| What's surprising (having done my own research a while back) is that only two Presidents between 1837 and 1897 even got elected twice in a row: Lincoln and Grant, and only one served a full eight years. Few of them (if they survived their first term) were even renominated. Van Buren, Cleveland and Benjamin Harrison and Taft were renominated but lost in the Electoral College. Wm H. Harrison, Taylor and Garfield died in their first term, but (unlike the 20th century pattern) their successors (like Lincoln's) weren't nominated for a full term. |