Post-Election

Wednesday, 07 November 2012

Here’s a fact relating to yesterday’s elections that I haven’t seen reported anywhere else: President Obama has now become the third consecutive president to win reelection.

Has that ever happened before?

Yes. It happened once before. Or maybe twice. Or maybe thrice. Let me explain…

Way, way back in 1820, President James Monroe won reelection. He had been president since 1817, and he would continue to serve in that role until 1825. He succeeded James Madison to the Presidency. Madison, likewise, won – and served – two terms. And for those of you old enough to remember, Madison had succeeded Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson served two terms: from 1801 to 1809.

So here we have an unambiguous case of three Presidents in a row winning reelection: Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe.

Now let’s move forward in time to 1892.

In that election, Grover Cleveland won the election over incumbent Benjamin Harrison, and he thus became our 24th President. But…he was also our 22nd President. So he was reelected, even though his two terms were not consecutive. 

In 1897, Cleveland stepped aside for William McKinley to become Commander-in-Chief. McKinley was reelected in 1900. About a year later, McKinley died from an asssassin’s bullets (well, he probably died from gross medical incompetance, but that’s another story), and Theodore Roosevelt became President. In 1904, Roosevelt was reelected. Well, sort of. McKinley, left, discusses with Rosevelt his preference for not crossing his legs.

He had not won election to the Presidency before, but he was the President, and the electorate of 1904 put him back in the White House.

So here we have Cleveland-McKinley-Roosevelt: three consecutive Presidents who all won a Presidential election after having already been President. Does this count as three consecutive Presidents winning reelection? I don’t think so…but you can see why the situation is muddied.

We have a similar, but more clear-cut case in 1956. Franklin Roosevelt won reelection in 1944, then Harry Truman (who succeeded to the Presidency following Roosevelt’s death) won the election in 1948, and then Dwight Eisenhower secured reelection in 1956. So here we have three consecutive Presidents who all served more than one term…even thought Truman wasn’t really reelected.

“Sure,” says President Truman, left, to Dwight Eisenhower, “everyone likes you…but what about your choice for Vice President?”

So, there you have it: Clinton-Bush-Obama. The first bona fide reelection triumvirate since 1825. Sort of.