This was passed a couple years after the death of FDR, who was elected to office four times. FDR was also considered a great president. Why did FDR influence the term limits of a president when he did many great things as president? Weren't people glad that he was in office longer than a standard president?
This isn't my specialty, but I have come across it a few times in other reading.
The 22nd Amendment was first proposed in 1947, by a Republican-majority Congress (both House and Senate). The Republican's were able to sway anti-New Deal Dixiecrats (Southern Democrats) to their side and got the proposed amendment through the House with less than 2 hours of debate. Interestingly, one of the few Northern Democrats to vote with the majority was John F. Kennedy, who was in his first term as a representative and whose father had fallen out with FDR. The Senate debated the amendment for 5 days, but ultimately passed it.
According to historian David Kyvig, 18 state legislatures rushed to ratify the amendment, with virtually no public participation in the debate.^1
By 1951, the required three-fourths of the state legislatures had ratified it.
According to historian James MacGregor Burns (who admittedly is known for being a little left leaning):
At the time, an amendment limiting presidents to two terms in office seemed an effective way to invalidate Roosevelt's legacy, to discredit this most progressive of presidents.
Thinking more on this, I'm not exactly sure I agree with Burns. I think the inspiration for Congress to initiate the amendment could have come from an attempt to discredit FDR, but Congress does not pass amendments by themselves, they require a super-majority of states to ratify them. Considering that Truman (who was the Democratic incumbent and had been FDR's VP during his 4th term) had just been reelected, it seems unlikely that 3/4 of the states would vote to snub FDR.
Instead, it probably had more to do with converting an unwritten rule into a written one.
The rule started with George Washington, who could have been King of America, but chose instead to follow the example of Cincinnatus and serve for only as long as he felt his country needed him (which ended up being 2 terms).^2
The only person who had tried to defy that tradition and seek a third term prior to FDR was Ulysses S. Grant; however, he was denied his party's nomination.^3 Teddy Roosevelt also technically sought a third term, but he only ran for office twice, since his first term came after McKinley was assassinated.
Even FDR hesitated (or at least tried to make it seem like he did) before running for a third term, sending a letter to the 1940 Democratic convention, that he would only run if he were drafted, and encouraging the delegates to vote for whomever they pleased. James Burns argues that this was just a tactic FDR used, as at the convention as immediately following the announcement of FDR's message, the loudspeaker screamed "We want Roosevelt... The world wants Roosevelt!"^4
The Republicans campaigned against a 3rd and 4th term in 1940 and 1944, respectively; however, FDR was too much of a political juggernaut to be stopped in the elections. Ultimately he was only deposed (like a king) by his own death.
Therefore, the Congress, which has historically always been weary of the president, acted to ensure that nobody else would get the chance to serve more than two terms. This would also help explain why some Democrats voted for the amendment, seeing as the shoe could just have easily been on the other foot with a Republican president.
David Kyvig, Explicit and Authentic Acts: Amending the U.S. Constitution, 1776-1995
Ron Chernow, [Washington, A Life] (http://www.amazon.com/Washington-A-Life-Ron-Chernow/dp/0143119966)
H.W. Brands, [The Man Who Saved the Union: Ulysses Grant in War and Peace] (http://www.amazon.com/The-Man-Who-Saved-Union/dp/0307475158)
James MacGregor Burns, [Roosevelt: The Lion and the Fox] (http://www.amazon.com/Roosevelt-1882-1940-James-MacGregor-Burns-ebook/dp/B007GSU1BM)
edit: added more details and sources
i dont know where to ask this so iam posting it here
say a president 'A' is elected into office for 4 years say on 1-1-1900 so his tenure would expire on 1-1-1904 right?
somewhere during that period a constitutional amendment is brought to the tenure clause by making it 5 years, but does not explicitly make it retrospective OK?
and says shall come into force after ratification .
say the amendment came into ratification the very next day
so the amendment is now in effect ok ? during the tenure of 'A' .
for whome we voted thinking that he will only be in office for 4 years
the question is will he be in office for 4 years or 5 years ?
i hope i get my question through........ hope iam posting it in the right place