On this day, November the 5th, in the year of 1940, Franklin D. Roosevelt (Democrat) was reelected as the 32nd (U.S. House of Reps) President of the United States of America over Wendell L. Willkie (Republican).

Up until this election, all but one of the U.S. Presidents followed the precedent set by the first President George Washington and only ran for two terms in the office of the Presidency 

Theodore Roosevelt, a cousin of Franklin Roosevelt, being the exception.

Roosevelt (Franklin) sought reelection for a third term due to the uncertainty brought upon by the outbreak of the Second World War and was otherwise reluctant to run for a third term.

Ultimately winning reelection with 449 electoral votes to Willkies 82 and a near 5 million difference in the popular vote compared to Willkies, Roosevelt would lead the U.S. through World War Two and be reelected for a fourth term in 1944.

While a popular President, the act of a President running for more than two terms became to be seen as unpopular and going against the ideas America was founded on.

In February of 1951, an Amendment to the Constitution that first began in 1947 was ratified which states that the President can serve no more than two terms in office (Britannica) (Constitution Center).