(NewsNation) — President-elect Donald Trump is projected to become the second president to serve two non-consecutive terms.
The first president to ever do so before him was former President Grover Cleveland, and that was more than 126 years ago.
Cleveland, who served as president from 1885-1889 and 1893-1897, was a Democratic politician whose first term was marked by several major events and whose second term “was a disaster,” according to NewsNation contributor Bill O’Reilly.
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Cleveland was governor of New York when he was tapped as the Democratic Party’s nominee for president in 1884. He was “viewed as the epitome of responsibility and stability,” said Daniel Klinghard, professor of political science at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts.
A narrow victory in the popular vote gave him enough votes in the Electoral College to be named president. He was the first Democrat to be elected after the Civil War. Four years later, even though he once again had a slight lead in the popular vote, he lost the Electoral College count to Republican Benjamin Harrison.
Cleveland remained well-thought-of by the public, and in 1892, he won both the popular and Electoral votes for a second term.
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During his first term, among the issues he took on: Pushing for a reduction of tariffs that had been put in place during the Civil War. He advocated strongly for it, linking that position to the Democratic Party and getting public support, Klinghard said.
During his second term, O’Reilly told NewsNation’s Markie Martin on Wednesday that the former president was exhausted and faced several health problems. O’Reilly concluded that Cleveland’s second term didn’t pan out well.
“Donald Trump should now employ an element of caution, something he’s not used to doing. But it is imperative that he does so,” O’Reilly said, cautioning Trump from making the same mistakes the 24th president made.
“Trump’s got a lot of work to do,” O’Reilly said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
