Sometimes things don’t quite work out as they are expected to. If you have ever been passed over for a job, or missed out on something that seemed like a sure thing then this list might cheer you up a little. Here are ten people who came very close to the highest office in the land. Some of them missed it by only a few weeks or a few votes. This list excludes people who eventually become president. How different do you think things would have been if some of these men had become president?
In 1948 just about everybody thought Thomas Dewey was going to be elected president. Harry Truman was losing popularity and most people felt that the Democratic vote was going to be split between two third party candidates, Henry Wallace and Strom Thurmond. Dewey was told that all he had to do was not make any major mistakes. Truman, however, wasn’t going to give up. He ran a very vigorous campaign and attacked Dewey on all fronts. In spite of this, many media outlets still did not think it was enough. Early returns from the election led the Chicago Tribune to print their infamous “Dewey Defeats Truman” headline. However, as the night went on it became clear that Truman had won the election thanks to swing voters in a few select states. Dewey may have lost the election, but thanks to his infamous headline he is one of the most famous runners-up in history.
Rockefeller was a politician who very much wanted to be president, and in September 1975 he almost got his chance. During that month there were two assassination attempts on president Gerald Ford. The first by “Squeaky” Fromme is the most famous, although her gun was loaded improperly and was therefore harmless. Seventeen days later, however, Ford was shot at by Sara Jane Moore but the bullet was deflected. Nelson Rockefeller was Ford’s vice president by special appointment. Had the assassination attempts been successful, Rockefeller would have been the second president in a row to reach the office without having to win an election.
Very few events better illustrate the rise of Theodore Roosevelt than the Vice Presidency of William McKinley. Garret Hobart had been one of the most powerful vice presidents in history. He worked very closely with the president, and no doubt could have taken over as president if he needed to. Unfortunately in 1899 Hobart died. Around that same time Roosevelt, then Governor of New York, was wreaking havoc on the corrupt political machines. Those in power thought that the best way to keep him quiet would be to make him Vice President. At the time the VP had very few duties. McKinley and Roosevelt won the election easily. Then around six months later McKinley was assassinated and Roosevelt became president. Today Roosevelt is on Mt. Rushmore and remembered as one of the greats. However, it took a few deaths for him to get there. And although Hobart was a well liked public figure, he is mostly forgotten today.
Had Spiro Agnew been able to keep his hands clean, he would have become president. He was Vice President under Richard Nixon in both his first and second term. About a year into his second term it came out that Agnew had been taking bribes in all of his elected offices. These bribes totaled more than $100,000 dollars, which was a great sum in the 1960s. Agnew was forced to resign, and Nixon, who didn’t get along with Agnew, couldn’t have been happier. Nixon, of course, would be out of office due to a scandal in less than a year, but it was Gerald Ford, and not Spiro Agnew, who ended up in the White House.
Hamlin was Lincoln’s vice president during his first term. He was a popular and experienced politician in his day, but his party saw things differently. They felt that adding a southerner to the 1864 ticket would add more appeal. So for the presidential race they kicked out Hamlin and brought in Andrew Johnson. Lincoln and Johnson easily won the election. However, barely a month after the new term began Lincoln was shot and Johnson took over. His presidency is now infamous for being one of the worst in history. It is probably fair to say that if Hamlin had won, he would have made a far better president than Johnson.
Although most one vote margin victory stories are either completely false or exaggerated, this one is absolutely true. In 1868 Benjamin Wade came within one vote of becoming president. Wade was President pro Tempore at the time President Andrew Johnson was being impeached. Wade was next in line to get the job because Johnson had no vice president. His presidency would have lasted around five months until the upcoming elections and would have been the one of the shortest terms in history. However, the vote in the Senate was one short of the needed 2/3 majority and Johnson was allowed to stay in office.
Marshall was Vice President under Woodrow Wilson, and he probably had a legitimate reason to become president. In 1919 Wilson suffered a debilitating stroke which left him unable to carry out his duties as president. Marshall, though, had one major obstacle standing in his way to the presidency. This obstacle was the president’s wife, Edith Wilson. She was going to make sure that her husband finished his term in office, and did so by taking on many of the executive duties herself. She also kept the knowledge of Wilson’s condition a secret. Marshall reportedly never found out the true extent of the president’s stroke until his last day in office. Many go so far as to say that Edith Wilson was the first woman president, but no matter what her real standing was she was certainly closer to the office than Marshall.
Wallace was the Vice President during Franklin Roosevelt’s third term. During this time he showed himself to be quite a radical, at least according to the controlling Democrats at the time. He was a civil rights advocate who was interested in Buddhism. He was also a strong supporter of Russia thanks to a trip he took in 1944 where the real Russia was hidden from him. Also in 1944 rumors were beginning to surface about the health of FDR. Many insiders were worried that he would not survive another term if elected. Leading democrats were worried about Wallace becoming president, so they kicked him off the 1944 Presidential ticket and replaced him with Harry S. Truman. 82 days after the start of the term FDR died and Truman took over. Wallace missed being president by about three months.
In 1876 Tilden won the popular vote over his opponent Rutherford B. Hayes by around 200,000 and was one vote shy in the electoral college. The problem arose when three southern states (South Carolina, Florida, and Louisiana) turned in two sets of votes. This led to a scandal that revealed heavy fraud in the voting process in these three states. Eventually a 15 member commission was set up to decide the winner. They voted along party lines and awarded the victory to Hayes. This gave him an Electoral College victory of one vote. Tilden lived out the rest of his life quietly and never ran for office again.
Today Al Gore has many awards including an Oscar, Grammy, and Nobel Peace Prize to his name, but the ultimate prize eluded him several times. Al Gore came very close to the presidency several times while serving as Vice President under Bill Clinton. In 1994 alone there were three attempts on Clinton’s life. In 1999 Clinton was impeached, but he was kept in office. Then in 2000 Gore got his own chance to run for president. The 2000 election turned out to be one of the most controversial in history. Gore got over 500,000 more popular votes than opponent George W. Bush, but highly scrutinized votes in Florida eventually swung the election in Bush’s favor. Today Al Gore seems to be a happy person who is proud of his accomplishments, but he will undoubtedly never forget how close he was to being president nearly a half dozen times.
Al Gore rox
*****y Andy rox
I think we can all admit it was a blessing in disguise Al Gore lost. I mean after all W. Was such a genius in so many ways. Seriously though thinking of the past 8 years of him makes me shudder.
Cool list, didnt know most of these.
why did u delete my comment? Is it because I said it is a bit boring today?
This was a really great read, I am very glad I came across your site.
@ jfrater: i love you!
One author – it might be Douglas Hofstadter – wrote about alternative realities. He wrote something like: “I showed a draft of this chapter to a good friend. After he read it, he said ‘My uncle was almost president of the USA. He was the captain of PT-108′.”
LOSERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That’s a lot of people that could have changed America drastically. Who knows what the world would look like? Crazy…
@bob (5): we don’t allow advertising of competing sites due to spam issues in the past
@lalalakc (7): thanks – in time I may come to love you too!
Al Gore has one groovy surname! I can’t say that I know an awful lot about American Presidents, but I feel sorry for some of these men. Although, things could have been drastically different in America today if any of these men were president. Not necessarily in a good way either…
You need to untangle the Garret Hobart entry, I can’t figure out who was what, where, and when.
Some very interesting points have been made here, it is refreshing to see that your site gets quality visitors.
In my opinion this list is quite boring (but that’s my opinion). Then again some lists that I find fascinating may not appeal to others so it’s each to their own
Slight correction – Al Gore didn’t win the Oscar. The director of An Inconvenient Truth, Davis Guggenheim (aka Mr. Elisabeth Shue), was the actual winner.
Too American this list is; where is Canada?
Hello there. Quite an interesting list for me – being into history – once I figured out who was who. ‘Vice’ presidents – funny how those words go together.
‘Gore’ sounds like the arch villan in a horror movie – ‘Tonight: Dr. Gore and the House of the Savage Bloodbath of Death’. 
Academy Awards for movies (eg Best Picture or Best Documentary) are usually given to producers and not to directors. Guggenheim was the producer and director. He was probably given the award as producer, and not as director.
“Too American this list is; where is Canada?”
Canada just north of the United States is, Yoda.
Funniest comment ever, astraya!
@the william g (18):
This was a list of top 10 people who almost became president of the United States. why would there be Canadians on a list about the American presidency???
im sthiper stherial (from south park about al gore) man bear pig
Some of these I knew because I find it kind of ironic that they missed just by a short amount. So close but yet so far.
I didn’t know about Wilson. That was an interesting read. However, very happy that Al Gore and Spiro Agnew didn’t make it. They both are awful.
@astraya (20): I so do love your punchlines.
I try to inform and/or amuse whenever possible.
Thank God, Gore lost. Otherwise, America would have been spiraling out of control 8 years sooner, the Iraqis who are currently arguing back and forth about the direction of their government would simply be dead under Saddam, bin Laden would have his own show on CNN, and there would be a tofu chicken in every pot and a Smart Car in every garage. Meanwhile in NYC, the site of the former World Trade Center would be occupied by the “United Nations Islamic Peace Center”, and current president Obama would be squashing FBI memos detailing the minutes of its closed meetings.
nice list jfrater.
I grew up in middle Tennessee with firsthand knowlege of the Gore family and how their radical, socialist, inept and destructive One World politics destroys from the inside out…starting with the small towns and hard-working people’s lives (notice I mentioned the word WORK). “Some Guy in NEPA,” I salute you. You hit the nail on the head.
You forgot to mention EPA Commissioner Ed Begley, Secretary of State BILL Clinton, and Secretary of Defense Sean Penn.
Nice list, j.
Cool list, NoahR. I am very glad Algore never became president. Has he finally stopped saying “Hi, I’m Al Gore, and I used to be the next president of the United States” to start all of his speeches?
I know it’s a a little bit nit-picky, but wouldn’t it be better to call this list “Top 10 People Who Almost Became President Of The United States”. A lot of countries have Presidents (not to mention companies, etc.).
Was I the only person who saw the title of the list and spent a second or two thinking “President of … ?”
Let us not forget Al Gore’s most greatest achievement…The Internet. And Oh yeah…pants. Funny. Moron.
hmm…funny how the brainwashed minions still tout the evils of an alternate reality that Al Gore would have chaperoned our country. we would most likely NOT have had sub-prime lending & a disintegrating real estate market, we would have already discovered several alternate, affordable fuel sources that would have already been widely implemented…there would be no ineffective educational program known as “No Child Left Behind” (which really left a whole generation behind)…
yes, bash what might have been under Gore’s leadership. we might actually still be a world superpower, leading the world in advancing energy technologies a decade before the energy crisis was fully accepted by the nation & for all you know, September 11 would just be another day, since he would have payed heightened attention to any air strike threats we would have received! also, the atrocities allowed to happen in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina would never have occurred, since Mr. Gore was far more knowledgeable about weather patterns, the Earth’s cycles & landmasses, than a the eventual president, who was little more than a previous drunk frat boy.
yeah, what might have been would have been terrible!!!
(sorry rushfan, i do love you best, but disagree!)
rtr
al gore looks like he has put on 50 pounds.
@opschief- Middle Tennessee all the way!
on another note, this is a pretty interesting list.
Interesting list only knew 3 off them, which I read in the media over the years, Im on the other side of the globe to you guys, so ja it was not always on our front pages.
Im just glad Al Gore never made it his head was always in the clouds.
@1 Diebolt voting machines anyone?
If you want to know what controls the puppets, er Presidents, I suggest you watch:
History of the Federal Reserve (Money Masters)
It’s a long documentary 3 1/2 hrs. but it will open your eyes(I hope)!
There are many ways to exert control over the masses, one is money the other is religion.
@rushfan(28) The oil oligarchy would never allow Gore to assume power, it would upset their plans! I suggest you watch the documentary that I posted above, probably the most astute answer to what we now face with the global collapse and rampant theft of taxpayers money!
excellent list! the history/politics ones are my favourites, and this is probably one of your best.
but seriously, hannibal hamlin?! his name sounds like a supervillain’s
Ringtailroxy, you’re awesome. Political trolls are the worst. Keep up the good fight.
Nice list, very interesting indeed! I didn’t know about quite a few of these.
It’s ironic how many people bash Al Gore… While I personally don’t think he’d have made the BEST president in our nations history, I’m fairly sure he’d have done better than the frat-boy driveling intellect of our previous experience with good ole Dubya.
Very interesting list…. Spiro Agnew is incredibly fun to say. Who the hell thinks to name their kid “Spiro Agnew”? I love it!
Course Al Gore is happy he lost the presidency. He’s made himself into a millionaire milking people off Global Warming hysteria. Oh sorry, its now called Climate Change due to all the non-warming going on.
haha Al Gore got fat. I bet Bush will too.
Benjamin Wade (Number 5) wouldn’t have necessarily been President if Johnson had been impeached. Though the order of Presidential succession wasn’t firmly in place yet, today it would be the Speaker of the House, not the President Pro Tempore of the Senate that would succeed if there were no VP. It’s possible back then they may have chosen him, but the Speaker of the House at the time was Schuyler Colfax, so he could have as easily been the next successor to the Presidency.
@ringtailroxy (31): Way to go Roxy. You said what I would like to say if I had the words. Al Gore would not have alienated the world from America. You are my hero of the day.
If Spiro Agnew had stayed in office, and been elected president, The Vietnam war would have gone on forever. He was Nixon’s mouthpiece, and did whatever he could to undermine war protesters at every turn. Indeed, he hated anyone that had anything except an ultra-conservative bent and was not shy about it. He was crooked and a master at dirty tricks.
General Tits: Bush is a well-known healthnut. (The same lefties in the media who *****ed and whined about him taking time out of his busy day to exercise later praised Obama for the same damn thing.) Gore is just plain nuts or believes that most Americans are….and SURPRISE, they are! Anyone who takes a huckster like him and his “concern” for the environment seriously is an idiot. He can go on tv tomorrow and explain with a straight (FAT!) face how his new scheme of trading in “calorie credits” means he can eat all he wants without gaining weight, and the useful idiots would be on the phone to their brokers. What the hell, it worked for carbon! Dude uses enough non-renewable energy to run Disneyland.
Note to anti-smokers (of which I am one): GORE’S FAMILY MADE MILLIONS SELLING TOBACCO!!!!!!! That fact alone should give you pause!
Excellent job Noah. Makes for a damn near perfect week of ListVerse awesomeness.
Yeah sure Al Gore might have been a *****ty President – what with all his celebrity friends and his delusional concern for the environment, education, health care and all things liberal. But to say Thank god we had Bush – how foolish can you be? Still apologizing for the guy history is likely gonna call the worst President ever is the epitome of stubborn. I learned a long time ago that there is no sin in being wrong or mistaken. The sin is being too pig-headed to accept it despite the overwhelming evidence. Afraid that if all the rhetoric you’ve wrapped yourself up in comes crashing down you’ll have nothing left?
29: Yes…, yes you were.
31: Can you cite any sources for your claims? At least you day “most likely NOT” about the housing market. Because I assume you know that a large reason the real estate market fell was because of democratic policy, am I right in assuming that? I’m sure you know about the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 which “required banks to make loans to …to people who normally would be rejected as bad credit risks.” Who was President then? The democratic Carter.
How would we have found this special energy that you state as FACT we would have found had Gore been president? Also, NCLB left a whole generation behind? Really? Where are your sources? Or do you feel a need to not cite any and have us take you at your word?
The most asinine comments, which is SO absurd that it makes me think that your whole comment is facetious is “September 11 would just be another day, since he would have payed heightened attention to any air strike threats we would have received!
also, the atrocities allowed to happen in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina would never have occurred, since Mr. Gore was far more knowledgeable about weather patterns, the Earth’s cycles & landmasses…”
I don’t even think I need to point out how ridiculous this is, all you have to do is read it. But I do hope you are being facetious ‘cuz then it would be really funny!
That should be “At least you say…”
31 ringtailroxy
July 18th, 2009 at 7:17 am
hmm…funny how the brainwashed minions still tout the evils of an alternate reality that Al Gore would have chaperoned our country. we would most likely NOT have had sub-prime lending & a disintegrating real estate market, we would have already discovered several alternate, affordable fuel sources that would have already been widely implemented…there would be no ineffective educational program known as “No Child Left Behind” (which really left a whole generation behind)…
yes, bash what might have been under Gore’s leadership. we might actually still be a world superpower, leading the world in advancing energy technologies a decade before the energy crisis was fully accepted by the nation & for all you know, September 11 would just be another day, since he would have payed heightened attention to any air strike threats we would have received! also, the atrocities allowed to happen in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina would never have occurred, since Mr. Gore was far more knowledgeable about weather patterns, the Earth’s cycles & landmasses, than a the eventual president, who was little more than a previous drunk frat boy.
yeah, what might have been would have been terrible!!!
(sorry rushfan, i do love you best, but disagree!)
rtr
Hey RTR, since you have somehow dialed into an alternate reality and know these things as fact… how about cluing me in the Powerball Lottery numbers for the next three weeks. I promise I’ll build a solar powered coal burning nuclear power plant with some of the winnings.
hey #31… to speculate that al gore could have prevented the mortgage meltdown, found and implemented new alternative fuels, and prevented the destruction in new orleans is ridiculous. i was not a big bush fan either but seriously, is al gore superman? i doubt very highly that he could have prevented the economic collapse. that is not all george bush’s fault. it’s the fault of shady lenders and incredibly stupid borrowers. we’ve had our eye on alternative fuels for decades, but big oil still runs a big part of the show, and would have on al gore’s watch too. to blame the hurricane katrina situation entirely on bush is also insane. people seemed to blame him a lot more than say ray nagin, the idiot mayor of new orleans. all i’m saying is that if i were mayor of a major coastal city that was always in danger of big hurricanes, i would have raised my voice about the lack of preparedness BEFORE the big one struck. okay liberals… tear me a new one!
Very good list, I especially enjoyed this one. I read that Gore offically only lost to Bush by 537 votes.
I believe that Gore would have been a great president. Instead of spending most of the being of his 1st term at The Crawford Ranch he could have been looking into reports stating Bin Laden was planning on using aircrafts to attack the United States. We would be in flying cars right now if Gore was president.
I really think that it’s high time that Listverse get more global. Coz most of the time its all about the West…yeah the wil wild *****
53 Skrilla: I really think that it’s high time that Listverse get more global. Coz most of the time its all about the West…yeah the wil wild *****
Who cares what you “think”?
@mom424(46) We all seem to think we have a choice over whom we elect, if you do take the time to watch the doc I posted @(35) you will understand the delusion we are living under!
Jstar(47) I agree, global warming is a hoax in order to raise taxes, the sun and sunspot activity causes the fluctuations in Earths temp. Volcanic emissions create more polution than man ever could. This is a natural cycle and some people use our ignorance to sell their madness. Follow the money!
How about an entry for “Almost Became First Lady”? with Jane Wyman being the answer.
She was the first wife of President Ronald Reagan, and they divorced in 1948. Quote from Wikipedia…
“Following arguments about Reagan’s political ambitions, Wyman filed for divorce in 1948,[38] citing a distraction due to her husband’s Screen Actors Guild union duties; the divorce was finalized in 1949[19] making him the only U.S. president to have been divorced”
So although she had wanted no part of his career and duties in the Screen Actors Guild, I wonder how she felt when she later realized that she could have been First Lady.
Nice list NoahR— Though I find it a little difficult to imagine “How different do you think things would have been if some of these men had become president?”, because so many of the entries were before my time and I have so little knowledge of the actual proclivities of each “almost”.
Pardon me..Let me amend my opening to read; “Almost Became First Lady of the United States”.
lol look jamie has his own wikipedia page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamie_Frater
That picture of Al Gore looks like Bruce the shark from Finding Nemo. Not attractive.
a