In 1940, the Republican Party nominated a candidate who was a wealthy businessman who had never been elected to public office. (Sound familiar?) He was running against a president who was seeking to do something no president had ever done before: win a third term in office.


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Herbert Hoover had gone from hero to goat. Once considered the most brilliant man in America, once elected President in a landslide, Hoover now found himself on the other side of that landslide. He had lost his bid for re-election to Franklin Roosevelt in a bitter contest and many Americans blamed Hoover for the Great Depression that they were in ( Read more... )

On July 14, 1913 (111years ago today) Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr. was born in Omaha, Nebraska. When he was born his name was Leslie Lynch King Jr. He would later change his name because his birth father, Leslie Lynch King Sr., was physically abusive to Ford's mother and he preferred to honor his mother's second husband, a much kinder man and more of a ( Read more... )

Franklin Delano Roosevelt is definitely one of the most biographied presidents, and it is understandable why. He served as President longer than anyone has (or will unless there is a Constitutional Amendment allowing a President to hold the office for longer than two full terms.) He held the office through a Great Depression and then a World War, ( Read more... )

In 1944, as the Second World War was into its fifth year, many expected that Franklin Delano Roosevelt's presidency was coming to a close, as they hoped the war was. Although Roosevelt was only 62 years old, he looked much older. The war and the other pressures he was under had taken their toll on him physically. Many were shocked when four years ( Read more... )

In 1940, the Republican Party nominated a candidate who was a wealthy businessman who had never been elected to public office. (Sound familiar?) He was running against a president who was seeking to do something no president had ever done before: win a third term in office.


( Read more... )

By the time the 1940 Presidential election had approached, Franklin Roosevelt had served two full terms in office. Up to that point in time, no president had successfully won a third term. At this point in time the Constitution did not prohibit such a thing, as would later be the case. But most presidents had followed the example set by George ( Read more... )

On July 18, 1940, Franklin Delano Roosevelt broke precedent by being nominated by his party to run for a third term as President. No one else has ever done this before or since. Others have been nominated for president by a major party three times but none after holding the office twice. Ulysses Grant sought a third term after serving two and being ( Read more... )

On July 14, 1913 (110 years ago today) Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr. was born in Omaha, Nebraska. When he was born his name was Leslie Lynch King Jr. He would later change his name because his birth father, Leslie Lynch King Sr., was physically abusive to Ford's mother and he preferred to honor his mother's second husband, a much kinder man and more of ( Read more... )

Although Franklin Roosevelt came from a wealthy family and was a rich man himself, some of his greatest opposition as President came from a group of very wealthy and privileged Americans who called themselves the "American Liberty League." This was a political organization officially formed in 1934. Its membership consisted primarily of wealthy ( Read more... )