Longest plausible gap between non-consecutive terms?

Formica Memory

Grover Cleveland came back after just one term, and many others tried to do this. Martin Van Buren ran as a third-party candidate eight years after leaving office. What's the longest gap we can come up with?

My thought was that Jerry Brown could run and win in 1976, then lose in 1980 as Carter did. And then (say) his career goes not so differently from IOTL, except that it culminates in his running for the Democratic nomination in 2020, winning it, then going on to beat Trump. Maybe Brown returns as California governor four years later so he's still in office in 2020, and he somehow becomes the voice of COVID policy criticism, and Joe Biden isn't running for whatever reason. Maybe a narrative of "and he'll be a transitional figure for sure, as the only person in the race who cannot run in 2024" takes hold too, something something.

If he pulled it off, that would make his first and second terms (as the 39th president and the 46th president) separated by 40 years...
 

garabik

Hard to beat the good ol' Simeon, with the first "turn" in 1943-1946, and his triumphant return in 2001-2005. And it is not that implausible he would narrowly lost in 2001, and won in say 2009. That's 54 years gap OTL, and 63 years is entirely plausible. And it is even within the realm of possibility that the people, being dissatisfied with the turn of the politics and economy will even reinstate him to the throne in the earnest.
 

CaptainCalvert

The oldest human so far has been Jeanne Louise Calment who died at 122. Most jurisdictions have a minimum age requirement - the US is 35 for president but some places you could run at 18.
So for USA 4 years in office, means 39 for POTUS or 21 to 23 for other roles, and you'd presumably have to be alive to run again [1].
Time between elections is 3 to 7 or 8 years or so, so often a few years less. so you'd have to run in an election year.
So maximum interval for POTUS should be 80 years. For other roles and jurisdictions, 18 years and 3 year terms would give you 99years. More realistically, about half that but even that would take some unusual circumstances.

As to who would vote for someone over 100 years old, I think that's current politics so I'll refrain from comment.


[1] Actually I'm not quite sure, but I really hope so.
 
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Lalli

CaptainCalvert said:
The oldest human so far has been Jeanne Louise Calment who died at 122. Most jurisdictions have a minimum age requirement - the US is 35 for president but some places you could run at 18.
So for USA 4 years in office, means 39 for POTUS or 21 to 23 for other roles, and you'd presumably have to be alive to run again [1].
Time between elections is 3 to 7 or 8 years or so, so often a few years less. so you'd have to run in an election year.
So maximum interval for POTUS should be 80 years. For other roles and jurisdictions, 18 years and 3 year terms would give you 99years. More realistically, about half that but even that would take some unusual circumstances.

As to who would vote for someone over 100 years old, I think that's current politics so I'll refrain from comment.


[1] Actually I'm not quite sure, but I really hope so.
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At least in Finland it is allowed run presidency already at age of 18. But who would vote that young guy? And in many countries is pretty young prime ministers so it would be easier way.

What? OP doesn't state that it must be POTUS or even president. So it could very well prime minister/chancellor too :p.
 

Lalli

For Finland Juho Kusti Paasikivi was as prime minister first time in 1918 and then years 1944 - 1946 (26 years gap).
 

Lalli

GuildedAgeNostalgia said:
John Quincy Adams wins in 1824, loses in 1828, doesn't have a brain hemorrhage in 1848, and gets the whig candidacy in 1852.
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JQA would had been good time over 80 years old. I doubt that it would had been possible on that time. Even Biden heard lot of about his age in 2020 and he wasn't 80 yet.
 

Declan

It's not the longest and I'm sure some could come up with longer, but when taking realities of a political career into account, I would say 38 years.

I've constructed a roadmap to show this.

Let's say our candidate is a fictional guy named John P. John P starts his political career when he's elected governor of his state at age 37. Though perculiar, there are quite a few governors who jumped into office with no prior political career. Secondly, his state should be a somewhat large one, like Texas, as it helps his chances for presideny later on.

Re-elected as governor, he runs for president after 6 six years. And John P wins. But he then loses reelection. But he's not out of politics; he eyes a return(but not to the presidency yet). Luckily for him, his state's senator retires in the midterm. So two years after losing, John P runs and is elected Senator. He then holds that position for 36 years.

Near the end of his 6th term, John P decides to run for president again. This is in spite of his senates seat's election being in a presidential year. But he's willing to take the odds. The current president is term limited so it makes things easier. As a former president, his campaign is at an advantage. But after 36 years in the senate, he also has political experience to his name. He would be 85, but he won't be the first octagenarian in federal government.
And he wins. So after 38 years, John P returns to the White house.
 

Formica Memory

GuildedAgeNostalgia said:
Henry Clay wins in 1824, loses in 1828, and wins again in 1844.

William Jennings Bryan wins in 1896, loses in 1900, and wins again in 1920.



Nixon wins in 60, loses in 64, waits until 1980 to run again.
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First: I'm grateful to everyone who's replied for replying; I'm usually just a lurker here, and it's really encouraging to see so many jumping in :)

Until I maybe think of anything better to add: Clay is additionally interesting because IOTL he ran with a real chance of winning so many times (1824, 1832, 1844); it's fun to think of him dipping in and out three or four times, Gladstone-style.
 

Formica Memory

Lalli said:
At least in Finland it is allowed run presidency already at age of 18. But who would vote that young guy? And in many countries is pretty young prime ministers so it would be easier way.

What? OP doesn't state that it must be POTUS or even president. So it could very well prime minister/chancellor too :p.
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My own example was for POTUS since that's what I know the most trivia about, but I did want to keep it open to any political office people could think of :)
 
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