Biden: US Presidents, Reelection & the Second Term Curse

American History Hit

History Hit

America, History

4.5 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 24 July 2024

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

President Joe Biden will address the nation from the Oval Office on Wednesday night, after announcing he was ending his reelection bid a few days ago. Dropping out so close to the election is historically unprecedented, but Biden is not to first president to make this decision. In 1968, Lyndon B. Johnson sat in the same office to announce the same news.

But what makes Biden's situation so rare? Has a sitting president ever been under pressure to drop out over concerns about their age and mental clarity? Who were the other presidents who chose to serve only one term? And is there any truth to the so-called 'second term curse'?

For this special bonus episode, Don is joined by Professor of History, Kevin M. Kruse, from Princeton.

You can find out more about Kevin's newsletter, Campaign Trails, here.

Producer: Sophie Gee. Produced and mixed by Charlotte Long.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Finally, my fellow Americans, let me say this.
0:05.0	It is 1968, and President Lyndon B. Johnson is broadcasting to the nation from the Oval Office of the White House.
0:14.0	Johnson, who stepped into the presidency five years before in 1963,
0:18.0	after John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas,
0:21.0	wears a proper suit and tie, but appears weary.
0:25.2	His health has reportedly been suffering of late.
0:27.6	Despite being elected as president on his own with a landslide victory in 1964 against Barry Goldwater.
0:33.7	Johnson is now deeply unpopular across the country,
0:36.9	due largely to his handling of the Vietnam War.
0:39.8	After much consideration, he says, he sees no other option available.
0:45.0	I shall not seek and will not accept the nomination of my party for another term as
0:50.2	your president.
0:51.8	Linden Baines Johnson, 36th President of the United States,
0:56.0	announces he is withdrawing his candidacy.
0:58.7	And with this fateful decision, he goes down in history as one of the very few US presidents who've elected not to run for re-election.
1:07.0	It's the 31st of March 1968.
1:10.0	There are 295 days to go before the end of Johnson's term, and only 219 until a new president will be chosen in November.
1:19.0	Sound familiar?
1:21.0	You may have heard the news. July 21st, 2024, only a few days ago, and 183 days
1:28.6	before the end of his term, President Joe Biden announced he would not be running for a second term, shocking the world,
1:35.0	despite it being discussed in the headlines and opinion pages for weeks.
1:40.0	Welcome to American History Hit, I'm Don Wildman, your host. And today we're staying
	...

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