Presidents who decided not to run for re-election

How rare is it for presidents not to seek re-election? Well, it's probably not as rare as you might think. Nearly 1/3 of all American presidents chose not to run for another term in office.

Produced by Matt Beat. Music by Silent Partner.

Sources/further reading:

Wallenfeldt, Jeff. "Have Any U.S. Presidents Decided Not to Run For a Second Term?". Encyclopedia Britannica, 21 Jul. 2024

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Useful Charts

U.S. President Joe Biden recently announced he would be running for re-election

But that was in 2023, which was, like, forever ago, and now he’s actually NOT running for re-election

So which OTHER American presidents CHOSE not to seek re-election when they could have?

Well, before presidents were limited to two terms, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, Andrew Jackson, Ulysses Grant, Grover Cleveland and Harry Truman all declined to run for a third term. James Buchanan and Rutherford Hayes both announced they’d be one-term presidents at their inaugurations. James Polk announced he’d be a one-term president before he even got elected. And finally Calvin Coolidge and Lyndon Johnson both shocked the nation by announcing they wouldn’t seek a second elected term. So yeah, I get why Biden announcing he would not seek re-election was surprising. He was the first since Johnson to do so.

In total, six presidents didn’t seek a second term and eight presidents did not seek a third term.