1932 United States presidential election

Election of Franklin D. Roosevelt related races 1932 United States elections January 2026 November 2013 1932 United States presidential election United States 1912 presidential no 1928 United States presidential election 1928 November 8, 1932 1936 United States presidential election 1936 531 members of the Electoral College 266 electoral 56.8%http://www.electproject.org/national-1789-present National General Election VEP Turnout Rates, 1789-Present United States Election Project CQ Press 0.1 pp File: FDR in 1933 (3x4).jpg x200px Franklin D. Roosevelt Democratic Party (United States) New York John Nance Garner 472 42 22,821,277 57.4% File:President Hoover portrait (cropped).jpg Herbert Hoover Republican Party (United States) California Charles Curtis 59 6 15,761,254 39.6% 350px Presidential election results map. Blue denotes those won by Roosevelt/Garner, red denotes states won by Hoover/Curtis. Numbers indicate the number of electoral votes allotted to each state. President Herbert Hoover Republican Party (United States) Franklin D. Roosevelt Democratic Party (United States) Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 8, 1932. Against the backdrop of the Great Depression, the Republican ticket of President Herbert Hoover and Vice President Charles Curtis were defeated, in a landslide, by the Democratic ticket of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the governor of New York, and John Nance Garner, the Speaker of the House. This realigning election marked the effective end of the Fourth Party System, which had been dominated by Republicans, and the beginning of an era of Democratic dominance under the New Deal coalition. Despite disastrous economic conditions due to the Great Depression, Hoover faced little opposition at the 1932 Republican National Convention. Roosevelt was widely considered the front-runner at the start of the 1932 Democratic National Convention, but was not able to clinch the nomination until the fourth ballot of the convention. The Democratic convention chose a leading Southern Democrat, Speaker of the House John Nance Garner of Texas, as the party's vice presidential nominee. Roosevelt united the party, campaigning on the failures of the Hoover administration. He promised recovery with a "New Deal" for the American people. Roosevelt won by a landslide in both the electoral college and popular vote, carrying every state outside of the Northeast and receiving the highest percentage of the popular vote of any Democratic nominee up to that time. Hoover had won over 58% of the popular vote in the 1928 presidential election, but his share of the popular vote evaporated to just 39.6% in 1932; he failed to win any state south of Delaware or west of Pennsylvania. Socialist Party nominee Norman Thomas won 2.2% of the popular vote. Subsequent Democratic landslides in the 1934 midterm elections and the 1936 presidential election confirmed the commencement of the Fifth Party System, which was largely dominated by Roosevelt's Democratic New Deal Coalition.http://www.u.arizona.edu/~norrande/pol231/hist-06-bw.pdf History of American Political Parties May 17, 2013 February 19, 2018 https://web.archive.org/web/20180219061132/http://www.u.arizona.edu/~norrande/pol231/hist-06-bw.pdf dead Roosevelt's election ended the era of Republican dominance in presidential politics that had lasted since the beginning of the Civil War and the election of 1860 and began 20 years of presidential control for the Democratic Party and 20 years in opposition for the Republican Party; the two decades of uninterrupted Democratic control of the presidency remains the longest such streak by a single party in American history (the Republican Party won more consecutive elections from the aforementioned 1860 election to 1880, but their tenure in the White House was interrupted by the ascendency of Democrat Andrew Johnson to the presidency). Republicans would not reclaim the White House until 1952. Roosevelt was the first Democrat to be elected president since 1916, the first to win an outright majority of the popular vote since 1876, and the first to win a majority of both the electoral and popular vote since 1852. Hoover was the only incumbent president to lose an election between 1912 and 1976, and the only elected incumbent to do so between 1912 and 1980. Background thumb|197x197px|Herbert Hoover, the incumbent president in 1932, whose term expired on March 4, 1933 Republican nominee Herbert Hoover had won in the 1928 presidential election against Democratic nominee Al Smith. Smith had lost the support of the Solid South during the campaign likely due to anti-Catholic sentiment. Hoover had won in a landslide with him winning forty of the forty-eight states giving him 444 electoral votes against Smith's 87. However, the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression weakened the power of the Republicans. In the 1930 elections, the Democrats gained control of the United States House of Representatives, reduced the Republican majority in the United States Senate to one, and won a majority of the governorships. Smith was the first Democratic nominee in the 20th century to win a majority of the twelve largest cities in the country. The net vote totals in the twelve largest cities shifted from Republican to Democratic with Harding having won 1,540,000 in 1920, Coolidge by 1,308,000 in 1924, while Smith won by 210,000. Samuel Lubell wrote in The Future of American Politics that Franklin D. Roosevelt's victory in the 1932 election was preceded by Smith's increased vote totals in urban areas. Nominations Democratic Party nomination 1932 Democratic National Convention 1932 Democratic Party presidential primaries 65px|center|link=Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party (United States)1932 Democratic Party ticket white Franklin D. Roosevelt white John Nance Garnerfor Presidentfor Vice President center|200x200px center|200x200px 44thGovernor of New York(1929–1932) 39thSpeaker of the House(1931–1933) Democratic candidates: Franklin D. Roosevelt, governor of New York Al Smith (campaign), former governor of New York and 1928 Democratic presidential nominee John Nance Garner, U.S. Speaker of the House, of Texas William H. Murray, governor of Oklahoma thumb|right|Newsreel footage of Roosevelt's acceptance speech Smith, who announced his candidacy on February 6, 1932, was a leading candidate as he had remained active in the party and retained his support from the 1928 campaign. Joseph Taylor Robinson, who had been Smith's vice-presidential running mate, announced that he would not be a candidate on March 31, 1932, and gave his support to Franklin D. Roosevelt. Jesse I. Straus conducted a poll of the delegates to the 1928 Democratic National Convention which showed that the majority supported Roosevelt and additional polling showed Roosevelt winning in the primary and general election. Representative Edgar Howard stated that "Nine out of ten men in nine out of ten states are for Roosevelt, and he will be the Democratic choice." Roosevelt announced his campaign on January 23, 1932. William H. Murray ran in multiple primaries and won one delegate in the North Dakota primary, but failed to win in the Florida, Nebraska, Oregon, and West Virginia primaries. He won in the Ohio primary as he was the only candidate on the ballot, but the delegates were instructed by the convention and not the primary. The Oklahoma convention selected to give him control of its twenty-two member delegation. Newton D. Baker declined to run in the primaries and instead planned on serving as a compromise candidate if neither Smith nor Roosevelt could win the nomination at the convention balloting. J. Hamilton Lewis won the presidential primary in Illinois on April 12, 1932, and the state's fifty-eight member delegation was instructed to vote for him, but he withdrew before the convention on June 25. The majority of the Illinois delegation supported Melvin Alvah Traylor for the first three ballots before giving their support to Roosevelt on the fourth ballot. Tom Pendergast, a political boss in Missouri, had the state's delegation instructed to vote for James A. Reed, who had run for the nomination in the 1928 election, and the delegation supported Reed for the first three ballots before switching to Roosevelt. Harry F. Byrd and George White were favorite son candidates from their states. A. Harry Moore was a favorite son candidate supported by Lewis, but the delegation of his home state New Jersey voted for Smith. Both Smith and Roosevelt were against Prohibition, but Smith supported making it a main issue during the campaign while Roosevelt did not. John J. Raskob, who had become the chair of the Democratic National Committee with Smith's support, attempted to have the committee make a statement against prohibition in March 1931, and Smith gave a speech in support of it. James Farley, the chair of the New York State Democratic Committee and later Roosevelt's presidential campaign manager, had the New York committee pass a resolution opposing declarations before the national convention was held. Other state parties supported this resolution causing the vote to not happen. Raskob proposed the declaration again on January 9, 1932, but had the committee not take action on it.July 2, 1932 Roosevelt Nominated on Fourth Ballot; Garner Expected to be His Running Mate; Governor Will Fly to Convention Today The New York Times https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/politics/camp/320702convention-dem-ra.html live https://web.archive.org/web/20220204033443/https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/politics/camp/320702convention-dem-ra.html February 4, 2022 Tammany Hall and Roosevelt had a truce during his governorship, but the organization came to openly oppose him for his role in Mayor Jimmy Walker's resignation. Tammany Hall supported Smith for the nomination at the convention causing Roosevelt to refuse to support their mayoral candidate in the 1933 election and to support Fiorello La Guardia in the 1937 election. Tammany Hall's power was also reduced by the adoption of proportional representation for the New York City Council. Roosevelt also gave support to the American Labor Party in order for Democratic voters to support the New Deal without giving support to Tammany Hall candidates. Representative John J. O'Connor, who represented one of the districts with the strongest Tammany influence and was the chair of the House Rules Committee, lost renomination in the Democratic primary and in the general election with the Republican nomination in the 1938 election.Murphy Paul 1974 Political Parties In American History, Volume 3, 1890–present G. P. Putnam's Sons Smith's strategy against Roosevelt was to use favorite son candidates to control the delegations of their states in places that would have otherwise gone for Roosevelt. The majority of Smith's support came from the northeast while Roosevelt's support came from the south and west. Wilbur Lucius Cross, Joseph B. Ely, Frank Hague, J. Howard McGrath, Moore, Raskob, and Jouett Shouse were among Smith's campaign leaders. Roosevelt attempted to have some of the favorite son candidates withdraw using Homer Stille Cummings as a mediator, but he was unsuccessful. Seventeen states used primaries to select their delegates to the national conventions while the rest used a convention system. Roosevelt controlled the delegations from thirty states and additional delegations from Arkansas, Indiana, Kansas, and South Carolina had supporters of Roosevelt, but were uninstructed. Roosevelt was endorsed at the state convention in Mississippi, but the delegates were left uninstructed. Roosevelt also claimed that he had the support of the twenty-eight delegates from all of the territories. Smith controlled the delegates from four states. The remaining delegations were either uninstructed or under the control of favorite sons. Roosevelt failed to gain control of two-thirds of the delegates which was required for him to gain the nomination.Neal Stephen Happy Days Are Here Again: The 1932 Democratic Convention, the Emergence of FDR – and How America Was Changed Forever 2010 HarperCollins 97800620154193–4 The convention was held in Chicago between June 27 and July 2. The first vote was taken at 4:28 on the morning of July 2, after ten hours of speeches that had begun at 5:00 on the previous afternoon.O'Mara Margaret Pivotal Tuesdays University of Pennsylvania Press Philadelphia 94 The Roosevelt delegations from Louisiana and Minnesota were seated giving Roosevelt an additional thirty-two votes. Thomas J. Walsh, an ally of Roosevelt, was elected to chair the convention against Shouse by a vote of 626 to 528. Roosevelt received the most votes on the first three ballots, but he still did not have a two-thirds majority.Henning Arthur S. July 2, 1932 Pick Roosevelt; Here Today https://www.newspapers.com/image/355124019/ Chicago Tribune October 13, 2020 John Nance Garner, who had the support of William Randolph Hearst, won in the California primary due to the support of the Texas State Society of California which had 100,000 members. Garner had the support of ninety delegates at the convention and Hearst created a compromise with Roosevelt. Roosevelt, who needed the support of the Californian and Texan delegations to gain a two-thirds majority, would receive the support of Garner's delegates in exchange for Garner being given the vice-presidential nomination. With this agreement, Garner's supporters in California and Texas were released by Sam Rayburn, Garner's campaign manager, and voted for Roosevelt on the fourth ballot, giving him the presidential nomination. Members of the Texas delegation who opposed Roosevelt were led by Amon G. Carter, but the Roosevelt supporters led by Thomas Whitfield Davidson won by a vote of 54 to 51. Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island were the only states whose delegations did not support Roosevelt on the final ballot. Garner won the vice-presidential nomination on the first ballot against Matthew A. Tinley and his nomination was made unanimous.Patenaude Lionel 1975 The Garner Vote Switch to Roosevelt: 1932 Democratic Convention Texas State Historical Association Presidential ballot 1st ballot 2nd 3rd ballot 4th ballot Franklin D. Roosevelt 666.25 677.75 682.75 945 Al Smith 201.75 194.25 190.25 190.50 John Nance Garner 90.25 90.25 101.25 0 George White 52 50.5 52.5 0 Melvin Alvah Traylor 42.25 40.25 40.25 3 Harry F. Byrd 25 25 24 0 James A. Reed 24 18 27.5 0 William H. Murray 23 0 0 0 Albert Ritchie 21 23.5 23.5 0 Newton D. Baker 8.5 8 8.5 5.5 Will Rogers 0 22 0 0 James M. Cox 0 0 0 1 Not voting/absent 0 4.5 3.5 0Reference Republican Party nomination 1932 Republican National Convention 65px|center|link=Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party (United States)1932 Republican Party ticket white Herbert Hoover white Charles Curtisfor Presidentfor Vice President center|200x200px center|200x200px 31stPresident of the United States(1929–1933) 31stVice President of the United States(1929–1933) Republican candidates: Herbert Hoover, President of the United States Joseph I. France, former Senator from Maryland Calvin Coolidge, former President of the United States (declined) Dwight Morrow, Senator from New Jersey (died) thumb|right|President Herbert Hoover and White House Press Secretary Theodore Joslin In November 1931, Senator Hiram Johnson called for Hoover to retire as it would increase the chances of the Republicans winning in the 1932 election. Hoover's opponents in the Republican Party supported giving either former President Calvin Coolidge or Senator Dwight Morrow the party's presidential nomination. Morrow had been elected to the U.S. Senate from New Jersey in 1930, but died on October 5, 1931. On July 31, 1931, an article by James F. Coupal, Coolidge's former White House physician, was published by the St. Paul Dispatch in which Coupal stated that Coolidge would run "if the people of this country evince an unmistakable and unquestionable desire to draft him to pull the country out of this period of depression, and if he can have the presidency without any political or other obligations attached to it". Coolidge did not run for the nomination and an article written by him was published by The Saturday Evening Post on October 3, 1932, in which he gave his support to Hoover and was critical of those who had wanted him to run.Donnelly Thomas 1935 The 1932 Campaign,: An Analysis Farrar & Rinehart Charles G. Dawes was suggested as a candidate following Morrow's death and the unsuccessful attempt to draft Coolidge, but his selection as president of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation took him out of consideration. Progressive Republicans considered forming a third party, but William Borah, Johnson, George W. Norris, and Gifford Pinchot declined to lead such a movement. An attempt to have progressive leaders in multiple states run against Hoover failed and Borah stated that Hoover could not be defeated. Hoover formally started his campaign by having Robert H. Lucas, executive director of the Republican National Committee, send out letters to precinct leaders in January 1931. Postmaster General Walter Folger Brown and Treasury Secretary Ogden L. Mills helped manage Hoover's campaign. Theodore Joslin started a publicity campaign to improve Hoover's image. Joseph I. France, a member of the conservative faction, ran against Hoover in the primary, but only won in states where he was unopposed. These states also had no delegates bounded to their primaries leading to them sending pro-Hoover delegations. At the national convention Lawritz Bernhard Sandblast, a delegate from Oregon, nominated France, but France attempted to address the convention to withdraw his candidacy and instead nominate Coolidge. Hoover had him removed citing that he could not address the convention as he was not a delegate. Hoover, who was nominated by Joseph Scott, won renomination on the first ballot while France only received four delegates. Dawes was proposed as a replacement for Vice President Charles Curtis, who faced opposition due to his age and prohibitionist stances, and delegations from over twenty states opposed the renomination of Curtis. However, Dawes declined to seek the vice-presidential nomination. Curtis, Alvan T. Fuller, James Harbord, Hanford MacNider, J. Leonard Replogle, and Bertrand Snell were nominated for the vice-presidential balloting. Curtis initially fell 19.25 votes short of winning on the first ballot, but the Pennsylvania delegation changed its support to Curtis causing him to win. Presidential ballot 1st ballot Vice-presidential ballot 1st ballot Herbert Hoover 1126.5 Charles Curtis 633.75 John J. Blaine 13 Hanford MacNider 178.75 Calvin Coolidge 4.5 James Harbord 161.75 Joseph I. France 4 Edward Martin 75 Charles G. Dawes 1 Alvan T. Fuller 57 James Wolcott Wadsworth Jr. 1 Bertrand Snell 55 Patrick J. Hurley 25 J. Leonard Replogle 22.75 Charles G. Dawes 9.75 James J. Couzens 2 William S. Kenyon 2 David Sinton Ingalls 2 Hiram Bingham III 1 Not voting 3 Not voting 0 Absent 1 Absent 1Reference Other candidates Socialist Party thumb|right|A Socialist Party campaign poster featuring Norman Thomas and James H. Maurer as candidates for president and vice president Norman Thomas, who had been the Socialist Party of America's presidential nominee in the 1928 election and ran for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in the 1930 election, and James H. Maurer, who was the party's vice-presidential nominee in the 1928 election, were given the Socialist Party presidential and vice-presidential nominations at the national convention held May 21–24 in Milwaukee. Thomas and his faction unsuccessfully tried to have Morris Hillquit replaced as chair of the party by Daniel Hoan. The Literary Digests polling predicted that Thomas would receive over two million votes. Communist Party 1932 Communist National Convention thumb|left|A Communist Party campaign poster featuring William Z. Foster and James W. Ford as candidates for president and vice president, along with the party's demands William Z. Foster, who had been the Communist Party USA's presidential nominee in the 1928 election, was given the presidential nomination at the national convention held from May 28–29 in Chicago, and James W. Ford was given the vice-presidential nomination. Farmer-Labor Party 1932 Farmer–Labor National Convention Frank Webb and Jacob S. Coxey Sr., former mayor of Massillon, Ohio, were given the presidential and vice-presidential nominations of the Farmer–Labor Party at its convention on April 28 in Omaha, Nebraska. John R. Brinkley, Thomas Mooney, and Arthur C. Townley had also been proposed as candidates for the nomination. However, Webb was removed from the ticket with the party stating that he was "a tool of the Hoover administration," and Coxey was given the presidential nomination. The Minnesota Farmer–Labor Party did not support the national party's ticket. After the Farmer-Labor presidential nomination was taken from him, Webb formed the Liberty Party with him as its presidential nominee while the larger Liberty Party gave its nomination to William Hope Harvey. Liberal Party Samuel Harden Church, who had formed the Liberal Party in Pennsylvania which received 366,572 votes on its ballot line in the 1930 gubernatorial election, unsuccessfully tried to form a national anti-prohibitionist Liberal Party. Nicholas Murray Butler proposed the creation of a new party on May 19, 1932, which would be composed of the moderate wings of both existing Democratic and Republican parties. General election Campaign right|thumb|Hoover addresses a large crowd in his 1932 campaign. After making an airplane trip to the Democratic convention, Roosevelt accepted the nomination in person. In his speech, he stated, "ours must be a party of liberal thought, of planned action, of the enlightened international outlook, and of the greatest good to the greatest number of our citizens."Address Accepting the Presidential Nomination at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=75174 The American Presidency Project 24 November 2017 December 5, 2017 https://web.archive.org/web/20171205070603/http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=75174 dead 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.Alter Jonathan The defining moment : FDR's hundred days and the triumph of hope 2006 Simon & Schuster New York 978-0-7432-4600-2 115–116 https://archive.org/details/definingmomentfd00alte/page/115/mode/1up 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 history244 – and, indeed, the unofficial anthem of the Democratic Party.Arnold Shaw, The jazz age: popular music in the 1920s (1989) p. 228 Democratic leaders in the eastern United States supported having Roosevelt conduct a front porch campaign, but Roosevelt and the leaders in the western United States instead supported an active campaign. Roosevelt gave twenty-seven major speeches during the campaign while Hoover initially planned on giving three major speeches during the campaign, but it was later increased to ten and Hoover traveled over 10,000 miles. Simeon D. Fess, who had become chair of the Republican National Committee with Hoover's support, resigned from his position and was replaced by Everett Sanders also with Hoover's support. Raskob, who became the chair of the Democratic National Convention with Smith's support, was replaced by Farley. Campaign expenditures for both parties fell from the 1928 election to the 1932 election. The combined expenditures of both national committees would be $5,146,027 which was less than $0.13 per voter. This was the lowest amount spent per voter since the 1912 election with most elections costing around $0.19–0.20 per voter and the 1924 presidential election costing $0.15 per voter. After seeing the value of radio in 1920s elections both parties spent large amounts on broadcasts, with 17–18% of Democratic and over 20% of the Republican national committees spending being towards radio. During the 1928 election the Republicans paid $420,000 to radio companies and increased their spending to $437,000 during the 1932 election. The Democrats reduced their spending with their amount falling from $550,000 during the 1928 election to $343,415 during the 1932 election, because of fewer funds; the party only purchased 52 hours of airtime, fewer than in 1928, while Republicans bought 73 hours versus 43 hours in 1928.Michael Delli Carpini Radio's Political Past Media Studies Journal July 1993 7 3 https://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1022&context=asc_papers 30 May 2021 https://web.archive.org/web/20221127151757/https://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1022&context=asc_papers 27 November 2022 dead During the campaign NBC and CBS aired 203 programs of paid time that took up 116 hours and 15 minutes. One hundred thirty-six of those programs were for the Republicans, seventy-one for the Democrats, and three for the Socialists. The Republicans had seventy hours and thirty-two minutes, the Democrats had forty-nine hours and thirty-two minutes, and the Socialists had forty-five minutes of air time. Roosevelt made gains with voters compared to Smith's 1928 campaign. The southerners who had supported Hoover in the 1928 campaign returned to the Democratic Party and progressive Republicans under the leadership of Bronson M. Cutting, Johnson, Robert M. La Follette Jr., Norris, and Henry A. Wallace left the Republicans to support Roosevelt. Farley predicted that Roosevelt would win in forty-four states and later congratulated Sanders on his imagination and courage when Sanders predicted that Hoover would win 338 electoral votes. After their divisive convention, Democrats united around Roosevelt, who was able to draw more universal support than Al Smith had in 1928.https://www.boundless.com/u-s-history/new-deal-1933-1940/franklin-d-roosevelt-and-first-new-deal/election-1932/ 14 July 2013 The Election of 1932 – Franklin D. Roosevelt and the First New Deal https://web.archive.org/web/20131203233127/https://www.boundless.com/u-s-history/the-new-deal-1933-1940/franklin-d-roosevelt-and-the-first-new-deal/the-election-of-1932/ 3 December 2013 boundless.com Roosevelt's Protestant background prevented the anti-Catholic attacks Smith faced in 1928, and the Depression seemed to be of much greater concern among the American public than previous cultural battles. Prohibition was increasingly unpopular, and wets offered the argument that states and localities needed the tax money. Hoover proposed a new constitutional amendment that was vague on particulars and satisfied neither side. Roosevelt's platform promised repeal of the 18th Amendment."Prohibition After the 1932 Elections" CQ ResearcherHerbert Brucker, "How Long, O Prohibition?" The North American Review, 234#4 (1932), pp. 347–357. online thumb|left|Roosevelt (seated, center) at Greenway Ranch in Williams, Arizona on September 26, 1932. He is accompanied by U.S. Senator from Arizona Carl Hayden standing far right, along with – among others – three Democrats from the U.S. Senate (seated): Pittman, Walsh, and Cohen. In contrast, Hoover was not supported by many of the more prominent Republicans and violently opposed by others, in particular by a number of senators who had fought him throughout his administration and whose national reputation made their opposition of considerable importance. Many prominent Republicans even went so far as to espouse the cause of the Democratic candidate openly.The Presidential Vote, 1896–1932, Edgar E. Robinson, p. 29 Making matters worse for Hoover was that many Americans blamed him for the Great Depression. The outrage caused by the deaths of veterans in the Bonus Army incident in the summer of 1932, 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 thrown at him or his vehicle as he rode through city streets.http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0104719.html Overall Unemployment Rate in the U.S. Civilian Labor Force, 1920–2007 Infoplease.com November 4, 2008 Hoover's unpopularity resulted in Roosevelt's adoption of a cautious campaign strategy, focused on minimizing gaffes and keeping public attention directed towards his opponent.Franklin D. Roosevelt: Campaigns and Elections https://millercenter.org/president/fdroosevelt/campaigns-and-elections William E. Leuchtenburg William Leuchtenburg October 4, 2016 20 October 2020 As governor of New York, Roosevelt had garnered a reputation for promoting government help for the impoverished, providing a welcome contrast for many who saw Hoover as a do-nothing president.Leuchtenburg William E. Herbert Hoover 2009 Times Books 138–139 Roosevelt emphasized working collectively through an expanded federal government to confront the economic crisis, a contrast to Hoover's emphasis on individualism. During the campaign, Roosevelt ran on many of the programs that would later become part of the New Deal during his presidency.Rauchway Eric 2019 The New Deal Was on the Ballot in 1932 Modern American History en 2 02 201–213 10.1017/mah.2018.42 2515-0456 free It was said that "even a vaguely talented dog-catcher could have been elected president against the Republicans."Lonely Planet November 19, 2008 Hoover's Popularity Jeff Cambell Hoover even received a letter from an Illinois man that advised, "Vote for Roosevelt and make it unanimous."https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/2000/11/09/no-the-system-worked/89901576-0f2d-45e0-8790-7a96f6015f41/ No, the System Worked Will, George F. January 9, 2021 Washington Post November 9, 2000 While Hoover was not an effective speaker on radio, broadcasters thought that Roosevelt was the country's best political speaker.MDC Roosevelt employed the radio to great effect during the campaign. He was able to outline his platform while also improving the perception of his personality.O'Mara Margaret Pivotal Tuesdays University of Pennsylvania Press Philadelphia 97 In March 1932, The New York Times quoted radio producer John Carlile, who said that Roosevelt had a "tone of perfect sincerity", while for Hoover, "the microphone betrays deliberate effort in his radio voice."March 20, 1932 Search For Ideal Radio Voice Is An Unending Task https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1932/03/20/100698037.html?pageNumber=167 The New York Times October 13, 2020 The technology not only allowed Roosevelt to reach far more voters than he could via in-person campaigning, but also drew attention away from his paralysis due to polio. Roosevelt took great pains to hide the effects of the disease from voters, instituting a "gentleman's agreement" with the press that he was not to be photographed in ways that would highlight his disability.https://ideas.time.com/2013/07/12/the-myth-of-fdrs-secret-disability/ The myth of FDR's secret disability Pressman, Matthew Aug 12, 2013 Time July 12, 2013 Results right|thumb|400px|Results by county explicitly indicating the percentage for the winning candidate. Shades of blue are for Roosevelt (Democratic), shades of red are for Hoover (Republican), grey indicates zero recorded votes and white indicates territories not elevated to statehood.https://books.google.com/books?id=9WaaAAAAIAAJ The Presidential Vote, 1896–1932 Google Books Stanford University Press August 12, 2014 1934 9780804716963 Roosevelt defeated Hoover in the election. Hoover became the seventh president to lose reelection after John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Martin Van Buren, Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison, and William Howard Taft. Another president would not lose an election to another term until Gerald Ford was defeated by Jimmy Carter in the 1976 presidential election.November 8, 2020 How many US presidents have lost a second term? All the one-term presidents The Independent https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/how-many-us-presidents-lost-second-term-b1640998.html live https://web.archive.org/web/20220204180143/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/how-many-us-presidents-lost-second-term-b1640998.html February 4, 2022 This was the first election since 1916 (16 years earlier) in which the Democratic candidate won. Roosevelt was the last sitting governor to be elected president until Bill Clinton in 1992. Although the "other" vote (the combined vote total for candidates other than the nominees of the two major parties) of 1932 was three times that of 1928, it was considerably less than what had been recorded in 1920, the time of the greatest "other" vote, with the exception of the unusual conditions prevailing in 1912 and 1924. This was the last election where a Socialist Party presidential candidate received over 500,000 votes as of 2024. Roosevelt, the Democratic candidate, received 22,817,883 votes (57.41%), the largest vote ever cast for a candidate for the presidency up until that time, and over 1,425,000 more than that cast for Hoover four years earlier. While Hoover had won a greater percentage of the vote in 1928 (as did Harding in 1920), the national swing of 17.59% to the Democrats impressed all who considered the distribution of the vote: more than one-sixth of the electorate had switched from supporting the Republicans to the Democrats, the largest swing in either direction between consecutive elections.The largest Republican swing between consecutive elections was in 1920, when there was a 14.65% swing to the Republicans. Roosevelt improved on Smith's net vote total performance in the twelve largest cities. Smith had won those areas by 210,000 votes in the 1928 election while Roosevelt won by 1,791,000 votes. Roosevelt's worst performance in the country was in the eastern United States where all six of the states that voted for Hoover came from. Hoover only won in forty-five counties west of the Mississippi. The 0.09% difference between the tipping point state (Iowa) and the national popular vote is tied as the smallest in history (along with 1892). This was a political realignment election: not only did Roosevelt win a sweeping victory over Hoover, but Democrats significantly extended their control over the U.S. House, gaining 101 seats, and also gained 12 seats in the U.S. Senate to gain control of the chamber. Twelve years of Republican leadership came to an end, and 20 consecutive years of Democratic control of the White House began.http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1857862,00.html https://web.archive.org/web/20081111030347/http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1857862,00.html dead November 11, 2008 Time November 10, 2008 When New President Meets Old, It's Not Always Pretty Nancy Gibbs Nancy Gibbs Until 1932, the Republicans had controlled the presidency for 52 of the previous 72 years, dating back to Abraham Lincoln being elected president in 1860. After 1932, Democrats would control the presidency for 32 of the next 48 years. Roosevelt led the poll in 2,722 counties, the greatest number ever carried by a candidate up until that time. Of these, 282 had never before been Democratic. Only 374 remained loyally Republican. Half of the total vote of the nation was cast in just eight states (New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin); in these states, Hoover polled 8,592,163 votes. In one section (West South Central), the Republican percentage sank to 16.21%, but in no other section did the party poll less than 30% of the vote cast. However, the relative appeal of the two candidates in 1932 and the decline of the appeal of Hoover as compared with 1928 are shown in the fact that the Republican vote increased in 1932 in only 87 counties, while the Democratic vote increased in 3,003 counties.December 2024 Hoover also failed to flip any counties; the next time this would happen was in 2024, over 90 years later. Hoover is also the most recent Republican candidate not to flip any counties.https://econotimes.com/Kamala-Harris-Breaks-a-90-Year-Record-Not-a-Single-County-FlippedWhat-Went-Wrong-in-2024-1695747 Kamala Harris Breaks a 90-Year Record: 'Not a Single County Flipped!'—What Went Wrong in 2024? December 2, 2024 December 11, 2024 EconoTimesArticle appears to be AI-generated, quoting nonexistent people. May 2026 The vote cast for Hoover, and the fact that in only one section of the nation (West South Central) did he have less than 500,000 votes and in only three states outside of the South less than 50,000 votes, made it clear that the nation remained a two-party electorate, and that everywhere, despite the overwhelming triumph of the Democrats, there was a party membership devoted to neither the new administration nor the proposals of the Socialist candidate who had polled 75% of the "other" vote (as well as the highest raw vote total of his campaigns).The Presidential Vote, 1896–1932, Edgar E. Robinson, p. 30 This election marks the last time as of that a Republican presidential candidate won a majority of black and African-American votes: as New Deal policies took effect, the strong support of black voters for these programs began a transition from their traditional support for Republicans to providing solid majorities for Democrats. The Roosevelt ticket swept every region of the country except the Northeast, 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 split in two. Michigan voted Democratic for the first time since the emergence of the Republican Party in 1854, and Minnesota was carried by a Democrat for the first time since its admission to statehood in 1858, leaving Vermont as the only remaining state never to be carried by a Democratic candidate (which it would not be until 1964). South Dakota voted Democratic for the first time since 1896. Roosevelt's victory with 472 electoral votes stood until the 1964 victory of Lyndon B. Johnson, who won 486 electoral votes in 1964, as the most ever won by a first-time contestant in a presidential election. Roosevelt also bettered the national record of 444 electoral votes set by Hoover only four years earlier, but would shatter his own record when he was re-elected in 1936 with 523 votes. This was the last election in which Connecticut, Delaware, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania voted Republican until 1948. The eleven states of the former Confederacy provided 4.45% of Hoover's votes, with him taking 18.55% of the vote in that region. His share of the vote in the South sharply declined from the 47.41% he received in 1928.Sherman 1973 263 Franklin D. Roosevelt Democratic New York 22,821,277 57.41% 472 John Nance Garner Texas Herbert Hoover (incumbent) Republican California 15,761,254 39.65% 59 Charles Curtis (incumbent) Kansas Norman Thomas Socialist New York 884,885 2.23% 0 James H. Maurer Pennsylvania William Z. Foster Communist Illinois 103,307 0.26% 0 James W. Ford Alabama William David Upshaw Prohibition Georgia 81,905 0.21% 0 Frank S. Regan Illinois William Hope Harvey Liberty Arkansas 53,425 0.13% 0 Frank Hemenway Washington Verne L. Reynolds Socialist Labor New York 34,038 0.09% 0 John W. Aiken Massachusetts Jacob S. Coxey Sr. Farmer-Labor Ohio 7,431 0.02% 0 Julius Reiter Minnesota 4,376 0.01% 39,751,898 531 266Source (popular vote): 1932 July 31, 2005Source (electoral vote): 1932 July 31, 2005 Popular vote 600px 410px Roosevelt Democratic Party (US) 57.41 Hoover Republican Party (US) 39.65 Thomas #CD3700 2.23 Foster #ff9955 0.26 Others #777777 0.45 Electoral vote 600px 410px Roosevelt Democratic Party (US) 88.89 Hoover Republican Party (US) 11.11 Geography of results 650px|thumb|left Cartographic gallery Results by state Source:http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/data.php?year=1932&datatype=national&def=1&f=0&off=0&elect=0 1932 Presidential General Election Data – National April 8, 2013 States/districts won by Roosevelt/GarnerStates/districts won by Hoover/Curtis State rowspan="2" data-sort-type="number" 1 middle EV Electoral votes Roosevelt/GarnerDemocratic Hoover/CurtisRepublican Thomas/MaurerSocialist Other Margin Totalvotes Votes % data-sort-type="number" 1 middle EV Electoral votes Votes % data-sort-type="number" 1 middle EV Electoral votes Votes % data-sort-type="number" 1 middle EV Electoral votes Votes % data-sort-type="number" 1 middle EV Electoral votes Votes % Alabama 11207,91084.741134,67514.13–2,0300.83–7390.30–173,23570.61245,354 Arizona 379,26467.03336,10430.53–2,6182.21–2650.22–43,16036.50118,251 Arkansas 9189,60285.96928,46712.91–1,2690.58–1,2240.55–161,13573.06220,562 California 221,324,15758.3922847,90237.39–63,2992.79–32,6081.44–476,25521.002,267,966 Colorado 6250,87754.816189,61741.43–13,5912.97–3,6110.79–61,26013.38457,696 Connecticut 8281,63247.40–288,42048.54820,4803.45–3,6510.61–−6,788−1.14594,183 Delaware 354,31948.11–57,07350.5531,3761.22–1330.12–−2,754−2.44112,901 Florida 7206,30774.68769,17025.04–7750.28––––137,13749.64276,252 Georgia 12234,11891.601219,8637.77–4610.18–1,1480.45–214,25583.83255,590 Idaho 4109,47958.66471,41738.27–5260.28–5,2032.79–38,06220.39186,625 Illinois 291,882,30455.23291,432,75642.04–67,2581.97–25,6080.75–449,54813.193,407,926 Indiana 14862,05454.6714677,18442.94–21,3881.36–16,3011.03–184,87011.721,576,927 Iowa 11598,01957.6911414,43339.98–20,4671.97–3,7680.36–183,58617.711,036,687 Kansas 9424,20453.569349,49844.13–18,2762.31––––74,7069.43791,978 Kentucky 11580,57459.0611394,71640.15–3,8530.39–3,9200.40–185,85818.91983,063 Louisiana 10249,41892.791018,8537.01––––5330.20–230,56585.77268,804 Maine 5128,90743.19–166,63155.8352,4890.83–4170.14–−37,724−12.64298,444 Maryland 8314,31461.508184,18436.04–10,4892.05–2,0670.40–130,13025.46511,054 Massachusetts 17800,14850.6417736,95946.64–34,3052.17–8,7020.55–63,1894.001,580,114 Michigan 19871,70052.3619739,89444.44–39,2052.35–13,9660.84–131,8067.921,664,765 Minnesota 11600,80659.9111363,95936.29–25,4762.54–12,6021.26–236,84723.621,002,843 Mississippi 9140,16895.9895,1803.55–6860.47––––134,98892.44146,034 Missouri 151,025,40663.6915564,71335.08–16,3741.02–3,4010.21–460,69328.621,609,894 Montana 4127,28658.80478,07836.07–7,8913.65–3,2241.49–49,20822.73216,479 Nebraska 7359,08262.987201,17735.29–9,8761.73–20.00–157,90527.70570,137 Nevada 328,75669.41312,67430.59–––––––16,08238.8241,430 New Hampshire 4100,68048.99–103,62950.4249470.46–2640.13–−2,949−1.43205,520 New Jersey 16806,39449.4916775,40647.59–42,9882.64–4,7190.29–30,9881.901,629,507 New Mexico 395,08962.72354,21735.76–1,7761.17–5240.35–40,87226.96151,606 New York 472,534,95954.07471,937,96341.33–177,3973.78–38,2950.82–596,99612.734,688,614 North Carolina 13497,56669.9313208,34429.28–5,5910.79––––289,22240.65711,501 North Dakota 4178,35069.59471,77228.00–3,5211.37–2,6471.03–106,57841.58256,290 Ohio 261,301,69549.88261,227,31947.03–64,0942.46–16,6200.64–74,3762.852,609,728 Oklahoma 11516,46873.3011188,16526.70–––––––328,30346.59704,633 Oregon 5213,87157.995136,01936.88–15,4504.19–3,4680.94–77,85221.11368,808 Pennsylvania 361,295,94845.33–1,453,54050.843691,2233.19–18,4660.65–−157,592−5.512,859,177 Rhode Island 4146,60455.084115,26643.31–3,1381.18–1,1620.44–31,33811.77266,170 South Carolina 8102,34798.0381,9781.89–820.08––––100,36996.13104,407 South Dakota 4183,51563.62499,21234.40–1,5510.54–4,1601.44–84,30329.23288,438 Tennessee 11259,47366.4911126,75232.48–1,7960.46–2,2350.57–132,72134.01390,256 Texas 23760,34888.062397,95911.35–4,4500.52–6690.08–662,38976.72863,426 Utah 4116,75056.52484,79541.05–4,0871.98–9460.46–31,95515.47206,578 Vermont 356,26641.08–78,98457.6631,5331.12–1970.14–−22,718−16.58136,980 Virginia 11203,97968.461189,63730.09–2,3820.80–1,9440.65–114,34238.38297,942 Washington 8353,26057.468208,64533.94–17,0802.78–35,8295.83–144,61523.52614,814 West Virginia 8405,12454.478330,73144.47–5,1330.69–2,7860.37–74,39310.00743,774 Wisconsin 12707,41063.4612347,74131.19–53,3794.79–6,2780.56–359,66932.261,114,808 Wyoming 354,37056.07339,58340.82–2,8292.92–1800.19–14,78715.2596,962 Total 53122,821,27757.4147215,761,25439.6559884,8852.23–284,4820.727,060,02317.7639,751,898 Roosevelt/GarnerDemocratic Hoover/CurtisRepublican Thomas/MaurerSocialist Others Margin Totalvotes States that flipped from Republican to Democratic Arizona California Colorado Florida Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Maryland Michigan Minnesota Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Close states Margin of victory less than 5% (74 electoral votes): Connecticut, 1.14% (6,788 votes) New Hampshire, 1.43% (2,949 votes) New Jersey, 1.90% (30,988 votes) Delaware, 2.44% (2,754 votes) Ohio, 2.85% (74,376 votes) Massachusetts, 4.00% (63,189 votes) Margin of victory between 5% and 10% (64 electoral votes): Pennsylvania, 5.51% (157,592 votes) Michigan, 7.92% (131,806 votes) Kansas, 9.43% (74,706 votes) Tipping point state: Iowa, 17.71% (183,586 votes) Statistics Counties with highest percent of vote (Democratic) Wilkinson County, Georgia 100.00% Armstrong County, South Dakota 100.00% Lancaster County, South Carolina 99.84% Sharkey County, Mississippi 99.82% Colleton County, South Carolina 99.69%Counties with highest percent of vote (Republican) Johnson County, Tennessee 84.51% Jackson County, Kentucky 84.28% Leslie County, Kentucky 82.96% Owsley County, Kentucky 79.08% Sevier County, Tennessee 77.01%Counties with highest percent of vote (Other) Sheridan County, Montana 32.54% Thurston County, Washington 23.12% Clallam County, Washington 22.73% Berks County, Pennsylvania 22.17% Lake County, Minnesota 21.75%''' See also 1932 United States Senate elections 1932 United States House of Representatives elections 1932 Prohibition National Convention History of the United States (1917–1945) Timeline of the Great Depression Causes of the Great Depression Great Contraction First inauguration of Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt Notes References 30em Works cited Sherman Richard The Republican Party and Black America From McKinley to Hoover 1896–1933 University of Virginia Press 1973 0813904676 Further reading Andersen, Kristi. The Creation of a Democratic Majority: 1928–1936 (1979), statistical study of voting patterns Burns, James Macgregor. Roosevelt the Lion and the Fox (1956) online pp 123–252. Carcasson, Martin. "Herbert Hoover and the presidential campaign of 1932: The failure of apologia." Presidential Studies Quarterly 28.2 (1998): 349–365. in JSTOR 10.1017/S0898588X00000699 On the Origins of the Regime of Pragmatic Liberalism: John Dewey, Adolf A. Berle, and FDR's Commonwealth Club Address of 1932 1993 Eden Robert Studies in American Political Development 7 74–150 Freidel, Frank Franklin D. Roosevelt The Triumph (1956) covers 1929–32 in depth online Freidel, Frank. "Election of 1932", in Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., ed., The Coming to Power: Critical Presidential Elections in American History (1972) pp. 322–354. online Gosnell, Harold F., Champion Campaigner: Franklin D. Roosevelt (1952) 10.2307/1947313 1947313 An Analysis of the 1932 Presidential Vote in Chicago https://archive.org/details/sim_american-political-science-review_1935-12_29_6/page/966 1935 Gosnell Harold F. Gill Norman N. American Political Science Review 29 6 967–984 10.1353/rap.2005.0006 FDR's Commonwealth Club Address: Redefining Individualism, Adjudicating Greatness 2004 Houck Davis W. Rhetoric & Public Affairs 7 3 259–282 144548607 Hoover, Herbert. The Memoirs of Herbert Hoover: The Great Depression, 1929–1941 (1952) Mott, James Clinton. "The fate of an alliance: The Roosevelt coalition, 1932-1952" (PhD dissertation,  University of Illinois at Chicago; ProQuest Dissertations & Theses,  1988. 8821023). 10.1080/01439688800260171 Radio electioneering in the American presidential campaigns of 1932 and 1936 1988 Nicolaides Becky M. Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television 8 2 115–138 10.9783/9780812291711 Pivotal Tuesdays 2015 O'Mara Margaret 9780812291711 10.2307/2262331 2262331 The 1932 Campaign: An Analysis 1936 Peel Roy V. Donnelly Thomas C. Journal of Educational Sociology 9 8 510 Pietrusza, David 1932: The Rise of Hitler and FDR: Two Tales of Politics, Betrayal and Unlikely Destiny (2015) Ritchie, Donald A. Electing FDR: The New Deal Campaign of 1932 (2007) 10.1002/9781444395181.ch5 The Election of 1932 A Companion to Franklin D. Roosevelt 2011 Ritchie Donald A. 77–95 9781444395181 Robinson, Edgar Eugene. The Presidential Vote, 1896–1932 (Stanford university press, 1940) voting returns for every county Schlesinger, Jr., Arthur M. The Crisis of the Old Order (1957), pp 427–454 online Primary sources Chester, Edward W A guide to political platforms (1977) online Porter, Kirk H. and Donald Bruce Johnson, eds. National party platforms, 1840–1964'' (1965) online 1840–1956 External links 1932 popular vote by counties Election of 1932 in Counting the Votes Journal of the Seventeenth National Convention of the Socialist Party of America Category:Presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt Category:Herbert Hoover