A president of the United States can serve a maximum of two elected terms according to the 22nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. This amendment, ratified in 1951, states that no person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice
. Additionally, if a vice president or other successor assumes the presidency and serves more than two years of the previous president’s term, that person can only be elected to the presidency once more. If they serve less than two years of the predecessor’s term, they may be elected twice
. This means the maximum time a person can serve as president is generally 8 years (two full terms), but in some cases, it can be up to 10 years if they served less than two years of a predecessor’s term before being elected twice themselves
. The 22nd Amendment was enacted largely in response to Franklin D. Roosevelt’s four-term presidency, which broke the longstanding tradition set by George Washington of serving no more than two terms
. Since its ratification, no president has served more than two elected terms.
