What was the no 3rd term tradition?

Answer 1

Until President Franklin D. Roosevelt, no president ever served a third term in office in the United States. This tradition was started by George Washington, who insisted on stepping down after his second term. Washington, a man who had been revered by all of his peers and those who came after, seemed to think that two terms was enough; therefore no one dared to break that tradition, perhaps fearing that public opinion would turn against them, or perhaps genuinely believing that the nature of democracy doesn't thrive with one person continually in charge.

Roosevelt faced quite a bit of criticism when he ran for his third term; Americans associated a long-reigning president with autocracy (a government run solely by one person, such as in a monarchy). Roosevelt died during his fourth term in office, and soon after there was a push to place term limits on the presidency. Its advocates justified this action based on those associations and fears.