Why did Roosevelt serve four terms in office?

Answer 1

FDR was elected 4 times because he saved America from the economic disaster broadly caused by Republican policies of deregulated banking, basic government indifference to the plight of working people and low marginal tax rates on the wealthy which did nothing but cultivate wealth disparity and economic collapse.

FDR himself said, "For twelve years this Nation was afflicted with hear-nothing, see-nothing, do-nothing Government. The Nation looked to Government but the Government looked away. Nine mocking years with the golden calf and three long years of the scourge! Nine crazy years at the ticker and three long years in the breadlines! Nine mad years of mirage and three long years of despair! Powerful influences strive today to restore that kind of government with its doctrine that that Government is best which is most indifferent."

Accepting his 2nd Presidential nomination in 1936, FDR said, "Governments can err, Presidents do make mistakes, but the immortal Dante tells us that Divine Justice weighs the sins of the cold-blooded and the sins of the warm-hearted on a different scale. Better the occasional faults of a government living in the spirit of charity, than the consistent omissions of a government frozen in the ice of its own indifference."

The fact is, FDR was elected in four landslide elections because he proved that our government of "We The People" can actually be effective as a force of good in the nation, cultivate a level playing field for business that encourages competition and positively effect the lives of all citizens, thus making freedom possible.

FDR quoted, "An old English judge once said: 'Necessitous men are not free men.' Liberty requires opportunity to make a living - a living decent according to the standard of the time, a living which gives man not only enough to live by, but something to live for."

If there ever was an "American Dream" it is because of FDR's New Deal policies meant to cultivate a society that worked for ALL. FDR's legacy still positively affects the lives of Americans.

But by the time FDR was elected to his third term, Republicans were already desperate to find someone to compete with his legacy and pushed the 22nd Amendment as a safeguard against another populist President ever getting more than 8 years to secure the economic vibrancy of the working class - something that Republicans vehemently ideologically oppose.

For a better understanding of the 22nd Amendment, read about the origin and the text of the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Wikipedia has an entry on this.

Answer 2

Franklin D. Roosevelt served for four terms because the United States was in such bad shape that it seemed better to keep someone in office that was helping the country rather than risking a new president who could hurt it even more. Also, there was no law at the time that a president could serve no more than two terms. Because of the state of the nation, FDR had a lot of power and so held his position for longer than many probably expected. Suffering horribly from the Great Depression and then the beginning of World War II, it seemed that the USA had a lot more to worry about than electing a new president that could possibly make everything worse. Yet some were opposed to the fact that the president had so much control in the government and over the people. Although he was reelected by the people each time, it was also the time of Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin, and so some feared that FDR would become dictator of America with absolute authority. But despite these speculations, Franklin Roosevelt served four terms and in doing so took the United States out of the Great Depression and led it headstrong in the second World War.

Answer 3

Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected the first two times because the US was in a great depression and he pushed through radical changes in the role of the federal government which created government jobs and were very popular. He won a third term because the US was on the brink of entering World War II , people were fearful and still had confidence in his leadership. He won a fourth time because the US had entered the war , was fighting on two fronts and people did not want to change leaders at such a critical time. Weak opponents probably helped as well as the fact that it was unpatriotic to oppose the war effort.

(Note: This was prior to the Twenty-Second Amendment to the Constitution, which set the max amount of terms for a president at two. The only reason no other president ran for a third (then fourth) term was because George Washington set a two term tradition which had been followed until Franklin Roosevelt's presidency)

Answer 4

He first led the country through the Great Depression and then led the USA through most of WWII. Besides, he was more popular than any Republican candidate than ran against him. It was legal in FDR's day for a president to be elected as many times as he wanted to run. Since 1945, a law was passed and a president can only serve two terms now.

Answer 5

Actually he died early in his fourth term. He served because he was elected.

There is now a constitutional amendment that limits the number of terms to which a president can be elected to two, but this amendment was added after Roosevelt was elected.

Answer 6

His wife forced him to go for a 2nd term a 3rd term and finally a 4th term

Answer 7

There was no term limit at that time.