One and done
VIEWPOINT
By RALPH HARDIN
Evening Times Editor
So either way this election goes in a few weeks, Joe Biden will be added to the list of our country’s one-term presidents. If Kamala Harris wins, I think it’s safe to say that so will Donald Trump, as I can’t imagine him giving it another go in 2028.
So, where does that leave them in terms of history’s other oneterm presidents? Well, I like lists and I like history so let’s have a look at this question…
For clarity’s sake, I’m not including any of the presidents who died in office without completing a second term, so William Henry Harrison, Zachary Taylor, Warren Harding, and even John Kennedy are out.
I’m also excluding presidents who were re-elected but only served a very short part of their second terms, so that means no William McKinley and no Abraham Lincoln. Neither Teddy
See VIEWPOINT, page A9 VIEWPOINT
From page A4
Roosevelt (finished McKinley’s term then had one of his own), Lyndon Johnson (same but with JFK), nor Richard Nixon (we all know that one) will be included either.
We’ll also leave out all the presidente who basically had mop-up duty — vice presidents who became president, finished out their predecessor’s term then failed to get or declined to seek a term on their own.
So, these are just the presidents that were elected, served a single term, and then for one reason or another did not serve a second term. In the nearly 250 years of our nation’s history, there have actually only been 10 of these guys (well, technically 12 but I’m not counting Trump or Biden just yet).
So, here they are:
• John Adams – Just the 2nd president ever. He basically rode George Washington’s coattails all the way to the presidency, but by the time the next election, the nation was ready for something new.
• John Quincy Adams – Well, maybe not that new. A couple of decades later, the former president’s son served a single term as president, but he could not compete with the ris of Andrew Jackson.
• Martin Van Buren – Like Adams before him, Van Buren piggy-backed off of Jackson’s popularity to get the presidency. Also like Adams, he lost out to a popular war hero after just one term in office.
• Rutherford B. Hayes – If ever an election were truly “stolen” it would be Hayes’ win over Sam Tilden in 1876.
Three states’ votes were basically too disputed to count, so a special congressional committee chose a winner. He declined seeking re-election.
• Benjamin Harrison – Grandson of President William Henry Harrison, Benjamin had name recognition and little else. He was just one in a line of weaker presidents between Ulysses Grant and William McKinley.
• William H. Taft – Hand picked by Teddy Roosevelt as his replacement. But then Roosevelt decided e wanted to be president again and ran against his old friend. They both went on to lose to Woodrow Wilson.
• Herbert Hoover – Hoover actually had the nerve to run for re-election after basically closing his eyes and covering his ears going, “la-la-la-la” as the Great Depression hit. He lost to FDR but honestly probably would have lost to an upturned mop with hat on.
• Jimmy Carter – Along those same lines, Gerald Ford was never going to win a term of his own after pardoning Richard Nixon, and Jimmy Carter was basically the Anti-Nixon. He just turned 100 years old recently and is much more fondly remembered for his post-presidential work.
George Bush – The epitome of “too much of a good thing,”
• Bush was basically just an extention of the Reagan Era, but after 12 years, the nation was ready to move on. Reagonomics fatigue, combined with an economic downturn and a rare third party challenge from Ross Perot, and Bill Clinton was able to retire ol’ George after just one term.
History-savvy readers might have noticed that I skipped a name in the timeline. I was saving the “best” for last. (and yes, that’s just my opinion, but it is my column, so…)
• James K. Polk – The poster child for “one and done” presidents, Polk didn’t even really want to run for president, and did so after ensuring everyone at the very divided Democratic Convention he would not seek re-election. And he didn’t really even need to, since he accomplished all of his party’s platform objectives in just four years: acquiring the Southwest from Mexico, acquiring Oregon from England, establishing an independent treasury, and lowering tariffs.
I don’t even know what he had left to do, and it’s probably for the best, as he died just weeks after a theoretical second term would have begun, and he wasn’t even that old (53), so I guess being president is a tough job.
Why would you even want a second term?