Evening star., 1937-11-10

MS service IN the Wnlte House on
the question of his own tenure.
The method the President may
adopt in announcing his plans is to-
day subject of lively interest among
political leaders in both parties That
wide range of choice is offered the
President in the manner of his an
nouncement is indicted in summary
of the precedents.
Of 81 Presidents, Mr.. Roosevelt is
the thirteenth to serve more than one
term. In this select group are Wash
ington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe,
Jackson, Lincoln, Grant, Cleveland,
Mckinley, Theodore Roosevelt. Will
son, Coolidge and Franklin D. Roose-
velt.
The two-term tradition was fixed
by the voluntary retirement of all
Presidents who served eight years.
from Washington to Grant. 1t was
not challenged until 1880, when Grant,
who had retired from the White
House after two terms in 1877, was
defeated for the Republican nomina-
ton.
Roosevelt Sought Comeback.
Theodore Roosevelt was the only
other President to become a candi-
date for third term. After retir-
ing in 1909, he was refused the Re-
publican nomination in 1912 and was
defeated in the election as the NOM
inee of the Progressive party.
No Chief Executive has been can
didate for a third successive term.
Since Grant, it has been the general
rule for Presidents to issue a public
statement upholding the tradition.
In accepting his first nomination.
Cleveland urged a constitutional
amendment to make the President
ineligible for reelection after single
term of six years. Nearly 20 years
later, after he had served two terms
in the White House, he was again
mentioned for the presidency. On
November 25, 1903, Cleveland wrote a
letter to the editor of the Brooklyn
Eagle, with a request for its publica-
ton, declaring his decision to remain
in retirement was "unalterable and
conclusive"
When ardent supporters of Nc
Kinley, after his second Inauguration,
limited that he might be candidate
for third term, the President con-
suited his cabinet and made public
his comment:
"In view of the reiteration of the
suggestion of it, say now, once and
for all, expressing long-settled con-
viction, that 1 not only am not and
will not be candidate for a third
term, but would not accept a nomina-
ton for it, were it rendered to me-"
"Wise Custom" Cited.
Theodore Roosevelt summoned the
press on election day, November 8,
1904, and declared he regarded the
three and one-half years of his service
after succeeding Mckinley from the
vice presidency as his first term. THE
wise custom which limits the Presi-
dent to two terms" he said, regards
the substance and not the form, and
under no circumstances will I be can
didate for or accept another nomina-
tion."
When the Omaha Bee published an
editorial in May, 1905, predicting the
President would seek third term in
1908 if his program was blocked in
Congress, Roosevelt advised the news
paper: You are authorized to state
that I will not again be a candidate
for the office of President There are
no strings to this statement. mean ii"
While he became candidate in
1912, Roosevelt insisted he was still
opposed to third successive term, but
denied that the tradition applied to a
President who had retired and lost
control of the party machinery and
Federal patronage. Nevertheless, the
third term issue played an important
part in the 1912 campaign.
In his speech accepting the Re-
publican nomination, President Taft
denounced any violation of the "va'-la-
BILE and time-honored national tradi-
ton" against third term by one
whose recently avowed political
views" involve dangerous changes in
our present constitutional form of rep
resentative government and our in
dependent judiciary"
Woodrow Wilson confronted the
issue before entering the White House
A plank pledging an amendment to
the Constitution, making the Presi-
dent ineligible after one term, had
been adopted at the Baltimore con-
vention in 1912. When the Senate
| approved such an amendment after
the 1912 election, the President-elect
addressed an, open letter to Repre-
sentative A. Mitchell Palmer o1
Pennsylvania on February S, 1918
opposing single six-year term. "Pu,
the present customary limitation oi
two terms into the Constitution If you
do not trust the people to take care
of themselves, but make it two terms
not one," he wrote. Give the Presi-
dent chance to win the full service
| by proving himself fit for It," .Ths
illicit power" Of the President to re.
nominate himself, he declared. VA,
'intolerable" and be recommendet