{"id":37536,"date":"2024-09-24T01:15:00","date_gmt":"2024-09-24T01:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=37536"},"modified":"2024-10-13T18:41:15","modified_gmt":"2024-10-13T18:41:15","slug":"a-brief-history-of-former-presidents-running-for-reelection-3-losses-1-win-and-1-still-tbd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/a-brief-history-of-former-presidents-running-for-reelection-3-losses-1-win-and-1-still-tbd\/","title":{"rendered":"A brief history of former presidents running for reelection: 3 losses, 1 win and 1 still TBD"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Graeme Mack<\/a>, University of Richmond<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year\u2019s presidential election<\/a> has a former president, Donald Trump, running for a nonconsecutive term. It\u2019s the fifth time in U.S. history that\u2019s happened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Historically, a former president running for a nonconsecutive term has prompted voters to change their party allegiances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1848, Martin Van Buren, a former Democratic president, ran as a candidate for the newly formed Free Soil Party<\/a> and attracted many Northern Democrats who had grown disillusioned with their party\u2019s pro-slavery stance. The Free Soil Party<\/a> outperformed Democrats in three Northern states and enabled the other major party, the Whigs, to win the presidency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And in 1856, former Whig President Millard Fillmore headed the newly formed American Party, otherwise known as the Know-Nothing party<\/a>. When faced with a choice between two candidates, Fillmore and Democrat James Buchanan, who both seemed deeply complicit with slavery\u2019s expansion, many Northerners voted<\/a> for the new antislavery Republican Party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fillmore\u2019s candidacy in 1856 made a Republican sweep of the North virtually impossible, ensuring victory for Buchanan, who only won 45% of the popular vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Theodore Roosevelt\u2019s run in 1912 also saw dramatic changes in voter behavior. With the former president on the ballot, millions of voters cast ballots for the other major party or a brand new party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By this time, Roosevelt had become one of the most famous men in the world<\/a>. Reformers praised his ability to attract attention and build support for progressive causes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These characteristics repulsed conservative Republicans and traditional Democrats who feared Roosevelt\u2019s return to power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After failing to secure the Republican nomination, Roosevelt headed the newly formed Progressive Party, winning six states and 88 electoral votes, the strongest showing for a third party candidate ever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the split in the Republican ranks enabled Democrats to win by an electoral landslide<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One former president ran for a nonconsecutive second term and won: Grover Cleveland,<\/a> whose two terms ran from 1885-1889 and 1893-1897.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rise of progressivism<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When Roosevelt ran in 1912, he saw a society convulsed by rapid change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between 1870 and 1900, the population of the United States rose<\/a> from roughly 38 million to more than 76 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During this time, business transformed from small-scale manufacturing and local trade to huge corporations and factory-based manufacturing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From 1900 to 1915, another 15 million immigrants settled in American cities<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A political reform movement known as progressivism<\/a> emerged across political parties. It sought to address problems with immigration<\/a>, urbanization<\/a>, political corruption, industrialization and the concentration of corporate power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roosevelt\u2019s political career tapped into progressivism\u2019s growing momentum. First elected vice president as a Republican in 1900, he assumed the presidency in September 1901 after the assassination of President William McKinley<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Campaigning on his progressive \u201cSquare Deal<\/a>\u201d \u2014 focused on consumer protections, control of large corporations and conservation of natural resources \u2014 in 1904, the popular incumbent won reelection in the largest electoral landslide the country had seen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But in 1908, Roosevelt declined to run for a third term. Instead, he advocated successfully for William Howard Taft, his secretary of war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, as Taft\u2019s presidency<\/a> took shape, Roosevelt grew dissatisfied with him. What most frustrated Roosevelt was Taft\u2019s refusal to use executive power<\/a> to advance progressive goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seeing an urgent need for forceful presidential leadership, Roosevelt challenged Taft<\/a> for the Republican nomination in 1912.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Cartoon
A political cartoon from 1912 illustrating Theodore Roosevelt\u2019s dissatisfaction with how President William Howard Taft carried out his policies. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At the Republican National Convention, however, party leaders rejected Roosevelt and confirmed Taft\u2019s nomination. Roosevelt\u2019s supporters stormed out, complaining that leaders had manipulated rules and procedures to block the former president.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite his loss of the nomination, Roosevelt assured his supporters that he felt as \u201cstrong as a Bull Moose<\/a>\u201d and expressed interest in \u201cbolting\u201d from the Republican Party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roosevelt\u2019s threat to leave his party was echoed more than 100 years later by another former president running for a nonconsecutive term. In late 2023, Trump refused to participate<\/a> in the Republican presidential primary debates and refused to rule out the possibility of running as an independent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In doing so, Trump\u2019s candidacy hampered efforts to seek an alternative candidate. It also disregarded opportunities to win over skeptical Republicans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rise of the Bull Moose Party<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In a matter of weeks after Roosevelt failed to get the Republican nomination, the Progressive Party, popularly known as the Bull Moose Party<\/a>, held its national convention and nominated Roosevelt as its first presidential candidate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His presidential campaign<\/a> did not lack for energy or spectacle. In October 1912, the former president delivered a one-hour speech<\/a> immediately after being shot in an assassination attempt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He told his supporters, \u201cIt takes more than that to kill a Bull Moose<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Theodore
Theodore Roosevelt arrives at a hospital after New York saloon keeper John F. Schrank attempted to assassinate him in Milwaukee in 1912. Harlingue\/Roger Viollet via Getty Images<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Like the recent assassination attempts on Trump<\/a>, this attack drew condemnation and galvanized the former president\u2019s core supporters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roosevelt faced off on Election Day against the Republican incumbent, William Howard Taft; Eugene V. Debs<\/a>, the Socialist Party candidate; and the Democratic candidate, Woodrow Wilson<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many Republicans cast their ballots for Wilson, seeing his candidacy as more viable than Roosevelt\u2019s. Some did so out of disgust for what they saw as Roosevelt\u2019s egotistical and radical campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The split in the Republican Party created an opportunity for Democrats, who had been shut out of the presidency for decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The legacy of 1912<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

On election day, Democrat Wilson won 40 states and earned 435 electoral votes. Democrats also won the House and Senate for the first time since 1892<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Wilson prevailed with less than 42% of the national vote, the smallest share won by a president since Abraham Lincoln\u2019s 1860 election<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A unified Republican ticket would very likely have prevailed in 1912.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taft blamed Roosevelt for 1 million Republicans voting for the Democratic ticket<\/a> to stave off a Progressive win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Historical parallels are never perfect. However, the 1912 election invites some comparison, as one of the world\u2019s most famous men runs for the third time for the presidency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2024 election will be close<\/a>. Wary of Trump\u2019s return to power, will disillusioned Republicans vote for Democratic Party nominee Kamala Harris, choose a third-party candidate, or sit out the election?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Graeme Mack<\/a>, Visiting Assistant Professor of History, University of Richmond<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Graeme Mack, University of Richmond This year\u2019s presidential election has a former president, Donald Trump, running for a nonconsecutive term. It\u2019s the fifth time in U.S. history that\u2019s happened. Historically, a former president running for a nonconsecutive term has prompted voters to change their party allegiances. In 1848, Martin Van Buren, a former Democratic president, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":37537,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[115,46,36,4,38],"tags":[13922,529,479,7319,885,891,886,860,530,14129],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37536"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37536"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37536\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37598,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37536\/revisions\/37598"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}