# can a former President who has served two terms run for Vice President **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 31, 2010, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-former-president-who-has-served-two-terms-run-for-vice-president/565924 "2010-12-31T06:51:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-former-president-who-has-served-two-terms-run-for-vice-president/565924/21 "2010-12-31T23:41:44Z")
> [@Do\_Not\_Taunt](#): > > Truman would _not_ have been eligible to run again in 1952 had the 22nd Amendment applied to him, since he had served well more than 2 years of FDR’s term. However, the 22nd Amendment didn’t apply to him. This is absolutely right; I completely forgot about that two-year limitation. So Clinton could not be elected VP in 2012, but conceivably he could be confirmed to fill a vacancy in the office of VP with less than two years remaining in an Obama second term. > [@jtgain](#): > > Not really, because if we were trying to install a President for life in Clinton, Obama could resign at 12:10pm on January 20, 2013 and allow Clinton to serve the remainder of his term. Then Joe Biden Jr. could run in 2016 with Clinton as his VP. Then he could resign at 12:10 pm on January 20, 2017 allowing Clinton to serve the remainder. Rinse and repeat. No, the additional two-year limitation that I overlooked would act as a cumulative limit, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/do_not_taunt/32/2968_2.png) [@Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Do_Not_Taunt)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-former-president-who-has-served-two-terms-run-for-vice-president/565924/22 "2010-12-31T23:55:19Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > No, the additional two-year limitation that I overlooked would act as a cumulative limit, I think. Yes, it’s cumulative, but it only bars Clinton from being elected to the presidency, not serving. The only open question is if he’s eligible to being elected to the _Vice_ Presidency. I don’t think there’s any doubt that were Clinton elected to be Speaker of the House, and both the President and Vice President were to be killed or otherwise unable serve, that Clinton would become president again [li].[/li] [\*] For the purposes of this discussion, anyway. I’ve heard it suggested this line-of-succession is itself unconstitutional. ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2011, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-former-president-who-has-served-two-terms-run-for-vice-president/565924/23 "2011-01-01T06:47:18Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > 2004 would be immaterial to how Bush became President the first time. Right. His team came up with new lies and dirty tricks to get elected in 2004. ---
**Author:** ![Uncertain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Uncertain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncertain)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2011, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-former-president-who-has-served-two-terms-run-for-vice-president/565924/24 "2011-01-01T07:40:18Z")
Come on, let’s not turn this into a partisan fist-fight. That’s really not interesting to the rest of us. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2011, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-former-president-who-has-served-two-terms-run-for-vice-president/565924/25 "2011-01-01T15:24:06Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > No, the additional two-year limitation that I overlooked would act as a cumulative limit, I think. > [@](#): > > No person **shall be** elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President\*\* shall be\*\* elected to the office of the President more than once. (boldings mine) Tom, that seems like a backwards way of looking at it. The amendment contemplates someone serving as President and then subsequently being elected (see “shall be” in the text). Clinton has already been elected twice, so we all agree that he can’t be elected President again. However, nothing in the amendment prevents him from **serving** as President for any period of time. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2011, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-former-president-who-has-served-two-terms-run-for-vice-president/565924/26 "2011-01-01T21:02:34Z")
If Lyndon Johnson had chosen to run in 1968, and had been elected, he would have ended up serving well over 2 terms as president. Of course, he did not choose to run, but I have never heard any suggestion that there would have been any constitutional problem with his doing so, had he wanted to, or with his serving another term. Surely, in fact, his announcement that he would not run came as a considerable surprise at the time. It should not have been a surprise (or even necessary to announce) if his serving another term would have been unconstitutional. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2011, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-former-president-who-has-served-two-terms-run-for-vice-president/565924/27 "2011-01-01T21:17:05Z")
Kennedy was inaugurated on Jan. 20, 1961 and died on Nov. 22, 1963; Johnson had served less than two years of his predecessor’s unexpired term, and was elected as President in his own right in 1964. Under the terms of the 22nd Amendment, he was unquestionably constitutionally eligible to run for another full term in 1968. > **[Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty-second_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution)** > > The Twenty-second Amendment (Amendment XXII) to the United States Constitution limits the number of times a person can be elected to the office of President of the United States to two terms, and sets additional eligibility conditions for presidents who succeed to the unexpired terms of their predecessors. Congress approved the Twenty-second Amendment on March 21, 1947, and submitted it to the state legislatures for ratification. That process was completed on February 27, 1951, when the requi... ---
**Author:** ![42fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/b487fb/32.png) [@42fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/42fish)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2011, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-former-president-who-has-served-two-terms-run-for-vice-president/565924/28 "2011-01-01T22:29:02Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > This is absolutely right; I completely forgot about that two-year limitation. So Clinton could not be elected VP in 2012, but conceivably he could be confirmed to fill a vacancy in the office of VP with less than two years remaining in an Obama second term. Or, alternatively, Clinton could be elected VP in 2012, but if the President he were serving under died on, say, Feb. 1, 2013, Clinton would be required to resign as President on Feb. 1, 2015 due to the two-terms-plus-two-years limit. (Just for the sake of argument.) ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-former-president-who-has-served-two-terms-run-for-vice-president/565924/29 "2011-01-02T03:06:52Z")
As long as we’re exploring scenarios, how about Clinton being elected to the House, then becoming Speaker, then having the President and Vice President die/resign/be impeached before they have a chance to name their successors? Or for that matter, GWB? ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-former-president-who-has-served-two-terms-run-for-vice-president/565924/30 "2011-01-02T03:19:24Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > As long as we’re exploring scenarios, how about Clinton being elected to the House, then becoming Speaker, then having the President and Vice President die/resign/be impeached before they have a chance to name their successors? > > Or for that matter, GWB? This is covered under succession laws very clearly. In your scenario, Speaker Clinton would be skipped and the next person in line would be POTUS. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-former-president-who-has-served-two-terms-run-for-vice-president/565924/31 "2011-01-02T03:31:05Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > It would have applied to him for his first term, and 2004 would not have changed that. Bush was arguably still the 2nd person to become President without having been elected to either the Presidency or the vice-presidency, regardless of what happened in 2004. Are you saying that Bush should be able to run for President again since he’s only been elected once? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-former-president-who-has-served-two-terms-run-for-vice-president/565924/32 "2011-01-02T04:03:15Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > This is covered under succession laws very clearly. In your scenario, Speaker Clinton would be skipped and the next person in line would be POTUS. The same thing would happen, by the way, if the Speaker was ineligible for any reason like not being a citizen at birth. ---
**Author:** ![Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/do_not_taunt/32/2968_2.png) [@Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Do_Not_Taunt)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-former-president-who-has-served-two-terms-run-for-vice-president/565924/33 "2011-01-02T05:36:05Z")
> [@42fish](#): > > Or, alternatively, Clinton could be elected VP in 2012, but if the President he were serving under died on, say, Feb. 1, 2013, Clinton would be required to resign as President on Feb. 1, 2015 due to the two-terms-plus-two-years limit. (Just for the sake of argument.) No, there is nothing in the 22nd Amendment that would require this. If Clinton could be elected VP in 2012 (open question), and then succeeded to the presidency, he would be able to finish that term. [QUOTE=hajario] This is covered under succession laws very clearly. In your scenario, Speaker Clinton would be skipped and the next person in line would be POTUS. [/QUOTE] Why do you believe this is true? ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-former-president-who-has-served-two-terms-run-for-vice-president/565924/34 "2011-01-02T15:05:53Z")
> [@AWB](#): > > Right. His team came up with new lies and dirty tricks to get elected in 2004. Please avoid political jabs in General Questions. **Gfactor** General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-former-president-who-has-served-two-terms-run-for-vice-president/565924/35 "2011-01-02T16:02:27Z")
> [@Do\_Not\_Taunt](#): > > Why do you believe this is true? When Madeline Albright was Sec of State it was clearly mentioned that she was not in the line of succession because she was a naturalized citizen. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-former-president-who-has-served-two-terms-run-for-vice-president/565924/36 "2011-01-02T16:35:39Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > It would have applied to him for his first term, and 2004 would not have changed that. Bush was arguably still the 2nd person to become President without having been elected to either the Presidency or the vice-presidency, regardless of what happened in 2004. You are really[into this](http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d97/Clothahump/beating-a-dead-horse.gif), aren’t you? There’s no “arguably” about it. Bush won the election. Deal with it. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-former-president-who-has-served-two-terms-run-for-vice-president/565924/37 "2011-01-02T18:12:22Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > You are really[into this](http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d97/Clothahump/beating-a-dead-horse.gif), aren’t you? > > There’s no “arguably” about it. Bush won the election. Deal with it. [Moderator Instruction] Let’s drop discussion of the validity of the 2000 election here (and 2004 as well). This goes for everyone. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![MilTan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@MilTan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MilTan)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-former-president-who-has-served-two-terms-run-for-vice-president/565924/38 "2011-01-02T18:14:36Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > When Madeline Albright was Sec of State it was clearly mentioned that she was not in the line of succession because she was a naturalized citizen. That’s because being a natural-born citizen is a requirement to _be_ President. The question is whether the 22nd amendment establishes additional criteria to be president, or to be _elected_ President. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-former-president-who-has-served-two-terms-run-for-vice-president/565924/39 "2011-01-02T18:29:57Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > When Madeline Albright was Sec of State it was clearly mentioned that she was not in the line of succession because she was a naturalized citizen. Likewise Elaine Chao, President George W. Bush’s Secretary of Labor, who was born in Taiwan but naturalized after coming to the U.S. with her family at age eight. ---
**Author:** ![Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/do_not_taunt/32/2968_2.png) [@Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Do_Not_Taunt)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-former-president-who-has-served-two-terms-run-for-vice-president/565924/40 "2011-01-02T18:40:48Z")
> [@MilTan](#): > > That’s because being a natural-born citizen is a requirement to _be_ President. The question is whether the 22nd amendment establishes additional criteria to be president, or to be _elected_ President. Right, except that isn’t a question. The 22nd amendment clearly says ‘elected.’ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-former-president-who-has-served-two-terms-run-for-vice-president/565924.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-former-president-who-has-served-two-terms-run-for-vice-president/565924.md?page=3)