The vexed history of former presidents trying to regain the White House

Donald Trump is not the first former president to launch a comeback campaign to return to the White House.

Martin Van Buren, Millard Fillmore, Ulysses S. Grant, Grover Cleveland, Theodore Roosevelt, and Herbert Hoover all attempted comebacks. Only Cleveland’s bid didn’t turn out badly. Van Buren, Fillmore, and Roosevelt tried unsuccessfully to regain the presidency as third-party candidates, while Grant and Hoover lost their bids for their party’s nomination.

After Martin Van Buren lost his re-election campaign in 1840, he once again became a leading candidate for the Democratic nomination until four years later when he announced his opposition to the immediate annexation of Texas, which would have allowed slavery. Ta. Enraged supporters of annexation at the convention successfully lobbied for a rule requiring a two-thirds majority for nomination, destroying Van Buren’s chances. On the ninth vote, expansionist James K. Polk secured the nomination.

Van Buren reluctantly became a candidate for the Free Soil Party in 1848 after the Democratic convention decided that his home state of New York had no say in the proceedings. Although the Free Soilers were on the ballot in only 17 of 29 states, he accepted the party’s nomination anyway. Because it was about bringing together people who had always been on different sides of an issue to aim for the next thing. prevent The extension of slavery to those regions “exempted from that great evil.” The former president received just 10 percent of the vote and received no electoral votes.

Vice President Millard Fillmore assumed the White House following the death of President Zachary Taylor in July 1850, but decided in 1852 not to seek a full presidential term. Four years later, the former Whig changed his mind and accepted the short-lived presidential nomination. Anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic Know-Nothing Party.

Fillmore became “the leader of a party dedicated to xenophobia,” says historian Robert J. Raybuck. To tellHe believed it could “become a rallying point for a strong and genuine Nationalist Party” and ease the growing sectarian conflict between North and South. Although Fillmore lost narrowly, he received more than 20 percent of the popular vote and won Maryland’s eight electoral votes.

In 1880, Ulysses S. Grant tried again unsuccessfully to win the Republican nomination due to concerns about the “consequences of the war” and the rise of former Confederates in the South who sought to undo everything he had accomplished as president. was the trigger. Grant, write Ron Chernow “feared that unwarranted southern resistance to northern capitals would doom the region to economic stagnation.”

Mr. Grant was also “buoyed by his newfound popularity at home” and was keen to bring the United States into a more international role following an 18-month tour around the world after leaving the White House. . On the 35th vote of the Republican National Convention in June 1880, anti-Grant factions within the party were able to reject his nomination, choosing James A. Garfield instead.

After his defeat in 1888, Grover Cleveland initially seemed uninterested in a political comeback. He worked at a prestigious New York law firm and frequently vacationed on Cape Cod. However, during the first two years of President Benjamin Harrison’s term, Cleveland became increasingly concerned about government spending and legislation. mckinley tariff and How to purchase shaman silver by a Republican-controlled Congress.

After the Democrats won 93 House seats in the 1890 midterm elections, Cleveland began to behave more like an interested candidate. In February 1891, his name was again in the spotlight, culminating in a rematch with Harrison, who detonated Unlimited Silver as a “dangerous and reckless experiment.” in the letter Go to a reformist meeting. In November of the same year, Cleveland defeated Harrison and Populist candidate James B. Weaver to become the only president elected to non-consecutive terms.

Harrison’s defeat marked the second time that an elected president lost the popular vote twice, the first being John Quincy Adams in 1824 and 1828. The feat was not repeated until Trump lost the popular vote in 2016 and 2020.

In late February 1912, four years after declining to run again, Theodore Roosevelt became increasingly dissatisfied with the policies of his chosen successor, William Howard Taft, and announced his bid to become the next candidate. I threw it in.he Felt His immense popularity “created the potential for a unique political opportunity” to gain the “extraordinary power” needed to achieve the progressive reforms “America desperately needed.” Special interests used the courts and Congress to block it.

Roosevelt was the clear favorite in the Republican primary, but Taft’s control over the party organization was too strong for him to break through at the convention. Roosevelt then accused the Republican Party of corruption and launched a third-party presidential campaign under the Progressive Party (or Bull Moose Party). The rift between Roosevelt and Taft split the Republican vote, allowing Democratic candidate Woodrow Wilson to win the election.

In 1936, Herbert Hoover was “desperate for exoneration and a chance to ‘discuss the matter.'” I hoped The deadlocked Republican convention will likely rely on him to lead the fight against Democratic incumbent Franklin D. Roosevelt. He traveled the country defending his ideas while denouncing the New Deal. But the Republicans instead turned to their front-runner, Kansas Governor Alfred M. Landon, who FDR defeated in a landslide.

In 1940, when speculation that Mr. Hoover might run again began to gather momentum, “he felt it was immoral to openly pursue the nomination,” and once again “didn’t bring him to the stalled convention.” The hope of the world was at stake.” His last futile effort for another nomination effectively ended with the 32 votes he received on the third ballot at that convention. After three votes, Wendell Willkie said, “While it lacked Hoover’s assets, it also lacked its liabilities.” in words Historian Glenn Jeansonne is the Republican candidate.

Donald Trump may become a second Cleveland, or suffer the same fate as Van Buren, Fillmore, Grant, Roosevelt, and Hoover. Trump is currently considered the Republican nominee. The outcome of future events will determine how his attempt to regain the White House will be recorded in history.

Stephen W. Stasis was an American history expert who worked for the Library of Congress’ Congressional Research Service for nearly 40 years. His books include “Landmark Congressional Debate from the Declaration of Independence to the Iraq War” and “Landmark Legislation: Major Laws and Treaties of the United States.”