United States presidential election, 1932

United States presidential election, 1932
1928 ←
 November 8, 1932
 → 1936
 
Nominee Franklin D. Roosevelt Herbert Hoover
Party Democratic Republican
Home state New York Iowa
Running mate John Nance Garner Charles Curtis
Electoral vote 472 59
States carried 42 6
Popular vote 22,821,277 15,761,254
Percentage 57.4% 39.7%
Presidential election results map. Red denotes states won by Hoover/Curtis, Blue denotes those won by Roosevelt/Garner. Numbers indicate the number of electoral votes allotted to each state.
President before election

Herbert Hoover
Republican

 Elected President

Franklin D. Roosevelt
Democratic

The United States presidential election of 1932 took place as the effects of the Wall Street Crash of 1929, the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930, the Revenue Act of 1932, and the Great Depression were being felt intensely across the country. President Herbert Hoover's popularity was falling as voters felt he was worsening the depression through his excessive spending and protectionism. Franklin D. Roosevelt criticized Hoover's excessive spending and his protectionist policies; in fact, his running mate John Nance Garner accused Hoover of "leading the country down the path of socialism."[1] Roosevelt won by a landslide, and this "critical election" marked the collapse of the Fourth Party System or Progressive Era. The voters soon were realigned into the Fifth Party System, dominated by Roosevelt's New Deal Coalition.

This was the first election in the United States since 1876 in which the Democratic candidate won a majority of the popular vote.

Contents

Nominations

Republican Party nomination

Main article: 1932 Republican National Convention

Republican candidates:

Candidates gallery

As the year 1932 began, the Republican Party believed Hoover's protectionism and aggressive fiscal policies would solve the depression; in any case, President Herbert Hoover controlled the party. Little-known former United States Senator Joseph I. France ran against Hoover in the primaries, but Hoover was often unopposed. France's primary wins were tempered by his defeat to Hoover in his home state of Maryland and the fact that few delegates to the national convention were chosen in the primaries.

Hoover's managers at the Republican National Convention, which met in Chicago between June 14 and June 16, ran a tight ship, not allowing expressions of concern for the direction of the nation. He was nominated on the first ballot with 98% of the delegate vote.

The tally was spectacularly lopsided:

Presidential Ballot, RNC 1932
Herbert Hoover 1126.5
John J. Blaine 13
Calvin Coolidge 4.5
Joseph I. France 4
James Wolcott Wadsworth, Jr. 1

Both the agricultural Republicans and the extreme hard-money Republicans (the latter hoping to nominate former President Calvin Coolidge) balked at the floor managers and voted against the renomination of Vice-President Charles Curtis, who won with just 55% of the delegate votes.

Democratic Party Nomination

Main article: 1932 Democratic National Convention

Democratic candidates:

The leading candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1932 was New York Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR). Speaker of the House John Nance Garner and former Governor of New York Al Smith were trailing him. Before the 1932 Democratic National Convention met in Chicago between June 27 and July 2, FDR was believed to have more delegate votes than all of his opponents combined. However, due to the "two-thirds" nominating rule then used by the Democrats, FDR's opponents hoped that he would be unable to obtain the two-thirds majority necessary to win, and that they could gain votes on later ballots.

On the first three ballots Roosevelt had well over a majority of the delegate vote, but still lacked the two-thirds majority. Before the fourth ballot his managers - James Farley and Louis McHenry Howe - struck a deal with House Speaker John Nance Garner, who was also a candidate. Garner agreed to drop out of the race and support FDR, and in return FDR agreed to name Garner as his running mate. With this agreement Roosevelt won the two-thirds majority and with it the presidential nomination.

General election

Campaign

After making an airplane trip to the Democratic convention, Roosevelt accepted the nomination in person. In this history-making speech, Roosevelt promised to "abolish useless offices" and "eliminate unnecessary functions of Government," stating that "Government—Federal and State and local—costs too much," and even promised to help facilitate the "restoration of the trade of the world." [2] Roosevelt's trip to Chicago was the first of several successful, precedent-making moves designed to make him appear to be the candidate of change in the election. Large crowds greeted Roosevelt as he traveled around the nation; his campaign song "Happy Days Are Here Again" became one of the most popular in American political history.

In contrast, Hoover was widely blamed for the Great Depression. For more than two years, President Hoover had been restricting trade and aggressively taxing the economy with legislation such as the Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act and the Revenue Act of 1932. The outrage caused by the deaths of veterans in the Bonus Army incident combined with the catastrophic economic effects of Hoover's domestic policies reduced his chances of a second term from slim to none. His attempts to campaign in public were a disaster, as he often had objects (especially rotten fruit and vegetables) thrown at him or his vehicle as he rode through city streets. In his addresses, Hoover attacked Governor Roosevelt as a capitalist president who would only make the Depression worse by decreasing taxes, reducing government intervention in the economy, promoting "trade [with] the world," and cutting "Government—Federal and State and local." [2] However, with unemployment at 23.6%,[3][4] Hoover's criticisms of Roosevelt's campaign promises did nothing more than further lower his popularity with the public; in fact, it was said that "Even a vaguely talented dog-catcher could have been elected president against the Republicans." [5] Hoover even received a letter from an Illinois man that advised, "Vote for Roosevelt and make it unanimous".

Hoover called Gov. Roosevelt a "chameleon in plaid" and Roosevelt called President Hoover a "fat, timid capon."[6] In the last days of campaigning, Hoover criticized Roosevelt's "nonsense ... tirades ... glittering generalizations ... ignorance" and "defamation".[6]

The election was held on November 8, 1932. Maine held separate state elections in September.

1932 was a realigning election, as Roosevelt and the Democratic ticket won a sweeping victory over Hoover and the Republicans, extending their control over the U.S. House and gaining control of the U.S. Senate. Twelve years of Republican leadership came to an end, and 20 consecutive years of Democratic control of the White House would ensue.[6] Until 1932, the Republicans had controlled the Presidency for 56 of the previous 72 years, dating to Abraham Lincoln's election in 1860. After 1932, the Democrats would control the Presidency for 28 of the next 36 years, until the 1968 election created a new alignment that favored the Republicans (cemented in 1980). The vote for Roosevelt was nearly eight million higher than that for Al Smith in 1928, an increase of 52%, whereas Hoover's popular vote was reduced by 26% from his result in the 1928 election. In addition, the vote for most minor parties rose dramatically: increases of 230% for the Socialist Party (Norman Thomas' highest raw vote total of his campaigns); an increase of 112% for the Communist Party; an increase of 305% for the Prohibition Party; and an increase of 57% for the Socialist Labor Party.

FDR's victory with 472 electoral votes stood until the 1964 victory of Lyndon Johnson (486 votes) as the most electoral votes ever won by a first-time contestant in a presidential election (Johnson was President by virtue of ascending to the office upon the death of John F. Kennedy as his Vice President), and until the 1980 victory of Ronald Reagan (489 votes) as the most electoral votes ever won by a non-incumbent candidate. He also set a new record for the most number of electoral votes an American presidential candidate had ever won (which he himself would break when he was re-elected in 1936 with 523 votes).

Results

The Roosevelt ticket swept every region of the country except New England and carried many reliable Republican states that had not been carried by the Democrats since their electoral landslide of 1912, when the Republican vote was divided. The state of Minnesota was carried by a Democrat for the first time in its history (leaving Vermont as the only remaining state never to be carried by a Democratic candidate).

Presidential candidate Party Home state Popular vote Electoral
vote		 Running mate
Count Pct Vice-presidential candidate Home state Elect. vote
Franklin D. Roosevelt Democratic New York 22,821,277 57.4% 472 John Nance Garner Texas 472
Herbert Hoover Republican California 15,761,254 39.7% 59 Charles Curtis Kansas 59
Norman Thomas Socialist New York 884,885 2.2% 0 James H. Maurer Pennsylvania 0
William Z. Foster Communist Illinois 103,307 0.3% 0 James W. Ford Alabama 0
William David Upshaw Prohibition Georgia 81,905 0.2% 0 Frank S. Regan Illinois 0
William Hope Harvey Liberty Arkansas 53,425 0.1% 0 Frank Hemenway Washington 0
Verne L. Reynolds Socialist Labor New York 33,276 0.1% 0 J.W. Aiken Massachusetts 0
Other 12,569 0.1% — Other —
Total 39,751,898 100% 531 531
Needed to win 266 266

Source (Popular Vote): Leip, David. 1932 Presidential Election Results. Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections (July 31, 2005).Source (Electoral Vote): Electoral College Box Scores 1789–1996. Official website of the National Archives. (July 31, 2005).

Close States

Margin of victory less than 5%:

  1. Connecticut, 1.1%
  2. New Hampshire, 1.4%
  3. New Jersey, 1.9%
  4. Delaware, 2.4%
  5. Ohio, 2.9%
  6. Massachusetts, 4.0%

Results by state


 Franklin Roosevelt

Democratic		 Herbert Hoover

Republican		 Norman Thomas

Socialist		 Other State Total
State electoral
votes		 # % electoral
votes		 # % electoral
votes		 # % electoral
votes		 # % electoral
votes		 #
Alabama 11 207,910 84.7 11 34,675 14.1 - 2,030 0.8 - 739 0.3 - 245,354 AL
Arizona 3 79,264 67.0 3 36,104 30.5 - 2,618 2.2 - 265 0.2 - 118,251 AZ
Arkansas 9 189,602 86.0 9 28,467 12.9 - 1,269 0.6 - 1,224 0.6 - 220,562 AR
California 22 1,324,157 58.4 22 847,902 37.4 - 63,299 2.8 - 32,608 1.4 - 2,267,966 CA
Colorado 6 250,877 54.8 6 189,617 41.4 - 13,591 3.0 - 3,611 0.8 - 457,696 CO
Connecticut 8 281,632 47.4 - 288,420 48.5 8 20,840 3.5 - 3,651 0.6 - 594,183 CT
Delaware 3 54,319 48.1 - 57,073 50.6 3 1,376 1.2 - 133 0.1 - 112,901 DE
Florida 7 206,307 74.7 7 69,170 25.0 - 775 0.3 - not on ballot 276,252 FL
Georgia 12 234,118 91.6 12 19,863 7.8 - 461 0.2 - 1,148 0.5 - 255,590 GA
Idaho 4 109,479 58.7 4 71,417 38.3 - 526 0.3 - 5,203 2.8 - 186,625 ID
Illinois 29 1,882,304 55.2 29 1,432,756 42.0 - 67,258 2.0 - 25,608 0.8 - 3,407,926 IL
Indiana 14 862,054 54.7 14 677,184 42.9 - 21,388 1.4 - 16,301 1.0 - 1,576,927 IN
Iowa 11 598,019 57.7 11 414,433 40.0 - 20,467 2.00 - 3,768 0.4 - 1,036,687 IA
Kansas 9 424,204 53.6 9 349,498 44.1 - 18,276 2.3 - not on ballot 791,978 KS
Kentucky 11 580,574 59.1 11 394,716 40.2 - 3,853 0.4 - 3,920 0.4 - 983,063 KY
Louisiana 10 249,418 92.8 10 18,853 7.0 - not on ballot 533 0.2 - 268,804 LA
Maine 5 128,907 43.2 - 166,631 55.8 5 2,489 0.8 - 417 0.1 - 298,444 ME
Maryland 8 314,314 61.5 8 184,184 36.0 - 10,489 2.1 - 2,067 0.4 - 511,054 MD
Massachusetts 17 800,148 50.6 17 736,959 46.6 - 34,305 2.2 - 8,702 0.6 - 1,580,114 MA
Michigan 19 871,700 52.4 19 739,894 44.4 - 39,205 2.4 - 13,966 0.8 - 1,664,765 MI
Minnesota 11 600,806 59.9 11 363,959 36.3 - 25,476 2.5 - 12,602 1.3 - 1,002,843 MN
Mississippi 9 140,168 96.0 9 5,180 3.4 - 686 0.5 - not on ballot 146,034 MS
Missouri 15 1,025,406 63.7 15 564,713 35.1 - 16,374 1.0 - 3,401 0.2 - 1,609,894 MO
Montana 4 127,286 58.8 4 78,078 36.1 - 7,891 3.7 - 3,224 1.5 - 216,479 MT
Nebraska 7 359,082 63.0 7 201,177 35.3 - 9,876 1.7 - 2 0.0 - 570,137 NE
Nevada 3 28,756 69.4 3 12,674 30.6 - not on ballot 41,430 NV
New Hampshire 4 100,680 49.0 - 103,629 50.4 4 947 0.5 - 264 0.1 - 205,520 NH
New Jersey 16 806,394 49.5 16 775,406 47.6 - 42,988 2.6 - 4,719 0.3 - 1,629,507 NJ
New Mexico 3 95,089 62.7 3 54,217 35.8 - 1,776 1.2 - 524 0.4 - 151,606 NM
New York 47 2,534,959 54.1 47 1,937,963 41.3 - 177,397 3.8 - 38,295 0.8 - 4,688,614 NY
North Carolina 13 497,566 69.9 13 208,344 29.3 - 5,591 0.8 - not on ballot 711,501 NC
North Dakota 4 178,350 69.6 4 71,772 28.0 - 3,521 1.4 - 2,647 1.0 - 256,290 ND
Ohio 26 1,301,695 49.9 26 1,227,319 47.0 - 64,094 2.5 - 16,620 0.6 - 2,609,728 OH
Oklahoma 11 516,468 73.3 11 188,165 26.7 - not on ballot 704,633 OK
Oregon 5 213,871 58.0 5 136,019 36.7 - 15,450 4.2 - 3,468 0.9 - 368,808 OR
Pennsylvania 36 1,295,948 45.3 - 1,453,540 50.8 36 91,223 3.2 - 18,466 0.7 - 2,859,177 PA
Rhode Island 4 146,604 55.1 4 115,266 43.3 - 3,138 1.2 - 1,162 0.4 - 266,170 RI
South Carolina 8 102,347 98.0 8 1,978 1.9 - 82 0.1 - not on ballot 104,407 SC
South Dakota 4 183,515 63.6 4 99,212 34.4 - 1,551 0.5 - 4,160 1.4 - 288,438 SD
Tennessee 11 259,473 66.5 11 126,752 32.5 - 1,796 0.5 - 2,235 0.6 - 390,256 TN
Texas 23 760,348 88.1 23 97,959 11.4 - 4,450 0.5 - 669 0.1 - 836,426 TX
Utah 4 116,750 56.5 4 84,795 41.1 - 4,087 2.0 - 946 0.5 - 206,578 UT
Vermont 3 56,266 41.1 - 78,984 57.7 3 1,533 1.1 - 197 0.1 - 136,980 VT
Virginia 11 203,979 68.5 11 89,637 30.1 - 2,382 0.8 - 1,944 0.7 - 297,942 VA
Washington 8 353,260 57.5 8 208,645 33.9 - 17,080 2.8 - 35,829 5.8 - 614,814 WA
West Virginia 8 405,124 54.5 8 330,731 44.5 - 5,133 0.7 - 2,786 0.4 - 743,774 WV
Wisconsin 12 707,410 63.5 12 347,741 31.2 - 53,379 4.8 - 6,278 0.6 - 1,114,808 WI
Wyoming 3 54,370 56.1 3 39,583 40.8 - 2,829 2.9 - 180 0.2 - 96,962 WY
TOTALS: 531 22,821,277 57.4 472 15,761,254 39.7 59 884,885 2.2 - 284,482 0.7 - 39,751,898

TO WIN: 266

Bibliography

See also

References

  1. ^ F.D.R.'s Disputed Legacy, February 1, 1982 , TIME Magazine.
  2. ^ a b Roosevelt's Nomination Address, New Deal Network.
  3. ^ "Overall Unemployment Rate in the U.S. Civilian Labor Force, 1920–2007 — Infoplease.com". Infoplease.com. http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0104719.html. Retrieved 2008-11-04. 
  4. ^ "Timeline of the Great Depression". Hyperhistory.com. http://www.hyperhistory.com/online_n2/connections_n2/great_depression.html. Retrieved 2008-11-04. 
  5. ^ Cambell, Jeff (November 19, 2008). "Hoover's Popularity". Lonely Planet. 
  6. ^ a b c Gibbs, Nancy (November 10, 2008). "When New President Meets Old, It's Not Always Pretty". TIME. http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1857862,00.html. 

External links

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Electoral College · Electoral vote changes · Electoral votes by state · Results by Electoral College margin · Results by popular vote margin · Results by state · Voter turnout · Presidential primaries · Presidential nominating conventions
See also: House elections · Senate elections · Gubernatorial elections
United States presidential election, 1932
Democratic Party
Convention
Republican Party
Convention
 
Third party and independent candidates
Communist Party USA
Nominee: William Z. Foster
VP Nominee: James W. Ford
Prohibition Party
Socialist Party of America
Nominee: Norman Thomas
VP nominee: James H. Maurer
Independents and other candidates:
Other 1932 elections: House · Senate