Unluckiest U.S. politicians

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Now let's have fun and threw more examples!


Jim Folsom, Jr. (D-AL), AKA "Three Strikes, Motherf**ker!"

This is easily my favorite example. Lil' Jim unseated an incumbent Senator in primary. Since it was Alabama, he could now confidently lay back and plan his inevitable inauguration... except the year turned out to be 1980 and he got narrowly beaten by Jeremiah Denton, riding on Reagan's Coattails. ONE.

So, he decided to start over smaller, being elected Lieutenant Governor in 1986 and reelected in 1990. Then, in 1993, Guy Hunt was convicted of some nasty financial stuff, which automatically installed Folsom as Governor.

Despite short tenure, he was a helluva good Governor, bringing, among other things, Mercedes plant to Alabama (thing states were literally killing each other for). With high approvals, he again laid back. After all, his opponent was no Vietnam hero, but a joke called "Fob" James, who just happened to be Governor like 100 years ago... except it was a year of the "Republican Revolution". James upset Folsom by a tiny margin. TWO.

So Jim got busy with other things, missing his best chance to be elected Governor in 1998. In 2006, he became bored and ran for Lieutenant Governor again, winning the office. He ran for an unprecedented fourth term in 2010... oh, nother Republican wave, another close defeat. YOU'RE OUT!

Endicott Peabody (D-MA)

A descendant of the freaking New England aristocracy, had he been born in earlier times, he'd be extremely successfull politician.

But after losing several bids, he finally got elected Governor in 1962 by a ridiculous margin. A quite effective one, after just two years he got primaried by his own Lieutenant.

After that, he waged even more campaigns for various offices (Senator, Veep) in various states. Lulz.

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Lincoln's first Vice President Hannibal Hamlin.

Generally, an incumbent President will keep his Vice President on the ticket when he seeks reelection.

Actually from Calhoun to Marshall no Vice President won the second term.

Richard M. Johnson, Hamlin, Schuyler Colfax and Levi Morton were all dropped from the ticket by an incumbent.

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A couple others that haven't been mentioned yet.

Thomas Dewey - nominated twice and lost both times.  Almost certainly went into election night thinking he was going to win the second time too, only to be denied again.

There's a hillarious story about that. On election day, Dewey asked his wife if wouldn't it be nice to be "sleeping with the President". The next day she said: "are we doing to the White House or Harry come over here?"

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William O. Douglas.

The longest-serving Justice of the Supreme Court in American history actually considered his life a failure, because he never fulfilled his ambition of becoming President of the United States. In fact, up until almost his last decade on the bench, he was doing his best to get his dream job.

Back in late 1930s Douglas was already considered one of the top possibilities to be FDR's handpicked successor before he decided to run for third term. Douglas landed at the bench instead, thinking of this, for a long time, as a temporary job (ironic, considering he came to be one of the most influential Justices in history).

In 1944 he came within an inch of realizing his dream, when he was FDR's first preference for VP (and thus, would have become President in April 1945), but party bosses preferred Harry Truman.

In 1948, Truman actually offered him the vice presidential nomination, which Douglas refused, believing, as pretty much everyone else, Truman is going to lose. Probably a smart move, since I can't see Douglas having much chance at getting elected in '52. Before that, there's been a short-lived "draft Douglas" movement and the Justice himself briefly campaigned for the nod.

In 1960, he offered to resign from the Court to campaign for his friend LBJ hoping, that he would become his running-mate and possibly a successor.

In 1964 he once again had a very longshot hope of being Johnson's VP. When nothing came of this, he finally resigned himself.

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Another unlucky example from the Supreme Court is Arthur Goldberg.

Tapped in 1962 for the bench by JFK, under whom he served as Secretary of Labor, Goldberg could have his seat for a long time (considering he died in 1990), but his tenure turned out to be brief, less than three years. In 1965, he was preassured by LBJ to step down in order to become Ambassador to the United Nations. Of course, LBJ wanted to have a seat open for his close friend Abe Fortas. (Interestingly, he forced another seat's opening in 1967, this time for Thurgood Marshall. He maneuvered Justice Tom Clark to retire by naming his son, Ramsey, as AG).

There was a golden opportunity in his sacrifice, as Johnson promised Goldberg to support him for President if he successfully negotiated an end to the Vietnam War. Though a very able Ambassador, Goldbert failed to do so and resigned in 1968, ending his presidential prospect.

He got another political chance in 1970, when nominated for Governor of New York against weakened Nelson Rockefeller. Despite being a frontrunner, he lost the election.


There's a third example of unfulfilled presidential prospects from the bench, Hugo Black, as he dreamed of being FDR's successor, though Hugo came to enjoy his new job quickly.