National Archives at Kansas City

Garrett Epps to Discuss No Crown for Franklin: The Twenty-Second Amendment and the Eclipse of the New Deal

National Archives at Kansas City

For More Information Contact:
Kimberlee Ried, 816-268-8072

Press Release: November 3, 2016

Kansas City (MO)… On Thursday, November 17, at 6:30 p.m., the National Archives will host Garrett Epps for a discussion titled No Crown for Franklin: The Twenty-Second Amendment and the Eclipse of the New Deal. A free light reception will precede the lecture at 6:00 p.m.

One of the rarely discussed Constitutional Amendments is the 22nd, which limits the number of terms a President of the United States is allowed to serve. Depending upon one's opinion, it either created lame duck Presidents or opened the way for new "blood" to serve in office. Along with the proposed Bricker Amendment (and other efforts to limit executive power) in the post Franklin Roosevelt-era, the 22nd Amendment debate was in theory over Constitutional principles, as well as precedents, and often left out its origins in partisanship “it was originally aimed at Franklin Roosevelt” and political ambitions. Epps will discuss the 22nd Amendment, which was passed in 1951, during the Truman presidency, as a reflection of the shift in politics in 1946, and he will examine the impact it has had since the Truman presidency.

This program is presented in partnership with the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum and the Truman Center at the University of Missouri – Kansas City.

Reservations are requested for this free program by calling 816-268-8010 or emailing kansascity.educate@nara.gov. Requests for ADA accommodations must be submitted five business days prior to events.

About the Speaker

Garrett Epps joined the University of Baltimore-School of Law in 2008. He teaches courses in Constitutional Law, First Amendment, and Fiction and Non-Fiction Writing for Law Students. He is a contributing writer to The Atlantic Online and serves as the magazine's Supreme Court correspondent. He is also a contributing editor of The American Prospect. Epps' most recent book, American Justice 2014: Nine Clashing Visions on the Supreme Court, was published by the University of Pennsylvania Press. Epps' previous book, American Epic: Reading the U.S. Constitution, was published in 2013 and was named a finalist for the American Bar Association's Silver Gavel Book award. Two of his previous books, Democracy Reborn: The Fourteenth Amendment and the Fight for Equal Rights in Post-Civil War America and To an Unknown God: Religious Freedom on Trial, were both also Silver Gavel finalists. A former staff writer for The Washington Post, Epps has written for The New York Times, The New York Review of Books, The Nation, and The New Republic. Epps has degrees from Duke University, Hollins College, and Harvard.

The National Archives at Kansas City is home to historical records dating from the 1820s to the 1990s created or received by Federal agencies in Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota. For more information, call 816-268-8000 or visit us online.

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LPM/LE-KC 17-06

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