You’d think the answer to how many presidents have served more than 2 terms would be a long list of power-hungry names, but history is actually much weirder than that. Honestly, it’s basically just one guy. One man managed to shatter a 150-year-old tradition that even the most popular icons of American history didn't dare touch.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) is the only president in United States history to serve more than two terms. He didn't just eke out a third term, either; he won a fourth. He died in office just months after his fourth inauguration, leaving a legacy that forced the country to rewrite the rules of the game entirely.
Before FDR, there was no law. No fine print in the Constitution said you had to stop at eight years. It was just a "gentleman’s agreement" started by George Washington. Washington was tired. He wanted to go back to Mount Vernon. By stepping down after two terms, he unintentionally created a standard that every subsequent leader followed—until the world started falling apart in the 1940s.
The One Who Broke the Mold: Why FDR Stayed
When people ask how many presidents have served more than 2 terms, they usually assume there must be a loophole or a forgotten figure from the 1800s. There isn't.
FDR’s decision to run in 1940 wasn't some sudden power grab. It was a perfect storm of the Great Depression and the terrifying rise of Nazi Germany. He felt the nation needed a steady hand. His critics, however, were absolutely livid. They called him a budding dictator. Even some of his own allies thought he was crossing a line that shouldn't be crossed.
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But the voters? They didn't care about tradition as much as they cared about stability. Roosevelt won the 1940 election against Wendell Willkie with a comfortable margin, and then he did it again in 1944. By the time he passed away in 1945, he had served over 12 years. The country was exhausted, and the political establishment decided: Never again.
The Close Calls: Presidents Who Tried (and Failed)
Just because only one person succeeded doesn't mean others didn't have the itch. A few big names tried to push the limits before the law changed.
- Ulysses S. Grant: After serving two terms from 1869 to 1877, Grant took a break. He went on a world tour. When he came back in 1880, he actually sought the Republican nomination for a third term. He led on the first 35 ballots at the convention but couldn't clinch the majority. He eventually lost out to James A. Garfield.
- Theodore Roosevelt: This is where it gets confusing. Teddy served nearly all of McKinley’s second term after the assassination, then won his own full term in 1904. He stepped down in 1909 but hated his successor, William Howard Taft. In 1912, he ran again under the "Bull Moose" party. He came in second, beating the sitting president (Taft) but losing to Woodrow Wilson.
- Grover Cleveland: He’s the trivia answer for everything else. He served two terms, but they weren't consecutive. He’s the 22nd and 24th president. He didn't serve more than two terms, he just took a four-year "vacation" in the middle because he lost an election.
The 22nd Amendment: Locking the Door
After FDR’s marathon presidency, Congress acted fast. They proposed the 22nd Amendment in 1947, and it was ratified by 1951.
Basically, the rule is now set in stone: No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice.
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There is a tiny bit of nuance, though. If a Vice President takes over and serves less than two years of the previous president's term, they can still run for two full terms of their own. That means a person could theoretically serve for up to 10 years.
Who almost benefited from the 10-year rule?
Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ) is the most famous example of someone who could have served more than two terms under the new law. He took over after JFK was assassinated in November 1963. Since there was less than two years left in Kennedy’s term, LBJ was eligible to run in 1964 (which he won) and again in 1968. He eventually dropped out of the 1968 race because of the Vietnam War and plummeting approval ratings, but the legal path was wide open for him.
Why Does This Still Matter?
Every few years, someone suggests repealing the 22nd Amendment. Ronald Reagan famously thought it was a bad idea, arguing that if the people want someone to stay, they should be allowed to vote for them. More recently, the topic pops up in political discourse whenever a president is particularly popular—or particularly controversial.
But for now, the count remains at one.
The story of how many presidents have served more than 2 terms is really a story about how much Americans value the idea of a "citizen leader" rather than a permanent ruler. We saw what happened when one man stayed for four terms, and the country decided that even for the best leaders, 8 years is plenty.
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Next Steps for History Buffs:
If you're looking to verify these timelines or see the specific vote counts from the 1940 and 1944 elections, the National Archives and the FDR Presidential Library have digitized the original campaign documents. You can also look up the text of the 22nd Amendment on the official Congress.gov website to see the exact language regarding the "two-year rule" for succession.