The myth has been promoted that it is “unusual” for a political party to keep control of the White House for more than two terms, eight years, but nothing could be further from the truth!
In the first political party system, the Federalists held power for 12 years (1789-1801) under George Washington and John Adams, although the name “Federalist” did not exist formally until 1794, after the battle between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson created the first party system.
The Democratic Republicans then held power for 24 years (1801-1825) under Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe.
The newly constituted Democratic Party held power for 12 years (1829-1841) under Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren.
The newly constituted Republican Party held power for 24 years (1861-1885) under Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford Hayes, James Garfield, and Chester Alan Arthur, although Andrew Johnson was never a Republican, but rather a Democrat put on the national ticket for election reasons by Lincoln in 1864, and Johnson having a disastrous relationship with the Republican Congress, and facing impeachment proceedings.
The Republican Party then held power for 16 years (1897-1913) under William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, and William Howard Taft.
The Republican Party then held power for 12 years (1921-1933) under Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover.
The Democratic Party then held power for 20 years (1933-1953) under Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry Truman.
The Republican Party then held power for 12 years (1981-1993) under Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush.
So political parties have held control of the White House for more than two terms a total of EIGHT TIMES, ranging from 24 years twice, 20 years once, 16 years once, and 12 years four times!
Also realize that Grover Cleveland and Al Gore won the national popular vote in 1888 and 2000, but lost the electoral college. Had they become President, then there would have been 12 straight years of Democrats from 1885-1897, assuming Cleveland might have gone for a third term in 1892, instead of trying to return to the White House; and if Al Gore had won in 2000, it would have been at least 12 straight years of Democrats from 1993-2005, and potentially a second Gore term in 2004!
It is historically common that the nation has had realigning periods favoring one political party (over their chief rival party) with winning presidential elections.
Walter Dean Burnham [@ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Dean_Burnham ] had a really good theory on the 30- to 40-year periods, citing 1800, 1828, 1860, 1896, 1932, and 1968. And 2008 is already being counted by many—including me. (I think Ronald, in his way, is touching on this very well.)
Adding to what Ronald writes, I will mention this: The out party has never—during any of the past realigning periods—been able to stop the in party from being able to win a third consecutive presidential election cycle. And the out party has never had an occurrence of winning three consecutive cycles.
On ABC’s post-Election Night coverage, from 2012, Matthew Dowd basically summed it up: “The Republican Party is in a desperate situation today. [They] do not match the country anymore. They can’t [lose] Latinos. They can’t lose Asians. They can’t lose young women. They can’t lose women as a whole—and still be a majority party.†(Link, at 03:40 mark @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTsyTh1NhRE .)
Yes, the Republican Party not matching the country speaks of a part what a realigning period is like.
You may find this of interest. http://blog.constitutioncenter.org/2013/01/historic-re-election-pattern-doesnt-favor-democrats-in-2016/