George Washington set the precedent, reinforced by Thomas Jefferson, of a two-term limit for United States presidents.  It was challenged 141 years later by Franklin D. Roosevelt.  He had won two terms by landslides in 1932 and 1936.   No president before had challenged the two term “cherished tradition,” although Cousin Teddy came close.

Before the events of 1940, FDR had planned to retire to his family estate at Hyde Park at the end of his second term evidencing a genuine desire to write and think in peace in the role of an elder statesman.   He had been occupied with building a small stone cottage overlooking the Catskills to the north and plans for a presidential library.

But in the evening of May 9, 1940, the phone rang in his comfortable study on the second floor of the White House.   FDR listened as his ambassador to Belgium told him that Hitler’s armies were simultaneously attacking Holland, Luxembourg, Belgium and France.  Everyone’s plans were about to change.

The country was still in an isolationist mood. With Hitler’s rapid military success, FDR recognized the urgent need to lead America to the most profound transformation in its history.  He internalized that his leadership was critical to America becoming the “Arsenal of Democracy” and to prepare for the country’s own military defense.

 Others in his party were not so sure.  Politicians started jockeying for position assuming FDR would abide by the well-established two term limitation.  FDR refused to say whether he would run or not and paralyzed the political process.

 Things got more difficult when his long-time friend, political ally and chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) James Farley told FDR he planned to run in any event even after Roosevelt told him he would allow his name to go before the convention “….I feel I owe it to my party.”[1]

FDR knew it would have to be a draft not an outreach on his part. His challenge became how to carefully plan, manage and organize a “spontaneous” draft.  He had repeatedly announced that he had no plans to attend the nomination convention in Chicago scheduled for July 15 – 18.  He believed he deserved a “spontaneous draft” from the party he had led so well and long.  He also realized that a draft would make him stronger in the general election the less anxious he seemed for a third term, which both Washington and Jefferson had refused.

FDR needed an environment for thought and planning.   As in the past, he turned to the USS Potomac where he often relaxed, planned and refueled personally.  He announced an overnight cruise on the Potomac two days before the Chicago nominating convention.  Inclusion of Judge Sam Rosenman on the guest list was a clue that fishing was not the only purpose.  FDR had relied on Rosenman, a close ally and gifted writer, for help with the party platform and acceptance speeches in 1932 and 1936. 

On the Potomac drifting down its namesake river, FDR explained the task at hand ….  a statement that he was not actively seeking a third term.  He wanted delegates to feel free and clear to vote for whomever they wanted.  Over his advisors’ objections, he stubbornly insisted that, unless the convention came to him with an overwhelming show of support, he would refuse the nomination. 

As Rosenman started working on the statement.   The president fished, read the papers and sorted his stamps.   Rosenman is quoted as saying “One would never imagine that significant political history was being made (on the Potomac) by the calm, thoughtful man sitting in the stern relaxing with his hobbies.”  That evening after dinner the president caught a rock bass and an eel.  He then went to work on the brief message Rosenman had drafted.[2]   

The presidential party returned from the Potomac to the White House late Sunday afternoon in oppressive heat.  The convention opened the next day in Chicago.  FDR and guests listed on the radio in the White House.  Eleanor was at Hyde Park.  Delegates were irritable.   They were worried about the third term issue and the popularity of the Republican nominee, liberal businessman Wendell Wilkie.   They wanted the President to tell them what he wanted.   Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes wired the President “This convention is bleeding to death and your reputation and prestige may bleed to death with it.”[3]  Ickes told the President he must appear.

The President was insistent.   For the sake of the general election and the historical record, he wanted to make it clear he was not actively seeking an unprecedented third term, demanding the convention come to him of its own free will.  I have never seen the President more stubborn, Rosenman recalled.

The president’s statement drafted on the Potomac was given to Senator Alben Barkley of Kentucky to read at the end of the keynote address on Tuesday.  The proceeding had run long, and it was nearly midnight in Washington when Barkley approached the podium.   FDR asked Eleanor to listen at Hyde Park.  

An old school, red-faced Southerner, Barkley described the great achievements of the New Deal in an oratorical frenzy before getting to FDR’s message.  He then said “The President wished to make clear to the convention he had no wish to be a candidate again and that all the delegates to this convention are free to vote for any candidate.”  There was silence.  A failure to understand.   The statement said neither yes nor no.   But it did not say he would refuse to serve if nominated nor did he recognize the power of the two-term tradition. 

The delegates set in stunned silence, then from a single loudspeaker not in view, a booming voice shouted, “We want Roosevelt.”  The crowd ignited and picked up the chant.  “We want Roosevelt.”   “New York wants Roosevelt.”” California wants Roosevelt.”

Later, it was traced that the booming voice first chanting “We want Roosevelt” came from the basement where Chicago’s mayor had planted his “leather-lunged, potbellied” superintendent of sewers with a powerful microphone and detailed instructions to begin the stampede as soon as Barkley finished reading the president’s statement.[4]

The next day the president was urged to appear at the convention to bring the delegates together.   He refused but relented for Eleanor to appear.  On the first ballot, the president received 946 votes and 150 went to the other candidates including Farley, who suspended the rules to declare Roosevelt the candidate by acclimation.  Although the “draft” will always have quotation marks surrounding it, the president’s plan conceived on the Potomac had been achieved nonetheless without a party split that could have hurt chances in the November general election.

A fight for the vice president nominee followed with the president drawing a hard but successful line for Henry Wallace to ensure his liberal agenda going forward.

Just after midnight on July 19, FDR accepted his nomination by the Democratic Convention in Chicago by radio from the Oval Room, basement floor, in the White House and then went to bed at 2:30 a.m.  

 At 6 p.m. that afternoon, the president and his party returned to the Potomac for two days to relax and reflect.  His planning that originated on the ship had caused some bruises and hard feelings but had been successful for an unprecedented and never to be legally duplicated third term.  Sam Rosenman was not needed on this victory cruise.

On Nov. 5, 1940, Franklin D. Roosevelt defeated Wendell Willkie to be reelected for an unprecedented third term with 54.7% of the popular vote.   The president was at Hyde Park where he voted earlier in the day.   When the results were announced, he appeared on the porch to see a boy with a placard reading “SAFE ON THIRD” replacing a crossed-out earlier message “OUT STEALING THIRD[5].”

He was elected and the country was heading for war.

[1] “No Ordinary Time” by Doris Kearns Goodwin

[2] Information from “No Ordinary Time” by Doris Kearns Goodwin

[3] “No Ordinary Time” by Doris Kearns Goodwin

[4] “No Ordinary Time” by Doris Kearns Goodwin

[5] “Roosevelt: The Soldier of Freedom (1940 -1945)” by James MacGregor Burns