1940 United States presidential election in Tennessee

none June 2025 September 20231940 United States presidential election 1940 United States presidential election in Tennessee Tennessee presidential no 1936 United States presidential election in Tennessee 1936 1944 United States presidential election in Tennessee 1944 All 11 Tennessee votes to the Electoral College November 5, 1940https://www.britannica.com/event/United-States-presidential-election-of-1940 United States Presidential election of 1940 — Encyclopædia Britannica October 18, 2018 x200px FDRoosevelt1938.png Franklin D. Roosevelt Democratic Party (United States) New York Henry A. Wallace 11 351,601 67.25% WendellWillkie.jpg Wendell Willkie Republican Party (United States) New York Charles L. McNary 0 169,153 32.35% 350px County results Roosevelt #86b6f2 50–60% #4389e3 60–70% #1666cb 70–80% #0645b4 80–90% #002b84 90–100% Willkie #f2b3be 40–50% #e27f90 50–60% #cc2f4a 60–70% #d40000 70–80% #aa0000 80–90% President Franklin D. Roosevelt Democratic Party (United States) Franklin D. Roosevelt Democratic Party (United States) The 1940 United States presidential election in Tennessee took place on November 5, 1940, as part of the 1940 United States presidential election. Tennessee voters chose 11https://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/votes/1941_1953.html#1940 1940 Election for the Thirty-ninth Term (1941-45) October 18, 2018 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president. For over a century after the Civil War, Tennessee was divided according to political loyalties established in that war. Unionist regions covering almost all of East Tennessee, Kentucky Pennyroyal-allied Macon County, and the five West Tennessee Highland Rim counties of Carroll, Henderson, McNairy, Hardin and WayneWright John K. Voting Habits in the United States: A Note on Two Maps Geographical Review 22 4 October 1932 666–672 10.2307/208821 208821 1932GeoRv..22..666W voted Republican – generally by landslide margins – as they saw the Democratic Party as the "war party" who had forced them into a war they did not wish to fight.Key (Jr.), Valdimer Orlando; Southern Politics in State and Nation (New York, 1949), pp. 282-283 Contrariwise, the rest of Middle and West Tennessee who had supported and driven the state's secession was equally fiercely Democratic as it associated the Republicans with Reconstruction.Lyons William Scheb (II) John M. Stair Billy Government and Politics in Tennessee 2001 183–184 Univ. of Tennessee Press 1572331410 After the disfranchisement of the state's African-American population by a poll tax was largely complete in the 1890s,Phillips, Kevin P.; The Emerging Republican Majority, pp. 208, 210 9780691163246 the Democratic Party was certain of winning statewide elections if united,Grantham Dewey W. Tennessee and Twentieth-Century American Politics' Tennessee Historical Quarterly 54 3 Fall 1995 210–229 although unlike the Deep South Republicans would almost always gain thirty to forty percent of the statewide vote from mountain and Highland Rim support. In 1920 by moving into a small number of traditionally Democratic areas in Middle TennesseeReichard Gary W. The Aberration of 1920: An Analysis of Harding's Victory in Tennessee The Journal of Southern History 36 1 February 1970 33–49 10.2307/2206601 2206601 and expanding turnout due to the Nineteenth Amendment and powerful isolationist sentiment,Phillips; The Emerging Republican Majority, p. 211 the Republican Party captured Tennessee's presidential electoral votes and won the governorship and three congressional seats in addition to the rock-ribbed GOP First and Second Districts. In 1922 and 1924, with the ebbing of isolationist sympathy and a consequent decline in turnout,Phillips; The Emerging Republican Majority, p. 287 the Democratic Party regained Tennessee's governorship and presidential electoral votes; however, in 1928 anti-Catholicism against Democratic nominee Al Smith in this powerfully fundamentalist stateLarson Edward J. Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America's Continuing Debate over Science and Religion October 3, 2006 Basic Books 9780465075102 meant that Herbert Hoover bettered Harding's performance without however gaining the down-ballot coattails of 1920. These Republican gains would be completely reversed in the 1930s due to the impact of the Great Depression, which was generally blamed upon the Republican Party's policies during the 1920s. Internal divisions prevented the Republicans taking advantage of a disputed Democratic gubernatorial primary in 1932 between Lewis Pope and Hill McAlister,Majors William R. Change and continuity: Tennessee politics since the Civil War 65 9780865542099 1986 Mercer University Press and for the next third of a century the Republicans would rarely contest statewide offices seriously despite their continuing dominance of East Tennessee and half a dozen Unionist counties in the middle and west of the state.Majors, Change and continuity, p. 72 Statewide politics for the decade and a half after the beginning of the Depression would be dominated by Edward Hull “Boss” Crump, whose Memphis political machine would consistently provide decisive votes in statewide Democratic primaries — aided by cross-party voting by Republicans in eastern mountain counties. Crump would be supported during this era by long-serving Senator Kenneth Douglas McKellar, and in 1938 when several statewide candidates allied themselves with Tennessee's other Senator, Gordon Browning, the Crump/McKellar machine not merely defeated the collaboration, but even unseated Senator Browning.Majors, Change and continuity, p. 70 Incumbent President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was now running with Secretary of Agriculture Henry A. Wallace in place of incumbent Vice President John Nance Garner, would visit Tennessee at the beginning of September.Thinks Public Should Approve — Willkie Disapproves of Destroyer Move by Roosevelt Sioux City Journal Sioux City, Iowa September 4, 1940 1, 5 In his visit he defended his accomplishment as Assistant Secretary of the Navy in the Wilson administration, and the work of the Tennessee Valley Authority which the New Deal had created. Republican nominee Wendell Willkie and running mate Minority Leader and Oregon senior Senator Charles L. McNary did not commentExpects U.S. Will Back Ship Deal – Willkie Finds Fault, However, Because Roosevelt Did not Get Congress' Approval Lancaster Daily Intelligencer Journal Lancaster, Pennsylvania September 4, 1940 3 or visit the state. A Gallup poll in mid-October showed Roosevelt maintaining his 1936 68 percent vote percentage,Gallup George Gallup Poll Shows Willkie Is Gaining The Spokane Chronicle Spokane, Washington October 18, 1940 1 and in the end Roosevelt carried Tennessee with 67.25 percent of the popular vote to 32.35 percent for Willkie.https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/showelection.php?year=1940 The American Presidency Project — Election of 1940 October 18, 2018 Results 1940 United States presidential election in Tennesseehttp://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/state.php?f=0&fips=47&year=1940 1940 Presidential General Election Results — Tennessee October 18, 2018 Franklin D. Roosevelt (inc.) Democratic Party (United States) 351,601 67.25% Wendell Willkie Republican Party (United States) 169,153 32.35% Roger Babson Prohibition Party 1,606 0.31% Norman Thomas Socialist Party of America 463 0.09% 522,823 100% Results by county 1940 United States presidential election in Tennessee by countyOur Campaigns https://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=2839 TN US President, November 05, 1940 County Franklin D. RooseveltDemocratic Wendell WillkieRepublican Roger W. BabsonProhibition Norman ThomasSocialist Margin Total votescast # % # % # % # % # % Anderson 2,218 54.22% 1,852 45.27% 12 0.29% 9 0.22% 366 8.95% 4,091 Bedford 2,499 81.29% 555 18.05% 20 0.65% 0 0.00% 1,944 63.24% 3,074 Benton 1,996 69.38% 858 29.82% 14 0.49% 9 0.31% 1,138 39.56% 2,877 Bledsoe 1,527 53.69% 1,317 46.31% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 210 7.38% 2,844 Blount 3,363 43.56% 4,312 55.85% 45 0.58% 0 0.00% -949 -12.29% 7,720 Bradley 1,976 42.82% 2,617 56.71% 19 0.41% 3 0.07% -641 -13.89% 4,615 Campbell 2,688 48.77% 2,799 50.78% 25 0.45% 0 0.00% -111 -2.01% 5,512 Cannon 1,699 72.05% 638 27.06% 16 0.68% 5 0.21% 1,061 45.00% 2,358 Carroll 2,830 50.16% 2,782 49.31% 30 0.53% 0 0.00% 48 0.85% 5,642 Carter 2,171 33.50% 4,238 65.40% 50 0.77% 21 0.32% -2,067 -31.90% 6,480 Cheatham 1,932 85.26% 331 14.61% 1 0.04% 2 0.09% 1,601 70.65% 2,266 Chester 1,537 60.23% 1,015 39.77% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 522 20.45% 2,552 Claiborne 2,792 48.44% 2,879 49.95% 61 1.06% 32 0.56% -87 -1.51% 5,764 Clay 1,288 70.58% 537 29.42% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 751 41.15% 1,825 Cocke 1,098 23.50% 3,521 75.35% 32 0.68% 22 0.47% -2,423 -51.85% 4,673 Coffee 2,277 83.96% 424 15.63% 10 0.37% 1 0.04% 1,853 68.33% 2,712 Crockett 2,048 73.41% 733 26.27% 6 0.22% 3 0.11% 1,315 47.13% 2,790 Cumberland 1,443 48.67% 1,492 50.32% 16 0.54% 14 0.47% -49 -1.65% 2,965 Davidson 27,589 75.89% 8,763 24.11% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 18,826 51.79% 36,352 Decatur 1,832 58.77% 1,275 40.90% 7 0.22% 3 0.10% 557 17.87% 3,117 DeKalb 2,830 58.10% 2,041 41.90% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 789 16.20% 4,871 Dickson 2,784 83.88% 527 15.88% 6 0.18% 2 0.06% 2,257 68.00% 3,319 Dyer 3,374 77.03% 961 21.94% 33 0.75% 12 0.27% 2,413 55.09% 4,380 Fayette 1,826 95.80% 78 4.09% 2 0.10% 0 0.00% 1,748 91.71% 1,906 Fentress 919 39.66% 1,365 58.91% 10 0.43% 23 0.99% -446 -19.25% 2,317 Franklin 4,312 88.13% 569 11.63% 9 0.18% 3 0.06% 3,743 76.50% 4,893 Gibson 5,103 80.29% 1,233 19.40% 17 0.27% 3 0.05% 3,870 60.89% 6,356 Giles 3,796 84.34% 692 15.37% 13 0.29% 0 0.00% 3,104 68.96% 4,501 Grainger 842 32.93% 1,688 66.01% 27 1.06% 0 0.00% -846 -33.09% 2,557 Greene 4,406 48.23% 4,587 50.21% 109 1.19% 33 0.36% -181 -1.98% 9,135 Grundy 1,749 85.07% 298 14.49% 7 0.34% 2 0.10% 1,451 70.57% 2,056 Hamblen 2,055 53.00% 1,794 46.27% 28 0.72% 0 0.00% 261 6.73% 3,877 Hamilton 17,083 63.45% 9,771 36.29% 41 0.15% 27 0.10% 7,312 27.16% 26,922 Hancock 1,014 37.54% 1,673 61.94% 14 0.52% 0 0.00% -659 -24.40% 2,701 Hardeman 2,549 88.66% 319 11.10% 7 0.24% 0 0.00% 2,230 77.57% 2,875 Hardin 1,957 46.08% 2,264 53.31% 26 0.61% 0 0.00% -307 -7.23% 4,247 Hawkins 2,108 38.62% 3,314 60.72% 36 0.66% 0 0.00% -1,206 -22.10% 5,458 Haywood 3,466 96.33% 128 3.56% 4 0.11% 0 0.00% 3,338 92.77% 3,598 Henderson 1,560 36.95% 2,653 62.84% 2 0.05% 7 0.17% -1,093 -25.89% 4,222 Henry 3,307 85.10% 563 14.49% 13 0.33% 3 0.08% 2,744 70.61% 3,886 Hickman 2,776 80.84% 644 18.75% 14 0.41% 0 0.00% 2,132 62.09% 3,434 Houston 1,093 82.12% 229 17.21% 9 0.68% 0 0.00% 864 64.91% 1,331 Humphreys 1,717 81.88% 377 17.98% 3 0.14% 0 0.00% 1,340 63.90% 2,097 Jackson 2,046 76.92% 605 22.74% 9 0.34% 0 0.00% 1,441 54.17% 2,660 Jefferson 1,062 35.35% 1,921 63.95% 16 0.53% 5 0.17% -859 -28.60% 3,004 Johnson 469 15.79% 2,502 84.21% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% -2,033 -68.43% 2,971 Knox 20,226 58.96% 13,877 40.45% 134 0.39% 67 0.20% 6,349 18.51% 34,304 Lake 2,962 92.94% 213 6.68% 2 0.06% 10 0.31% 2,749 86.26% 3,187 Lauderdale 6,279 95.09% 317 4.80% 7 0.11% 0 0.00% 5,962 90.29% 6,603 Lawrence 3,936 67.44% 1,877 32.16% 19 0.33% 4 0.07% 2,059 35.28% 5,836 Lewis 1,343 78.26% 368 21.45% 2 0.12% 3 0.17% 975 56.82% 1,716 Lincoln 3,781 87.62% 521 12.07% 13 0.30% 0 0.00% 3,260 75.55% 4,315 Loudon 2,068 47.90% 2,226 51.56% 16 0.37% 7 0.16% -158 -3.66% 4,317 Macon 711 29.08% 1,730 70.76% 4 0.16% 0 0.00% -1,019 -41.68% 2,445 Madison 6,154 82.63% 1,271 17.06% 19 0.26% 4 0.05% 4,883 65.56% 7,448 Marion 3,242 59.65% 2,158 39.71% 35 0.64% 0 0.00% 1,084 19.94% 5,435 Marshall 3,132 88.90% 389 11.04% 2 0.06% 0 0.00% 2,743 77.86% 3,523 Maury 4,529 87.33% 634 12.23% 20 0.39% 3 0.06% 3,895 75.11% 5,186 McMinn 5,192 56.92% 3,901 42.77% 19 0.21% 9 0.10% 1,291 14.15% 9,121 McNairy 2,484 49.34% 2,550 50.66% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% -66 -1.31% 5,034 Meigs 889 60.81% 573 39.19% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 316 21.61% 1,462 Monroe 4,121 55.57% 3,253 43.86% 42 0.57% 0 0.00% 868 11.70% 7,416 Montgomery 3,158 79.15% 819 20.53% 11 0.28% 2 0.05% 2,339 58.62% 3,990 Moore 869 88.49% 106 10.79% 6 0.61% 1 0.10% 763 77.70% 982 Morgan 1,783 55.18% 1,448 44.82% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 335 10.37% 3,231 Obion 4,360 88.73% 536 10.91% 14 0.28% 4 0.08% 3,824 77.82% 4,914 Overton 1,718 62.86% 988 36.15% 11 0.40% 16 0.59% 730 26.71% 2,733 Perry 1,068 76.12% 332 23.66% 3 0.21% 0 0.00% 736 52.46% 1,403 Pickett 652 43.70% 830 55.63% 8 0.54% 2 0.13% -178 -11.93% 1,492 Polk 3,611 86.53% 562 13.47% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 3,049 73.06% 4,173 Putnam 2,963 65.21% 1,576 34.68% 3 0.07% 2 0.04% 1,387 30.52% 4,544 Rhea 2,364 54.52% 1,956 45.11% 16 0.37% 0 0.00% 408 9.41% 4,336 Roane 2,384 51.27% 2,245 48.28% 19 0.41% 2 0.04% 139 2.99% 4,650 Robertson 3,258 86.49% 490 13.01% 18 0.48% 1 0.03% 2,768 73.48% 3,767 Rutherford 4,207 83.99% 782 15.61% 20 0.40% 0 0.00% 3,425 68.38% 5,009 Scott 1,448 39.68% 2,187 59.93% 14 0.38% 0 0.00% -739 -20.25% 3,649 Sequatchie 1,003 71.24% 401 28.48% 4 0.28% 0 0.00% 602 42.76% 1,408 Sevier 1,181 20.54% 4,569 79.46% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% -3,388 -58.92% 5,750 Shelby 57,664 88.61% 7,312 11.24% 55 0.08% 43 0.07% 50,352 77.38% 65,074 Smith 2,244 77.22% 648 22.30% 8 0.28% 6 0.21% 1,596 54.92% 2,906 Stewart 2,699 87.40% 374 12.11% 14 0.45% 1 0.03% 2,325 75.29% 3,088 Sullivan 7,234 63.34% 4,153 36.36% 34 0.30% 0 0.00% 3,081 26.98% 11,421 Sumner 3,591 80.75% 834 18.75% 17 0.38% 5 0.11% 2,757 62.00% 4,447 Tipton 5,815 95.13% 288 4.71% 9 0.15% 1 0.02% 5,527 90.41% 6,113 Trousdale 929 90.63% 94 9.17% 2 0.20% 0 0.00% 835 81.46% 1,025 Unicoi 985 34.19% 1,863 64.67% 29 1.01% 4 0.14% -878 -30.48% 2,881 Union 673 36.90% 1,143 62.66% 8 0.44% 0 0.00% -470 -25.77% 1,824 Van Buren 732 69.52% 318 30.20% 3 0.28% 0 0.00% 414 39.32% 1,053 Warren 2,323 80.46% 546 18.91% 18 0.62% 0 0.00% 1,777 61.55% 2,887 Washington 3,565 42.81% 4,719 56.67% 43 0.52% 0 0.00% -1,154 -13.86% 8,327 Wayne 1,100 30.62% 2,486 69.21% 6 0.17% 0 0.00% -1,386 -38.59% 3,592 Weakley 3,474 74.74% 1,139 24.51% 26 0.56% 9 0.19% 2,335 50.24% 4,648 White 2,256 77.05% 657 22.44% 15 0.51% 0 0.00% 1,599 54.61% 2,928 Williamson 3,215 85.82% 505 13.48% 26 0.69% 0 0.00% 2,710 72.34% 3,746 Wilson 3,020 82.04% 655 17.79% 6 0.16% 0 0.00% 2,365 64.25% 3,681Totals351,60167.25%169,15332.35%1,6060.31%4630.09%182,44834.90%522,823 Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican Bradley Claiborne Cumberland Greene Hardin McNairy Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic McMinn Roane Analysis Roosevelt's 67.25 percent vote share was slightly below what he managed in 1936, but slightly greater than what he gained in Tennessee in 1932. Nationally Willkie won eight states and almost 700 counties that had supported Roosevelt four years earlier, mostly because of Midwestern German-American opposition to increasing "tension" with Nazi Germany.Dunn Susan 1940: FDR, Willkie, Lindbergh, Hitler–the Election Amid the Storm June 4, 2013 107 Yale University Press 978-0300190861 However, in heavily Anglophile Tennessee, support for aid to the United Kingdom in World War II turned substantial numbers of normally rock-ribbed GOP voters to Roosevelt.Phillips; The Emerging Republican Majority; p. 93 Although FDR lost five normally Republican counties which he had carried in 1936 in Bradley, Claiborne, Cumberland, Greene and Hardin, he won two counties that had backed Hoover and Landon in his first two runs. FDR was the first Democrat to ever carry Roane County.Menendez Albert J. The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868-2004 2005 68 McFarland 0786422173 As of the 2024 presidential election, this is the last occasion when Knox County has voted for a Democratic presidential candidate.Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016 See also 1940 United States Senate election in Tennessee 1940 Tennessee gubernatorial election References Tennessee 1940 Category:1940 Tennessee elections