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US presidents who didn't serve a second term
Joe Biden officially joins the list of America’s one-term presidents
© Getty Images
On Sunday, July 21, Joe Biden announced that he is no longer pursuing a second term as president. This announcement came as both a surprise and a relief as the Democratic Party had been pushing for him to withdraw from the race for weeks but he showed no signs of giving in until Sunday's post on X. Biden was the oldest president to be sworn in at the age of 78 in 2021, and promised that he would only serve one term as president. However, when it came time to begin campaigning for the 2024 election, he threw his hat into the ring.
Many had concerns about his age, as he would serve his second term from the age of 82 to 86 if re-elected. Those concerns began to manifest in his performance as he increasingly misspoke and garbled his words during speeches, struggling to keep up. The knife in the coffin was his disastrous debate against Republican candidate Donald Trump on June 27. Not long afterward, he referred to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as "Putin" and Kamala Harris as "Vice President Trump." Despite outcry from members of the Democratic Party regarding his mental fitness, Biden held firm and refused to step aside. That is, until his surprise announcement on Sunday, seemingly made from his Delaware home where he is recovering from COVID-19. The statement read, "I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term." He also endorsed Kamala Harris as the new Democratic presidential candidate and asked the Democrats to come together to "beat Trump."
Before Biden, there were just 10 presidents in history who ran for reelection but were unable to secure a second term. Then there were several presidents who never sought reelection, including James Polk, James Buchanan, and Rutherford B. Hayes
So, from George H.W. Bush to Donald Trump, click on to discover the nation's one-term leaders.
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