Thread by @PrezWisdom

The 22nd AMENDMENT :

The Amendment limiting the election of a President of the United States to two terms finds its roots in George Washington 🇺🇸, who opted only for two terms as the first President of the United States.

Enjoy this fun thread on the 22nd Amendment!

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Although there were many in the tradition of George Washington 🇺🇸who served only two-terms, it wasn’t until Franklin Roosevelt 🇺🇸 was elected to a 3rd and 4th term that concerns over unlimited terms began to be taken seriously.
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The 1946 midterm elections united conservatives from both parties, Republicans and Democrats, to propose the 22nd Amendment in 1947.

It was ratified by the states in 1951 under Harry Truman 🇺🇸.

Interestingly, Oklahoma and Massachusetts voted to reject the Amendment 🤔
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Thomas Dewey, yes *that* Thomas Dewey, who got his ass handed to him by FDR 🇺🇸 and Harry Truman 🇺🇸 in their respective elections, supported a 2-term limit.

Side note: Dewey also wanted to address the age of Presidential candidates as a concern.
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Backing up a bit:
Many Presidents in the 1800s were in favor of one-term limits, including Andrew Jackson 🇺🇸, who wanted to keep the office “beyond the reach of improper influences.”

Rutherford Hayes 🇺🇸 liked a 6-year term. This was also the plan for the Confederacy.
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Speaking of a single six-year term limit, Texas senator W. Lee “Pappy” O’Daniel proposed such a concept right before the 22nd Amendment was brought into discussion.

O’Daniel was shot down by the Senate with a 82-1 vote
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In 1912 Woodrow Wilson’s 🇺🇸 many ideas included the single 6-year term idea. His opponent William Howard Taft 🇺🇸 supported it too.

But Wilson decided he wanted a 2nd 4-year term, changed lanes, causing the proposed Amendment to die when the 62nd Congress left office
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Future Presidents like Jimmy Carter 🇺🇸 opposed the single six-year term limit on the grounds that it shortens the tenure of a good President and prolongs the tenure of a bad President.
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🚨THIRD TERM ALERT🚨
Civil War hero and 18th President Ulysses S Grant 🇺🇸 explored the idea of a 3rd term in 1876 but was met with opposition from his countrymen and Congress.

Later, Grant ran in the 1880 Election only to lose the nomination to James Garfield 🇺🇸.
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Back to the 22nd Amendment…

Harry Truman 🇺🇸 hated the 22nd Amendment; saying it was stupid and on par with the stupidity of the Prohibition Amendment.

Nonetheless it passed in 1951 at the end of Truman’s Presidency
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Due to the ratification of the 22nd Amendment in 1951, 2-term President Dwight Eisenhower 🇺🇸 became the first President unable to run for a third term in office

It did NOT affect Harry Truman 🇺🇸 because of a grandfather clause, as he was President when it was proposed
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A dilemma with the 22nd Amendment is while limiting a President to being elected just twice, it’s vague on former Presidents being elected to the office of Vice President - an office only a heartbeat away from the Presidency & a potential 3rd term (see the 12th Amendment).
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