FDRs Running For a third Term

A detailed Summary of FDRs Running For a third Term

When you first start thinking about Franklin Delano Roosevelt you might think of the New Deal, fireside chats, or possibly the United States role in World War II. Throughout Roosevelt's Rein as president, he has had to make many decisions possible more than any other president before or after him. Simply because no other president has been in office for more than two terms, except of course for FDR. He was elected for an unprecedented four terms. He was first elected as president in 1932 beating Herbert Hoover by an electoral vote of 472 to 59 and a popular vote of 22,809,638 to 15,758,901. In his second election in 1936 he won by an even greater margin defeating Alfred Landon and grabbing 523 of the electoral votes as compared to Landon's meager 8 electoral votes. The 1940 election was much closer, than the pervious two elections. Roosevelt does win over Wendell Willkie, but the election marks the first and only time in United States history that an president decides to run for a third term.

Although there were no legal restriction on how many terms a president might serve none of the previous 31 presidents had ever attempted to run for a third term. "The Constitutional congress of 17

87 did not place any limits on the number of terms a president might serve, rejecting proposals for a single six year term. George Washington began the two-term tradition, but Thomas Jefferson, who in 1809 announced that 'rotation in the office' was his reason for leaving the White House after two terms, first expressed its principles. Jefferson felt strongly that his precedent would prevent the danger of a president being re-elected for life. The Democratic - Republican presidents who followed him (James Madison and James Monroe) also limited themselves to two terms, and their Democratic Party successors also bound themselves to the tradition. " (Pious,148)

To complicate matters Roosevelt introduced his "Court packing" plan. Never taking the time to consult Democratic leaders, him jumped right in. The plan was aimed at unseating Supreme Court justices that had been against the New Deal. This plan would have given the president the right to appoint one new justice for each justice who refused to retire with in six months of reaching the age of seventy. FDR's plan could aloud for up to fifteen new judges to be replaced during his presidency. At the time, it seemed like no one liked the idea except for Roosevelt. He already been losing support and the "Court packing" plan seemed to be the straw that broke the camels back. What now was FDR to do? He had been pushing and pushing for New Deal to work. He could not simply pack it in he had to keep fighting, and try and muster support for "Court packing" and New Deal legislation. "The trouble was that Roosevelt had assumed his role as party or majority leader not as part of deliberation, planned political strategy but in response to a conjunction of immediate developments. As a majority leader, he relied on his personal popularity, on his charisma or warm emotional appeal. He did not try to build up a solid, organized mass base for the extended New Deal that he projected in his inaugural speech of 1937. Lacking such a mass base, he could not establish a rank-and-file majority group in congress to push through his programs. Hence the court fight ended as a congressional fight in which the president had too few reserve forces to throw into battle." (Burns, 376)

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1813
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)

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