Now the true events with just a little political spin..my emphasis added ..
the Cliff's notes .. AOC was wrong by a mile. FDR was never stopped by the 22nd it was a result of his 4 terms that gave it traction. FDR held to G Washington's 2 terms but allowed himself to be a draft nominee and he was. that was his 3RD TERM. FDR ran OPENLY for a 4th term. Dewey made an issue and was proved right, even if he didn't really do this ..
Yeah it does matter who the VP candidate is ... who knew??
Background
Notwithstanding that the Twenty-second Amendment was clearly a reaction to Franklin D. Roosevelt's election to an unprecedented four terms as president, the notion of presidential
term limits has long been debated in American politics. Delegates to the
Constitutional Convention of 1787 considered the issue extensively (alongside broader questions, such as who would elect the president, and the president's role). Many—including
Alexander Hamilton and
James Madison—supported a lifetime appointment for presidents, while others favored fixed terms appointments. Virginia's
George Mason denounced the life-tenure proposal as tantamount to establishment of an
elective monarchy.
[3] An early draft of the United States Constitution provided that the President was restricted to a single seven-year term.
[4] Ultimately, the Framers approved four-year terms with no restriction on the amount of time a person could serve as president.
Though dismissed by the Constitutional Convention, the concept of term limits for U.S. presidents took hold during the presidencies of
George Washington and
Thomas Jefferson. As his second term entered its final year in 1796, George Washington was exhausted from years of public service, and his health had begun to decline. He was also bothered by the unrelenting attacks from his political opponents, which had escalated after the signing of the
Jay Treaty, and believed that he had accomplished his major goals as president. For these reasons, he decided not to stand for reelection to a third term, a decision he announced to the nation through a
Farewell Address in September 1796.
[5] Eleven years later, as Thomas Jefferson neared the half-way point of his second term, he wrote,
If some termination to the services of the chief magistrate be not fixed by the Constitution, or supplied by practice, his office, nominally for years, will in fact, become for life; and history shows how easily that degenerates into an inheritance.[6]
Since Washington made his historic announcement, numerous academics and public figures have looked at his decision to retire after two terms, and have, according to
political scientist Bruce Peabody, "argued he had established a
two-term tradition that served as a vital check against any one person, or the presidency as a whole, accumulating too much power".
[7] Numerous amendments aimed toward changing informal precedent into constitutional law were proposed in Congress during the early to mid-19th century, but none passed.
[3][8] Three of the next four presidents after Jefferson—
James Madison,
James Monroe, and
Andrew Jackson—served two terms, and each one adhered to the two-term principle;
[1] Martin Van Buren was the only president between Jackson and
Abraham Lincoln to be nominated for a second term, although he lost the
1840 election, and so only served one term.
[8] Before the Civil War the seceding States drafted the Constitution of the Confederate States of America which in most respects was similar to the United States Constitution, but one change was limiting the President to a single six-year term.
Ulysses S. Grant is shown surrendering to
James A. Garfield after losing the 1880 Republican presidential nomination to him, in this
satirical Puck cartoon.
In spite of the strong two-term tradition, a few presidents prior to Franklin Roosevelt did attempt to secure a third term. Following
Ulysses S. Grant's reelection victory in
1872, there were serious discussions within Republican political circles about the possibility of his running again in 1876. Interest in a third term for Grant evaporated however, in the light of negative public opinion and opposition from members of Congress, and Grant left the presidency in 1877, after two terms. Even so, as the 1880 election approached, he sought nomination for a (non-consecutive) third term at the
1880 Republican National Convention, but narrowly lost to
James Garfield, who would go on to win the
1880 election.
[8]
Theodore Roosevelt succeeded to the presidency on September 14, 1901, following
William McKinley's assassination (194 days into his second term), and was subsequently elected to a full term in
1904. While he declined to seek a third (second full) term in 1908, Roosevelt did seek one four years later, in the
election of 1912, where he lost to
Woodrow Wilson. Wilson himself, despite his ill health following a serious stroke, aspired to a third term. Many of Wilson's advisers tried to convince him that his health precluded another campaign, but Wilson nonetheless asked that his name be placed in nomination for the presidency at the
1920 Democratic National Convention.
[9] Democratic Party leaders were unwilling to support Wilson, however, and the nomination eventually went to
James M. Cox. Wilson again contemplated running for a (nonconsecutive) third term in 1924, devising a strategy for his comeback, but again lacked any support; he died in February of that year.
[10]
Franklin D. Roosevelt, elected to four terms, was president from 1933 until his death in 1945
Franklin D. Roosevelt spent the months leading up to the
1940 Democratic National Convention refusing to state whether he would seek a third term. His Vice President,
John Nance Garner, along with
Postmaster General James Farley, announced their candidacies for the Democratic nomination. When the convention came, Roosevelt sent a message to the convention, saying he would run only if
drafted, saying delegates were free to vote for whomever they pleased. This message was interpreted to mean he was willing to be drafted, and he subsequently was renominated on the convention's first ballot.
[8][11] Later, during the
1940 presidential election, Roosevelt won a decisive victory over Republican
Wendell Willkie, becoming the first, and to date only, person to exceed eight years in office. Roosevelt's decision to seek a third term dominated the election campaign.
[12] Willkie ran against the open-ended presidential tenure, while Democrats cited the
war in Europe as a reason for breaking with precedent.
[8]
Four years later, Roosevelt faced Republican
Thomas E. Dewey in the
1944 election. Near the end of the campaign, Thomas Dewey announced his support of a constitutional amendment that would limit future presidents to two terms. According to Dewey, "four terms, or sixteen years (a direct reference to the president's tenure in office four years hence), is the most dangerous threat to our freedom ever proposed."
[13] He also discreetly raised the issue of the president's age. Roosevelt, however, was able to exude enough energy and charisma to retain the confidence of the American public, who reelected him to a fourth term.
[14]
While he effectively quelled rumors of his poor health during the campaign, Roosevelt's health was in reality deteriorating. On April 12, 1945, only 82 days after his
fourth inauguration, he suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and
died. He was succeeded by Vice President
Harry Truman.
[15] In the
midterm elections 18 months later, Republicans took control of both the House and the Senate. As many of them had campaigned on the issue of presidential tenure, declaring their support for a constitutional amendment that would limit how long a person could serve as president, the issue was given top priority in the
80th Congress when it convened in January 1947.
[7]