Six other presidents didn’t run for another term. Here’s what happened then

President Joe Biden is in the fight for his political life, having acknowledged that the next few days are crucial to convincing the American public that he’s the right person to lead the country for the next four years.

The crisis comes after Biden’s dismal debate performance on June 27, when he appeared frail, his voice raspy, and during which he made several gaffes and appeared to lose his train of thought.

In public, he has insisted that he’s still in the race and that he’s confident that he can beat former president Donald Trump even as his predecessor is pulling away in poll after poll.

But there’s precedent for declining to run for a second term and stepping aside. Most recently, and possibly most famously, back in 1968.

Johnson took over as president in 1963 following the assassination of President John F Kennedy. Winning the 1964 election, Johnson went on to announce that he wasn’t running for another term at the end of a speech about the war in Vietnam, which was tearing the country apart at the time.

On March 31, 1968, with the Democratic primary already underway, Johnson told the American people: “With America’s sons in the fields far away, with America’s future under challenge right here at home, with our hopes and the world’s hopes for peace in the balance every day, I do not believe that I should devote an hour or a day of my time to any personal partisan causes or to any duties other than the awesome duties of this office – the presidency of your country.”

He added: “Accordingly, I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your president.”

Mark Updegrove, presidential historian and the CEO of the LBJ Foundation, told CNN in 2022 that there’s a “misconception