How many presidents were related and who were they?

Answer 1

George W. Bush isn't the first American president to be related to a previous president. Many former presidents were distant cousins, especially during the first 100 years of the Republic when the country's population (and the pool of likely candidates) was much smaller than today. Even Herbert Hoover and Richard Nixon were distant cousins.

JOHN ADAMS (1797-1801) and JOHN QUINCY ADAMS(1825-1829) were, like the Bushes, father and son. John and John Quincy Adams were also great-grandfather and grandfather (respectively) of the historian and author Henry Adams.

WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON (1841-1841) and BENJAMIN HARRISON (1889-1893) were grandfather and grandson. The elder Harrison is famous for the brevity of his term: he died after one month in office, the victim of a bad cold contracted at his inaugural.

THEODORE ROOSEVELT (1901-1909) and FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT (1933-1945) share a famous name but were only distantly related: they were fifth cousins. Teddy Roosevelt was more closely related to Franklin's wife Eleanor, who was his niece. (She was the daughter of Teddy's brother Elliot.) Bonus relatives: Martin Van Buren was a third cousin twice removed to Theodore Roosevelt, and Zachary Taylor (1849-1850) was a fourth cousin thrice removed to FDR. The Roosevelts were the only two presidents in this loop (to date) to serve more than one term.

GEORGE BUSH (1989-1993) and GEORGE W. BUSH (2001-) are separated only by the two terms of Bill Clinton, who defeated the elder Bush in the elections of 1992.

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