1940 United States presidential election

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Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 5, 1940. The Democratic ticket of incumbent President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Secretary of Agriculture Henry Wallace defeated the Republican ticket of businessman Wendell Willkie and senator Charles McNary, to be re-elected for an unprecedented third term in office. Until 1988, this was the last time in which the incumbent party won three consecutive presidential elections. It was also the fourth presidential election in which both major party candidates were registered in the same home state; the others have been in 1860, 1904, 1920, 1944, and 2016. The election was contested in the shadow of World War II in Europe, as the United States was finally emerging from the Great Depression. Initially, Roosevelt was unwilling to campaign for a third presidential term, but was driven by worsening conditions in Europe. He and his allies sought to defuse challenges from other party leaders such as James Farley and Vice President...

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