Saturday, December 22, 2012

Pointless Presidential Pfacts #21 - "I'll Have Another, Please"

Only 16 presidents have had a second inaugural and Barack Obama will be the 17th. So this also means only 17 have been reelected.

17 Reelected POTUS
1. George Washington #1
2. Thomas Jefferson #3
3. James Madison #4
4. James Monroe #5
5. Andrew Jackson #7
6. Abraham Lincoln #16
7. Ulysses S. Grant #17
8. Grover Cleveland #22 & #24
9. William McKinley #25
10. Woodrow Wilson #28
11. Franklin D. Roosevelt #32
12. Dwight D. Eisenhower #34
13. Richard Nixon #37
14. Ronald Reagan #40
15. William Jefferson Clinton #42
16. George W. Bush #43
17. Barack Obama #44

16 of the 17 won reelection consecutively, while Grover Cleveland remains the only non-consecutive serving POTUS. He did win the popular vote 3 elections in a row, but in his first bid for reelection in 1888 he lost the Electoral College.

10 were sworn-in on a March 4th for a second term and 7 were or will be sworn-in on a January 20th. Two presidents had a different swearing-in date for their first term, George Washington and Franklin D. Roosevelt. Washington was sworn-in for his first term on April 30, 1789. Roosevelt's first term began on the 4th of March and his second term started on the current Inauguration Day, becoming the last to be sworn-in on March 4th and the first on January 20th.

10 March 4th Second Term Inaugurations
1. Washington
2. Jefferson
3. Madison
4. Monroe
5. Jackson
6. Lincoln
7. Grant
8. Cleveland 24
9. McKinley
10. Wilson

7 January 20th Second Term Inaugurations
1. Roosevelt 32
2. Eisenhower
3. Nixon
4. Reagan
5. Clinton
6. Bush 43
7. Obama

3 of the 16 that have already had a second inauguration did not complete their second term. Abraham Lincoln and William McKinley were assassinated in the first year of the second term, while Richard Nixon remains the only POTUS to resign. He left office almost two years into the second term.

3 of the 17 reelected were Democratic-Republicans (Jefferson, Madison, Monroe), three two term presidents in a row from 1800-1820 (plus the election of 1824, which any of the four main candidates would've been since the Federalist Party ceased to exist at the national level).

6 were Democrats (Jackson, Cleveland, Wilson, Roosevelt 32, Clinton, Obama), which had its first reelection victory with Andrew Jackson in 1832 and wouldn't have a consecutive reelection for the party until Woodrow Wilson's 1916 win. In 1892, Cleveland was the first Democrat reelected since Jackson in '32, however non-consecutively.

7 were Republicans, with Lincoln, the party's first to be reelected and Ulysses S. Grant the second to be reelected in 1872 and first to serve 2 full terms. Dwight D. Eisenhower would be the first Republican since Grant to serve 2 full terms.

Washington was the only one without a party, but during his second term his cabinet was dominated by Federalists.


George Washington's Second Inauguration, the young nation's second presidential inaugural ceremony held on March 4, 1793, the first second term inaugural. First to be held in Nation's new capitol, Philadelphia, PA.


George W. Bush's Second Inauguration was the 55th inaugural ceremony and the 16th second term inauguration, the most recent too. Held on the West Front of the Capitol in Washington, D.C.

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