In Brief:
Americans may be surprised to learn that our history includes as many one-term Presidents as those who have served even parts of two terms. But from 1824 to The Civil War, only Andrew Jackson was elected twice. Jackson's hand-picked successor, Martin VanBuren, William Henry Harrison, who died after one month in office, John Tyler, James K. Polk, Zachary Taylor, who died in office, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, and James Buchanan all served one term or less. The succeeding Vice President Gerald Ford was defeated for reelection by Jimmy Carter, who in turn lost his bid for a second term to Ronald Reagan. Inability to deal convincingly with seemingly intractable issues like the economy (VanBuren, Hoover, Ford, Carter, and the first Bush) and sectional issues (the pre-Civil War Presidents) are leading obstacles to reelection.
