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General Benjamin Butler was offered the VP slot for Abraham Lincoln's second term. He turned it down , joking that he'd accept only if Lincoln promised to die during that term-so he'd be president.

We all know what happened in April 1865...

(That would have been an odd-looking pair. Had BB accepted, he and Lincoln would have had a 13" difference in height between them. Lincoln was 6' 4", and Butler claimed to be 5' 3" , so if he was like most men , he was probably even shorter. Even in those less looks-conscious years, they would have looked a bit strange stumping together.)

BB never quite recovered from that one, either. He ran unsuccessfully for the presidency as a third party candidate IIRC, and I believe he did get elected as a senator, but I'm not 100% sure of that.