Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution
As worded, the primary focus of the 22nd Amendment is on limiting individuals twice elected to the presidency from being elected again. Due to this, several issues could be raised regarding the amendment's meaning and application, especially in relation to the 12th Amendment, ratified in 1804, which states, "But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States". While it is clear that under the 12th Amendment the original constitutional qualifications of age, citizenship, and residency apply to both the president and vice president, it is unclear whether someone who is ineligible to be elected president could be elected vice president. Because of this apparent ambiguity, there may be a loophole in the 22nd Amendment whereby a two-term former-president could be elected vice president and then succeed to the presidency as a result of the incumbent's death, resignation, or removal from office (or even succeed to the presidency from some other stated office in the presidential line of succession).
Presidency of Harry S. Truman
The 1946 mid-term election left Republicans in control of Congress for the first time since the early 1930s. Truman initially hoped to work Republican leaders in Congress, focusing on the passage of housing programs and other potential areas of common ground. Truman and the 80th Congress were able to agree on a balanced budget, albeit one that spent less on defense and some other programs that Truman favored. Congress also assented to the creation of the Hoover Commission, which proposed a series of reorganizations to the executive branch. However, the 80th Congress proved strongly resistant to Truman's policies. One of its first major acts was to approve what would become the Twenty-second Amendment, which created presidential term limits. The amendment was designed by Republican leaders as an implicit rebuke to Franklin Roosevelt, the only president who had ever served more than two terms. The Twenty-second Amendment was ratified by the requisite 36 states on February 27, 1951. A major area of contention was Truman's attempts to use price and wage controls to restrain inflation. Congress also passed bills designed to cut taxes, weaken the Interstate Commerce Commission, reduce the number of employees covered by Social Security, and amend the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 (also known as the Wagner Act); all of these bills, except for the revisions to the Wagner Act, were vetoed by Truman in 1947. Upon returning to session in 1948, Congress passed the Revenue Act of 1948, another major tax cut; Truman again vetoed the bill, but this time his veto was overridden by Congress.