Trivia Question: Which elected POTUS served less than a full term?

[dex]

Here is a trivia question:
Which 4 elected POTUS served less than a full term not due to death.

Richard Nixon and ?

Answer

 

[Gumby]

I presume you meant his own death. If so, they would be

Gerald Ford - served out Nixon's second term
Andrew Johnson - served out Lincoln's second term
John Tyler - served out William Henry Harrison's term

 

[Leonidas]

I had not thought of it as serving a shorter term. A reporter commented, when the inauguration ceremony was behind schedule, that the presidency passed at the scheduled time even if the oath had not yet been administered. I'm not sure about that, but the 20th Amendment says that the sitting President's term ends at noon on the 20th. So, were we without a president for 5 minutes or so? Or, if the oath was not said properly, were we without a president for much longer? Fun trivia question.

Here's an interesting presidential trivia question I just picked up this evening: Which First Lady unofficially took control of her husband's presidential duties? To be fair, she denied that she ever made any executive decision other than deciding which issues he should decide and the rest she sent to other members of the executive office of the president.

 

[REWahoo]

[-]Dex, your link doesn't show the answer - at least not that I could detect.[/-]

OK, ...

YouTube - Gilda Radner Nevermind

 

[Gumby]

Edith Wilson

 

[Leonidas]

Edith Wilson

DING! DING! DING! Hold your calls please, we have a winner.

The First World War era has always been my weak spot in US history and I had never heard that Wilson was incapacitated and his wife took control. I'm amazed that she got away with that.

 

[Gumby]

I presume you meant his own death. If so, they would be

Gerald Ford - served out Nixon's second term
Andrew Johnson - served out Lincoln's second term
John Tyler - served out William Henry Harrison's term

I forgot Chester Arthur, who served out James Garfield's term.

 

[dex]

Answers in the article: Barack Obama Calvin Coolidge and Chester Arthur

The question probably should have said theirs or another's death and 5 POTUS.

Nixon, Ford and the above.

It assumes a technicality that might not be correct - That since the oath wasn't properly executed, the first three were not president on inauguration day; so served fewer days than they should have.

 

[Leonidas]

I forgot Chester Arthur, who served out James Garfield's term.

Or Teddy Roosevelt who took the reigns after a nut job shot McKinley (or his doctors' treatments killed him). And nobody thought of Lyndon Baines "the dogs like being held up by their ears" Johnson?

 

[dex]

Edith Wilson

Wilson is the worst POTUS in my mind.

I always thought it would be a great alternative history book if the USA didn't enter WWI.

 

[Gumby]

Or Teddy Roosevelt who took the reigns after a nut job shot McKinley (or his doctors' treatments killed him). And nobody thought of Lyndon Baines "the dogs like being held up by their ears" Johnson?

But Roosevelt and Johnson each got a presidential term in their own right, so I didn't count them.

 

[Bestwifeever]

Here is a trivia question:
Which 4 elected POTUS served less than a full term not due to death.

But Gerald Ford wasn't elected--he was a senator and then took Spiro Agnew's vice presidency and then moved up when Nixon resigned and then lost the next election.

 

[dex]

But Gerald Ford wasn't elected--he was a senator and then took Spiro Agnew's vice presidency and then moved up when Nixon resigned and then lost the next election.

You are correct - scratch Ford.So the question is: (and I think the death part is correct now also - as a small twist)

Which 4 elected POTUS served less than a full term not due to death.

 

[Gumby]

But Gerald Ford wasn't elected--he was a senator and then took Spiro Agnew's vice presidency and then moved up when Nixon resigned and then lost the next election.

But he was elected to Congress.

 

[Bestwifeever]

But he wasn't one of the 4 elected POTUS, which is the question.

 

[CuppaJoe]

Al Gore, "served fewer days than he should have."

 

[Gumby]

But he wasn't one of the 4 elected POTUS, which is the question.

By that token, Chester Arthur wouldn't qualify either, since he was only elected vice president and ascended to the presidency upon the assassination of Garfield.

 

[ziggy29]

Nixon actually served *more* than a full term. I take the question is, "which presidents have not completed a full term to which they were elected for a reason other than death? I believe Nixon and Obama are the only ones. Other than the incumbent, only death and resignation have prematurely ended a presidential term, and Nixon was the only resignation.

Whether or not you include Wilson in that is semantics, because even when Edith was calling the shots, Woody was still officially president.

 

[Martha]

You folks are weird.

 

[ziggy29]

You folks are weird.

Ah, you finally noticed. Welcome to the party.

 

[FUEGO]

I had not thought of it as serving a shorter term. A reporter commented, when the inauguration ceremony was behind schedule, that the presidency passed at the scheduled time even if the oath had not yet been administered. I'm not sure about that, but the 20th Amendment says that the sitting President's term ends at noon on the 20th. So, were we without a president for 5 minutes or so? Or, if the oath was not said properly, were we without a president for much longer? Fun trivia question.

The 20th amendment essentially makes the oath of office a formality. The presidency passes at noon on the 20th, per section 1 of the 20th amendment. The successor (the president elect) is president after noon on the 20th.

"Section 1. The terms of the President and Vice President shall end at noon on the 20th day of January... and the terms of their successors shall then begin."

 

[Bestwifeever]

By that token, Chester Arthur wouldn't qualify either, since he was only elected vice president and ascended to the presidency upon the assassination of Garfield.

True--I know I've heard this trivia question before but worded a little differently (probably a long time ago, too).

 

[ERD50]

al gore, "served fewer days than he should have."

?

-erd50

 

[clifp]

Nixon actually served *more* than a full term. I take the question is, "which presidents have not completed a full term to which they were elected for a reason other than death? I believe Nixon and Obama are the only ones. Other than the incumbent, only death and resignation have prematurely ended a presidential term, and Nixon was the only resignation.

Whether or not you include Wilson in that is semantics, because even when Edith was calling the shots, Woody was still officially president.

I think Ziggy is correct (and Martha is engaged in nasty name calling ), just Nixon and Obama. I hope Obama drops off this list next Jan 20th.

One more slight twist if we change "full term" to four years in the question one additional name is added. Who is it?

 

[ziggy29]

One more slight twist if we change "full term" to four years in the question one additional name is added. Who is it?

That would be FDR, I assume, having been sworn on a March 4 for a term that ended on January 20 when the 20th Amendment took effect.