Some Presidential Trivia

Some of which have been on this blog before, some of which you knew all along.

56 Presidential Elections (including 2008) elected 38 men.

Presidents who were never elected and never gave Inauguration Speeches:

John Tyler
Millard Fillmore
Andrew Johnson
Chester Arthur
Gerald Ford

Grover Cleveland’s non-consecutive terms have meant that he has been considered both our 22nd President and our 24th President.

Clinton-Bush marks only the 4th time in American History that a President has been re-elected after his predecessor has been re-elected, and the only time where the two men were from different political parties:

2 other times were Jefferson (1800-1804) Madison (1808-1812) and then Madison-Monroe (1816-1820)

The 4th time is one I never considered until I looked at the list, and may even win you a bar bet (if you are drinking with David McCullough and Doris Kearns Goodwin) – Lincoln (1860-1864), and then Grant (1868-1872).

Of course, it doesn’t feel that way. It feels like we re-elected Theodore Roosevelt (1904) and Harry Truman (1948) and LBJ (1964). But we only elected them once.

Two former Presidents ran for re-election as third party-candidates after they left office: Millard Fillmore in 1856 and Theodore Roosevelt in 1912.

Grant campaigned for the Republican nomination in 1880, and was even leading at certain points in the convention, but did not get it (Garfield did). There may be other former Presidents who tried to get nominated again. I just happen to know about Grant.

Finally, for people who worry (or hope) for some Lazurus-like action from our current occupant:

4 former Presidents went on to formally work in the government:

William Howard Taft became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

John Quincy Adams became a Congressman from Massachusetts.
John Tyler was a delegate to the organizational Confederate Congress, and was elected to serve, but passed away first.

And Andrew Johnson, the impeached one, briefly returned to his prior job, Senator of Tennessee.