Sunday, October 5, 2008

FDR's Golden Sombrero

Franklin Roosevelt was elected to the presidency four times. None of the four elections were close because of FDR's personality and the nature of the times. In each election, Roosevelt ignored his opponent, concentrated on what he wanted to do, and attacked the Republican Party as a whole for the Great Depression. Ironically, FDR was a Democrat because Theodore Roosevelt had so many sons, that FDR believed he could not compete with them. They did not enter politics, but FDR did not know that. Had he known TR's sons were going to stay out of politics, he would have been a Republican.
1932: The country was in the middle of the Great Depression. Herbert Hoover was the incumbent. Hoover got the blame. His name became synonymous with poverty. Any chance he had of being re-elected came to an end when Douglas MacArthur unleashed tanks on a tent city full of World War I vets. FDR won big.
1936: The Depression had not ended. The GOP ran Governor Alf Landon from Kansas. He attacked the New Deal as wasteful and ineffective. The polls showed a Landon landslide, but pollsters only talked to people with phones, so a large swath of the electorate was ignored. FDR won a monster victory as people felt he was on their side.
1940: World War II had begun in Europe and the Depression still hampered America. The Republicans nominated Wendell Wilkie. Wilkie was a moderate and his nomination signaled the beginning of moderate domination of the GOP. Essentially, voters could choose New Deal or New Deal light. Wilkie ran a spirited campaign and the GOP attacked FDR for not ending the Depression, warmongering, and the third term. FDR won as people did not want to FDR to leave with World War II at their doorstep.
1944: FDR was dying. The Democrats knew it, but ran him again. They dumped incumbent vice president Henry Wallace from the ticket because he was too far to the left and was involved in weird mysticism. They replaced Wallace with Harry S. Truman of Missouri. Truman had gained national attention and acclaim rooting out wasteful wartime spending. The GOP nominated Thomas Dewey of New York. With World War II waging, Dewey could not hit Roosevelt without looking bad. As a result, Roosevelt won again. He died five months later.

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