Evening star., 1940-08-11

The Third Term Tradition
Former Presidents Expressions on Question Reviewed
By Raymo p

/ Va O ACuAAUyE
Until November this historical and
political question will be debated in
Congress, in the newspapers, over the
radios and at partisan gatherings. The
answer will be given on election day in
the ballots of 100000 voters, some of
whom. perhaps decisive portion, have
an unswervable conviction that no
President, regardless of circumstances,
should be allowed to remain in office
more than eight years.
In support of Franklin D. Roosevelt's
unprecedented acceptance of nomina-
ton for another consecutive term one
book has already appeared. 1t is
Democracy and the Third Term, the
Present Issue and It's History" by Fred
Rodell of the Yale Law School faculty.
1t was apparently written before Mr..
Roosevelt's nomination by the Chicago
convention; otherwise 1t might have in
cluded the Presidents ambiguous mes
| sage sent through Senator Barkley of
| Kentucky, the permanent chairman of
the convention. Nor does 1t contain the
| Presidents admonition to a New York
| audience in 1892:
"A great man left watchword we can
well repeat: There is no indispensable
man."
Rodell also did not include the de-
tails of the illuminating spectacle of the
Senator Borah of Idaho speaking on
one side of the question and voting on
the other. 1t was in 1928 when the Sen
ate, by vote of Sc to 26, adopted the
La Toilette resolution directed against q
third term for President Coolidge The
majority comprised 81 Democrats, 18
Republicans and one Farmer-Laborite,
while % Republicans and four Demo-
Gratis voted against the measure.
Borah said the whole question might
safely be left to the electorate, but char
acteristically he explained that in gen.
eral the anti-third term tradition was
wise. He voted for the resolution intro
duced by his friend from Wisconsin.
Norris Warning Recalled.
So did Senator Norris of Nebraska,
now an ardent supporter of third
term for Mr.. Roosevelt although he
warned II years ago that power begot
taste for power that any Presidents
political position was so strong that he
could always get himself renominated
If he wanted, and that prolonged oc-
cupancy of the White House might we'll
lead to dictatorship
Before the present session of Congress
ends, the Senate probably will have an
opportunity to express itself on two
similar maneuvers, the anti-third term
resolution of Senator Holt of West Vir-
ginia and the six-year single term
constitutional amendment proposed by
Senator Burke of Nebraska, both anti
New Deal Democrats. Each Senator said
last week he intended to call up his
measure. Mr.. Burke has announced he
has an imposing list of witnesses to ap-
pear before Judiciary subcommittee in
support of his proposal.
The Holt resolution will be embar-
RAISING to number of Democrats.
Among those who voted for the La Fol-
lette resolution were Ashurst of Arizona,
Barkley of Kentucky, Glass of Virginia,
Harrison of Mississippi, King of Utah,
McKellar of Tennessee, Neely of West
Virginia, Pittman of Nevada, Sheppard
OF Texas, Thomas of Oklahoma and Wag-
ner OF New York. Even some of the
Senators who opposed Roosevelt's third
nomination, Smith OF South Carolina,
Tydings of Maryland and Wheeler of
Montana, supporters Of the La Toilette
resolution may not want to go on rec
ord in 1910.
Historical research and congressional
debates verify Rodell's primary thesis
that OF all the Presidents who could have
had third term only Thomas jefferson
had definite conscientious scruples
against more than eight years of service
in the White House, and even he de-
clared that there was one circumstance
which could engage his acquiescence in
another election, namely, "such divi-
sion about successor as might bring in
a monarchist." But, he added, "this
circumstance is impossible"
Washington's Reasons.
Washington clearly stated in his fare
we'll address that he was declining to be
considered for third term only on
purely personal grounds and not as a
matter of principle. Research has in
dicated that during his first term he had
hoped to retire before his original tenure,
but felt constrained to remain in office
to handle several important issues.
Even before his election, Washington
had taken positive stands against limit
ing the presidential term. In the con-
stitutional convention he and Madison
had voted in the Virginia delegation
against a motion by George Mason of
Virginia for seven-year term with
prohibition against reelection, and in
1877 he had written to his friend La
fayette:
II confess differ widely, myself, from
Mr.. Jefferson and you as to the necessity
or expediency of rotation in that de-
partment (the presidency. " There
cannot be, in my judgment, the least
danger that the President will by any
practical intrigue ever be able to con-
tinue himself one moment in Office, much
less perpetuate himself in it. =
can see no propriety in precluding our
selves from the services of any man
who in some great emergency shall be
deemed universally most capable of
serving the public"
Jefferson had been in France during
the Constitutional Convention, but on
his return he hepap hic IIrc11ccacsf,1l