Limitation of the President's Tenure

Report Outline
New Proposals for a Single-Term Presidency
Contest in the Constitutional Convention
Establishment of Third-Term Tradition
Repeated Proposals for Change Since 1860

New Proposals for a Single-Term Presidency

Franklin D. Roosevelt will be inaugurated for his second term as President on January 20, 1937. At the same time a determined drive will be underway in the 75th Congress, which convenes January 5, to impose restrictions on the tenure of office of future Presidents. Senator Burke (D., Neb.) announced, December 5, that he would sponsor a constitutional amendment to limit the presidential tenure to one term of six years and to prohibit reelection. Bipartisan support for the proposal was indicated by the announcement of Rep. Tinkham (R., Mass.), December 25, that he would offer a similar amendment in the House of Representatives.

Some 200 amendments for limitation of the service of any one man as President have been offered in Congress since adoption of the Constitution. Most of these have contemplated establishment of a single six-year term. Two such amendments were brought forward in the 74th Congress. A resolution by Rep. Crowther (R., N. Y.), offered on April 18, 1935, proposed an amendment establishing a six-year term and providing that no person elected to the presidential office should again be eligible. A resolution offered on the first day of the 1936 session by Rep. Fletcher, chairman of the House Committee on Elections, proposed an amendment fixing a six-year term and providing that “no President, nor Vice-President, either by election or succession, shall be eligible for reelection,”

Outlook for Favorable Action on Proposed Amendment

Quick action would be sought on his amendment, Senator Burke said in his statement of December 5—for “this appears to be a very favorable time.” Frank R. Kent, in his syndicated newspaper column, December 16, wrote that: “There is among the politicians much more interest in the proposal than ever before. It is regarded this time as real and not merely academic.”