Once a United States president has served his maximum two terms, is there any possible way he or she can serve again a few years later or is that it for life?

Jac

He could always engineer it so that the end of his second term came in the middle of a major catastrophe/war (not that I'm saying Roosevelt did this!), in which case it might well be felt that his staying on would be a lot smoother than bringing in someone new. In a similar way, in a time of great trouble he might be invited back (cf Churchill). But it's highly unlikely, given the legislation in place. It would have to be a HUGE catastrophe, IMO. The UK, of course, has no such time restriction on Prime Ministers. Jan 28 03, 1:26 PM

McGruff

The answer is no. Amendment XXII: Section 1. No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once. http://www.post-gazette.com/nation/20021127amendment_22p9.asp My link also explains that this came about after, and because of, Roosevelt's 13 year administration. Jan 28 03, 4:44 PM

sequoianoir

Amendment XXII: The wording seems very specific about being 'ELECTED' president and NOT that such a person could become president without being elected. Lyndon B Johnson was not elected president after JFK was killed. He became president, assumed the role and position, by the fact he was vice-president at the time. Is there any ammendment that says a former president of 2 terms cannot be chosen or nominated for the postion of vice president? If the current vice-president Dick Cheney became very ill or died, who would replace him and how? Could George W Bush decide he would like his father George Bush Snr to take up the position? Would this be OK since G Bush Snr. has only served one term but outlawed if he had served 2? If this is not the case, then should the president die in office under these circumstances, the same man would be a president for a 3rd time. Jan 28 03, 11:45 PM

Jimmy

The case of LBJ is very relevant since it was commonly thought that he would seek re-election in 1968 albeit he decided not to. Under the current constitution, as detailed above a President can only serve two terms if elected. If Dubya appointed his father as VP and then died so that his father succeeded as President that would be OK constitutionally but this is irrelevalent since his father only served one term. Even if his father had served two terms it would still be OK but his father, in that case, would not be able to seek re-election. Jan 28 03, 11:50 PM

sequoianoir

Can you clarify that last sentence? I'm not sure what you were saying would happen if his father had served 2 terms. Let me ask this. I know that Dubya and Clinton are on opposite sides of the fence, but Bill has served his 2 terms. Could Dubya appoint Clinton as Vice President if he wanted to? If Dubya then died in office, would Clinton assume the role of President? (He would NOT have been ELECTED to the position !) Jan 29 03, 12:27 AM

McGruff

The 22nd Amendment does not specifically state a President has to have been elected twice to be ineligible for another term. If a Vice President were to assume the office of President and complete two or more years of the term, that would be considered one of his two terms even though he was not elected. He can then be re-elected to serve one more 4-year term. If he assumes the Presidency with less than two years left in the term, he is eligible to be re-elected for two complete 4-year terms. In the event something happens to the Vice President, the President immediately appoints a replacement, but the House and Senate must approve the appointment. If something should happen to both the President and Vice President, the Speaker of the House assumes the duties of President. Jan 29 03, 8:46 AM

McG

Since the main purpose of the office of Vice President is to provide a successor in the event of death, resignation or impeachment of the President, I would think a person not eligible to run for President would also be ineligible to run or be appointed to the office of Vice President. Jan 29 03, 8:48 AM

Andy

The answer to this question is yes. For example, Bill Clinton has already been elected and served his two terms. Bill Clinton can legally run for election again and be elected, because Dubya's term (or terms depending on whether he is elected to a second one) is in the middle of Clinton's terms. The 22nd Amendment simply states that you cannot serve more than two CONSECUTIVE terms. Jan 29 03, 5:19 PM

McG	'Consecutive' does not appear anywhere in the text of the 22nd Amendment. It isn't very long, take a look: http://www.termlimits.org/Current_Info/22nd-Amendment-text.html Jan 29 03, 5:32 PM

sequoianoir

McG, I still say it appears to be very strongly worded re being 'ELECTED' to to position. It is only the 1st sentence of the amendment that actually has any bearing. 'No person shall be ELECTED to the office of the President more than twice' - No problem. The next bit 'and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some OTHER person was ELECTED President' is quite clear but only really with respect to the last bit, 'shall be ELECTED to the office of the President more than once.' However the middle bit is vague with regards to having held or acted as President, that one cannot repeat this on many occasions providing you are not elected to the position. I agree with your comment re a vice-president assuming 'the Presidency with less than two years left in the term'. Potentially this assumed role could actually happen to the same person for a 2 year period (less one day) out of every 4 year term of the ELECTED President for as many times as humanly possible. This tends to suggest that it could happen also for multiple 3 year assumed/acting roles. If so, surely this would lead to and allow a 2 term President from assuming/acting in the position also. Jan 29 03, 7:39 PM

McG

Because Section 2 allows seven years for ratification, the 'fuzzy' part is exempting the current president and subsequent presidents who may come to office during the ratification process. If, say a president was already into his third term at the time the amendment was ratified, it would not prohibit that president from legally finishing out the term. This site is an attempt explain and simplify the language of the 22nd Amendment. http://www.vaix.net/~captainnemo/plan/22nd.htm Jan 30 03, 9:28 AM

Captain Nemo

The exact quote of the relevant part of the 22nd Amendment reads: 'No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once.' If a President has served his legal full two terms, they cannot constitutionally assume office again. This is the same as there being an ammendment that says a former president of 2 terms cannot be chosen or nominated for the postion of Vice President. Could George W Bush decide he would like his father George Bush Sr to take up the position? Yes. Bush Sr only had 1 term of office. Bill Clinton has served his 2 full terms. Could Bush Jr appoint Clinton as Vice President if he wanted to? Nope. Clinton's had his turns at bat, and struck out. BTW, thanks for mentioning my web site. Jan 30 03, 10:48 PM

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Once a U.S. President has served his maximum two terms, is there any possible way he/she can serve again a few years later or is that it for life? Is it possible for me to become president of the United States, and can I serve two terms? Again, looking for a 3-7 year old movie. Not sure of any of the actors. May take place in Ireland. Older middle aged woman's husband dies, she thinks she's set for life, but finds he has mortgaged everything. She ends up growing pot in her green house and selling it in London I believe. Can anyone be of any help? Is there a maximum age to become president of the United States? John F. Kennedy was born in 1917. He became president of the United States in 1961. When he was assassinated, he was 46 years old and he had been in power for two years. The sum of these numbers is 3,926. Nikita Khrushchev was born in 1894. He became premier of the USSR in 1958. When Kennedy was assassinated he was 69 years old and had been in power for five years. The sum of these numbers is 3,926. Charles de Gaulle was born in 1890. He became president of France in 1958. When Kennedy died, de Gaulle was 73 years old and had been president for five years. The sum of these four numbers is also 3,926. How can this astonishing coincidence be explained?

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