| Popis: |
Whether by informal rule or constitutional decree, there has been a two-term limit for virtually all American presidents. While the 1788 Constitution allowed presidents “unlimited reeligibility,” this decision was controversial, as Americans traditionally had distrusted executive power and feared long-serving executives. Not surprisingly, within two decades of the constitution’s ratification, President Thomas Jefferson established the “two-term tradition,” an informal rule that sought to limit presidents to only two four-year terms. This informal tradition generally prevented presidents from seeking—let alone winning—third terms, until Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) won a third term in 1940, and a fourth term in 1944. FDR’s violation of the two-term tradition, however, brought a backlash in the form of the 22nd Amendment (ratified in 1951), formally limiting presidents to two terms, effectively codifying the two-term tradition. This reassertion of the traditional American wariness of long tenure in the executive office has been largely unchallenged. |
