Has any president ever served a third term?
Yes. Franklin D. Roosevelt served four terms (1933-1945). No president has served a third term since the 22nd Amendment was ratified in 1951, which now constitutionally bars more than two elected terms.
Franklin D. Roosevelt is the only U.S. president to have served more than two terms. He won the presidency in 1932, 1936, 1940, and 1944, dying in office in April 1945 during his fourth term. Before Roosevelt, the two-term limit was a tradition dating to George Washington's voluntary retirement in 1797, but it was not law.
Roosevelt's extended tenure was controversial. Congress responded after World War II by passing what became the 22nd Amendment, ratified in 1951, which made the two-term limit a constitutional requirement for all future presidents.
Since 1951, no president has served - or could legally serve - a third elected term. Several popular two-term presidents (Eisenhower, Reagan, Clinton, Obama, George W. Bush) were constitutionally barred from seeking a third term and did not attempt one.
Occasional public discussion about whether a particular president 'should' run for a third term is politically meaningful as a gauge of popularity, but legally the question is settled: the 22nd Amendment bars it, and any legal argument claiming otherwise is outside the constitutional mainstream.
Related questions
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Could a president serve two non-consecutive terms and then run again?
Related explainers
The 22nd Amendment limits the president to two elected terms. Ratified in 1951, it bars any person from being elected president more than twice.
No. The 22nd Amendment bars anyone from being elected president more than twice. Having won in 2016 and 2024, Trump is constitutionally ineligible to be elected president again in 2028.
To be eligible, a person must be a natural-born U.S. citizen, at least 35 years old, and have lived in the U.S. for at least 14 years.