Why was FDR allowed to serve four terms?
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Date: 2023-02-24
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Comments and reviews: 14
Ed
Good video overall, but it misses a huge part of the reason why: FDR came into office at a time when the country was crumbling due to the Great Depression, with fears of a communist revolution or a takeover by oligarchs. The economy was in ruins, with widespread unemployment and poverty. He got the economy back on track, got people working again (a big deal in the US where employment = self worth, and delivered regular radio addresses where he won over the people. He stabilized our banking system, insituted the first real retirement policies, and raised the quality of life for much of the country. By the time WW2 started, he was wildly popular and trusted by large majorities.
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Good video overall, but it misses a huge part of the reason why: FDR came into office at a time when the country was crumbling due to the Great Depression, with fears of a communist revolution or a takeover by oligarchs. The economy was in ruins, with widespread unemployment and poverty. He got the economy back on track, got people working again (a big deal in the US where employment = self worth, and delivered regular radio addresses where he won over the people. He stabilized our banking system, insituted the first real retirement policies, and raised the quality of life for much of the country. By the time WW2 started, he was wildly popular and trusted by large majorities.
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Mahatma
As always, this is wonderful.
Just as a point of interest, exit polls showed that Reagan and Clinton and IIRC Obama could have easily won third terms had that been allowed. Clinton actually commented on this a couple times, suggesting that maybe the rule shouldn t apply to younger guys like him.
Everyone knows about the 2-term limit in the US, but there s a weirdly common misunderstanding that it only applies to consecutive terms. Like you can serve two, then have to sit one out, and can serve another two. I have no idea where this misconception comes from
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As always, this is wonderful.
Just as a point of interest, exit polls showed that Reagan and Clinton and IIRC Obama could have easily won third terms had that been allowed. Clinton actually commented on this a couple times, suggesting that maybe the rule shouldn t apply to younger guys like him.
Everyone knows about the 2-term limit in the US, but there s a weirdly common misunderstanding that it only applies to consecutive terms. Like you can serve two, then have to sit one out, and can serve another two. I have no idea where this misconception comes from
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The
It's not universally accepted, but some have suspected that Lyndon Johnson was planning to run for a third term, of course having come into office via his predecessor's death it didn't break the amendment. When the backlash against Vietnam came though, he decided to announce that he would not seek it. Shortly thereafter, Democrat frontrunner Bobby Kennedy was assassinated and it basically handed the whole thing to Nixon. One of the most dramatic periods in American history, right there.
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It's not universally accepted, but some have suspected that Lyndon Johnson was planning to run for a third term, of course having come into office via his predecessor's death it didn't break the amendment. When the backlash against Vietnam came though, he decided to announce that he would not seek it. Shortly thereafter, Democrat frontrunner Bobby Kennedy was assassinated and it basically handed the whole thing to Nixon. One of the most dramatic periods in American history, right there.
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Stefan
This is not a rule or any type of law. It is only a long standing tradition. (22nd amendment? Never mind)
So a president can be elected more than twice, if the people want him in office that long. If someone was elected to a third term, someone who won the popular vote, but made a lot of enemies on capital hill while in office, Congress does have the power to impeach him. It all depends on the integrity of our politicians to do the right thing. (We are so screwed)
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This is not a rule or any type of law. It is only a long standing tradition. (22nd amendment? Never mind)
So a president can be elected more than twice, if the people want him in office that long. If someone was elected to a third term, someone who won the popular vote, but made a lot of enemies on capital hill while in office, Congress does have the power to impeach him. It all depends on the integrity of our politicians to do the right thing. (We are so screwed)
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Lee
Incorrect: I did a book report on FDR in school and I remembered he served almost 3 terms, more than 11 years but less than 12 years as President of the United States under the current term limits for a president which is once every 4 years. At the time, there were no term limits since the time George Washington was president. It was the president after him, Harry S. Truman who started with having term limits. Each term for president is now once every 4 years.
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Incorrect: I did a book report on FDR in school and I remembered he served almost 3 terms, more than 11 years but less than 12 years as President of the United States under the current term limits for a president which is once every 4 years. At the time, there were no term limits since the time George Washington was president. It was the president after him, Harry S. Truman who started with having term limits. Each term for president is now once every 4 years.
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Captain
A Kansas man, known locally as sniffly Joe, has reported [sic] caught a cold. Due to this being the nineteenth century and effective medicine being all but a fairy tale, he'll probably kick the bucket.
He will leave behind 14 children and a wife, whose open to finding new love with a man who preferably has a functioning immune system and won't do petty things like die.
this is what people who don't pause to read the newspaper are missing.
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A Kansas man, known locally as sniffly Joe, has reported [sic] caught a cold. Due to this being the nineteenth century and effective medicine being all but a fairy tale, he'll probably kick the bucket.
He will leave behind 14 children and a wife, whose open to finding new love with a man who preferably has a functioning immune system and won't do petty things like die.
this is what people who don't pause to read the newspaper are missing.
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tackyjasper
Great video but not too sure about your assessment of Wendell Willkie - I m no expert but I thought he was an interventionist and quite close to Roosevelt in policy? I d always assumed that FDR s success in 1940 was more down to the fact that Willkie offered little different to FDR. I don t think it s right to say that, had he won, Willkie would have either refused to aid Britain or undone the new deal in any significant way.
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Great video but not too sure about your assessment of Wendell Willkie - I m no expert but I thought he was an interventionist and quite close to Roosevelt in policy? I d always assumed that FDR s success in 1940 was more down to the fact that Willkie offered little different to FDR. I don t think it s right to say that, had he won, Willkie would have either refused to aid Britain or undone the new deal in any significant way.
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SpartaChris
Technically, with Teddy Roosevelt, his first term was actually McKinley's term. Teddy was McKinley's VP, and he died, Teddy because the President to finish McKinley's term. This make Teddy the youngest President in US history, but not the youngest elected, that went to JFK. Teddy's technical first term, was the in 1905-09, he didn't run again in 1909 because he considered McKinley's term that he finished, his first term.
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Technically, with Teddy Roosevelt, his first term was actually McKinley's term. Teddy was McKinley's VP, and he died, Teddy because the President to finish McKinley's term. This make Teddy the youngest President in US history, but not the youngest elected, that went to JFK. Teddy's technical first term, was the in 1905-09, he didn't run again in 1909 because he considered McKinley's term that he finished, his first term.
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R.
There is one very limited exception to the two terms limit. A Vice President can technically serve 2. 49 terms. A Vice President that assumes the presidency (for whatever reason) after more than 2 years into that respective prior President's term is still capable of serving 2 full terms.
If the VP assumes the presidency prior than the 2 year mark, they are only eligible to run for a Presidential election for 1 term.
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There is one very limited exception to the two terms limit. A Vice President can technically serve 2. 49 terms. A Vice President that assumes the presidency (for whatever reason) after more than 2 years into that respective prior President's term is still capable of serving 2 full terms.
If the VP assumes the presidency prior than the 2 year mark, they are only eligible to run for a Presidential election for 1 term.
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calmbbaer
People like to say that Washington didn't run again due to wanting to provide a precedent for democratic transfer and/or term limits, but the fact that he died fewer than three years into what would have been his third term might give a better idea for why he really stepped down. Same goes for the idea that James K. Polk declined to run again because his first term was so awesome; Polk died in three MONTHS.
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People like to say that Washington didn't run again due to wanting to provide a precedent for democratic transfer and/or term limits, but the fact that he died fewer than three years into what would have been his third term might give a better idea for why he really stepped down. Same goes for the idea that James K. Polk declined to run again because his first term was so awesome; Polk died in three MONTHS.
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Thomas
It s also important to note that at the start of the Great Depression, millions of Americans were just desperate for change. When Franklin Roosevelt ran for election in 1932, the only states to vote for Republican Herbert Hoover were Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. The rest of the country voted blue.
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It s also important to note that at the start of the Great Depression, millions of Americans were just desperate for change. When Franklin Roosevelt ran for election in 1932, the only states to vote for Republican Herbert Hoover were Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. The rest of the country voted blue.
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Spanner
LBJ had a chance to serve a third term as he took office late enough in Kennedys to be eligible to contest the 1968 election. Vietnam was so controversial within the Democratic Party at that point he stepped aside during the primaries, but he could have served 10 years as President if things had gone differently.
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LBJ had a chance to serve a third term as he took office late enough in Kennedys to be eligible to contest the 1968 election. Vietnam was so controversial within the Democratic Party at that point he stepped aside during the primaries, but he could have served 10 years as President if things had gone differently.
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Steve
As much as I personally admire Teddy Roosevelt and consider him to be one of the greatest presidents in American history, it was probably for the best that he only served two terms. There are many instances in history of popular political figures overstaying their welcome and becoming vilified.
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As much as I personally admire Teddy Roosevelt and consider him to be one of the greatest presidents in American history, it was probably for the best that he only served two terms. There are many instances in history of popular political figures overstaying their welcome and becoming vilified.
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Bigdog5400
Fun fact about Wilson, he suffered a stroke in the middle of his second term. It is thought that his wife Edith made most important decisions for him as she kept most of his cabinet at an arms length, which is why she s often considered the first female US President.
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Fun fact about Wilson, he suffered a stroke in the middle of his second term. It is thought that his wife Edith made most important decisions for him as she kept most of his cabinet at an arms length, which is why she s often considered the first female US President.
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