The Presidency: Third-Term Tantalizing

A third term for Ronald Reagan? Michigan Representative Guy Vander Jagt thinks "one of the greatest American Presidents of all time" should have another four years in office, and he has told 300,000 Republicans so in a fund-raising letter. Also enclosed is a petition urging repeal of the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution, which since 1951 has banned the election of anyone to more than two terms in the White House.

The petition is a gimmick designed to fatten G.O.P. coffers, to be sure, but Reagan was perfectly happy to play along. On the fund-raising circuit himself last week, he told a Texas audience that as he flew over the Dallas Convention Center, where he was renominated in 1984, he thought, "I wonder how folks down there would feel about giving it one more try?" As the audience broke into delirious applause, Reagan quickly added, with his showman's timing, "I'm kidding, of course." But not wholly. Reagan has come to see the 22nd Amendment as limiting presidential leverage, and believes it should be repealed, effective after he leaves office. "It's only democratic," he said, for citizens to vote for a President as many times as they want. Some future President, that is.