WAUPACA COUNTY POST

June 24, 2004

Reflections on the U.S. Presidency

By Dr. Earl Spangler

The death of President Ronald Reagan brings to mind the fact that he accrued quite a few records as president, many of them not often thought about and some maybe not all that consequential. But they all go to make up parts of the presidency, and some add to the lore that continues to be attached to that office.

One startling fact is the number of Republican presidents who, over a 140-plus year period, have served two full terms in office. Counting Lincoln, the first Republican president, 18 Republicans, including the incumbent, G.W. Bush, have held the office.

Thus far, only three, Grant, Eisenhower and Reagan, completed two full terms. Three, Lincoln, Garfield and McKinley, were assassinated. One, Harding, died in office by natural death. One, Nixon, resigned. Five, Hayes, Benjamin Harrison, Taft, Hoover and G.H.W. Bush, were one-term presidents.

Four, Arthur, T. Roosevelt, Coolidge and Ford, succeeded to the office. Of those, only two, T. Roosevelt and Coolidge, were elected to a term of their own. Three, Lincoln, McKinley and Nixon, were elected to a second term but did not complete it because of death or resignation.

In addition to being only the third Republican to serve two full terms, Reagan was the only president to have been divorced, the only one to have survived an assassination attempt after being wounded (this excludes T. Roosevelt who, as a candidate in 1912, was shot and survived), the oldest person to be elected president, the oldest president upon leaving office, the oldest living president and the only president to have been born in Illinois.

By contrast, if you accept Jefferson as the first Democratic president, since March 4, 1801, when he was inaugurated, there have been 18 Democratic presidents. This includes counting Cleveland only once and includes Tyler and Andrew Johnson who were elected vice-presidents on non-Democratic tickets but were actually Democrats, both of whom succeeded to the presidency.

Of the 18, eight served two full terms including Franklin Roosevelt who served three full terms and 83 days of a fourth term. Five, Fan Buren, Polk, Pierce, Buchanan and Carter, served a single term each. Four, Tyler, Andrew Johnson, Truman and Lyndon Johnson, succeeded to the office. Of those who succeeded, only two, Truman and Lyndon Johnson, won a full term. Only one, Kennedy, was assassinated although attempts were made on Jackson, on Franklin Roosevelt as president-elect and on Truman. Only one, Franklin Roosevelt, died in office of natural death.

Keep in mind that the Democratic Party started electing presidents in 1800 while the Republicans elected their first one in 1860. That gave the Democrats the chance to run 15 more candidates in that 60-year period. In so doing, counting Jefferson, they elected eight, not a bad record. And a lot better than the Whig Party did. They elected two presidents, William Henry Harrison and Zachary Taylor, both of whom died in office, Harrison after one month and Taylor after 15 months. One would be wary about accepting Whig presidential nomination.

I have not tried to formulate any particular pattern here. I leave that to others and maybe to those who love conspiracies. And one might wonder, where are the other presidents to add up to the total we have had? Washington and Adams were Federalists. John Quincy Adams is often characterized as a National Republican although no such party ever existed. William Henry Harrison and Taylor were Whigs. Keep in mind that Cleveland, because of his non-consecutive terms, is listed as our 22^nd and 24^th president, thus dispelling the idea that at 250 pounds or so he was really two presidents. If we went by weight, how would we count Taft at 350 pounds or Madison at a scrawny 100 pounds?

In spite of those who remain unconvinced, I have not included Al Gore in this writing. But you should be reminded that he joins a select group of those who won the popular vote but not the presidency – Jackson in 1824, Tilden in 1876 and Cleveland in 1888. Maybe he should take comfort in knowing that Jackson ran again in 1828 and won as did Cleveland in 1892.