One Term Presidents

*Democrat Grover Cleveland was the 22nd and 24th president of the United States, having served from 1885 to 1889, and 1893 to 1897. So he doesn't technically qualify as a one-term president. But because Cleveland is the only president to serve two non-consecutive four-year terms, he holds an important place in U.S. history, having lost his initial bid for re-election in 1888 to Republican Benjamin Harrison.

Critical Analysis

1. How many U.S. presidents have run for reelection and been denied a second term?

2. How many total Presidents has the United States had?

3. On January 20, 2021 Joe Biden became the 46th President of the United States but was only the 45th person to hold the office. Explain that!* (Pro Hint: “Uncle Jumbo”)

4. How have our most recent one-term presidents: Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush, and Gerald Ford been judged by history?

5. Four out of five times, when incumbent American presidents run for reelection they win. Before the 2020 election, the US had gone 28 years without a president failing to win a second term,Yet Trump lost by over 7 million votes. Why do you think Trump lost so badly?

6. Since losing the 2020 presidential election Donald Trump has repeatedly lied about losing the election. So much so that currently, almost two-thirds of Republicans falsely believe that Trump won the 2020 election. Yale Historian and author Timothy Snyder claims that most people who falsely believe Trump won are driven by a fear of racial equality. Make your own claim about why so many people believe the lie that Trump won?

7. About a third of Americans wrongly believe that Joe Biden did not win the election. How has that impacted Biden’s ability to govern?

8. How do you think the Republican Party can bounce back from the disastrous Trump presidency?

9. As Joe Biden prepares to take office just days after a deadly riot inside the U.S. Capitol, 64% of voters express a positive opinion of his conduct since he won the November election. How likely is a Biden (who is currently 78) reelection in four years?

10. The first 44 US presidents served a collective 228 years in office. They averaged one impeachment every 114 years. The 45th president has averaged an impeachment every 2 years. Now that the U.S. House of Representatives has again impeached Trump, do you think the Senate will convict him?

Learning Extension

Scroll through this list of one-term presidents. And read Tim Snyder’s story about America on the edge of fascism.

Action Extension

Contact Joe Biden and give him some Presidents’ Day advice about his presidency.

Visual Extension