Only 4 Other Ex-Presidents Have Done What Trump's Doing

Donald Trump isn't the first defeated ex-president to attempt another White House run, but he does join an exclusive club. Writing for Politico, Joshua Zeitz looks at previous comeback attempts, and though he finds no overarching pattern, he does find some perspective in the candidates' motivations.

• Four have tried, beginning with Martin van Buren, aka the "Little Magician," a wily political operative who won in 1836 but was defeated in 1840 amid a recession. According to Zeitz, van Buren's comeback was motivated by power, which he never regained. He lost the nomination to James Polk in 1844 and was resigned to running as a spoiler with the third-party Free Soil Party in 1848.

• By contrast, Grover Cleveland ran again out of boredom, emerging from retirement to unseat an unpopular Benjamin Harrison in 1892. That election was decided by a few swing voters in a highly polarized electorate—one precedent Trump may take to heart.
• Teddy Roosevelt served two terms from 1901–09 and declined a third, but he always regretted the decision. After being outmaneuvered by party bosses to lose the Republican nomination in 1912, Roosevelt created the Bull Moose Party, a third-party champion of progressive causes. Ultimately, he split the Republican vote and handed the presidency to Democrat Woodrow Wilson.
• Last comes Herbert Hoover, a one-termer who was trounced by FDR in 1932. Hoover ran again in 1940—largely out of spite, according to Zeitz—but lost the Republican nomination to Wendell Willkie. What motivates Trump? According to an opinion by George T. Conway III in the Washington Post, Trump seeks vengeance and a shield from prosecution.

(More Donald Trump stories.)