Longest Concievable line of One Term Presidents in the Modern Era.

Now, defeating an incumbent President is a difficult proposition. Usually, if times are good, voters don't like to dump a President unless there is considerable reason to do so. And as such the scenario I am asking for might seem a bit implausible, as the situation requires multiple one term Presidencies each succeeding the last. Now for fairness sake I have my own idea about this with a point of divergence sometime in 2000. The change should be obvious-Al Gore wins.

After September 11th, or whenever the terrorist attack happens butterflies being what they are, Gore initially has a rather high approval rating. But by the time comes for the election campaign in 2004, Gore's actions have cost him considerable support from the liberal base. The conservatives, who feel that Gore is mishandling the response to the threat posed the Bin Laden and others are considerably more enthusiastic. Senator John McCain defeats President Gore in a close election.

In retrospect 2004 was a good election to lose. If for no other reason than an economic crisis is likely to occur sometime near the end of the term. When that happens, McCain's chances of reelection become dismal. Thanks largely to the economic collapse, President McCain goes down in defeat.

Despite her best efforts, President Clinton is unable to bring about a full recovery in time for the 2012 election. With a resurgent and active Republican Right at her heals for the majority of her Presidency 2012 proves to be an extraordinarily difficult race. Thanks to the continuing bad economy and President Clinton's incompetent campaign, former Governor Mitt Romney is elected President of the United States.

Now this kind of scenario is not particularly likely. But it's the best I can think of for now in which the United States has a prolonged period of one term Presidencies. The economic issues of the last year of Bush's Presidency were a long time coming so I don't think I'm being too twee in having them sink McCain's reelection hopes. As for Clinton I'm just juxtaposing what the Republicans hope will happen to Obama onto Hillary Clinton.
 
25) 1897-1899: William McKinley (R-OH) [Died from Influenza]
26) 1899: Garret Hobart (R-NJ) [Died from Heart Failure]
27) 1899-1901: John Milton Hay (R-NH) [Defeated for Renomination]
28) 1901-1904: Matthew Quay (R-PA) [Won Reelection But Died Before Inauguration]
29) 1904-1909: Theodore Roosevelt (R-NY) [Did not run for Reelection]
30) 1909-1913: Charles W. Fairbanks (R-IN) [Defeated for Reelection]
31) 1913-1917: Woodrow Wilson (D-NJ) [Defeated for Reelection]
32) 1917-1921: Charles Evan Hughes (R-NY) [Defeated for Reelection]
33) 1921-1924: William Gibbs McAdoo (D-CA) [Died from Heart Failure]
34) 1924-1927: Carter Glass (D-VA) [Assassinated by African-American Militants]
35) 1927-1931: Gilbert Hitchcock (D-NE) [Resigned Due to Failing Health]
36) 1931-1933: Joseph T. Robinson (D-AK) [Defeated for Reelection]
37) 1933-1934: Herbert Hoover (R-CA) [Assassinated by Giuseppe Zangara While Making a State Visit to Florida]
38) 1934-1937: Frank Orren Lowden (R-IL) [Defeated for Reelection]
39) 1937-1941: Huey Long (D-LA) [Narrowly Defeated for Renomination; Lost Reelection in Third Party Bid]
40) 1941-1943: Wendell Willkie (R-NY) [Died from Heart Failure]
41) 1943-1944: Charles L. McNary (R-OR) [Died from Cancer]
42) 1944-1945: Robert Taft (R-OH) [Defeated for Renomination]
43) 1945-1949: Thomas E. Dewey (R-NY) [Defeated for Reelection]
44) 1949-1953: Dwight Eisenhower (D-KS) [Did Not Run for Reelection]
45) 1953-1955: Harry S. Truman (D-MO) [Died from Gall Bladder Attack]
46) 1955-1960: Adlai Stevenson (D-IL) [Died from Heart Failure]
47) 1960-1961: John F. Kennedy (D-MA) [Defeated for Reelection]
48) 1961-1965: Nelson Rockefeller (R-NY) [Survived Assassination Attempt, But Ensuing Health Problems Caused By Attempt Prevented Reelection Bid]
49) 1965-1973: John F. Kennedy (D-MA) [First President to Serve Multiple Terms Since Grover Cleveland; First to Serve Two Consecutive Terms Since Ulysses S. Grant]


I could have made it longer, but ran out of good ideas.

Edit: Made it slightly longer.
 
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No, that was just an example of what I thought I could do. Anytime between 1900 onwards works here.

But we could start after 1900 as well?

For example, we could go:
McKinley (1897-1901)Roosevelt (1901-1909)W. Taft (1909-1913)
Clark (1913-1917)
Weeks (1917-1921)
James Cox (1921-1925)
Coolidge (1925-1929)
Smith (1929-1933)
Blaine (1933-1934)
Dawes (1934-1941)
Breckenridge (1941-1945)
R. Taft (1945-1949)
Kilgore (1949-1953)
Dewey (1953-1957)
Stevenson (1957-1961)
Knowland (1961-1965)
&c.

The nomination and election of Clark over Wilson and the victory of the former in the November election prevents American involvement in World War I. The rest is butterflies.

Blue is Republican
Red is Democratic
 
Looking at a more recent scenario:

Ford, defeated 1976
Carter, defeated 1980
Reagan declines to run for reelection in 1984 after a major gaffe raises questions about senility
Bush, gets ensnared in Iran-Contra scandal, defeated 1988
Dukakis, runs into buzzsaw of 1991 recession, defeated 1992
Dole, loses to charismatic Bill Clinton in 1996
Clinton, defeated 2000 after sex scandal erupts during reelection campaign
Bush, defeated 2004 by former VP Al Gore after a worse than OTL recession develops after 9/11
Gore, defeated 2008 after economic crisis erupts
Republican (McCain?), defeated 2012 after failing to solve economic crisis

Alternatively, you could have Reagan lose to Mondale after a Stockdale-style meltdown during the second debate and take it from there...
 
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