1940 U.S. presidential election

1940

Franklin D. Roosevelt broke the two-term tradition by defeating Wendell Willkie, as war spread across Europe and Asia.

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The story

On November 5, 1940, Franklin D. Roosevelt became the only president to win a third term, defeating Republican Wendell Willkie. Roosevelt won 449 electoral votes and 54.7 percent of the popular vote to Willkie's 82 and 44.8 percent. Henry A. Wallace, the secretary of agriculture, ran as his vice president.

Since George Washington, no president had served more than two terms, and Roosevelt kept his intentions secret until the Democratic convention drafted him. The war decided the matter: Germany had overrun France in June 1940 and Britain stood alone. Willkie, a utility executive who had never held office, was an internationalist who largely supported aid to Britain, so the campaign turned on experience and the third-term question. Roosevelt promised voters their sons would not be sent into foreign wars, even as he traded destroyers to Britain and signed the first peacetime draft.

Why it mattered

Roosevelt's third term brought Lend-Lease aid to Britain and the Soviet Union in 1941.
He led the country into World War II after Pearl Harbor.
Reaction against his long tenure produced the Twenty-second Amendment, ratified in 1951, limiting presidents to two terms.

Sources

United States presidential election of 1940 Britannica
1940 Electoral College Results National Archives
Wendell Willkie Britannica

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At a glance

When: November 5, 1940
Where: United States (48 states)
Key people: Franklin D. Roosevelt (Democratic, winner)
Wendell Willkie (Republican nominee)
Henry A. Wallace (vice president-elect)
Charles L. McNary (Republican vice-presidential nominee)

449 to 82electoral votes, Roosevelt over Willkie

3consecutive terms won, the first time in U.S. history

496earlier events it rests on

16later events that depend on it