Important elections

Question 1

What happened in the presidential election of 1932? (what was the result, and how can the result be explained?)

Answer 1

FDR, 472 (D) > Herbert Hoover, 59 (R)
Landslide election

The first time since 1916 that a Democrat is elected as president.

The crash and depression weakened the power of the Republicans. Roosevelt wanted to be the candidate of change.

It was a combination of dire conditions and shifting loyalties. The democrats replace the republicans mainly because the working class are motivated to vote. Immigrants who came to the US in 1900-1914 now had children old enough to vote.

This period began the ideological swapping of Democrats and Republicans into their modern versions, largely due to most Black voters switching from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party, while most conservative, white, usually southern Democrats shifted to the Republican Party as Democrats began increasingly prioritizing civil rights; this process accelerated into the 1960s.

Question 2

What happened in the presidential election of 1936? (what was the result, and how can the result be explained?)

Answer 2

FDR, 523 (D) > Alf Landon, 8 (R)
Another landslide election

“The election of 1936 was a key moment in American political history for it created what became known as the “New Deal coalition,” a rearrangement in which organized labor, minorities (especially blacks), and white southerners, in varying degrees of commitment, stood behind FDR and the Democratic Party in a supportive relationship that would endure for many years”.

FDR critics (Long, Coughlin and Townshend) had become popular from 1933-1935, but by 1936 they were no longer a threat.
- Long has been murdered
- Coughlin was not a politician, most who shared his criticisms votes for FDR anyway
- Townshend’s plans were trashed as unworkable and FDR’s Social Security Act also made Townshend’s plans out of date

Question 3

What happened in the presidential election of 1940? (what was the result, and how can the result be explained?)

Answer 3

FDR, 449 (D) > Wendell Willkie, 82 (R)

Roosevelt, acutely aware of strong isolationist and non-interventionist sentiment, promised there would be no involvement in foreign wars if he were re-elected. Willkie’s association with big business damaged his cause, as many working-class voters blamed corporations and business leaders for the Great Depression.

Question 4

What happened in the presidential election of 1944? (what was the result, and how can the result be explained?)

Answer 4

FDR, 432 (D) > Thomas E. Dewey, 99 (R)

Concerned that Roosevelt’s ill health would mean the vice president would likely become president, the convention dropped Roosevelt’s vice president Henry A. Wallace in favor of Senator Harry S. Truman of Missouri. As World War II was going well for the United States and its Allies, Roosevelt remained popular despite his long tenure.