Why are presidents limited to two elected terms in office?

The 22nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1951, limits the president to two elected terms in office (or for a maximum of 10 years if they assumed the presidency mid-term).

In 1796 President George Washington chose not to run for a third term, setting an informal precedent that presidents would step down after two terms. Although the U.S. Constitution did not limit the number of presidential terms, this became a widely respected tradition, followed by all presidents for 144 years.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt broke the precedent and ran for and won four terms. After serving in office for two terms, Roosevelt decided to run for a third term in 1940, and he won that election as well as the presidential election of 1944. Although Roosevelt was very popular, and the challenges of the Great Depression and World War II were extraordinary, his unprecedented four-term tenure alarmed many who feared that such long service could edge toward an “elective monarchy.” Many believed that allowing a president to serve an unlimited number of terms could lead to authoritarian rule.

The 22nd amendment was framed as a safeguard for democracy by ensuring regular turnover in presidential leadership. After Roosevelt’s death in 1945, both parties largely agreed that Washington’s two-term precedent should become law, not just custom. Republicans in Congress, who had opposed Roosevelt, strongly pushed for the 22nd amendment once they regained the majority in Congress in 1947. Some Democrats also supported the amendment, while other Democrats saw it as a partisan response to Roosevelt’s dominance.

On March 27, 1947, Congress voted to approve the 22nd amendment and submitted it to the 48 state legislatures for ratification. The amendment was finally ratified by the required three-fourths of the states on Feb. 27, 1951, which was before the required seven-year deadline for ratification.

The text of the amendment is written as follows:

Section 1. No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once. But this Article shall not apply to any person holding the office of President when this Article was proposed by the Congress, and shall not prevent any person who may be holding the office of President, or acting as President, during the term within which this Article becomes operative from holding the office of President or acting as President during the remainder of such term.

Section 2. This Article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several states within seven years from the date of its submission to the states by the Congress.

Proposals to repeal the 22nd Amendment have occasionally been introduced in Congress (by both Republicans and Democrats), but none have advanced to a vote. Public opinion polls consistently show most Americans support keeping the two-term limit.

Don Gillette, member of Living Democracy: Engaging Citizens, a local citizen group. Our mission is to inform and educate the Mid-Ohio Valley about how government works on the local, state, and federal levels and how citizens can be involved to make our democracy work. Join us the third Monday of each month. livingdemocracymov@gmail.com and facebook/livingdemocracy:engagingcitizens and Youtube channel Living Democracy.