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George Washington
As we all know George Washington was the first president of the United States of America. Washington chose to only serve two terms, even though he could've possibly won a third term. He chose to do this because he believed serving two terms was a good amount of time to serve as president. Source 1. -
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was on the same page as George Washington when it came to their opinion on how many terms a president should stay in office for. Jefferson suggested "an office without restraints could yield a "president for life" , which would obfuscate the premise of a democratic government." There was a fear that this would lead to a monarchy. Source 4. -
Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant was the first person to look into running for a third term. He thought this would be a good idea due to Lincoln's assassination. Grant ran for a third term in 1880, but narrowly lost the Republican nomination to James Garfield. Source 2. -
Grover Cleveland
Years later after Ulysses S. Grant's unsuccessful run at a third term, Grover Cleveland tried making a bid for a third term. This all occured during the wake of the Panic of 1893. Cleveland lost all support to the Silverite party led by William Jennings Bryan. Cleveland ending up not winning his third term run, but this was important because he was the second president to try to run for a third term. Source 1. -
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt made history by winning and serving his third consecutive term as President of the United States. In his first 8 years he gave America hope to get out of depression with his New Deal programs. He won his third term due to the fact that people wanted FDR, they knew what he could do to keep America going. FDR won his fourth term, but died shortly after. FDR served as President from 1933-1945. Source 2. -
Proposal of Amendment
Congress proposed and passed the 22nd amendment on March 21, 1947. The purpose of this was to not allow a sole leader to hold power for a long time. FDR's 4 terms also played a factor in Congress proposing this amendment. The 22nd amendment sets a two term limit of service to the office of the President of the United States. Source 3. -
Ratifying of the Amendment
The 22nd amendment of the U.S. Constitution was ratified by 36 of the 48 states (at the time) on February 27, 1951. Some states that voted to reject the amendment are Oklahoma and Massachusetts. Arizona, Kentucky, Rhode Island, Washington, and West Virginia took no action to even consider the amendment. Source 3. -
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan once stated at the end of an interview he had that he would fight for the 22nd amendment to be repealed. Attempts to repeal the amendment started during and after Reagan's time as president. Reagan's ambitions stopped after he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Source 1. -
Haters
Many politicians have tried to repeal the 22nd amendment. Some democrats that have tried include Barney Frank, Howard Berman, and Harry Reid. Some republicans that have tried are Guy Vander Jagt, David Dreier, and Mitch McConnell. The biggest hater is democrat Jose E. Serrano. Jose has proposed an amendment to repeal the 22nd every two years since 1997. The latest being January 4, 2013. Source 1. -
Controversy
There is a lot of controversy between the 22nd and the 12th amendments. Some argue that a president who has seved two terms should be able to run as vice president. No former president has attempted to run for vice president, so no courts have been required to make a judgement. This could happen, but nobody has tried it.
