I have a history question. Both VPs Truman and LBJ became president...

[brush]

after the Democratic president died/was killed. They then filled out the remainder of their terms, then ran for election on their own and won.

LBJ could've run for a second term of his own but historically bowed out, probably because of the unpopularity of the Vietnam war.

My question is why didn't Truman run for a second term of his own?

[Jspur]

1. Here is your answer:

In 1951, the United States ratified the 22nd Amendment, making a president ineligible for election to a third term or for election to a second full term after serving more than two remaining years of a term of a previously elected president. The latter clause did not apply to Truman's situation in 1952 because of a grandfather clause excluding the amendment's application to the incumbent president.[252]


President Truman conferring with labor leader Walter Reuther about economic policy in the Oval Office, 1952
Therefore, he seriously considered running for another term in 1952, and left his name on the ballot in the New Hampshire primary. However all his close advisors, pointing to his age, his failing abilities, and his poor showing in the polls, talked him out of it.[253] At the time of the 1952 New Hampshire primary, no candidate had won Truman's backing. His first choice, Chief Justice Fred M. Vinson, had declined to run; Illinois Governor Adlai Stevenson had also turned Truman down, Vice President Barkley was considered too old,[254][255] and Truman distrusted and disliked Senator Kefauver, who had made a name for himself by his investigations of the Truman administration scandals.

Truman had hoped to recruit General Eisenhower as a Democratic candidate, but found him more interested in seeking the Republican nomination. Accordingly, Truman let his name be entered in the New Hampshire primary by supporters. The highly unpopular Truman was handily defeated by Kefauver; 18 days later the president formally announced he would not seek a second full term. Truman was eventually able to persuade Stevenson to run, and the governor gained the nomination at the 1952 Democratic National Convention

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_S._Truman#Full_elected_term_(1949%E2%80%931953)

[brush]

6. Thanks, Jspur. That's some research there.

[muriel_volestrangler]

2. Same kind of thing, but Korea?

Harry Truman's popularity plummeted during his final years in office. The frustrations of Korea, the President's inability to enact much of his domestic program and scandals involving some of his staff led many to label him weak and ineffective. On the eve of his departure from office he stood below 30% in popularity polls. In his farewell address to the nation he reviewed the accomplishments of his Administration and made his case to history. He confidently predicted America would one day win the Cold War.

https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/museum/presidential-years/leaving-office

After being upset in the New Hampshire Democratic primary by Tennessee Sen. Estes Kefauver, President Harry S. Truman, who had taken office in April 1945, said on this day in 1952 that he would not run for what effectively would have been a third term. Truman declared: “I have served my country long, and I think effectively and honestly.”

Historian Michael Beschloss has observed that by late 1951 the Truman presidency was at a low point. In February, his popularity rating fell to an all-time low of 22 percent. Despite an unpopular set of price controls that Truman had implemented, inflation and joblessness were rising. While the Democrats controlled Congress, divisions within the party —notably between Truman and veteran Southern committee chairs — impeded the president’s ability to advance his legislative agenda.


Moreover, the Korean War — Truman termed it “a police action” — seemed to be in a stalemate. And “minor scandals among aides close to the president,” as Beschloss wrote, “contributed to an impression of seediness and low morality in the White House.”

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/03/29/truman-declines-to-seek-another-term-march-29-1952-1238358

[brush]

5. Wow, that's quite a lot. I guess Truman, although a long-time...

senator too before being VP, didn't have LBJ's forceful ability to persuade former senate colleagues to see things his way.

[Sherman A1]

8. Truman understood politics very well

But would put the good of the country first. That often is not the politically expedient thing to do.

[misanthrope]

7. Funny and quaint

to consider what those who considered the Truman administration "seedy" and of "low morality" would do if they could see who and what has been in the White House from 2016 – 2020. They would drop dead in their tracks.

[littlemissmartypants]

3. He wasn't very popular, is my understanding. He didn't think he'd win. nt

[LeftInTX]

4. I did not know this about Truman.

I just thought he was ineligible due to the new term limits law.