Presidents and the economy: Second-term blues Is there a curse of a second term? Anecdotally, presidents' last years in office seem to go pear-shaped where the economy is concerned. The data bear this out. We looked at all 11 presidents who served two terms after Teddy Roosevelt took office in September 1901 (including any president who served across two administrations, even if, like Calvin Coolidge, Harry Truman, Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon, he did not serve two full terms). Most second administrations had worse economic performances across seven common indicators (measured by comparing the average change between the start and the end of each term). Only three of the 11 re-elected presidents Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan and Truman experienced better economies in their second terms. Will Barack Obama turn out to be the fourth?