George Washington
At the end of his second term, Washington retired for personal and political reasons, fatigued and disgusted with personal attacks, and to assure a truly contested presidential election could be held. He did not feel bound to a two-term limit, but his retirement ultimately set precedent. The two-term limit to the presidency was formalized with the 1951 adoption of the Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution. Washington is often credited with setting the principal of a two-term presidency, but it was Thomas Jefferson who first refused to run for a third term on political grounds.
Timeline of the Harry S. Truman presidency
The presidency of Harry S. Truman began on April 12, 1945 when Harry S. Truman became president upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt in the last months of World War II, and ended on January 20, 1953.