United States presidential election, 1932

Infobox Election
election_name = United States presidential election, 1932
country = United States
type = presidential
ongoing = no
previous_election = United States presidential election, 1928
previous_year = 1928
next_election = United States presidential election, 1936
next_year = 1936
election_date = November 8, 1932

nominee1 = Franklin D. Roosevelt
party1 = Democratic Party (United States)
home_state1 = New York
running_mate1 = John Nance Garner
electoral_vote1 = 472
states_carried1 = 42
popular_vote1 = 22,821,277
percentage1 = 57.4%

nominee2 = Herbert Hoover
party2 = Republican Party (United States)
home_state2 = California
running_mate2 = Charles Curtis
electoral_vote2 = 59
states_carried2 = 6
popular_vote2 = 15,761,254
percentage2 = 39.7%
map_

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map_size = 400px
map_caption = 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.
title = President
before_election = Herbert Hoover
before_party = Republican Party (United States)
after_election = Franklin D. Roosevelt
after_party = Democratic Party (United States)The United States presidential election of 1932 took place as the effects of the 1929 Stock Market Crash and the Great Depression were being felt intensely across the country. President Hoover's popularity was falling as voters felt he was unable to reverse the economic collapse, or deal with prohibition. Franklin D. Roosevelt saw that Hoover's failure to deal with these problems could be used as a platform for his own election, promising reform in his policy called the New Deal. Although vague about how he would remedy the situation, 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.

Nominations

Democratic Party nomination

:"See also: 1932 Democratic National ConventionDemocratic candidates

* Newton D. Baker, former U.S. Secretary of War and candidate for the 1924 and 1928 nominations from Ohio
* Harry F. Byrd, former Governor of Virginia
* John N. Garner, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas
* William H. Murray, Governor of Oklahoma
* James A. Reed, U.S. senator and candidate for the 1928 nomination from Missouri
* Albert C. Ritchie, Governor of Maryland
* Will Rogers, movie star from Oklahoma
* Franklin D. Roosevelt, Governor of New York and 1920 vice-presidential nominee
* Alfred E. Smith, former Governor of New York and 1928 presidential nominee and candidate for the 1920 and 1924 nominations
* Melvin A. Traylor, banker from Illinois
* George White, Governor of Ohio

Candidates gallery

Throughout the spring and summer of 1932, New York Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt was viewed as the heavy favorite to win the Democratic nomination. However, he did receive some unexpected setbacks, such as when Al Smith, the 1928 Democratic presidential nominee, defeated Roosevelt in the Massachusetts primary. However, as the Democratic Convention opened in Chicago, Roosevelt was believed to have more delegate votes than all of his opponents combined. Due to the two-thirds rule, however, many of Roosevelt's rivals hoped that he would be unable to win the nomination, and that the delegates would turn to them in later ballots.

On the first ballot Roosevelt was well ahead of his rivals, of whom the strongest was Smith. However, he was still below the two-thirds percentage he needed to win. On the next two ballots Roosevelt's total went up only slightly, and his managers - Louis Howe and James Farley - became concerned that if he did not win the nomination on the next few ballots, his strength would ebb and move to other candidates. Before the fourth ballot began, Farley and Howe cut a deal with the press baron William Randolph Hearst in which FDR would make John Nance Garner, the Speaker of the House of Representatives and also a candidate, his Vice President. Garner and his manager, Texas Congressman Sam Rayburn, agreed to the deal and on the fourth ballot Garner withdrew his candidacy and supported Roosevelt. Additionally, former Secretary of the Treasury William G. McAdoo, whose own presidential ambitions were thwarted by Al Smith eight years before, gleefully changed California's votes from Garner to Roosevelt, which set off a stampede that led to Roosevelt's nomination by the end of the fourth ballot.

Both the agricultural Republicans and the extreme hard money Republicans (the latter hoping to nominate 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.

General election

Campaign

After making a dangerous airplane trip from his Hyde Park estate to the Democratic convention, Roosevelt accepted the nomination in person. In this history-making speech, he committed himself to battling the Great Depression in the United States with a "New Deal" when he stated: "I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people." 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, President Hoover was widely blamed for the Great Depression; for more than two years Hoover had been issuing statements that the worst was over, only to have the economy make further downturns. Hoover's attempts to publicly campaign 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 Roosevelt as a dangerous radical who would only make the Depression worse by raising taxes and increasing the federal debt to pay for expensive welfare and social-relief programs. However, with unemployment at a record 33% Fact|date=September 2008, Hoover's criticisms failed to gain traction with the public.

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

1932 was a realigning election. 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 twenty consecutive years of Democratic control of the White House would ensue. 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 presidential election created a new alignment which favored the Republicans.The vote for Roosevelt was nearly 8 million higher than that for Smith in 1928, an increase of 52%. 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's 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.

Hoover's 17.76% margin of loss is the largest ever margin of defeat for an incumbent President to date.

Results

Source (Popular Vote): Leip PV source 2| year=1932| as of=July 31, 2005

Source (Electoral Vote): National Archives EV source| year=1932| as of=July 31, 2005

Close States (Margin of Victory Less than 10%)

#Connecticut, 1.1%
#New Hampshire, 1.4%
#New Jersey, 1.9%
#Delaware, 2.4%
#Ohio, 2.9%
#Massachusetts, 4.0%
#Pennsylvania, 5.5%
#Michigan, 7.9%
#Kansas, 9.4%

Results by state

Bibliography

* Kristi Andersen, "The Creation of a Democratic Majority: 1928-1936" (1979), statistical
* James McGregor Burns, "Roosevelt: The Lion and the Fox" (1956)
* Frank Freidel, "Franklin D. Roosevelt: The Triumph" (1956)
* Frank Freidel, "Election of 1932", in Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., ed., "The Coming to Power: Critical Presidential Elections in American History" (1981),
* Harold F. Gosnell, "Champion Campaigner: Franklin D. Roosevelt" (1952)
* Herbert Hoover, "The Memoirs of Herbert Hoover: The Great Depression", 1929-1941 (1952)
* Roy V. Peel and Thomas C. Donnelly, "The 1932 Campaign: An Analysis" (1935)
* Donald A. Ritchie, "Electing FDR: The New Deal Campaign of 1932" (2007)
* Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. "The Crisis of the Old Order" (1957),

ee also

*United States Senate election, 1932
*United States House election, 1932
*History of the United States (1918-1945)

External links

* [http://geoelections.free.fr/USA/elec_comtes/1932.htm 1932 popular vote by counties]
* [http://www.msu.edu/~sheppa28/elections.html#1932 How close was the 1932 election?] - Michael Sheppard, Michigan State University

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