No Third Term Red and White

Red text on a white background

In the 1940 presidential election, Republican candidate, Wendell Willkie, faced off against President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was campaigning for a third term in office. While it was not yet written in the Constitution, a U.S. President customarily served only two terms in office, making President Roosevelt's reelection campaign controversial. Using the President's break from tradition as a platform for his own campaign, Willkie and his staff used the slogan, "No Third Term" as an attack on Roosevelt. Despite its irregular nature, Roosevelt went on to win the election, becoming the only President in American history to ever be elected for a third term. First passed by Congress in 1947 and later ratified by the States in 1951, the Twenty-Second Amendment specifically limits a president to only two terms in office.​