George Washington

Washington could almost certainly have been re-elected for life. By declining a third term in 1797 and handing over to John Adams, he established that the American presidency passed to a successor chosen by election, a two-term custom that held until 1940 and became the Twenty-second Amendment in 1951. The constitution did not require it; the example did the work. His Farewell Address, warning against faction, is still read in the Senate every year.