which president served 3 terms

Franklin D. Roosevelt is the only U.S. president who served three full terms in office, and he was actually elected to a fourth.

Who served 3 terms?

• Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) was elected president in 1932, 1936, 1940, and 1944.

• His third term began in January 1941, and his fourth term ended with his death in April 1945.

• That makes him the longest-serving U.S. president and the only one to serve more than two terms.

Why was he allowed to do that?

• Before FDR, there was a strong custom (started by George Washington) that presidents stepped down after two terms, but it was not written into the Constitution.

• Because there was no formal limit yet, FDR could legally run for and win a third term in 1940 and then a fourth in 1944, amid the Great Depression and World War II.

What changed after FDR?

• FDR’s four elections led to concern about any one person holding too much presidential power.

• In response, the Twenty-second Amendment was ratified in 1951, limiting future presidents to two elected terms.

So if you’re asking “which president served 3 terms,” the historically correct name is Franklin D. Roosevelt, and uniquely, he even went beyond that to a fourth election.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.