Which U.S. president was unanimously elected by the Electoral College in both 1789 and 1792?

George Washington was unanimously elected by the Electoral College in both 1789 and 1792.

Washington was the only candidate to receive every electoral vote in either of the first two presidential elections. The 1789 election created the presidency under the new Constitution, and Washington took the oath of office in New York City on April 30, 1789. In 1792, he again received every electoral vote.

His unanimous support reflected his reputation as commander of the Continental Army and presiding officer of the Constitutional Convention. The early Electoral College system gave each elector two votes, with the candidate receiving the most becoming president and the runner-up becoming vice president.

Washington declined to seek a third term and left office in 1797. His decision helped establish a two-term tradition that lasted until Franklin D. Roosevelt won a third term in 1940; the Twenty-Second Amendment later limited presidents to two elected terms.