From a statistics perspective, I was told that only one time in history was a president up for reelection and he didn't win.
You were so close! Well, not really. It's happened eight times:
George H.W. Bush lost to Bill Clinton in 1992.
Jimmy Carter lost to Ronald Reagan in 1980.
Herbert Hoover lost to Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932.
William Taft lost to Woodrow Wilson in 1912.
Benjamin Harrison lost to Grover Cleveland in 1892. (Sweet revenge!)
Grover Cleveland lost to Benjamin Harrison in 1888.
John Quincy Adams lost to Andrew Jackson in 1828.
John Adams lost to Thomas Jefferson in 1800.
In addition, Gerald Ford lost to Jimmy Carter in 1976, but as Ford was appointed to the Vice Presidency and then assumed the Presidency when Nixon resigned, Ford was never elected President and therefore was running for election, not reelection.
