Evening star., 1951-02-11

E The proposed 22d amendment
10 the Constitution of the United
States. limiting a President to
two terms. is on the march.
Twenty-nine States have ratified,
and seven more are needed. Pro-
ponentS of the amendment
and they are in the majority
are now predicting eventual VIC
tory. 1t is always job, however,
to get the final 36th State, and
there remains considerable work
ahead.
Supporters Of the two-term
limitation we're particularly en-
couraged when during. the last
week New Mexico ratified. The
Legislature there is Democratic
although the State elected a Re-
publican Governor last November
for the first time in many years.
The vote in the State Senate was
% to 2 in favor of the amend
ment, and In the House, So to Q
Obviously the amendment is being
dealt with on a non-partisan
basis, despite the fact that it was
submitted to the States by a
Republican Congress, the Both,
called by President Truman tile
second worst in history-and
dumb.
Incidentally. the proposed
amendment specifically exempts
President Truman from its terms.
Its adoption. however. might be
considered more than a hint that
he refrain from running again
since at the conclusion Of this,
his first elective term. he will
have served two full four-year
terms, barring two months and
% days.
The amendment provides that
no one shall be elected President
more than twice-and it provides,
too. that any one who has served
two years as President-as in the
case of Vice President who sue
ceeds to the Office on the death
of a President-shall not be
elected more than once. 1t pro-
vides, however, that the occupant
of the White House at the time
of submission of the amendment
to the States by Congress shall
not be subject to this provision.
The amendment was submitted
to the States by Congress March
"a, 1947, and Mr.. Truman was
serving as President at the time.
Ratified by % States
The 20 States which have rati-
fled the amendment are California,
Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware.
Illinois, Iowa, Kansas. Louisiana,
Maine. Michigan, Mississippi. Mis-
souri,, Montana, Nebraska, New
Jersey, New Hampshire, New York,
North Dakota. Ohio, Oregon,
Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Vir-
ginia. Vermont. Wisconsin, In
diana. Idaho, New Mexico and
Wyoming.
OF the 19 other States, one has
rejected the Observation-Disclosures
sas. The supporters of the amend
ment must pick up at least seven
from the remaining 18 States. It
looks like a good year for them
to do so-with the Truman ad-
rninistration at a low ebb in pop
ularity.
When the amendment was first
proposed to the States by Con-
gress in 1947, an argument raised
against it was that it reflected
upon character and service of the
late President Roosevelt. 1t was
predicted that States which the
Democratic Party controlled would
have none of it. This has not
proved the case, however. Loui-
Siana. Mississippi, Virginia and
President Truman's own home
State. Missouri, all ratified the
amendment. Just recently Indiana,
with a Democratic Governor in
Office, has ratified, and so have
Montana and New Mexico.
The Legislatures Of A States
are meeting in 1851, and it Is a
fair bet that the Legislatures Of
the four others will be called into
special session at some time this
year to deal with defense matters.
The chances are. therefore, that
the proposed 22d amendment may
be ratified before the year Is out.
'Unwritten Rule Broken
The amendment should be con-
sidered and acted upon entirely
outside of partisan politics. Either
1t is a good thing to limit the
tenure of office of any man, Re
publican or Democrat. who sits in
the White House. or it is not.
Until the days OF Franklin D.
Roosevelt, no man had actually
challenged the wisdom of the un-
written rule that a President
should not serve more than two
full terms. Washington declined
to run after he had served two
terms, and Thomas Jefferson, pa
tron saint of the Democratic
Party, vigorously maintained that
longer tenure of the Office would
tend toward autocratic govern
ment. There are those, however,
who insist the hands of the people
should not be tied by the proposed
two-term resolution, and that
they should be at liberty at all