The easiest way for President Joe Biden to secure his place in his history is to decline a second term. Only four elected Presidents have ever done that, and nobody has done it since 1880. The woke wing of the party is already nudging him in this direction.
The presidential norm is to seek — and win — a second term. Sixteen presidents have accomplished this feat, from George Washington to Barack Obama. It’s also common for the incumbent to run again and fail. Ten presidents have done that, from John Adams to Donald J. Trump. (RELATED: CARTER And HOELSCHER: Ronald Reagan Asked America One Question And It Led To A Landslide Victory. Will History Repeat Itself?)
Five unelected presidents have chosen not to seek a term of their own after serving out a deceased president’s term (Tyler, Fillmore, Andrew Johnson, Arthur and Ford). Four unelected incumbents limited themselves to one elected term (Theodore Roosevelt, Coolidge, Truman and Lyndon Johnson — the former two almost certainly would have won, the latter two almost certainly not).
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