The Election Of 1932: Franklin D. Roosevelt vs. Herbert Hoover
The Stock Crash of 1929
After his landslide victory in the 1928 election, President Herbert Hoover was looking to continue that same level of prosperity that had occurred in the previous years, but those ideas were put to rest on October 29th, 1929 when the stock market suffered a massive crash and coupled with other factors like years of deregulation, a sharp decrease of international trade and a disapproiatate amount of wealth being shared signaled the end of the prosperious period known as "The Roaring Twenties".
By the earlier 1930's unemployment had reached somewhere between 23-25% with numerous banks failing, people living in shanty homes that they called "Hoovervilles", the crime rate increasing rapidly and a large amount of businesses producing less while also cutting wages and laying off workers.
This troubling period in U.S. History is often "The Great Depression" and much of the blame is being directed at the Republican Party whose laissez fairie economics helped in setting the stage for the reckless spending that occurred in the previous decade.
Hoover's Response to The Great Depression
President Herbert Hoover was now tasked with the unevious duty of trying to deal with economic chaos that was plauging the country and as a result he signed into law a number of acts that helped to create jobs and passed regulations laws in order to course correct the unemployment.
Hoover also implemented policies like the Revenue Act of 1932 that focused on raising taxes, attempting to bail out banks and businesses through tax payer dollars and passing the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act which saw an increase on prices for imported goods, unfortunately none of these acts were able to quell the growing instablity within the country with some arguing that it actually made the situation worse.
Hoover also had to deal with 'The Bonus Expedition Army' who were a band of former veterans who were looking to get their miltary bonuses from serving in World War One as they desperately needed it to provide for themselves and their families due to the Great Depression.
While the Senate's decision to vote against a bill that would allow veterans to get the money they were owned was bad enough, it's what came next that's really going to turn the American people against the president as Hoover instructs the police and the military led by generals George S. Patton and Douglas MacArthur to clear out the Hoovervilles occupied by the veterans and this culminates in places being set on fire as well as two people dead and over a hundred veterans and police officers injured.
Although President Hoover informs MacArthur to not injure the veterans within the shanty towns, MacArthur ignores this and proceeds to take action against the veterans with the general not being reprimand for his actions.
With a devasted economy, an angry number of Americans blaming the president and the fallout of the Bonus Army attack, Herbert Hoover somehow still decides to run for re-election in 1932 with Charles Curtis once again as his running mate.
The Return of Franklin D. Roosevelt
The Democratic Party was looking to captialize on the instablity that was going on in the country and a handful of names decided to run for the party's nomination in 1932.
Al Smith, the now former Governor of New York who lost to Hoover in 1928 was seen as the frontrunner in the early stages but many within the party threw their support behind the current Governor of New York, Franklin Delano Roosevelt whom you may remember was the running mate for James Cox in the election of 1920.
During Roosevelt's acceptance speech at the convention he talks about wanting to repeal the 18th amendment aka prohibition and pledges to give a new deal to the American people saying that "This is more than a political campaign; It is a call to arms."
Those are the two major candidates, I wouldn't mention any third parties as they pretty much were irrelevant when it came to this election, so instead let's go into the campaigns that both sides used in this race.
The Campaigns
Roosevelt is traveling around the country giving speeches that are firing up the American people and his also calling out the Hoover administration for spending and taxing during a period of financial ruin and promises to do the opposite if elected.
Roosevelt is also using his name recongition and his record as the Governor of New York to further demonsrate his willingness to fight for the underprivilaged, plus his even using the then popular song 'Happy Days Are Here Again' to help sell the idea that FDR is person to set things right in the country.
All of this is helping to build a coalition of voters around Roosevelt and the Democrats which not only includes farmers and Southern whites, but also includes progressives and liberals in metropolitan areas and most importantly minorities who've been ignored for some time.
On the opposite side, President Hoover's attempts to campaign were unsuccessful as many Americans blamed the GOP and Hoover for getting the country into the depression plus the aftermath of the Bonus Army is still fresh in everyone's mind with many Republicans unsure about Hoover's chances.
Both candidates would resort to public insults on one another with Hoover refering to Roosevelt as a "Chamelon in Plain" while others referred to Hoover as 'Do-Nothing President' or a 'Socialist', but perhaps the biggest insult leveled at Hoover was FDR calling him a "Fat, Timid, Capon" and for those unfamilar with the term 'capon' it basically means a castrated chicken...in other words, Roosevelt called the President of the United States an overweight, scared cockless cock.
So that's the campaigns and the insults that were thrown around in this election, now it's time to look at the results.
The Results
As you can see from the electoral map above, Franklin Delano Roosevelt won in a landslide becoming the 32rd President in U.S. History with 472 electoral votes and 57.4% of the popular vote.
Herbert Hoover received 59 electoral votes and 39.6% of the popular vote, in terms of the popular vote this is the worse performance for a Republican president trying to get re-elected since William Howard Taft in the election of 1912 as Hoover suffered an 18.6% drop in the popular vote compared to the 1928 election.
Roosvelt's win marked the time since Franklin Pierce in 1852 that the Democrats won an election with a majority of both the popular and electoral vote; In fact, Roosevelt's presidency would see a dramatic shift in politics as the Democrats would soon take many seats in the Senate and Congress over the next several years and FDR's response to the Great Depression will end up changing much of American life for generations to come.
And that's the election of 1932, the Democrats are finally back in the White House after almost 20 years and Franklin Roosevelt now has four years to give the American people a 'new deal' to counteract the problems that are the Great Depression...Can he get it done? Check out my article on the election of 1936 to find out
The Election of 1928: Herbert Hoover vs. Al Smith
The Election of 1924: Calvin Coolidge vs. John Davis vs. Robert La Follette Sr.
The Election of 1920: Warren G. Harding vs. James M. Cox
The Election Of 1920: James Cox vs. Warren G. Harding (blogofwrestling52.blogspot.com)
The Election of 1916: Woodrow Wilson vs. Charles Evans Hughes
The Election Of 1916: Woodrow Wilson vs. Charles Evans Hughes (blogofwrestling52.blogspot.com)
Be sure to follow me on Twitter @FullertonHakeem for more content like this and I will see you all later.
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