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George Washington, the first President of the United States, is often said to have established the tradition of limiting service as President to two terms only. His Farewell Address, however, suggests that it was because of his age that he did not seek re-election. One may suggest that Thomas Jefferson established the convention of a two-term limit; he noted, "if some termination to the services of the chief Magistrate be not fixed by the Constitution, or supplied by practice, his office, nominally four years, will in fact become for life". Jefferson’s immediate successors, James Madison and James Monroe, also adhered to the two-term principle. Few Presidents attempted to serve for more than two terms. Ulysses S. Grant sought a third term in office after serving from 1869 to 1877, but his party failed to nominate him. Theodore Roosevelt, who served from 1901 to 1909, sought to be elected in 1912 (non-consecutively) for a second time—he had succeeded to the presidency on William McKinley's assassination and already been elected in 1904 to a full term himself—but he lost to Woodrow Wilson. In 1940 Franklin Delano Roosevelt became the first person to be elected President three times, with supporters citing the war in Europe as a reason for breaking with precedent. In the 1944 election, during World War II, he won a fourth term, but died in office the following year. After Franklin Roosevelt's death, the newly Republican 80th United States Congress desired to establish a firm constitutional provision barring presidents from being elected more than twice. The rationale was a concern that without limits, the presidential position could become too similar to that of a benevolent dictator lasting not just four years but a lifetime, that the position could become too powerful and upset the separation of powers, and even so powerful that elections would become dispensable. Hence, the Twenty-second Amendment was adopted. Under the amendment, no person may be elected president more than twice. Furthermore, no vice president or other person who has succeeded to the presidency, and served as president or acting president for more than two years of that unexpired term, may be elected president more than once. Consequently, the amendment, while limiting a person to two elected four-year terms as president, theoretically does allow a person to serve up to ten years in office. If a person serving as vice president succeeds to the presidency, and serves for less than two years of the original president's term, he or she may still be elected twice and thus serve a total of ten full years in office. (Actually, there is no impediment to someone being elected Vice President and succeeding to the presidency any number of times, although doing so more than once is highly unlikely.) As of 2006, the only president who could have served more than 2 terms under this circumstance was Lyndon B. Johnson. He became president in 1963 when John F. Kennedy was assassinated, served only 14 months of Kennedy's term, and won an election of his own. Had he stayed in the race in 1968 and won, he would have served 9 years and 2 months in all when he reached the end of the new term. The amendment specifically excluded the current president, who at that time was Harry S Truman. Truman did begin a campaign for a third term in 1952, but quit after a poor showing in the New Hampshire primary. As all Vice Presidents must adhere to the same constitutional requirement as that of the President, if a president has been elected twice, such as Bill Clinton or George W. Bush, those individuals are not eligible for the office of Vice President in a future administration, since they are not eligible to seek the office of President again. It is theoretically possible though, for a future administration to nominate one of them as a cabinet member, and have them succeed to the presidency if the president, vice president and other officials preceding them in the chain of command are unable to carry out the duties of the presidency. 22nd and 12th Amendments, "eligibility" Some have questioned the interpretation of the Twenty-second Amendment as it relates to the Twelfth Amendment, ratified in 1804, which provides that "no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States." While it is clear that under the Twelfth Amendment the original constitutional qualifications of age, citizenship, and residency apply to both the President and Vice President, it is unclear if a two-term President could later be elected—or appointed—Vice President. Some argue that the Twenty-second Amendment and Twelfth Amendment bar any two-term President from later serving as Vice President as well as from succeeding to the Presidency from any point in the United States Presidential line of succession. Others contend that the Twelfth Amendment concerns qualification for service, while the Twenty-second Amendment concerns qualifications for election. Considered opinion though, appears to favour the former view of ineligibility. Since the ratification of the Twenty-Second Amendment, no two-term President has later sought to become Vice President, and thus, the courts have never had an opportunity to decide the question. Criticism of amendment Sherman Adams quotes Dwight Eisenhower expressing in a press conference his strong opposition to term limits: "The United States ought to be able to choose for its President anybody it wants, regardless of the number of terms he has served." ("First Hand Report", 1961, p. 296) ("Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Dwight D. Eisenhower", 1956, p. 862) * Ronald Reagan publicly supported repealing the amendment. Bill Clinton has stated he feels the Twenty-second Amendment shouldn't be repealed but modified so that former presidents who have already served two terms can be allowed to run for the office again, after an interim period has passed. * A criticism sometimes made of the 22nd amendment is that it can seriously erode a second-term president's power and influence. Difficulties have been faced by every President during their second terms since the amendment's ratification. Such a president is often referred to as a lame duck. The term was coined by 18th century English stockbrokers to mean someone who is bankrupt but later came to mean anyone who has been made weak and ineffective. It now most often applies to politicians who are soon to leave office. This effect was referred to by George W. Bush when, after winning his second term, he told the media "I'm going to come out strong after my swearing-in. We have to move quickly, because after that I'll be quacking like a duck." On the other hand some have claimed that a two term limit enables a president to take on controversial or unpopular measures (not that this is necessarily always a bad thing) in his second term since not being eligible for reelection means he has less to lose. Frequent attempts have been made, in recent years one or more per session of Congress, to modify or repeal the 22nd Amendment; none has yet been successful. Individuals currently restricted by the amendment As of 2006, the following living current and former presidents are restricted by this amendment: Any of those above may succeed to the Presidency under the terms of the Presidential Succession Act of 1947. The 22nd Amendment only restricts certain people from being elected to the Presidency (and to the Vice Presidency if the 12th Amendment applies). If the 12th Amendment does not restrict non-elected succession, then any former President, except for Bill Clinton, could become President again by first becoming Vice President (or reaching the top of the order of succession via some other office). The only plausible case is that of Bill Clinton, the other living ex-Presidents being well past the typical age for a Vice President or Cabinet Secretary. The amendment imposes no restriction on the number of terms a person may serve as Vice President, or the ability of current or former Vice Presidents to be elected to the Presidency. In popular culture In the graphic novel Watchmen, a crushing U.S. victory in the Vietnam War leads to the repeal of the 22nd Amendment and the repeated reelection of President Richard M. Nixon, who still serves as of 1985, the year in which Watchmen is set. Similarly, in the time-travel movie Back to the Future Part II, a newspaper headline, before changing to report Reagan considering a second term, reports Nixon considering a fifth term. Al Franken on his radio show has jokingly suggested that he run for president with former president Bill Clinton as his running mate, on the platform that as soon as he is sworn in he will resign, allowing Bill Clinton to bypass the 22nd amendment and serve a third term in office. (But see above regarding the 12th amendment.) | |||||||||
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