First and second terms of the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt First and second terms of the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt The first and second terms of the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt began on March 4, 1933, when he was inaugurated as the 32nd President of the United States, and ended with Roosevelt's third inauguration on January 20, 1941. Roosevelt took office after defeating incumbent Republican President Herbert Hoover, who had presided over the start of the Great Depression. Upon his accession to office, Roosevelt led the implementation of the New Deal, a series of programs designed to provide relief, recovery, and reform to Americans and the American economy.
President of the Continental Congress Congress. The length of a presidential term was ultimately codified by Article Nine of the Articles of Confederation, which authorized Congress "to appoint one of their number to preside; provided that no person be allowed to serve in the office of president more than one year in any term of three years". When the Articles went into effect in March 1781, however, the Continental Congress did not hold an election for a new president under the new constitution. Instead, Samuel Huntington continued serving a term that had already exceeded the new Term limit. The first president to serve the specified