It’s not often in life that we get a do-over, and in politics it’s even rarer. Most of the time, once a candidate is associated with defeat, they are never considered for office again. What is even rarer is a president losing reelection and getting a second shot. In fact, that has only happened once before in our long history. There has been a lot of talk about how it happened, and so historically speaking, it seems worthwhile to look at the last time there was a presidential mulligan to see the possible similarities.
The 1884 election has become a favorite of mine since 2016 because of the similarities between the two elections. Republicans ran James Blaine, a powerful senator and past Secretary of State who had tried to destroy evidence of his corruption. (Think Hillary Clinton’s emails.) Democrats ran Grover Cleveland, a reformer who wanted to “clean up Washington” but had a sex scandal in his past. Donald Trump had his “drain the swamp,” and also had a sex scandal. (Who can forget Stormy Daniels and well, fill in the blank for whatever scandal you want?)
At the time Republicans completely dominated the presidency, but the party had become divided during the past administration between the reformers and the traditionalists. When Blaine, a traditionalist, decided to run himself, many of the reformers abandoned the GOP and voted for Cleveland. With the Republicans divided, voters overlooked Cleveland’s private misdeeds and elected him over Blaine’s public scandals giving the Democrats their first win since 1856.
Once in office, Cleveland’s biggest difficulty was keeping his own party together. It was a makeshift party of Southern segregationists, Northern urban immigrants and reform Republicans called Mugwumps. Between various groups, Cleveland was forced to balance several issues such as the gold standard, growing labor violence and issues with patronage (giving government jobs to supporters. He managed these issues by focusing on the one issue that could unite the party and separate them from the Republicans: the tariff.
I honestly can’t make this up. Trump might as well be a Gilded Age president with the way he has used the tariff. The difference between Trump and Cleveland is that Cleveland lowered the tariff in a huge political move while creating a surplus in the Treasury. Yet for all the good Cleveland did during his presidency, he was not able to keep the Mugwumps in the party. They drifted back to the Republicans during his tenure. He also could not compete with the Republican coffers leaving him way behind in fundraising.
One scandal that seriously affected his reelection in 1888 was returning some Confederate battle flags to Southern units which upset Union soldiers and reminded everyone that Cleveland had gotten out of the war by paying a substitute to take his place. Even without the bad mark on his record, with a united Republican Party and full coffers, the GOP was able to take back the White House in 1888 by running Benjamin Harrison.
Harrison had a forgetful run during his presidency, not really because of anything he did, but because presidents really did not do much in the Gilded Age. He is most famous today for his lack of personality. It was said he could move a large crowd with his speaking ability but could not hold the attention of a couple people in a room. While Harrison did little to relieve the suffering of average Americans during the Gilded Age, what was seen by many as the final straw was raising the tariff by 12% while also blowing through the surplus Cleveland had left in the Treasury. These moves were unpopular enough for Democrats to take back Congress in the 1890 midterms.
When the Democrats convened in 1892, Cleveland was not seen as a candidate; he had returned to his law practice. Democrats thought they could take advantage of Harrison’s unpopularity by going with the only living Democrat who had won a presidential election, Grover Cleveland.
He won on the first ballot. With Republicans sticking with Harrison, it almost looked like the 1892 election would be a repeat of 1888. This was almost the case with the 2020 and 2024 election until Biden backed out late. I did say almost. There was one difference in the 1892 election, the addition of arguably the most important third party in political history the Populist Party.
By the 1890s farmers were financially strapped and did not feel the two major parties were doing much to alleviate their pain. Farmers in the Western states organized themselves into a party that called for government assistance, silver added to the gold standard and radical ideas like the government nationalizing the railroads. They nominated Union Civil War General James B. Weaver for president and Confederate Major James G. Field as vice president. Knowing they could not win in 1892, many Populists in the Western states fused with Democrats who promised to support “Free Silver.”
The fusion agreements helped the Democratic Party in 1892, but so too did a newly enacted poll tax in the Southern states. Now having to pay to vote, around 90% of the Black vote and 30% of the poor white vote—all of whom were potential Republican or Populists voters—was eliminated. In the end, it came down to two presidents known for their honesty, but voters decided they were happier under Cleveland than Harrison and decided to give him another shot.
Cleveland has not gone down in history as a great president, partly because of the way he governed, but also because of the contention he caused his own party. He did not play nice with the party bosses who put him in the White House and he fought with Congress way more than most presidents. He even broke the record on presidential vetoes. He is, however, credited with strengthening the power of the presidency—something that future presidents like Teddy Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson would jump on and increase. His main claim to fame has always been as the sole president to serve two nonsequential terms, but that is something he will now have to share with Trump.
James Finck is a professor of American history at the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma. He can be reached at HistoricallySpeak-ing1776@ gmail.com.
