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George Washington chooses not to run for third term.
George Washington the father of our country refused to run for a third term. He believed that two terms was enough for any man to serve. Regardless of the people telling him to run again Washington didn't and it became an unspoken rule that a president only serves two terms. -
Letter written to George Washington about a third term
Jonathan Trumbull Jr. the Governor of Connecticut sent a letter to George Washington expressing he needed to run for a third term and how he would easily win the election. George Washington refused saying in order to persevere democracy no one man should have power for that long. This is another example on how George Washington set the trend of only serving two terms. -
Ulysses S. Grant run's for third term.
In 1880 three years after he was president Ulysses S. Grant decided to try to run for president again. He was not successful however, Grant didn't even win his party's nomination losing to James A Garfield. Nonetheless he was still the first person to ever attempt to run for a third term. -
Theodore Roosevelt run's for his third term.
Theodore Roosevelt after 3 years of not being president and going around the world on safaris and tours. He decided to run for a third term in 1912 as his own political party the "bull moose." Although he was unsuccessful only receiving 88 electoral votes he is still the first person to be in the final running for President. -
Franklin D. Roosevelt won his third term election
Franklin D. Roosevelt became the first person to ever serve a third term. He was re-elected again on November 5, 1940. With WWII fighting in Europe FDR ran for his third term saying he will keep the United States out of the war which eventually helped with him winning the presidency. -
FDR wins presidential election for a 4th time
With the war still not over Franklin D. Roosevelt ran for re-election again. He was successful yet again and became not only the first person to be serve 3 terms but now elected for his fourth term. This upset many republicans which began talk about an amendment for only 2 terms. -
Congress Passes the 22nd Amendment
After FDR's fourth term election there was major talk about having a 22nd amendment which would only allow a president to serve two terms. The basis of this idea was that it would protect the democracy and save the united states from becoming a monarchy. The Republican dominate congress pass the Amendment on March 21, 1947 and sent it to the states to be ratified. -
22nd Amendment is ratified
The 22nd amendment was originally passed out of congress in 1947 but it took four years to be ratified by 3/4 of the states. This is surprising because within the first four months 18 states decided to ratify, but as me know it took four years to reach 36 states or 3/4 of all states, which was only 48 states at the time because Hawaii and Alaska were not yet apart of the U.S. -
Lyndon B. Johnson close to the 22nd amendment
Lyndon B. Johnson was the Vice president of Kennedy, after Kennedy was assassinated Johnson was sworn into office on November 22, 1963 and was later elected as president for his own campaign in 1964. Since Johnson only serve a few months as president after Kennedy's death he could be re-elected again in 1968 but decided not to. -
President Reagan push for repeal
Republican President Ronald Reagan has stated he would like to start a movement to repeal the 22nd amendment. He said this because it limits the people power to vote for who they want to represent them. As well as limiting what a president can do for the country in only 8 years of presidency. The idea of repealing it was mentioned several times but it was always shot down by congress.
