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| Dear Yahoo!: |
| Has an incumbent president ever failed to receive the nomination from his party to run for a second term? |
Scott
North Little Rock, Arkansas |
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| Dear Scott: |
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Yes. In fact, five presidents hold that dubious distinction. It seems that there's nothing like the events surrounding a civil war to cut short a White House stay. - Millard Fillmore, who gained the post after the death of Zachary Taylor, lost the Whig nomination in 1852. His enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 lost him support in the North.
- Franklin Pierce bowed out in
1856 as a result of growing conflict between the free and slave states in the years directly preceding the Civil War. His support of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill effectively legalized slavery north of the Mason-Dixon Line.
- James Buchanan lost the nomination to Abraham Lincoln in 1860. During his administration, seven Southern states seceded from the Union.
- Andrew Johnson failed to make the cut in 1868 after an attempted impeachment. He was the only Southern senator who refused to resign during the Civil
War, but as president presided over some egregious racial legislation during the Reconstruction.
- Chester A. Arthur, who gained the presidency after James Garfield was shot, by all accounts phoned in his presidency. By the time the nomination rolled around in 1884, he was dying of kidney failure.
For more Oval Office-related trivia, visit the U.S. Presidential Elections History Yahoo! Category.
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