As the 80th Congress convened in January 1947, Republicans took control of the House and the Senate for the first time since 1933. In the intervening years, they had watched in dismay as President Franklin D. Roosevelt, a Democrat, had been elected to a third term and then a fourth. They vowed to prevent any future president from doing the same.
On January 3, 1947, Rep. Earl C. Michener (R-Mich.) introduced a constitutional amendment to bar a third term for any president who had already “served” two terms. By March 21, 1947, both houses had adopted the amendment, but only after it had been modified to specify that no person shall be “elected” president more than twice. This provision – the 22nd Amendment – went to the states for ratification and became law in 1951.