Trump isn't first to be second: Grover Cleveland set precedent of non-consecutive presidential terms
On the list of U.S. presidents, several have been tapped to serve for more than one term, with Donald Trump now joining the group
NEW YORK (AP) — On the list of U.S. presidents, several have been tapped by voters to serve for more than one term, with Donald Trump joining the group as the 45th president and now the 47th, too. But only one other American president did it the way Trump will — with a gap of four years between terms.
That was Grover Cleveland, who served as the 22nd president after the 1884 election, and as the 24th president after the campaign of 1892.
Cleveland was governor of New York when he was tapped as the Democratic Party's nominee for president in 1884. He was “viewed as the epitome of responsibility and stability,” said Daniel Klinghard, professor of political science at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachussetts.
A narrow victory in the popular vote gave him enough votes in the Electoral College to be named president. Four years later, even though he once again had a slight lead in the popular vote, he lost the Electoral College count to Republican Benjamin Harrison.
