Truncated Presidential Terms

A full term for a US President is 4 years, which is 1,461 days.  Most presidents who did not reach the 1,461 days died in office, resigned, or had been elevated from the vice presidency to fill a vacancy.  However, there are four exceptions, presidents who served a full term and yet it was less than 1,461 days.  How does that work?

George Washington wasn't inaugurated until April 30, 1789.  As the new government was just getting started, Washington wasn't elected until April 6th.  He didn't leave Mt. Vernon until April 16 and was inaugurated upon arriving in New York City.  His first full term was 1,404 days.

John Adams served from March 4, 1797 to March 4, 1801.  Thanks to the absence of a leap day in 1800, his time in office was only 1,460 days.  Leap days don't occur in years divisible by 100 unless it is divisible by 400.  Thus, 2000 had a leap day for Bill Clinton's second term, but 1800 didn't for John Adams.

William McKinley's first term started on March 4, 1897 and ended on March 4, 1901.  Just like Adams, his term was missing a leap day in 1900.  Unlike Adams, he was reelected.  He was assassinated 6 months into his second term.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt served for 3 full terms and began a 4th when he died.  The 20th Amendment had been ratified shortly before his inauguration in 1933.  The amendment changed inauguration day from March 4 to January 20.  FDR's first term began on March 4, 1933, but ended on January 20, 1937.  This proved to be only 1,418 days.

Of note, both John Tyler (1841-1845) and Andrew Johnson (1865-1869) had longer partial terms than either Washington or Roosevelt's full terms.  Tyler took over after William Henry Harrison died only 1 month into office.  That left 1,430 days for Tyler's partial term.  Johnson became president after Lincoln's assassination and served 1,419 days.

Presidential Rankings - The Terrible Ones

These are the presidential disasters, highly-negative leaders who clearly damaged the well-being of the nation.

Franklin Pierce: An unknown politician unprepared for the presidency.  His last surviving child died shortly before Pierce assumed the presidency, sending him into alcohol and grief.  He pandered to slave owners and vilified abolitionists.  The Gadsden Purchase took place during his presidency.

James Buchanan: Most impressive resume prior to George H W Bush, but twiddled his thumbs as the country descended into Civil War.  Did nothing as the South seceded after the election but before Lincoln's inauguration.

Andrew Johnson: Lincoln's greatest mistake.  A pro-slavery demagogue who was entirely unsuited to the task of healing a nation in the aftermath of the Civil War.

Woodrow Wilson: Worst racist in presidential history.  Reversed racial progress rather than accept the status quo.  Set the stage for the rise of the Nazis and WWII.  Imprisoned political opponents, notably Eugene Debs.  Held constitutional limits in low regard, ignored civil liberties, refused to negotiate with Senate Republicans in foreign policy (which killed his League of Nations), and hid his debilitating stroke for more than a year at the end of his term.

Herbert Hoover: Tragic figure.  Brilliant, accomplished, and well-meaning.  However, he was a compulsive busybody whose efforts to fix the economy only worsened the Great Depression.  Began many of the New Deal policies that FDR adopted; they were all bad.

Jimmy Carter: Economic incompetence, foreign affairs disasters, angering allies and fawning over enemies.  Responsible for the rise of the Iranian mullahs.  Emboldened Islamic terrorists for decades thereafter by showing such astonishing weakness.  The malaise speech, the misery index, inability to get along with Congressional Democrats, let alone the Republicans.  Acted to undermine virtually every successor, regardless of party.

Yes, I can agree with this bunch.  Franklin Pierce wasn't even considered as the candidate until the 35th ballot.  The big guns - Lewis Cass, James Buchanan, Stephen Douglas, and William Marcy - could not assemble two-thirds of the delegates to capture the nomination.  Pierce was a dark horse who was enough of a blank slate that he won the nomination on the 49th ballot.  Is it any wonder he was not ready for the job.  The Democrats saw their error from 1852 and did not renominate Pierce in 1856, instead choosing Buchanan.  Despite a tremendous resume, he too failed miserably.  Like George H W Bush, Buchanan was groomed for a foreign policy presidency and was unsuited to domestic issues.  Andrew Johnson was a Tennessean who favored the Union.  Straddling both sides, one would think he would be ideal in the wake of the war.  Instead, he paved the way for Jim Crow rather than racial equality.  Wilson did not like the Constitution or the Republic it established.  He was indeed a horrible president.  Hoover had been part of the Harding Administration when Secretary of Treasury Andrew Mellon deftly turned Wilson's post-war depression into nearly a decade of prosperity.  Instead of trying to duplicate that, he tinkered and meddled, transforming a downturn into the Great Depression.  I would guess that Graboyes had first-hand experience with the Carter presidency based on the laundry list of failings.  I've always viewed Carter in much the way he paints Hoover: a well-meaning man who inadvertently did far more harm than good.

Responding to a comment regarding his rankings, Graboyes said that the six terribles led to hell: Pierce & Buchanan to the Civil War, Johnson to Jim Crow, Wilson to Nazism, Hoover to Depression, and Carter to Jihadism.  He also speculates that it might have been better to have 7 tiers rather than 5.