Wednesday, April 09, 2008

13 Presidential Also Rans

Last week I posted 13 unusual names of men that have run for president. This week my focus is on men who ran for president, but they didn’t win making them an “also ran.”

As you will see some men have run for president numerous times and never achieved their goal. Even so, they all had distinguished careers in government serving in many different capacities. I’ve linked to biographies for each individual. Choose one or two and learn something new.

1. Eugene V. Debs ran 5 times….1900, 1904, 1908, 1912, and 1920

2. Aaron Burr ran 3 times…..1792, 1796, and 1800

3. George Clinton ran 3 times…1792, 1796, and 1808
He also ran for VP in 1804

4. Henry Clay ran 3 times…..1824, 1832, and 1844

5. William Jennings Bryan ran 3 times….1896, 1900, and 1908

6. James G. Birney ran 2 times…1840 and 1844

7. Thomas Pinkney ran 2 times…..1796 and 1804

8. Charles Pinkney ran 2 times…..1800 and 1808

9. Thomas Dewey ran 2 times…1944 and 1948

10. Adlai Stevenson ran for president 2 times…..1952 and 1956

11. Adlai E. Stevenson ran for vice president 2 times….1892 and 1900

12. Thomas E. Watson ran for president 1 time (1904), but he ran for vice president 1 time as well (1896).

13. Rufus King only ran for president 1 time (1816), but he ran for Vice President 2 times (1804 and 1808)

and a bonus one as well……

John C. Breckenridge only ran for president 1 time (1860), but he ran successfully for Vice President 1 time (1856)

Locate other bloggers participating in Thursday 13 here

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Amazing statistics about running for President! I enjoyed your post!

Anonymous said...

As usual, a great and informative list.

Anonymous said...

Isaw your question on the TT main page and I thought the answer was William Jennings Bryan. I'm afraid I have never heard of Mr Debs but I admire his persistence!

Irishcoda said...

Thanks for an informative TT! I enjoy learning new things! :)

The Tour Marm said...

What about Harold Stassen?

Bethany said...

Can you imagine running FIVE times??!! That's perseverance!! Happy TT :)

elementary historyteacher said...

Nicholas, I don't blame you for thinking it would be William Jennings Bryan. He does get brought up in American History classrooms often and Debs for some reason isn't brought up as much.

Tour Marm, I had to leave out many "also rans" because I only had 13 slots. :)

Thanks for visiting everyone.

Denise Patrick said...

Great list. And, seeing two people with the same last name meant I had to go find out how they are related. I learned some interesting things about the Pinckney cousins!

Happy TT!

Cinnamon Girl said...

Well you have to admire Deb's perseverance!