George Washington is first in war, first in peace and among the first in the hearts of his country's stamp collectors.
The nation's first president has appeared on 283 stamps. But he wasn't on the nation's first postage stamp - that honor went to Benjamin Franklin.Washington appeared on stamp No. 2, and since then has been featured on more U.S. stamps that anyone else, including Franklin, a distant second with 122 appearances.
The first two stamps actually were issued the same day, July 1, 1847, but the Postal Service and collectors consider the 5-cent Franklin to be the first U.S. postage stamp and the 10-cent Washington second.
Franklin was the first postmaster general, and the Postal Service uses his name for its stamp clubs aimed at getting youngsters interested in collecting.
"Various factors make individuals popular with collectors, but of all the individuals who have been repeatedly portrayed, the top favorites are Benjamin Franklin, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln," says Wayne Younglood, a specialist in U.S. stamps at Linn's Stamp News, a weekly newspaper for collectors.
Don Smith of the American Topical Association in Johnstown, Pa., reports that John F. Kennedy, who has appeared on three U.S. postage stamps, is extremely popular with collectors. There are "many, many, many" foreign stamps featuring Kennedy, he noted.
The association, which serves stamp collectors interested in specific areas, doesn't count the number of people specializing in each president, he said.
But Smith noted that Franklin D. Roosevelt - a collector himself - Abraham Lincoln and Washington all have been popular among collectors.
The availability of lots of George Washington stamps helps, Smith noted, "after all, who collects President Polk?"
A total of 417 people have appeared on American postage stamps.
All U.S. presidents through Lyndon B. Johnson have appeared on at least two stamps. Under Postal Service rules, stamps cannot be issued honoring a living person, and all the presidents who have served since Johnson are still alive.
Here is a rundown of the U.S. presidents who have appeared on stamps, and the number of stamps featuring each:
George Washington, 283; Abraham Lincoln, 45; Thomas Jefferson, 40; Andrew Jackson, 28; Warren G. Harding, 17; James A. Garfield, 16; Ulysses S. Grant, 13; James Monroe, 12; Franklin D. Roosevelt, 9; Theodore Roosevelt, 9;
Dwight D. Eisenhower, 8; William McKinley, 8; James Madison, 7; Benjamin Harrison, 6; Zachary Taylor, 6; Woodrow Wilson, 5; John Adams, 4; Grover Cleveland, 4; Rutherford B. Hayes, 4;
William Howard Taft, 4; John Quincy Adams, 3; William Henry Harrison, 3; John F. Kennedy, 3; Harry S. Truman, 3; John Tyler, 3; Chester A. Arthur, 2; James Buchanan, 2; Calvin Coolidge, 2;
Millard Fillmore, 2; Herbert Hoover, 2; Andrew Johnson, 2; Lyndon B. Johnson, 2; Franklin Pierce, 2; James K. Polk, 2; and Martin Van Buren, 2.