President Trump says he's "not joking" about potentially seeking a third term as president in 2028, even though doing so is prohibited by the 22nd amendment of the U.S. Constitution. If that were to somehow happen, Trump would be the only president besides Franklin D. Roosevelt to serve more than two terms. FDR broke the two-term tradition set by George Washington by running again in 1940, and went on to win a fourth term in 1944 before dying in office.
WAMC Hudson Valley Bureau Chief Jesse King spoke with David Woolner, a history professor at Marist University and a resident historian at the Roosevelt Institute, about how FDR's circumstances compare to today.
Why did FDR pursue a third term? What was going on at that time, that made that possible?
The important to thing to think about when we're thinking about why Franklin Roosevelt ran for a third term and broke the long-standing tradition that had been in place since George Washington's presidency, to only serve two terms, [is] the second World War. He was flirting with the idea [to run again], and certainly in his own mind — he was tempted, certainly, in his own mind. But what really tipped the balance was the fall of France and the terrible events that were taking place in June of 1940. Hitler launched his major attack on western Europe on the 10th of May, and overran France, Holland and Belgium in a matter of six weeks. And people simply couldn't believe that this was possible. France had the largest army in the world, the largest air force, and the Germans just seemed unstoppable. And the fear was that he would take over Britain shortly thereafter.
It's not like today — also, that's important to keep in mind. We have these very long presidential campaigns now. Roosevelt was, as I said, thinking about it and certainly toying with the idea — and probably, in some ways, wanted to run for a third term — but he didn't really make up his mind until relatively late, until June of 1940. And the [Democratic National Convention], of course, was in July. But it was the global events that propelled him to do so. And the fact that there didn't seem to be anybody waiting in the wings of the Democratic Party that had anything like his stature.
Obviously he was elected, so it must have been received pretty well. But what the reaction when he announced a run for a third term at that point?
Well, there were people who were against it. Certainly, the Republican raised a fuss about it, and there were Democrats that were not happy that he made that decision. But by and large, he was such an enormously popular figure, and the world was in such a terrible crisis, that there just was a sense that the United States needed a steady hand at the helm. And so he was able to secure that nomination.
He did send a message to the convention, and he didn't campaign — he left it entirely up to the convention to make that decision. He said he refused to put his name in for nomination. But behind the scene, some of his political advisors and supporters kind of orchestrated a demonstration on the floor of the convention in Chicago. You know, "We want Roosevelt." At this sort of very moment that he delivered the message that he was not going to put his name forward, but would accept it if the convention called for him. And then they sort of orchestrated this demonstration. But again, it did lead to his nomination, so in a sense, he won it fair and square.
What did he end up accomplishing in that third term?
The third term is obviously very important, because the campaign takes place over the summer and fall of 1940. Hitler consolidated his hold on Europe with launch of the Battle of Britain in July of 1940 and August of 1940 up until September. The world was literally hanging in the balance. Roosevelt's military aides and chief of staff...General Marshall anticipated that Britain would be invaded and wouldn't last more than five or six weeks. So, it was a very scary time. As a consequence of that, Roosevelt became closer and closer to Winston Churchill. He orchestrated a special destroyer-for-bases deal in the summer of 1940, which meant that the United States gave Britain 50 old World War I destroyers in exchange for military bases in the western hemisphere. It was a very, very important moment in world history.
And of course he did win the election. And then during his term as a war president, he was president who fought the fight against the "America first" movement and encouraged the United States to support Britain in its struggle against the Nazis. He's the president who oversaw the passage of the Lend-Lease Act in March of 1941. He's the president who called upon the United States to support a world founded on four fundamental human freedoms during his State of the Union address on January 6, 1941: freedom of speech and expression, freedom of worship, freedom from want, freedom from fear — which really became the war aims of the United States. So, it's an extraordinary period. This is the time, of course, the third term he would meet with Joseph Stalin and Winston Churchill at Tehran and become the war president, as a result, of course, of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.
When were term limits officially established and why? Was this before FDR became president, or after his multiple terms?
In 1944, then the big question was, "Will Roosevelt run again?" The war was still raging. The country wasn't really in the mood, I think, in some respects, to change the president again. It's kind of interesting to look at the 1944 Election — his decision to run for a fourth term was, in some respects, less complicated, and the opposition was less. The third term was really the breaking of the tradition. The fourth term was sort of this logical extension of, "Well, he's the war president. He's got to see us through to the end of the war." But once Roosevelt passed away — and of course, he died suddenly of a cerebral hemorrhage on the 12th of April (the 80th anniversary's coming up in just a few days' time) — Harry Truman had to take over. And in the wake of Roosevelt's tenure, I think the decision was made. People came to the conclusion that it was a mistake for presidents to try to carry on beyond this two-term tradition. Not so much as a criticism of Roosevelt per se, but under the understanding that eight years is enough. In the early 1950s, Congress passed the 22nd Amendment, which prohibits a person from serving any more than two terms as president. That's the amendment that is still in place today.
Given some of the reporting that we've seen over the weekend, about the president thinking about pursuing a third term in some way, shape or form, I think there's a lot of confusion about what he can or can't do, and also why we have term limits in the first place. What would it take, what kind of circumstances would provide an opportunity to do a third term today?
Well, it's very unlikely and virtually impossible. It would take an amendment to the Constitution, and that would require a vote of two-thirds in favor of amending the Constitution and doing away with or overriding the 22nd Amendment. So, you'd have to have two-thirds of the Senate, two-thirds of the House voting in favor of that. Then you'd have to go through the ratification process, which would take some time and require three-quarters of the state legislatures to ratify it. So I think any notion of a third-term presidency today is more or less out of the question.
How do you view things today compared to that period back then?
Well, we live in a time that's very polarized. We've had lots of political fights in the past, but I think one thing that the new generation growing up in today's world perhaps doesn't understand is that the politics of the early 20th Century was fought on much different terms than the politics fought today. We had lots of liberal Republicans who supported Roosevelt and progressive ideas in the 20th Century. The worst enemies that Roosevelt had, in many respects, were conservative Democrats who really despised the New Deal and opposed any kind of change in the racial status quo in the south. And what that meant, of course, is that political issues were debated on their merits. It really wasn't about party. Obviously, there were party politics that were very important, but there was a great deal of overlap between the two parties. I think it was a much healthier political environment than the extreme [partisanship] that we see today, which makes it so difficult to get anything done. It's unfortunate, but I think that's often overlooked. There's always this assumption that Roosevelt had a Democratic majority, and that's what made him able to do all of these things. But really it wasn't so much a Democratic majority — it was a majority of Congressmen and senators who supported the ideas, whether they were Republican or Democrat.
