Why did President Roosevelt serve more than two terms?

Answer 1

Because he was elected. At the time, there was no law against it. The provisions in the original Constitution did not set a limit to the number of terms a person could serve as president. It was in part his long run that prompted congress to limit the number of terms to two.

Theoretically, it is possible under the current law for a person to serve as president for 6 years, because when a president must step down after completing anything over half of the term, the vice president assuming office can run for two terms of his/her own after finishing the previous president's term. If the president stepping down has served anything less than half of the term, the vice president assuming office can run for only one term of his/her own after finishing the previous president's term.

Answer 2

Why not? There was no law to prevent it at the time, even though by tradition, all of the previous Presidents had declined to run for a third term.

The country was involved in some really tough times, including World War 2. He was elected to his third term in 1940, when half the world was at war, and his 4th term as the US was engaged in heavy fighting in two theaters of war. The country felt that changing President's was not a good idea.

Answer 3

The US was not in the war in 1940, when Roosevelt ran for his third term. I don't

think the war had much to do with Roosevelt's decision to run again in 1940.

The US was at war when he ran for his fourth term in 1944. One slogan that was used was "You don't change horses in the middle of a stream." That may have

helped win his 4th term since he was definitely losing popularity by then.