FDR wins unprecedented fourth term | November 7, 1944 | HISTORY (2024)

This Day In History: November 7

November | 7

On November 7, 1944, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt is elected to an unprecedented fourth term in office. FDR remains the only president to have served more than two terms.

Roosevelt rose above personal and political challenges to emerge as one of the nation’s most revered and influential presidents. In 1921, at the age of 39, he contracted polio and thereafter was burdened with leg braces; eventually, he was confined to a wheelchair. From the time he was first elected to the presidency in 1932 to mid-1945, when he died while in office, Roosevelt presided over two of the biggest crises in U.S. history: the Great Depression of the 1930s and World War II.

FDR Follows in Uncle Teddy's Footsteps

FDR implemented drastic and oft-criticized legislation to help boost America out of the Great Depression. Although he initially tried to avoid direct U.S. involvement in World War II, which began in 1939, the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December 1941 thrust American headlong into the conflict.

By the time Roosevelt was elected to his fourth term, the war had taken a turn in favor of the Allies, but FDR’s health was already on the decline. His arteriosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) had been worsened by the stress of serving as a war-time president. In April 1945, just over four months before the war finally ended in an Allied victory, FDR died of a stroke at his vacation home in Warm Springs, Georgia.

In 1947, with President Harry Truman, Roosevelt’s vice president, in office, Congress proposed a law that would limit presidents to two consecutive terms. Up to that time, presidents had either voluntarily followed George Washington’s example of serving a maximum of two terms, or were unsuccessful in winning a third. (In 1912, Theodore Roosevelt, who had completed William McKinley’s term before being elected in his own right, ran for reelection but lost.) In 1951, the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution was passed, officially limiting a president’s tenure in office to two terms of four years each.

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FDR wins unprecedented fourth term | November 7, 1944 | HISTORY (10)

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FDR wins unprecedented fourth term | November 7, 1944 | HISTORY (2024)

FAQs

Has any president served 3 terms? ›

Roosevelt later went on to serve a third term and three months of a fourth term, becoming the only president to serve more than two terms, breaking Washington's two term tradition and laying the groundwork for the passage of the 22nd Amendment.

What president served for 16 years? ›

Franklin D. Roosevelt - Wikipedia.

What year did FDR win the presidency and who did he defeat? ›

The 1932 United States presidential election was the 37th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 8, 1932. The election took place against the backdrop of the Great Depression. The incumbent Republican President Herbert Hoover was defeated in a landslide by Democrat Franklin D.

What's the only president to serve more than two terms? ›

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected President four times, serving from 1932 until his death in 1945; he is the only President ever to have served more than two terms.

What president weighed 300 pounds? ›

President Taft was a huge man, weighing more than 300 pounds. A special bathtub was installed for him in the White House, big enough to hold four men. Fast Fact: William Howard Taft: the only man to become President and then chief justice.

What was the shortest U.S. presidency? ›

Harrison died just 31 days after his inauguration as president in 1841, making his presidency the shortest in U.S. history.

Which president had 15 children? ›

John Tyler was the most prolific of all American President: he had 15 children and two wives. In 1813, Tyler married Letitia Christian, the daughter of a Virginia planter.

Which president was 42 years old? ›

The youngest person to become U.S. president was Theodore Roosevelt, who, at age 42, succeeded to the office after the assassination of William McKinley.

Which president died after 16 months? ›

Zachary Taylor
Taylor c. 1843–1845
12th President of the United States
In office March 4, 1849 – July 9, 1850
Vice PresidentMillard Fillmore
22 more rows

Who was the first president with a disability? ›

Franklin D. Roosevelt was the 32nd President of the United States. Not only did he serve an unprecedented four terms in office, but he was also the first president with a significant physical disability. FDR was diagnosed with infantile paralysis, better known as polio, in 1921, at the age of 39.

Who lost to Roosevelt in 1944? ›

Roosevelt defeated Republican Thomas E. Dewey to win an unprecedented fourth term. It was also the fifth (and second consecutive) presidential election in which both major party candidates were registered in the same home state; the others have been in 1860, 1904, 1920, 1940, and 2016.

Who ran against FDR in 1940? ›

It was held on Tuesday, November 5, 1940. Incumbent Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt defeated Republican businessman Wendell Willkie to be reelected for an unprecedented third term in office.

Who was president for 1 hour? ›

As a consequence, Lascuráin was president for less than an hour; sources quote figures ranging from 15 to 56 minutes, making his presidency the shortest in history.

Which president served 2 terms but not in a row? ›

Born in this modest house in Caldwell, New Jersey on March 18, 1837, Stephen Grover Cleveland was the 22nd and 24th president of the United States, the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms. The house was the residence of the minister at the local Presbyterian Church.

Can a two term president run for vice president? ›

Additionally, neither the Constitution's eligibility provisions nor the Twenty-second Amendment's presidential term limit explicitly disqualify a twice-elected president from serving as vice president, though it is arguably prohibited by the last sentence of the Twelfth Amendment: "But no person constitutionally ...

What president tried to run for 3 terms? ›

Roosevelt won a decisive victory over Republican Wendell Willkie, becoming the only president to exceed eight years in office. His decision to seek a third term dominated the election campaign.

Has anyone been president for more than 8 years? ›

Roosevelt was the first and only President to serve more than two terms. The amendment was passed by Congress in 1947, and was ratified by the states on 27 February 1951. The Twenty-Second Amendment says a person can only be elected to be president two times for a total of eight years.

Can a president serve 3 non consecutive terms? ›

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.

Can a president serve 6 terms? ›

Twenty-second Amendment, amendment (1951) to the Constitution of the United States effectively limiting to two the number of terms a president of the United States may serve. It was one of 273 recommendations to the U.S. Congress by the Hoover Commission, created by Pres. Harry S.

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