Interlude Three: Amendment XXII—Presidential Term Limits—Ratified On 27 February 1951
Read Time:1 Minute, 41 Second
The Twenty-second Amendment was clearly a reaction to President Franklin Roosevelt’s unprecedented third and fourth terms. George Washington unknowingly established a strong tradition of serving no more than two terms when he declined to run in 1796 and faced with the four-term presidency of a Democrat from 1933 to 1945, Republicans made presidential tenure an issue in the 1946 midterm elections.
They won majorities in both houses, and two months after taking Congress, the Twenty-second Amendment went to the states, where it took nearly four years to pass.
It explicitly states that…
“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.”
This amendment also completed the work started with the Twelfth Amendment by specifying that, if there is no president-elect on inauguration day, the vice president-elect becomes president and a new vice president will be appointed later. It also notes that…
“If a President shall not have been chosen before the time fixed for the beginning of his term, or if the President elect shall have failed to qualify, then the Vice President elect shall act as President until a President shall have qualified; and the Congress may by law provide for the case wherein neither a President elect nor a Vice President elect shall have qualified, declaring who shall then act as President, or the manner in which one who is to act shall be selected, and such person shall act accordingly until a President or Vice President shall have qualified.”
By clarifying the role of the vice president, the Twenty-second Amendment makes the role of the running mate a more significant factor in a voter’s choice of candidates.
Next – Act Five: Amendment XXIII – District of Columbia Voting Rights
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[…] enacted by Republicans in 1951 as a petty move in a sort of retro-revenge against FDR. It provides term limits for presidents. […]
Hey two terms is fine for the majority, but there are those exceptions, albeit rare. The job carries too much power and power brings too much temptation.
Subscribing to comments.
Term limits certainly have their advantages, as well as their disadvantages. Without them we could keep a great leader, whereas with them we can get rid of a bad leader, a la Trump.