Elections With Incumbents: The Election of 1932
Calvin Coolidge was succeeded by his Commerce Secretary, Herbert Hoover. Although many regarded Hoover, a self-made millionaire, as some sort of genius and whiz kid, Coolidge did not share that opinion. Coolidge was quoted as saying that Hoover had given him an abundance of unsolicited advice, "all of it bad" according to Coolidge. Nevertheless, Hoover's selection to succeed Coolidge was seen as almost pre-ordained, and in 1928 Hoover won his party's nomination and the Presidency, defeating New York Governor Al Smith in a nasty campaign that attacked Smith's Catholicism.
Running as an incumbent in 1932, Hoover would have a much more difficult time. The Great Depression had hit and the nation was in its grasp. There has been subsequent debate about whether or not Hoover did enough to combat the problem, but in the end it was greater than anyone had predicted. The nation was scared and angry. In the summer of 1932 thousands of World War I veterans and their families demonstrated and camped out in Washington, D.C. They called for the immediate payment of a bonus that had been promised by the Adjusted Service Certificate Law in 1924. It wasn't due for payment until 1945. Although offered money by Congress to return home, some members of the "Bonus army" remained. On July 28th, Washington police attempted to remove the demonstrators from their camp, but they were outnumbered by the protesters. Shots were fired by the police in a futile attempt to attain order, and two protesters (veterans) were killed while many officers were injured. Hoover sent U.S. Army forces led by General Douglas MacArthur and helped by lower ranking officers Dwight D. Eisenhower and George S. Patton to intervene. MacArthur believed he was fighting a communist revolution. He chose to clear out the camp with military force. In the ensuing clash, hundreds of civilians were injured.
At 4:45 p.m., the 12th Infantry Regiment commanded by MacArthur, and the 3rd Cavalry Regiment, supported by six battle tanks commanded by Patton, formed in Pennsylvania Avenue while thousands of civil service employees left work to line the street and watch the U.S. Army attack its own veterans. The Bonus Marchers, believing the display was in their honour, cheered the troops until Maj. Patton ordered the cavalry to charge them-an action which prompted the civil service spectators to yell "Shame! Shame!" After the cavalry charged the infantry, with fixed bayonets and adamsite gas, entered the camps, evicting veterans, families, and camp followers. The veterans fled across the Anacostia River to their largest camp and President Hoover ordered the assault stopped. However Gen. MacArthur, still believing that he was facing a Communist attempt at overthrowing the U.S. government, ignored the President and ordered a new attack. Hundreds of veterans were injured and several killed. Hoover was incensed, but refused to reprimand MacArthur. The entire incident was another devastating negative for Hoover in the 1932 election.
The incident was beneficial to the political fortunes of one man, New York Governor and Democratic presidential candidate Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who said of Hoover: "There is nothing inside the man but jelly!" Roosevelt was an unlikely political success story. In 1921, at age 39, Roosevelt contracted an illness that was diagnosed a poliomyelitis, which left him paralyzed from waist down. He would not be able to walk again, but was able to maintain an illusion of good health to an unsuspecting public. Refusing to let his illness keep him out of politics, he was elected as his state's Governor in 1928, the year that Smith first challenged Hoover for the Presidency. For Roosevelt to secure victory at a time when physical disability was looked down upon or pitied by most members of the public, is remarkable. But the popular New York Governor was not only able to hide his condition from the public, but was also able to portray an image of strength and vigor.
In 1932 it was pretty much a given that the incumbent President was going down. While Hoover didn't cause the depression, he was the handiest target for suffering Americans to direct their anger towards. The attack on the Bonus Marchers hurt Hoover's chances for re-election even more and many believed, correctly perhaps, that this was the final nail in the coffin for any plans to re-elect Hoover.
Roosevelt's strong base in the country's most populous state made him a leading candidate for the Democratic nomination. But the nomination was hotly contested in light of Hoover's vulnerability. One of FDR's leading opponents for the nomination was his old boss, former New York Governor Al Smith, who had been the Democratic candidate in 1928, losing to Hoover. Smith had also unsuccessfully sought the nomination in 1924. Smith was supported by some city bosses, but many in the party saw him as unelectable, in part due to his previous failures on the national stage, and in part due to his Roman Catholicism. Being a Catholic in 1932 was a political liability and Smith had been savagely attached for this in 1924 and 1928 when his opponents claimed that if he elected, he would be Rome's puppet. Smith was also seen as vulnerable for his stance opposing prohibition, which was popular in some sections of the nation, but unpopular in others. Roosevelt had successfully managed to skirt the issue. By 1932 Smith had also lost control of the New York Democratic party to Roosevelt.
Roosevelt meanwhile built his own national coalition. His personal allies included newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, businessman Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. who was a leader in both the Irish and the Catholic communities, and California leader William Gibbs McAdoo, Woodrow Wilson's son-in-law and a man who had twice sought the nomination unsuccessfully.
Speaker of the House John Nance Garner from Texas was another candidate who sought the nomination. He was opposed to prohibition. He would ultimately throw his support to Roosevelt.
The 1932 Democratic National Convention was held in Chicago, Illinois from June 27 to July 2, 1932. It was a time when candidates did not attend their party's nominating convention. Roosevelt would break that tradition following his nomination. By this time women had the right to vote, and in previous elections, most had voted Republican. Roosevelt intended to change this and he had Beulah Rebecca Hooks Hannah Tingley, a member of the Democratic National Committee and Chair of the Democratic Party of Florida, second his nomination, making her the first woman to address a Democratic National Convention.
Smith still had the support of the Tammany Hall machine in New York City, but this did not necessarily make him popular in other parts of the nation. However he did have many supporters in the Democratic National Committee, as well as in Chicago. His friend, Chicago mayor Anton Cermak, packed the hall with Smith supporters. It was Roosevelt however who had the support of a solid majority of the delegates. His backers included Senators Burton Wheeler of Montana, Cordell Hull of Tennessee, Alben Barkley of Kentucky, and Huey Long of Louisiana. Long held the Deep South for Roosevelt. Roosevelt created a new Democratic coalition at this convention that included western progressives, ethnic minorities, rural farmers, and intellectuals. Supporters of Roosevelt pushed for the abolition of the two thirds rule (which required the presidential nominee to win the votes of two thirds of the delegates), but the lacked the support to make this happen,
After three ballots, Roosevelt had not secured the 770 votes necessary for the nomination, and his campaign feared that his support had peaked. New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Connecticut were not supporting Roosevelt. McAdoo, who controlled the California delegation, was originally supporting Garner, and so was Hearst. Roosevelt's campaign was able to persuade Garner to release his delegates to vote for Roosevelt. Hearst disliked Roosevelt but hated Smith even more. McAdoo, who himself had been denied nomination by the two thirds rule at the 1924 convention, announced that California would back Roosevelt, and this was sufficient to give Roosevelt had the necessary number of delegates to win the nomination. Roosevelt received 945 votes on the fourth ballot and Smith had 190. In return for throwing his support to Roosevelt, Garner became the vice-presidential candidate. McAdoo had hoped to be on the ticket, but this was opposed by Hearst.
Roosevelt broke tradition by making an airplane trip and traveling to the Democratic convention, to accept the nomination in person. In his speech, Roosevelt promised to "abolish useless offices" and "eliminate unnecessary functions of Government". He told the delegates that government, at all levels, "costs too much". He also promised to increase world trade as a means of helping the nation out of its economic woes.
This and other travel during the campaign was intended to project an image of Roosevelt as robust and healthy. Large crowds greeted Roosevelt as he traveled around the nation throughout the campaign. His theme song was "Happy Days Are Here Again" and it became very popular. He was able to unite many of the disparate elements of the Democratic Party. Roosevelt's Protestantism brought those back into the party who were put off by Smith's Catholicism in the last election. Cultural issues that had caused divisions in previous elections took a back seat to the Depression, which was the only issue voters were concerned about. There was also mounting demand to end prohibition and bring back beer, liquor, and the resulting tax revenues.
In contrast, Hoover was hemorrhaging supported even within his own party. A number of Republican senators who had fought him throughout his administration, known as the "insurgents", continued to do so even throughout the election campaign. Many prominent Republicans even went so far as to openly support Roosevelt. Many Americans blamed Hoover for the Great Depression. For more than two years, Hoover had been restricting trade and increasing taxes on the wealthy with legislation such as the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act and the Revenue Act of 1932. Roosevelt criticized these policies. He said: "I accuse the present Administration of being the greatest spending Administration in peacetime in all our history." Garner accused Hoover of "leading the country down the path of socialism."
The outrage caused by the deaths of veterans in the Bonus Army incident in the summer of 1932, along with the negative economic effects of Hoover's domestic policies, made his chances of a second term a practical impossibility. His attempts to campaign in public were a disaster. He often had objects thrown at him or his vehicle as he rode through city streets. In his addresses, Hoover attacked Roosevelt as a capitalist president who would only make the Depression worse by decreasing taxes, reducing government intervention in the economy, and cutting government. But with unemployment at 23.6%, Hoover's criticisms of Roosevelt lacked any credibility.
Roosevelt promised no specific programs. He didn't have to. The nation was in a mood for change. Hoover received a letter from an Illinois man that advised, "Vote for Roosevelt and make it unanimous." The level of campaign rhetoric was amusing. Hoover called Roosevelt a "chameleon in plaid" and Roosevelt called President Hoover a "fat, timid capon". The attacks on one another became personal, and when Roosevelt was ultimately elected president and the two men had to ride together to the inauguration ceremony, Hoover refused to speak to Roosevelt.
On election day, Roosevelt received 22,817,883 voters (57.41%), the greatest vote ever cast for a candidate for the Presidency up until that time. The swing from Smith in 1928 to Roosevelt in 1932 remains the greatest national swing of the electorate between presidential elections in history. Roosevelt won 472 electoral votes. Hoover received 15,761,254 votes (39.65%) and 59 electoral votes.
Running as an incumbent in 1932, Hoover would have a much more difficult time. The Great Depression had hit and the nation was in its grasp. There has been subsequent debate about whether or not Hoover did enough to combat the problem, but in the end it was greater than anyone had predicted. The nation was scared and angry. In the summer of 1932 thousands of World War I veterans and their families demonstrated and camped out in Washington, D.C. They called for the immediate payment of a bonus that had been promised by the Adjusted Service Certificate Law in 1924. It wasn't due for payment until 1945. Although offered money by Congress to return home, some members of the "Bonus army" remained. On July 28th, Washington police attempted to remove the demonstrators from their camp, but they were outnumbered by the protesters. Shots were fired by the police in a futile attempt to attain order, and two protesters (veterans) were killed while many officers were injured. Hoover sent U.S. Army forces led by General Douglas MacArthur and helped by lower ranking officers Dwight D. Eisenhower and George S. Patton to intervene. MacArthur believed he was fighting a communist revolution. He chose to clear out the camp with military force. In the ensuing clash, hundreds of civilians were injured.
At 4:45 p.m., the 12th Infantry Regiment commanded by MacArthur, and the 3rd Cavalry Regiment, supported by six battle tanks commanded by Patton, formed in Pennsylvania Avenue while thousands of civil service employees left work to line the street and watch the U.S. Army attack its own veterans. The Bonus Marchers, believing the display was in their honour, cheered the troops until Maj. Patton ordered the cavalry to charge them-an action which prompted the civil service spectators to yell "Shame! Shame!" After the cavalry charged the infantry, with fixed bayonets and adamsite gas, entered the camps, evicting veterans, families, and camp followers. The veterans fled across the Anacostia River to their largest camp and President Hoover ordered the assault stopped. However Gen. MacArthur, still believing that he was facing a Communist attempt at overthrowing the U.S. government, ignored the President and ordered a new attack. Hundreds of veterans were injured and several killed. Hoover was incensed, but refused to reprimand MacArthur. The entire incident was another devastating negative for Hoover in the 1932 election.
The incident was beneficial to the political fortunes of one man, New York Governor and Democratic presidential candidate Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who said of Hoover: "There is nothing inside the man but jelly!" Roosevelt was an unlikely political success story. In 1921, at age 39, Roosevelt contracted an illness that was diagnosed a poliomyelitis, which left him paralyzed from waist down. He would not be able to walk again, but was able to maintain an illusion of good health to an unsuspecting public. Refusing to let his illness keep him out of politics, he was elected as his state's Governor in 1928, the year that Smith first challenged Hoover for the Presidency. For Roosevelt to secure victory at a time when physical disability was looked down upon or pitied by most members of the public, is remarkable. But the popular New York Governor was not only able to hide his condition from the public, but was also able to portray an image of strength and vigor.
In 1932 it was pretty much a given that the incumbent President was going down. While Hoover didn't cause the depression, he was the handiest target for suffering Americans to direct their anger towards. The attack on the Bonus Marchers hurt Hoover's chances for re-election even more and many believed, correctly perhaps, that this was the final nail in the coffin for any plans to re-elect Hoover.
Roosevelt's strong base in the country's most populous state made him a leading candidate for the Democratic nomination. But the nomination was hotly contested in light of Hoover's vulnerability. One of FDR's leading opponents for the nomination was his old boss, former New York Governor Al Smith, who had been the Democratic candidate in 1928, losing to Hoover. Smith had also unsuccessfully sought the nomination in 1924. Smith was supported by some city bosses, but many in the party saw him as unelectable, in part due to his previous failures on the national stage, and in part due to his Roman Catholicism. Being a Catholic in 1932 was a political liability and Smith had been savagely attached for this in 1924 and 1928 when his opponents claimed that if he elected, he would be Rome's puppet. Smith was also seen as vulnerable for his stance opposing prohibition, which was popular in some sections of the nation, but unpopular in others. Roosevelt had successfully managed to skirt the issue. By 1932 Smith had also lost control of the New York Democratic party to Roosevelt.
Roosevelt meanwhile built his own national coalition. His personal allies included newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, businessman Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. who was a leader in both the Irish and the Catholic communities, and California leader William Gibbs McAdoo, Woodrow Wilson's son-in-law and a man who had twice sought the nomination unsuccessfully.
Speaker of the House John Nance Garner from Texas was another candidate who sought the nomination. He was opposed to prohibition. He would ultimately throw his support to Roosevelt.
The 1932 Democratic National Convention was held in Chicago, Illinois from June 27 to July 2, 1932. It was a time when candidates did not attend their party's nominating convention. Roosevelt would break that tradition following his nomination. By this time women had the right to vote, and in previous elections, most had voted Republican. Roosevelt intended to change this and he had Beulah Rebecca Hooks Hannah Tingley, a member of the Democratic National Committee and Chair of the Democratic Party of Florida, second his nomination, making her the first woman to address a Democratic National Convention.
Smith still had the support of the Tammany Hall machine in New York City, but this did not necessarily make him popular in other parts of the nation. However he did have many supporters in the Democratic National Committee, as well as in Chicago. His friend, Chicago mayor Anton Cermak, packed the hall with Smith supporters. It was Roosevelt however who had the support of a solid majority of the delegates. His backers included Senators Burton Wheeler of Montana, Cordell Hull of Tennessee, Alben Barkley of Kentucky, and Huey Long of Louisiana. Long held the Deep South for Roosevelt. Roosevelt created a new Democratic coalition at this convention that included western progressives, ethnic minorities, rural farmers, and intellectuals. Supporters of Roosevelt pushed for the abolition of the two thirds rule (which required the presidential nominee to win the votes of two thirds of the delegates), but the lacked the support to make this happen,
After three ballots, Roosevelt had not secured the 770 votes necessary for the nomination, and his campaign feared that his support had peaked. New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Connecticut were not supporting Roosevelt. McAdoo, who controlled the California delegation, was originally supporting Garner, and so was Hearst. Roosevelt's campaign was able to persuade Garner to release his delegates to vote for Roosevelt. Hearst disliked Roosevelt but hated Smith even more. McAdoo, who himself had been denied nomination by the two thirds rule at the 1924 convention, announced that California would back Roosevelt, and this was sufficient to give Roosevelt had the necessary number of delegates to win the nomination. Roosevelt received 945 votes on the fourth ballot and Smith had 190. In return for throwing his support to Roosevelt, Garner became the vice-presidential candidate. McAdoo had hoped to be on the ticket, but this was opposed by Hearst.
Roosevelt broke tradition by making an airplane trip and traveling to the Democratic convention, to accept the nomination in person. In his speech, Roosevelt promised to "abolish useless offices" and "eliminate unnecessary functions of Government". He told the delegates that government, at all levels, "costs too much". He also promised to increase world trade as a means of helping the nation out of its economic woes.
This and other travel during the campaign was intended to project an image of Roosevelt as robust and healthy. Large crowds greeted Roosevelt as he traveled around the nation throughout the campaign. His theme song was "Happy Days Are Here Again" and it became very popular. He was able to unite many of the disparate elements of the Democratic Party. Roosevelt's Protestantism brought those back into the party who were put off by Smith's Catholicism in the last election. Cultural issues that had caused divisions in previous elections took a back seat to the Depression, which was the only issue voters were concerned about. There was also mounting demand to end prohibition and bring back beer, liquor, and the resulting tax revenues.
In contrast, Hoover was hemorrhaging supported even within his own party. A number of Republican senators who had fought him throughout his administration, known as the "insurgents", continued to do so even throughout the election campaign. Many prominent Republicans even went so far as to openly support Roosevelt. Many Americans blamed Hoover for the Great Depression. For more than two years, Hoover had been restricting trade and increasing taxes on the wealthy with legislation such as the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act and the Revenue Act of 1932. Roosevelt criticized these policies. He said: "I accuse the present Administration of being the greatest spending Administration in peacetime in all our history." Garner accused Hoover of "leading the country down the path of socialism."
The outrage caused by the deaths of veterans in the Bonus Army incident in the summer of 1932, along with the negative economic effects of Hoover's domestic policies, made his chances of a second term a practical impossibility. His attempts to campaign in public were a disaster. He often had objects thrown at him or his vehicle as he rode through city streets. In his addresses, Hoover attacked Roosevelt as a capitalist president who would only make the Depression worse by decreasing taxes, reducing government intervention in the economy, and cutting government. But with unemployment at 23.6%, Hoover's criticisms of Roosevelt lacked any credibility.
Roosevelt promised no specific programs. He didn't have to. The nation was in a mood for change. Hoover received a letter from an Illinois man that advised, "Vote for Roosevelt and make it unanimous." The level of campaign rhetoric was amusing. Hoover called Roosevelt a "chameleon in plaid" and Roosevelt called President Hoover a "fat, timid capon". The attacks on one another became personal, and when Roosevelt was ultimately elected president and the two men had to ride together to the inauguration ceremony, Hoover refused to speak to Roosevelt.
On election day, Roosevelt received 22,817,883 voters (57.41%), the greatest vote ever cast for a candidate for the Presidency up until that time. The swing from Smith in 1928 to Roosevelt in 1932 remains the greatest national swing of the electorate between presidential elections in history. Roosevelt won 472 electoral votes. Hoover received 15,761,254 votes (39.65%) and 59 electoral votes.