1932: FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT vs.
HERBERT C. HOOVER
and
1936: FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT vs.
ALFRED LANDON
The elections of 1932 and 1936 marked the end of one political era and the
beginning of another. The Republican party had controlled the White House from
1921 until its defeat in 1932 and had majorities in both houses of Congress from
1918 to 1930. The Republicans had gained their overwhelming popularity by
running as the party that eschewed government-sponsored reform and favored a
laissez-faire policy toward business. The Great Depression, which began in 1929,
discredited this pro-business stand in the eyes of many voters.
During the 1932 campaign, Franklin Roosevelt called on the government to revive
the economy, but he remained vague about specific programs he would implement if
elected. In contrast, President Herbert Hoover came across as largely unconcerned
with the plight of the unemployed and starving. The voters elected Roosevelt in a
landslide.
Roosevelt's victory marked the beginning of a new Democratic coalition that would
keep the party in power almost continuously for the next thirty-six years. He
received support from both the "solid South" and the increasingly large urban ethnic
population.
After FDR took office, he embarked upon an economic recovery program called the
New Deal. These Democratic policies polarized the electorate. On the one hand,
Roosevelt gained tremendous popularity among workers for his anti-unemployment
programs and among farmers for his agricultural reforms. On the other hand,
businessmen loathed Roosevelt and criticized him for being a traitor to his class.
They objected to the New Deal because it strengthened the federal government,
which increasingly intervened in the national economy in order to ameliorate the
economic crisis.
The election of 1936 thus became a mandate for or against the New Deal. Alfred
Landon, FDR's Republican opponent, criticized the New Deal's ineffectuality and
expense. However, Roosevelt had gained such tremendous popularity that he won
the election in one of the biggest landslides in American history. During this
election, the Democrats added a new constituency to the party. African Americans
had supported the Republicans since Reconstruction. While Jim Crow laws in the
South prevented most African Americans from voting, those Southern blacks who
could vote abandoned the party of Lincoln in 1936. The increasingly large northern
urban black population also switched its historical loyalties to the Democrats.
African-American voters thus joined a powerful Democratic coalition of urban
immigrants, Catholics, Jews, organized labor and Southern whites. Although
members of these groups often disagreed, Roosevelt was able to walk a political
tightrope and keep this coalition together for two more presidential elections.
Source: The New York Times.
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/specials/elections/1932/index.html
Answer the following questions on your own sheet of paper. Some questions have
an answer directly from the text, but others require you to infer based on what you
read.
1. How did Hoover view the government’s role in ending the depression?
2. How did Roosevelt view the government’s role in ending the depression?
3. What was the New Deal?
4. What new constituent group was added to the Democratic coalition during the
Great Depression? Why did this switch occur?