{"id":288,"date":"2015-08-21T18:07:00","date_gmt":"2015-08-21T18:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.candelalearning.com\/ushistory2os2xmaster\/?post_type=chapter&#038;p=288"},"modified":"2022-10-21T16:59:53","modified_gmt":"2022-10-21T16:59:53","slug":"the-election-of-1932","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/chapter\/the-election-of-1932\/","title":{"raw":"The Election of 1932","rendered":"The Election of 1932"},"content":{"raw":"<div class=\"bcc-box bcc-highlight\">\r\n<h3>Learning Objectives<\/h3>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Identify the characteristics that made Franklin Roosevelt a desirable presidential candidate<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Describe the events and circumstances surrounding\u00a0the 1932 presidential election<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<figure id=\"CNX_History_26_01_Timeline\" class=\"timeline\"><figcaption>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"780\"]<img src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images-archive-read-only\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/884\/2015\/08\/23203148\/CNX_History_26_01_Timeline.jpg\" alt=\"A timeline shows important events of the era. In 1932, Roosevelt is elected president; a photograph of Roosevelt\u2019s inauguration is shown. In 1933, the First New Deal legislation passes; a photograph of New Deal workers is shown. In 1934, the Southern Tenant Farmers Union organizes; a photograph of six Dust Bowl refugees is shown. In 1935, the Supreme Court strikes down key elements of the New Deal, and the Second New Deal begins. In 1936, Roosevelt is re-elected in a landslide; a photograph of Roosevelt is shown. In 1938, the U.S. encounters a recession when government spending is curtailed, and the Fair Labor Standards Act passes.\" width=\"780\" height=\"433\" data-media-type=\"image\/jpeg\" \/> <strong>Figure 1.<\/strong> Major political events between 1932 and 1938.[\/caption]\r\n\r\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\nFew presidential elections in modern American history have been more consequential than the Election of 1932. The United States was struggling through the third year of the Depression, and exasperated voters overthrew Hoover in a landslide for the Democratic governor of New York, Franklin Delano Roosevelt.\r\n<h2>Franklin Roosevelt's Background<\/h2>\r\nRoosevelt came from a privileged background in New York\u2019s Hudson River Valley (his distant cousin, Theodore Roosevelt, became president while Franklin was at Harvard) and embarked on a slow but steady ascent through state and national politics. In 1913, he was appointed assistant secretary of the navy, a position he held during the defense emergency of World War I. During his rise, in the summer of 1921, Roosevelt suffered a sudden bout of lower-body pain and paralysis. He was diagnosed with <strong>polio<\/strong>-- a virus that attacks the central nervous system. The disease left him a person with paraplegia, but, encouraged and assisted by his wife, Eleanor, Roosevelt sought therapeutic treatment and maintained sufficient political connections to reenter politics.\r\n<div class=\"textbox key-takeaways\">\r\n<h3><span style=\"orphans: 1; text-align: initial; font-size: 17.28px; background-color: #d2dcd2;\">Photographs of Roosevelt<\/span><\/h3>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_3321\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"259\"]<a href=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5696\/2015\/08\/09040523\/5813155742_4926a3e5cd_b.jpg\"><img class=\" wp-image-3321\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5696\/2015\/08\/09040523\/5813155742_4926a3e5cd_b-237x300.jpg\" alt=\"Image depicting FDR in a wheelchair with a dog and young girl.\" width=\"259\" height=\"328\" \/><\/a> <strong>Figure 2.<\/strong> President Roosevelt in his wheelchair on the porch at Top Cottage in Hyde Park, NY, with Ruthie Bie and Fala. February 1941.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nWhile the Roosevelts were vacationing at Campobello Island in August 1921, Franklin fell ill. His main symptoms were fever, symmetric, ascending paralysis, facial paralysis; bowel and bladder dysfunction; numbness and hyperesthesia; and a descending pattern of recovery. Roosevelt was left permanently paralyzed from the waist down. He was diagnosed with\u00a0poliomyelitis\u00a0at the time, but his symptoms are now believed to be more consistent with\u00a0Guillain\u2013Barr\u00e9 syndrome\u00a0\u2013 an autoimmune neuropathy that Roosevelt's doctors failed to consider as a diagnostic possibility.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_3320\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"383\"]<a href=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5696\/2015\/08\/09040518\/8077708175_9733748f94_b.jpg\"><img class=\" wp-image-3320\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5696\/2015\/08\/09040518\/8077708175_9733748f94_b-300x240.jpg\" alt=\"FDR leans on a podium while standing to give a campaign speech in Topeka, Kansas\" width=\"383\" height=\"306\" \/><\/a> <strong>Figure 3.<\/strong> Franklin D. Roosevelt delivers a campaign speech in Topeka, Kansas. September 14, 1932.[\/caption]\r\n<h4>Continuing Political Life Through Illness<\/h4>\r\nThough his mother favored his retirement from public life, Roosevelt, his wife, and Roosevelt's close friend and adviser, Louis Howe, were all determined that he continue his political career.\u00a0He convinced many people that he was improving, which he believed to be essential, before running for public office again. He laboriously taught himself to walk short distances while wearing iron braces on his hips and legs by swiveling his torso and supporting himself with a cane.<sup id=\"cite_ref-FOOTNOTERowley2010120_105-0\" class=\"reference\"><\/sup>\u00a0He was careful never to be seen using his wheelchair in public, and great care was taken to prevent any portrayal in the press that would highlight his disability. However, his disability was well known before and during his presidency and became a significant part of his image. He usually stood upright in public, supported on one side by an aide or one of his sons.\r\n\r\nBeginning in 1925, Roosevelt spent most of his time in the Southern United States, at first on his houseboat, the\u00a0<i>Larooco<\/i>.<sup id=\"cite_ref-FOOTNOTESmith2007213\u201314_108-0\" class=\"reference\"><\/sup>\u00a0Intrigued by the potential benefits of\u00a0hydrotherapy, he established\u00a0a rehabilitation center\u00a0at\u00a0Warm Springs, Georgia, in 1926. To create the rehabilitation center, he assembled a staff of physical therapists and used most of his inheritance to purchase the Merriweather Inn. In 1938, he founded the\u00a0National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, leading to the development of polio vaccines.<sup id=\"cite_ref-FOOTNOTESmith2007215\u201319_109-0\" class=\"reference\"><\/sup>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<h3>Roosevelt Elected New York Governor<\/h3>\r\nIn 1928, Roosevelt won the election for governor of New York. He oversaw the rise of the Depression and drew from the tradition of American progressivism to address the economic crisis. He explained to the state assembly in 1931 that the situation demanded a government response \u201cnot as a matter of charity, but as a matter of social duty.\u201d\u00a0As governor, he established\u00a0the Temporary Emergency Relief Administration (TERA), supplying public work jobs at the prevailing wage and in-kind aid\u2014food, shelter, and clothes\u2014to those unable to afford it. Soon the TERA was providing work and relief to ten percent of the state\u2019s families.[footnote]Eric Rauchway, Why the New Deal Matters (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2021), 144\u2013146.[\/footnote]\u00a0Roosevelt\u00a0relied on many like-minded advisors. Frances Perkins, for example, the commissioner of the state\u2019s labor department, successfully advocated pioneering legislation that enhanced workplace safety and reduced the use of child labor in factories. Perkins later accompanied Roosevelt to Washington and served as the nation\u2019s first female secretary of labor.[footnote]Biographies of Roosevelt include Kenneth C. Davis, FDR: The Beckoning of Destiny: 1882\u20131928 (New York: Rand, 1972); and Jean Edward Smith, FDR (New York: Random House, 2007).[\/footnote]\r\n<p id=\"fs-idm14935536\">While\u00a0Franklin Roosevelt was part of the political establishment and the wealthy elite, he did not want to be perceived that way in the 1932 presidential campaign. Roosevelt felt the country needed sweeping change, and he ran a campaign to convince the American people that he could deliver that change. It was not the specifics of his campaign promises that were different; in fact, he gave very few details and likely did not yet have a clear idea of how he would raise the country out of the Great Depression. But he campaigned tirelessly, talking to thousands of people, appearing at his party\u2019s national convention, and striving to show the public that he was a different breed of politician. As Hoover grew more morose and physically unwell in the face of the campaign, Roosevelt thrived. He was elected in a landslide by a country ready for the change he had promised.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<section id=\"fs-idp17503296\" data-depth=\"1\">\r\n<h2>The Presidential Election of 1932<\/h2>\r\nThe early years of the Depression were catastrophic. The crisis, far from relenting, deepened each year. Unemployment peaked at 25 percent in 1932. With no end in sight, private firms crippled, and charities overwhelmed by the crisis, Americans looked to their government as the last barrier against starvation, hopelessness, and perpetual poverty.\r\n\r\nBy the 1932 presidential election, Hoover\u2019s popularity was at an all-time low. Despite his efforts to address many Americans' hardships, his inadequate response to the Great Depression left Americans angry and ready for change. Though born to wealth and educated at the best schools, Franklin Roosevelt offered the change people sought. His experience in politics included a seat in the New York State legislature, a vice-presidential nomination, and a stint as governor of New York. During the latter, he introduced many state-level reforms that later formed the basis of his <span class=\"no-emphasis\" data-type=\"term\">New Deal and<\/span>\u00a0worked with several advisors who later formed the <span data-type=\"term\">Brains Trust<\/span> that advised his federal agenda.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"390\"]<img src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images-archive-read-only\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/884\/2015\/08\/23203150\/CNX_History_26_01_FDRElea.jpg\" alt=\"A photograph shows Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt smiling as they ride in the back of a coach. Franklin Roosevelt waves his hat at onlookers.\" width=\"390\" height=\"307\" data-media-type=\"image\/jpeg\" \/> <strong>Figure 4.<\/strong> Franklin Roosevelt brought a new feeling of optimism and possibility to a country beaten down by hardship. His enthusiasm was the counterpoint to Herbert Hoover\u2019s discouraging last year in office.[\/caption]\r\n<p id=\"fs-idm38261504\">Roosevelt exuded confidence, which the American public desperately wished to see in their leader. Roosevelt understood that the public sympathized with his ailment and developed a genuine empathy for public suffering due to his illness. However, he never wanted to be photographed in his wheelchair or appear infirm for fear that the public\u2019s sympathy would transform into concern over his physical ability to discharge the duties of the Oval Office.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h3>Restoring the American Public's Faith in the Government<\/h3>\r\n<p id=\"fs-idp2405152\">Roosevelt also recognized the need to convey to the voting public that he was not simply another member of the political aristocracy. Americans were experiencing the country's most severe economic challenges to date. It is no surprise that they began to question some of the fundamental principles of capitalism and democracy. Roosevelt sought to calm those fears and to assure the American people that he had creative solutions to address the nation's problems\u00a0while restoring public confidence in fundamental American values.\u00a0As a result, he not only was the first presidential candidate to appear in person at a national political convention to accept his party\u2019s nomination but also flew there through terrible weather from New York to Chicago to do so\u2014a risky venture in what was still the early stages of flight as public transportation. At the Democratic National Convention in 1932, he coined the famous phrase: \u201cI pledge myself to a new deal for the American people.\u201d The New Deal did not yet exist, but to the American people, any optimistic response to the Great Depression was welcome.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div class=\"textbox tryit\">\r\n<h3>Try It<\/h3>\r\nhttps:\/\/assess.lumenlearning.com\/practice\/31377a2e-1e46-4211-a8ee-d4dba0a90833\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<h3>Hoover Underestimates his Opponent<\/h3>\r\n<p id=\"fs-idm11642464\">Hoover assumed at first that Roosevelt would be easy to defeat, confident that he could never carry the eastern states and the business vote. He was sorely mistaken. Everywhere he went, Hoover was met with antagonism; anti-Hoover signs and protests were the norm. Hoover\u2019s public persona declined rapidly. Many news accounts reported that he seemed physically unwell, with an ashen face and shaking hands. Often, he appeared as though he would faint, and an aide constantly remained nearby with a chair in case he fell. In contrast, Roosevelt thrived on the campaign. He commented, \u201cI have looked into the faces of thousands of Americans, and they have the frightened look of lost children.\u201d<\/p>\r\nRoosevelt proposed jobs programs, public work projects, higher wages, shorter hours, old-age pensions, unemployment insurance, farm subsidies, banking regulations, and lower tariffs. Hoover warned that such a program represented \u201cthe total abandonment of every principle upon which this government and the American system is founded.\u201d He cautioned that it reeked of European communism and that \u201cthe so-called new deals would destroy the very foundations of the American system of life.\u201d[footnote]Eric Rauchway, \u201cThe New Deal Was on the Ballot in 1932,\u201d Modern American History 2, no. 2 (2019), 202\u2013203.[\/footnote]Americans didn\u2019t buy it.\r\n<h2>Roosevelt Elected President<\/h2>\r\nNovember's election results were never really in question: With three million more people voting than in 1928, Roosevelt won by a popular count of twenty-three million to fifteen million. He carried all but six states while winning over 57 percent of the popular vote and\u00a0won more counties than any previous candidate in American history. Whether they voted due to animosity towards Hoover for his relative inactivity or out of hope for what Roosevelt would accomplish, the American public committed themselves to a new vision. Historians identify this election as the beginning of a new Democratic coalition, bringing together African Americans, other ethnic minorities, and organized labor as a voting bloc upon whom the party would rely for many of its electoral victories over the next fifty years.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_2598\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"800\"]<img class=\"wp-image-2598 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5696\/2015\/08\/13211558\/800px-ElectoralCollege1932.svg_.png\" alt=\"An election map showing the electoral votes for Roosevelt and Hoover in the 1932 presidential election. Roosevelt won by a landslide.\" width=\"800\" height=\"465\" \/> <strong>Figure 5.<\/strong> Electoral College Map of the 1932 Election[\/caption]\r\n\r\nUnlike some European nations where similar challenges caused democratic constitutions to crumble and give way to radical ideologies and authoritarian governments, the Roosevelt administration changed the nation\u2019s economic fortunes with reforms, preserved the constitution, and expanded rather than limited the reach of democratic principles into the market economy. As a result, radical alternatives, such as the fascist movement or Communist Party, remained on the margins of the nation\u2019s political culture.\r\n<div class=\"textbox tryit\">\r\n<h3>Try It<\/h3>\r\nhttps:\/\/assess.lumenlearning.com\/practice\/3bf32751-dce1-4b53-8c35-222a62ec3633\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/section>\r\n<div class=\"textbox learning-objectives\">\r\n<h3>Glossary<\/h3>\r\n<strong>election of 1932:<\/strong> the presidential election between Herbert Hoover and Franklin D. Roosevelt which saw unprecedented voter turnout and resulted in Roosevelt's election to office by a landslide\r\n\r\n<strong>polio:<\/strong>\u00a0a virus that attacks the central nervous system that leads to long-term fatigue, chronic muscle, and joint pain, and decreased muscular endurance\r\n\r\n<\/div>","rendered":"<div class=\"bcc-box bcc-highlight\">\n<h3>Learning Objectives<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Identify the characteristics that made Franklin Roosevelt a desirable presidential candidate<\/li>\n<li>Describe the events and circumstances surrounding\u00a0the 1932 presidential election<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<figure id=\"CNX_History_26_01_Timeline\" class=\"timeline\"><figcaption>\n<div style=\"width: 790px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images-archive-read-only\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/884\/2015\/08\/23203148\/CNX_History_26_01_Timeline.jpg\" alt=\"A timeline shows important events of the era. In 1932, Roosevelt is elected president; a photograph of Roosevelt\u2019s inauguration is shown. In 1933, the First New Deal legislation passes; a photograph of New Deal workers is shown. In 1934, the Southern Tenant Farmers Union organizes; a photograph of six Dust Bowl refugees is shown. In 1935, the Supreme Court strikes down key elements of the New Deal, and the Second New Deal begins. In 1936, Roosevelt is re-elected in a landslide; a photograph of Roosevelt is shown. In 1938, the U.S. encounters a recession when government spending is curtailed, and the Fair Labor Standards Act passes.\" width=\"780\" height=\"433\" data-media-type=\"image\/jpeg\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>Figure 1.<\/strong> Major political events between 1932 and 1938.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Few presidential elections in modern American history have been more consequential than the Election of 1932. The United States was struggling through the third year of the Depression, and exasperated voters overthrew Hoover in a landslide for the Democratic governor of New York, Franklin Delano Roosevelt.<\/p>\n<h2>Franklin Roosevelt&#8217;s Background<\/h2>\n<p>Roosevelt came from a privileged background in New York\u2019s Hudson River Valley (his distant cousin, Theodore Roosevelt, became president while Franklin was at Harvard) and embarked on a slow but steady ascent through state and national politics. In 1913, he was appointed assistant secretary of the navy, a position he held during the defense emergency of World War I. During his rise, in the summer of 1921, Roosevelt suffered a sudden bout of lower-body pain and paralysis. He was diagnosed with <strong>polio<\/strong>&#8212; a virus that attacks the central nervous system. The disease left him a person with paraplegia, but, encouraged and assisted by his wife, Eleanor, Roosevelt sought therapeutic treatment and maintained sufficient political connections to reenter politics.<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox key-takeaways\">\n<h3><span style=\"orphans: 1; text-align: initial; font-size: 17.28px; background-color: #d2dcd2;\">Photographs of Roosevelt<\/span><\/h3>\n<div id=\"attachment_3321\" style=\"width: 269px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5696\/2015\/08\/09040523\/5813155742_4926a3e5cd_b.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3321\" class=\"wp-image-3321\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5696\/2015\/08\/09040523\/5813155742_4926a3e5cd_b-237x300.jpg\" alt=\"Image depicting FDR in a wheelchair with a dog and young girl.\" width=\"259\" height=\"328\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-3321\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>Figure 2.<\/strong> President Roosevelt in his wheelchair on the porch at Top Cottage in Hyde Park, NY, with Ruthie Bie and Fala. February 1941.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>While the Roosevelts were vacationing at Campobello Island in August 1921, Franklin fell ill. His main symptoms were fever, symmetric, ascending paralysis, facial paralysis; bowel and bladder dysfunction; numbness and hyperesthesia; and a descending pattern of recovery. Roosevelt was left permanently paralyzed from the waist down. He was diagnosed with\u00a0poliomyelitis\u00a0at the time, but his symptoms are now believed to be more consistent with\u00a0Guillain\u2013Barr\u00e9 syndrome\u00a0\u2013 an autoimmune neuropathy that Roosevelt&#8217;s doctors failed to consider as a diagnostic possibility.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_3320\" style=\"width: 393px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5696\/2015\/08\/09040518\/8077708175_9733748f94_b.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3320\" class=\"wp-image-3320\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5696\/2015\/08\/09040518\/8077708175_9733748f94_b-300x240.jpg\" alt=\"FDR leans on a podium while standing to give a campaign speech in Topeka, Kansas\" width=\"383\" height=\"306\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-3320\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>Figure 3.<\/strong> Franklin D. Roosevelt delivers a campaign speech in Topeka, Kansas. September 14, 1932.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h4>Continuing Political Life Through Illness<\/h4>\n<p>Though his mother favored his retirement from public life, Roosevelt, his wife, and Roosevelt&#8217;s close friend and adviser, Louis Howe, were all determined that he continue his political career.\u00a0He convinced many people that he was improving, which he believed to be essential, before running for public office again. He laboriously taught himself to walk short distances while wearing iron braces on his hips and legs by swiveling his torso and supporting himself with a cane.<sup id=\"cite_ref-FOOTNOTERowley2010120_105-0\" class=\"reference\"><\/sup>\u00a0He was careful never to be seen using his wheelchair in public, and great care was taken to prevent any portrayal in the press that would highlight his disability. However, his disability was well known before and during his presidency and became a significant part of his image. He usually stood upright in public, supported on one side by an aide or one of his sons.<\/p>\n<p>Beginning in 1925, Roosevelt spent most of his time in the Southern United States, at first on his houseboat, the\u00a0<i>Larooco<\/i>.<sup id=\"cite_ref-FOOTNOTESmith2007213\u201314_108-0\" class=\"reference\"><\/sup>\u00a0Intrigued by the potential benefits of\u00a0hydrotherapy, he established\u00a0a rehabilitation center\u00a0at\u00a0Warm Springs, Georgia, in 1926. To create the rehabilitation center, he assembled a staff of physical therapists and used most of his inheritance to purchase the Merriweather Inn. In 1938, he founded the\u00a0National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, leading to the development of polio vaccines.<sup id=\"cite_ref-FOOTNOTESmith2007215\u201319_109-0\" class=\"reference\"><\/sup><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h3>Roosevelt Elected New York Governor<\/h3>\n<p>In 1928, Roosevelt won the election for governor of New York. He oversaw the rise of the Depression and drew from the tradition of American progressivism to address the economic crisis. He explained to the state assembly in 1931 that the situation demanded a government response \u201cnot as a matter of charity, but as a matter of social duty.\u201d\u00a0As governor, he established\u00a0the Temporary Emergency Relief Administration (TERA), supplying public work jobs at the prevailing wage and in-kind aid\u2014food, shelter, and clothes\u2014to those unable to afford it. Soon the TERA was providing work and relief to ten percent of the state\u2019s families.<a class=\"footnote\" title=\"Eric Rauchway, Why the New Deal Matters (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2021), 144\u2013146.\" id=\"return-footnote-288-1\" href=\"#footnote-288-1\" aria-label=\"Footnote 1\"><sup class=\"footnote\">[1]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0Roosevelt\u00a0relied on many like-minded advisors. Frances Perkins, for example, the commissioner of the state\u2019s labor department, successfully advocated pioneering legislation that enhanced workplace safety and reduced the use of child labor in factories. Perkins later accompanied Roosevelt to Washington and served as the nation\u2019s first female secretary of labor.<a class=\"footnote\" title=\"Biographies of Roosevelt include Kenneth C. Davis, FDR: The Beckoning of Destiny: 1882\u20131928 (New York: Rand, 1972); and Jean Edward Smith, FDR (New York: Random House, 2007).\" id=\"return-footnote-288-2\" href=\"#footnote-288-2\" aria-label=\"Footnote 2\"><sup class=\"footnote\">[2]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"fs-idm14935536\">While\u00a0Franklin Roosevelt was part of the political establishment and the wealthy elite, he did not want to be perceived that way in the 1932 presidential campaign. Roosevelt felt the country needed sweeping change, and he ran a campaign to convince the American people that he could deliver that change. It was not the specifics of his campaign promises that were different; in fact, he gave very few details and likely did not yet have a clear idea of how he would raise the country out of the Great Depression. But he campaigned tirelessly, talking to thousands of people, appearing at his party\u2019s national convention, and striving to show the public that he was a different breed of politician. As Hoover grew more morose and physically unwell in the face of the campaign, Roosevelt thrived. He was elected in a landslide by a country ready for the change he had promised.<\/p>\n<section id=\"fs-idp17503296\" data-depth=\"1\">\n<h2>The Presidential Election of 1932<\/h2>\n<p>The early years of the Depression were catastrophic. The crisis, far from relenting, deepened each year. Unemployment peaked at 25 percent in 1932. With no end in sight, private firms crippled, and charities overwhelmed by the crisis, Americans looked to their government as the last barrier against starvation, hopelessness, and perpetual poverty.<\/p>\n<p>By the 1932 presidential election, Hoover\u2019s popularity was at an all-time low. Despite his efforts to address many Americans&#8217; hardships, his inadequate response to the Great Depression left Americans angry and ready for change. Though born to wealth and educated at the best schools, Franklin Roosevelt offered the change people sought. His experience in politics included a seat in the New York State legislature, a vice-presidential nomination, and a stint as governor of New York. During the latter, he introduced many state-level reforms that later formed the basis of his <span class=\"no-emphasis\" data-type=\"term\">New Deal and<\/span>\u00a0worked with several advisors who later formed the <span data-type=\"term\">Brains Trust<\/span> that advised his federal agenda.<\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 400px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images-archive-read-only\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/884\/2015\/08\/23203150\/CNX_History_26_01_FDRElea.jpg\" alt=\"A photograph shows Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt smiling as they ride in the back of a coach. Franklin Roosevelt waves his hat at onlookers.\" width=\"390\" height=\"307\" data-media-type=\"image\/jpeg\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>Figure 4.<\/strong> Franklin Roosevelt brought a new feeling of optimism and possibility to a country beaten down by hardship. His enthusiasm was the counterpoint to Herbert Hoover\u2019s discouraging last year in office.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p id=\"fs-idm38261504\">Roosevelt exuded confidence, which the American public desperately wished to see in their leader. Roosevelt understood that the public sympathized with his ailment and developed a genuine empathy for public suffering due to his illness. However, he never wanted to be photographed in his wheelchair or appear infirm for fear that the public\u2019s sympathy would transform into concern over his physical ability to discharge the duties of the Oval Office.<\/p>\n<h3>Restoring the American Public&#8217;s Faith in the Government<\/h3>\n<p id=\"fs-idp2405152\">Roosevelt also recognized the need to convey to the voting public that he was not simply another member of the political aristocracy. Americans were experiencing the country&#8217;s most severe economic challenges to date. It is no surprise that they began to question some of the fundamental principles of capitalism and democracy. Roosevelt sought to calm those fears and to assure the American people that he had creative solutions to address the nation&#8217;s problems\u00a0while restoring public confidence in fundamental American values.\u00a0As a result, he not only was the first presidential candidate to appear in person at a national political convention to accept his party\u2019s nomination but also flew there through terrible weather from New York to Chicago to do so\u2014a risky venture in what was still the early stages of flight as public transportation. At the Democratic National Convention in 1932, he coined the famous phrase: \u201cI pledge myself to a new deal for the American people.\u201d The New Deal did not yet exist, but to the American people, any optimistic response to the Great Depression was welcome.<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox tryit\">\n<h3>Try It<\/h3>\n<p>\t<iframe id=\"assessment_practice_31377a2e-1e46-4211-a8ee-d4dba0a90833\" class=\"resizable\" src=\"https:\/\/assess.lumenlearning.com\/practice\/31377a2e-1e46-4211-a8ee-d4dba0a90833?iframe_resize_id=assessment_practice_id_31377a2e-1e46-4211-a8ee-d4dba0a90833\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border:none;width:100%;height:100%;min-height:300px;\"><br \/>\n\t<\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h3>Hoover Underestimates his Opponent<\/h3>\n<p id=\"fs-idm11642464\">Hoover assumed at first that Roosevelt would be easy to defeat, confident that he could never carry the eastern states and the business vote. He was sorely mistaken. Everywhere he went, Hoover was met with antagonism; anti-Hoover signs and protests were the norm. Hoover\u2019s public persona declined rapidly. Many news accounts reported that he seemed physically unwell, with an ashen face and shaking hands. Often, he appeared as though he would faint, and an aide constantly remained nearby with a chair in case he fell. In contrast, Roosevelt thrived on the campaign. He commented, \u201cI have looked into the faces of thousands of Americans, and they have the frightened look of lost children.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Roosevelt proposed jobs programs, public work projects, higher wages, shorter hours, old-age pensions, unemployment insurance, farm subsidies, banking regulations, and lower tariffs. Hoover warned that such a program represented \u201cthe total abandonment of every principle upon which this government and the American system is founded.\u201d He cautioned that it reeked of European communism and that \u201cthe so-called new deals would destroy the very foundations of the American system of life.\u201d<a class=\"footnote\" title=\"Eric Rauchway, \u201cThe New Deal Was on the Ballot in 1932,\u201d Modern American History 2, no. 2 (2019), 202\u2013203.\" id=\"return-footnote-288-3\" href=\"#footnote-288-3\" aria-label=\"Footnote 3\"><sup class=\"footnote\">[3]<\/sup><\/a>Americans didn\u2019t buy it.<\/p>\n<h2>Roosevelt Elected President<\/h2>\n<p>November&#8217;s election results were never really in question: With three million more people voting than in 1928, Roosevelt won by a popular count of twenty-three million to fifteen million. He carried all but six states while winning over 57 percent of the popular vote and\u00a0won more counties than any previous candidate in American history. Whether they voted due to animosity towards Hoover for his relative inactivity or out of hope for what Roosevelt would accomplish, the American public committed themselves to a new vision. Historians identify this election as the beginning of a new Democratic coalition, bringing together African Americans, other ethnic minorities, and organized labor as a voting bloc upon whom the party would rely for many of its electoral victories over the next fifty years.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_2598\" style=\"width: 810px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2598\" class=\"wp-image-2598 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5696\/2015\/08\/13211558\/800px-ElectoralCollege1932.svg_.png\" alt=\"An election map showing the electoral votes for Roosevelt and Hoover in the 1932 presidential election. Roosevelt won by a landslide.\" width=\"800\" height=\"465\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-2598\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>Figure 5.<\/strong> Electoral College Map of the 1932 Election<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Unlike some European nations where similar challenges caused democratic constitutions to crumble and give way to radical ideologies and authoritarian governments, the Roosevelt administration changed the nation\u2019s economic fortunes with reforms, preserved the constitution, and expanded rather than limited the reach of democratic principles into the market economy. As a result, radical alternatives, such as the fascist movement or Communist Party, remained on the margins of the nation\u2019s political culture.<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox tryit\">\n<h3>Try It<\/h3>\n<p>\t<iframe id=\"assessment_practice_3bf32751-dce1-4b53-8c35-222a62ec3633\" class=\"resizable\" src=\"https:\/\/assess.lumenlearning.com\/practice\/3bf32751-dce1-4b53-8c35-222a62ec3633?iframe_resize_id=assessment_practice_id_3bf32751-dce1-4b53-8c35-222a62ec3633\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border:none;width:100%;height:100%;min-height:300px;\"><br \/>\n\t<\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<div class=\"textbox learning-objectives\">\n<h3>Glossary<\/h3>\n<p><strong>election of 1932:<\/strong> the presidential election between Herbert Hoover and Franklin D. Roosevelt which saw unprecedented voter turnout and resulted in Roosevelt&#8217;s election to office by a landslide<\/p>\n<p><strong>polio:<\/strong>\u00a0a virus that attacks the central nervous system that leads to long-term fatigue, chronic muscle, and joint pain, and decreased muscular endurance<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t <section class=\"citations-section\" role=\"contentinfo\">\n\t\t\t <h3>Candela Citations<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t <div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <div id=\"citation-list-288\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <div class=\"licensing\"><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">CC licensed content, Original<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>Modification, adaptation, and original content. <strong>Authored by<\/strong>: Kaitlyn Connell for Lumen Learning. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: Lumen Learning. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/4.0\/\">CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">CC licensed content, Shared previously<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>US History. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: OpenStax. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/openstaxcollege.org\/textbooks\/us-history\">http:\/\/openstaxcollege.org\/textbooks\/us-history<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/\">CC BY: Attribution<\/a><\/em>. <strong>License Terms<\/strong>: Access for free at https:\/\/openstax.org\/books\/us-history\/pages\/1-introduction<\/li><li>The Great Depression. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: The American Yawp. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/text\/23-the-great-depression\/\">http:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/text\/23-the-great-depression\/<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/4.0\/\">CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">Public domain content<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>ElectoralCollege1932.svg. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: Wikipedia. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/File:ElectoralCollege1932.svg\">https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/File:ElectoralCollege1932.svg<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/about\/pdm\">Public Domain: No Known Copyright<\/a><\/em><\/li><li>FDR polio text. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: Wikipedia. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Franklin_D._Roosevelt\">https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Franklin_D._Roosevelt<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/about\/pdm\">Public Domain: No Known Copyright<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t <\/section><hr class=\"before-footnotes clear\" \/><div class=\"footnotes\"><ol><li id=\"footnote-288-1\">Eric Rauchway, Why the New Deal Matters (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2021), 144\u2013146. <a href=\"#return-footnote-288-1\" class=\"return-footnote\" aria-label=\"Return to footnote 1\">&crarr;<\/a><\/li><li id=\"footnote-288-2\">Biographies of Roosevelt include Kenneth C. Davis, FDR: The Beckoning of Destiny: 1882\u20131928 (New York: Rand, 1972); and Jean Edward Smith, FDR (New York: Random House, 2007). <a href=\"#return-footnote-288-2\" class=\"return-footnote\" aria-label=\"Return to footnote 2\">&crarr;<\/a><\/li><li id=\"footnote-288-3\">Eric Rauchway, \u201cThe New Deal Was on the Ballot in 1932,\u201d Modern American History 2, no. 2 (2019), 202\u2013203. <a href=\"#return-footnote-288-3\" class=\"return-footnote\" aria-label=\"Return to footnote 3\">&crarr;<\/a><\/li><\/ol><\/div>","protected":false},"author":19,"menu_order":3,"template":"","meta":{"_candela_citation":"[{\"type\":\"cc\",\"description\":\"US History\",\"author\":\"\",\"organization\":\"OpenStax\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/openstaxcollege.org\/textbooks\/us-history\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by\",\"license_terms\":\"Access for free at https:\/\/openstax.org\/books\/us-history\/pages\/1-introduction\"},{\"type\":\"cc\",\"description\":\"The Great Depression\",\"author\":\"\",\"organization\":\"The American Yawp\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/text\/23-the-great-depression\/\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by-sa\",\"license_terms\":\"\"},{\"type\":\"pd\",\"description\":\"ElectoralCollege1932.svg\",\"author\":\"\",\"organization\":\"Wikipedia\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/File:ElectoralCollege1932.svg\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"pd\",\"license_terms\":\"\"},{\"type\":\"pd\",\"description\":\"FDR polio text\",\"author\":\"\",\"organization\":\"Wikipedia\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Franklin_D._Roosevelt\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"pd\",\"license_terms\":\"\"},{\"type\":\"original\",\"description\":\"Modification, adaptation, and original content\",\"author\":\"Kaitlyn Connell for Lumen Learning\",\"organization\":\"Lumen Learning\",\"url\":\"\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by-sa\",\"license_terms\":\"\"}]","CANDELA_OUTCOMES_GUID":"dda34ba3-4ee6-4c3f-bc34-aa1b43b8ca71,96378d60-72ef-4649-8a79-d2458afc81aa,4d285a2b-5983-49ee-be29-82cce34c5be1","pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-288","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":282,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"version-history":[{"count":44,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/288\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9711,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/288\/revisions\/9711"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/282"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/288\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=288"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=288"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}