Alva Review-Courier -

As we noted last week, former president Donald Trump is considering running for president again in 2024. If he should win, he would be the second ex-president to return to the White House.

The only person to have accomplished such a political comeback is Grover Cleveland, who served two non-consecutive terms in the late 19th century. Cleveland was elected president in 1884, lost in 1888, and was elected a second time in 1892.

Cleveland was a Democrat from New York. He was, in fact, the only Democrat elected president between 1860 and 1908. During those years, the Republicans won 11 presidential elections while the Democrats won just two.

Small wonder, then, that the Democratic Party would nominate him again (in 1892) after he had previously lost (in 1888). Another reason for this is that Cleveland had won the popular vote in 1888 while losing in the Electoral College.

Moreover, he had lost two states – New York and Indiana – by extremely small margins; losing those states had cost him the election.

Thus, the Democrats nominated Cleveland three consecutive times. He won the popular vote in all three elections while winning the Electoral College only twice.

Interestingly enough, tradition has led to Cleveland being designated as both the 22nd and 24th presidents – since his two terms were not consecutive. The 23rd president is, of course, the man who defeated him in 1888 – Benjamin Harrison.

This practice has caused consternation among historians and others for decades. Whenever people refer to a president by his numeric designation – President Joe Biden is, for example, No. 46 – they must note that the number of people who have served as president is one less!

When Harry Truman became president, the reference book “Who’s Who in America” referred to him as our 33rd president. Truman wrote a letter to the editor arguing that he was No. 32.

Truman’s successor, Dwight Eisenhower, however, considered himself to be president No. 34. Consequently, Biden – the 45th person to be president of the United States – is generally denoted as No. 46!