How Franklin Roosevelt Was Elected Four Times: The Story Behind the Most Unusual Presidency in American History

Franklin Delano Roosevelt is the only president in American history to be elected more than twice. He won the White House in 1932, 1936, 1940, and 1944, serving just over twelve years before dying in office on April 12, 1945, less than three months into his fourth term. It is one of the most remarkable stories in all of American political history, and it raises a question that still captivates historians today: how did it happen?

The answer involves a perfect storm of economic crisis, global war, extraordinary political skill, and one very important rule that existed only on paper.

The Rule That Was Not Actually a Rule

To understand how Roosevelt served four terms, you first have to understand that for most of American history, there was no law preventing a president from doing so. Prior to Roosevelt's election to a third term in 1940, there was a longstanding American tradition that presidents not serve more than two terms, a tradition established by the decisions of early presidents such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison not to seek a third term. 

Thomas Jefferson was especially vocal about the importance of the two-term limit. Jefferson saw little distinction between a long-serving executive in an elective position and a hereditary monarch. In other words, a president without term limits is too much like a king. 

But tradition is not law. Between 1796 and 1940, four two-term presidents sought a third term to varying degrees. Ulysses S. Grant wanted a third term in 1880, but lost the Republican Party nomination to James Garfield on the 36th ballot. Woodrow Wilson hoped a deadlocked 1920 convention would turn to him for a third term. Even the popular Theodore Roosevelt could not get past party objections to a third term. No one had managed to pull it off.

Until FDR. 

The Great Depression Made Him Untouchable

Roosevelt first won the presidency in 1932 at one of the lowest moments in American history. The Great Depression had devastated the economy, and Americans were desperate for strong, confident leadership. FDR delivered. His New Deal programs put people to work, stabilized the banking system, and restored a sense of hope to a country that had nearly lost it entirely.

By 1936, his popularity was almost impossible to overstate. Roosevelt's defeat of Republican challenger Governor Alf Landon of Kansas was a rout, the fourth-largest electoral vote margin ever. He was not just winning elections. He was reshaping what Americans expected from their government.

After two terms, most people assumed Roosevelt would follow the Washington tradition and step aside. Then the world changed. In 1940, Franklin Roosevelt decided to break the Washington precedent after World War II broke out in Europe and Nazi Germany overran France. 

His election for a third term took place as the United States remained in the throes of the Great Depression and World War II had just begun. While multiple presidents had sought third terms before, the instability of the times allowed FDR to make a strong case for stability. Who, exactly, was going to replace one of the most experienced leaders in the world at the exact moment that world was falling apart? 

The move caused some key Roosevelt supporters within the Democratic Party to leave the Roosevelt campaign, and the Republicans campaigned heavily against a third-term president. But it was not enough. He still won 55 percent of the popular vote and took the electoral college 449 to 82. 

The Fourth Term: A Country at War

By 1944, the argument for continuity was even stronger. The United States was deep in the middle of World War II. The country wasn't really in the mood, in some respects, to change the president again. Roosevelt had met with Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin. He had led the nation through Pearl Harbor and the long grind of the Pacific and European theaters. Changing commanders in the middle of the fight felt unthinkable to many Americans. 

His opponents were not quiet, though. Talk about a presidential term-limits amendment started in 1944 when Republican candidate Thomas Dewey said a potential 16-year term for Roosevelt was a threat to democracy, calling it "the most dangerous threat to our freedom ever proposed." 

Roosevelt won anyway. He defeated Dewey with 54 percent of the popular vote, taking the Electoral College 432 to 99. 

The End of an Era

Roosevelt never finished that fourth term. He died suddenly of a cerebral hemorrhage on April 12, 1945, and Vice President Harry Truman stepped into one of the most difficult moments any new president has ever inherited. The war in Europe was nearly over. The decision about how to end the war in the Pacific still lay ahead.

Roosevelt's unprecedented tenure immediately sparked a serious national conversation about whether this could ever be allowed to happen again. After the 1946 midterm election, Republicans took control of both the House and the Senate and very soon after proposed a constitutional amendment calling for a set limit of two terms for all future presidents.

The 22nd Amendment was passed in 1947 and ratified in 1951. It permanently closed the door that Roosevelt had walked through, ensuring that no future president could serve more than two elected terms. 

A Presidency Unlike Any Other

Roosevelt's four elections were not the result of a power grab or political manipulation. They were the product of two of the most severe crises the United States had ever faced occurring back to back, led by a president whose confidence, communication skills, and political instincts were almost without parallel in American history.

Whether you view his extended tenure as a necessary exception or a cautionary tale, one thing is certain: the American political system was never quite the same after it happened. The 22nd Amendment exists because of Franklin Roosevelt, a testament to just how extraordinary, and how singular, his presidency truly was.

Of course, if presidential history is something you would like to read more about, check out our full collection of American history.