Out Stealing Third

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President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) ran for an unprecedented third term in office in 1940 against Wendell Willkie, and was met with harsh "anti-FDR" slogans from his critics. "Out! Stealing Third" is one such slogan coined by FDR's opponents during his run for reelection in 1939 and 1940. 

FDR was elected the 32nd president in 1932, during the middle of the Great Depression. Trying to boost the confidence of the American people, Roosevelt spoke directly to the public during his radio broadcasts or “fireside chats.” His New Deal programs changed the role of the federal government in America, and he easily won reelection in 1936, 1940, and 1944. FDR led the United States from a policy of isolationism to victory over Nazi Germany and its allies in World War II. He helped create the alliance between Britain, the Soviet Union, and the United States and constructed the beginnings of a peace organization that would later become the United Nations. The only American president in history to be elected four times, Roosevelt died in office in April 1945.