 cm | Al Gore | 6 ft 1 in | 185 cm | 1+1⁄2 in | 4 cm |
| 1996 | Bill Clinton | 6 ft 2+1⁄2 in | 189 cm | Bob Dole | 6 ft 2 in | 188 cm | 1⁄2 in | 1 cm |
| 1992 | Bill Clinton | 6 ft 2+1⁄2 in | 189 cm | George H. W. Bush Ross Perot | 6 ft 2 in 5 ft 5 in | 188 cm 165 cm | 1⁄2 in 9 1⁄2 in | 1 cm 24 cm |
| 1988 | George H. W. Bush | 6 ft 2 in | 188 cm | Michael Dukakis | 5 ft 8+1⁄2 in | 174 cm | 5+1⁄2 in | 14 cm |
| 1984 | Ronald Reagan | 6 ft 1 in | 185 cm | Walter Mondale | 5 ft 11 in | 180 cm | 2 in | 5 cm |
| 1980 | Ronald Reagan | 6 ft 1 in | 185 cm | Jimmy Carter | 5 ft 9+1⁄2 in | 177 cm | 3+1⁄2 in | 9 cm |
| 1976 | Jimmy Carter | 5 ft 9+1⁄2 in | 177 cm | Gerald Ford | 6 ft 0 in | 183 cm | 2+1⁄2 in | 6 cm |
| 1972 | Richard Nixon | 5 ft 11+1⁄2 in | 182 cm | George McGovern | 6 ft 1 in | 185 cm | 1+1⁄2 in | 4 cm |
| 1968 | Richard Nixon | 5 ft 11+1⁄2 in | 182 cm | Hubert Humphrey | 5 ft 11 in | 180 cm | 1⁄2 in | 1 cm |
| 1964 | Lyndon B. Johnson | 6 ft 3+1⁄2 in | 192 cm | Barry Goldwater | 5 ft 11 in | 180 cm | 4+1⁄2 in | 11 cm |
| 1960 | John F. Kennedy | 6 ft 1 in | 185 cm | Richard Nixon | 5 ft 11+1⁄2 in | 182 cm | 1+1⁄2 in | 4 cm |
| 1956 | Dwight D. Eisenhower | 5 ft 10+1⁄2 in | 179 cm | Adlai Stevenson II | 5 ft 10 in | 178 cm | 1⁄2 in | 1 cm |
| 1952 | Dwight D. Eisenhower | 5 ft 10+1⁄2 in | 179 cm | Adlai Stevenson II | 5 ft 10 in | 178 cm | 1⁄2 in | 1 cm |
| 1948 | Harry S. Truman | 5 ft 9 in | 175 cm | Thomas Dewey | 5 ft 8 in | 173 cm | 1 in | 3 cm |
| 1944 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | 6 ft 2 in | 188 cm | Thomas Dewey | 5 ft 8 in | 173 cm | 6 in | 15 cm |
| 1940 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | 6 ft 2 in | 188 cm | Wendell Willkie | 6 ft 2+1⁄2 in | 189 cm | 1⁄2 in | 1 cm |
| 1936 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | 6 ft 2 in | 188 cm | Alfred Landon | 5 ft 11 in | 180 cm | 3 in | 8 cm |
| 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | 6 ft 2 in | 188 cm | Herbert Hoover | 5 ft 11+1⁄2 in | 182 cm | 2+1⁄2 in | 6 cm |
| 1928 | Herbert Hoover | 5 ft 11+1⁄2 in | 182 cm | Al Smith | 5 ft 11 in | 180 cm | 1⁄2 in | 1 cm |
| 1924 | Calvin Coolidge | 5 ft 10 in | 178 cm | John W. Davis Robert M. La Follette | 5 ft 10 1⁄2 in 5 ft 5 in | 180 cm 165 cm | 1⁄2 in 5 in | 1 cm 13 cm |
| 1920 | Warren G. Harding | 6 ft 0 in | 183 cm | James M. Cox | 5 ft 6 in | 168 cm | 6 in | 15 cm |
| 1916 | Woodrow Wilson | 5 ft 11 in | 180 cm | Charles Evans Hughes | 5 ft 10 in | 178 cm | 1 in | 3 cm |
| 1912 | Woodrow Wilson | 5 ft 11 in | 180 cm | William Howard Taft Theodore Roosevelt | 5 ft 11 1⁄2 in 5 ft 10 in | 182 cm 178 cm | 1⁄2 in 1 in | 1 cm 3 cm |
| 1908 | William Howard Taft | 5 ft 11+1⁄2 in | 182 cm | William Jennings Bryan | 5 ft 11 in | 180 cm | 1⁄2 in | 1 cm |
| 1904 | Theodore Roosevelt | 5 ft 10 in | 178 cm | Alton B. Parker | 5 ft 9 in | 175 cm | 1 in | 3 cm |
| 1900 | William McKinley | 5 ft 7 in | 170 cm | William Jennings Bryan | 5 ft 11 in | 180 cm | 4 in | 10 cm |
| 1896 | William McKinley | 5 ft 7 in | 170 cm | William Jennings Bryan | 5 ft 11 in | 180 cm | 4 in | 10 cm |
| 1892 | Grover Cleveland | 5 ft 11 in | 180 cm | Benjamin Harrison | 5 ft 6 in | 168 cm | 5 in | 13 cm |
| 1888 | Benjamin Harrison | 5 ft 6 in | 168 cm | Grover Cleveland | 5 ft 11 in | 180 cm | 5 in | 13 cm |
| 1884 | Grover Cleveland | 5 ft 11 in | 180 cm | James G. Blaine | 5 ft 11 in | 180 cm | 0 in | 0 cm |
| 1880 | James A. Garfield | 6 ft 0 in | 183 cm | Winfield Hancock | 6 ft 1+1⁄2 in | 187 cm | 1+1⁄2 in | 4 cm |
| 1876 | Rutherford B. Hayes | 5 ft 8+1⁄2 in | 174 cm | Samuel Tilden | 5 ft 10 in | 178 cm | 1+1⁄2 in | 4 cm |
| 1872 | Ulysses S. Grant | 5 ft 8 in | 173 cm | Horace Greeley | 5 ft 10 in | 178 cm | 2 in | 5 cm |
| 1868 | Ulysses S. Grant | 5 ft 8 in | 173 cm | Horatio Seymour | | | | |
| 1864 | Abraham Lincoln | 6 ft 4 in | 193 cm | George B. McClellan | 5 ft 8 in | 173 cm | 8 in | 20 cm |
| 1860 | Abraham Lincoln | 6 ft 4 in | 193 cm | Stephen A. Douglas John C. Breckinridge | 5 ft 4 in 6 ft 2 in | 163 cm 188 cm | 12 in 2 in | 30 cm 5 cm |
| 1856 | James Buchanan | 6 ft 0 in | 183 cm | Millard Fillmore John C. Frémont | 69 in5 ft 9 in 5 ft 9 in | 175 cm 175 cm | 3 in 3 in | 8 cm 8 cm |
| 1852 | Franklin Pierce | 5 ft 10 in | 178 cm | Winfield Scott | 6 ft 5 in | 196 cm | 7 in | 18 cm |
| 1848 | Zachary Taylor | 5 ft 8 in | 173 cm | Lewis Cass | 5 ft 8+1⁄2 in | 174 cm | 1⁄2 in | 1 cm |
| 1844 | James K. Polk | 5 ft 8 in | 173 cm | Henry Clay | 6 ft 1 in | 185 cm | 5 in | 13 cm |
| 1840 | William Henry Harrison | 5 ft 8 in | 173 cm | Martin Van Buren | 5 ft 6 in | 168 cm | 2 in | 5 cm |
| 1836 | Martin Van Buren | 5 ft 6 in | 168 cm | Hugh Lawson White William Henry Harrison | 5 ft 11 in 68 in5 ft 8 in | 180 cm 173 cm | 5 in 2 in | 13 cm 5 cm |
| 1832 | Andrew Jackson | 6 ft 1 in | 185 cm | Henry Clay | 6 ft 1 in | 185 cm | 0 in | 0 cm |
| 1828 | Andrew Jackson | 6 ft 1 in | 185 cm | John Quincy Adams | 5 ft 7+1⁄2 in | 171 cm | 5+1⁄2 in | 14 cm |
| 1824 | John Quincy Adams | 5 ft 7+1⁄2 in | 171 cm | William H. Crawford Andrew Jackson** Henry Clay | 6 ft 3 in 73 in6 ft 1 in 73 in6 ft 1 in | 190 cm 185 cm 185 cm | 7+1⁄2 in 5+1⁄2 in 5+1⁄2 in | 19 cm 14 cm 14 cm |
| 1820 | James Monroe† | 6 ft 0 in | 183 cm | | | | | |
| 1816 | James Monroe | 6 ft 0 in | 183 cm | Rufus King | | | | |
| 1812 | James Madison | 5 ft 4 in | 163 cm | DeWitt Clinton | 6 ft 3 in | 190 cm | 11 in | 28 cm |
| 1808 | James Madison | 5 ft 4 in | 163 cm | Charles C. Pinckney | 5 ft 9 in | 175 cm | 5 in | 13 cm |
| 1804 | Thomas Jefferson | 6 ft 2+1⁄2 in | 189 cm | Charles C. Pinckney | 5 ft 9 in | 175 cm | 5+1⁄2 in | 14 cm |
| 1800 | Thomas Jefferson | 6 ft 2+1⁄2 in | 189 cm | John Adams | 5 ft 7 in | 170 cm | 7+1⁄2 in | 19 cm |
| 1796 | John Adams | 5 ft 7 in | 170 cm | Thomas Jefferson | 6 ft 2+1⁄2 in | 189 cm | 7+1⁄2 in | 19 cm |
| 1792 | George Washington† | 6 ft 1+1⁄2 in | 187 cm | | | | | |
| 1788–89 | George Washington† | 6 ft 1+1⁄2 in | 187 cm | | | | | |
Notes:
** Lost the House of Representatives vote, but received the most popular votes and a plurality of electoral votes; however, not the majority needed to win.
† Ran unopposed

## Extremes

The tallest president elected to office was Abraham Lincoln (6 ft 3+3⁄4 in or 192.4 cm). Portrait artist Francis Bicknell Carpenter supplies the information for Lincoln:
   Mr. Lincoln's height was six feet three and three-quarter inches "in his stocking-feet." He stood up one day, at the right of my large canvas, while I marked his exact height upon it.
A disputed theory holds that Lincoln's height is the result of the genetic condition multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2b (MEN2B); see medical and mental health of Abraham Lincoln.
Only slightly shorter than Lincoln was Lyndon B. Johnson (6 ft 3+1⁄2 in or 192 cm), the tallest president who originally entered office without being elected directly.
The shortest president elected to office was James Madison (5 ft 4 in or 163 cm); the shortest president to originally enter the office by means other than election is tied between Millard Fillmore and Harry S. Truman (both were 5 ft 9 in or 175 cm).
The tallest unsuccessful presidential candidate (who is also the tallest of all presidential candidates) is Winfield Scott, who stood at 6 ft 5 in (196 cm) and lost the 1852 election to Franklin Pierce, who stood at 5 ft 10 in (178 cm). The second-tallest unsuccessful candidate is John Kerry at 6 ft 4 in (193 cm). The shortest unsuccessful presidential candidate is Stephen A. Douglas at 5 ft 4 in (163 cm). The next shortest is Kamala Harris, who lost the 2024 election and is 5 ft 4+1⁄2 in (164 cm).
The largest height difference between two presidential candidates (out of the candidates whose heights are known) was in the 1860 election, when Abraham Lincoln stood 12 inches (30 cm) taller than opponent Stephen A. Douglas. The second-largest difference was in the 1812 election, with DeWitt Clinton standing 11 inches (28 cm) taller than incumbent James Madison. The 2024 election between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris had the third-largest difference at 10+1⁄2 inches (27 cm).