Presidential election in the United States in 1936

‹  1932  •   •  1940 ›
38th presidential election
November 3, 1936
			Democratic Party
			Franklin D. Roosevelt / John Nance Garner
			electors					523
			be right				27,752,648
									60.8%
			Republican Party
			Alf Landon / Frank Knox
			electors					8th
			be right				16,681,862
									36.5%
Election results by state
46 states   Roosevelt / Garner						2 states   Landon / Knox
President of the United States
Before the election Franklin D. Roosevelt Democratic Party						Elected Franklin D. Roosevelt Democratic Party

The 1936 presidential election took place in the eighth year of the Great Depression . Acting President Franklin D. Roosevelt was still working to enforce the measures of his economic policy called the New Deal . Roosevelt won the election overwhelmingly on November 3rd; most Americans felt that Roosevelt's concepts would improve the situation rather than a new Republican government.

It was the Democratic Party's highest victory to date in the Popular Vote , with Roosevelt gaining 60.8 percent of the vote. Lyndon B. Johnson was only able to surpass this result (61.1 percent) in the 1964 election . In the decisive electoral body , it was the highest victory ever, Roosevelt won 523 votes, while Landon only got eight. The Republican was only able to achieve a majority of votes in the two New England states of Vermont and Maine .

Starting position

In the previous election in 1932, Democratic candidate Franklin D. Roosevelt defeated Republican incumbent Herbert Hoover . His inauguration in 1933 ended a twelve-year term of Republican presidency. In Congress, too, the Democrats secured clear majorities, which they held even after the mid-term elections in 1934 without any problems. Roosevelt's very clear victory was largely due to the Great Depression that had lasted since the 1929 stock market crash . Hoover and his government had failed to lead the country out of the severe economic crisis. The Democrats under Roosevelt, however, promised new hope for a better future. In his first term in office, the president implemented extensive reforms under the heading of the New Deal . In addition to the introduction of social security , far-reaching regulations (particularly in the financial sector) were enforced. As a result of this policy, the economic situation improved and unemployment fell through a series of public employment programs. Nevertheless, there has been no major upturn so far.

Candidates

Democrats

Democratic candidates:

• 

  President Franklin D. Roosevelt

• 

  Former Secretary of State at the War Department Henry Breckinridge

In the few states that held primaries in 1936 , former Secretary of State at the War Department Henry Breckinridge, a critic of the New Deal, challenged the incumbent. However, his campaign was unsuccessful against the popular president. Overall, Roosevelt secured 93% of the vote without running a primary campaign.

The Democratic Convention was held in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania and President Roosevelt and Vice President John Nance Garner were unanimously nominated.

republican

Republican candidates:

• 

  Governor of Kansas Alf Landon

• 

  Senator William Borah from Idaho

• 

  Publicist Frank Knox

The Republican Convention in Cleveland, Ohio nominated Alf Landon of Kansas as its presidential candidate and Frank Knox as its running mate . Landon advocated a middle-class program, accepting that government necessarily had to intervene in the economy, and positioned himself against so-called big business. However, he believed that the New Deal was useless and a waste of time.

Others

Another candidate was Congressman William Lemke for the newly founded Unionists; the socialist Norman Thomas tried a second time after 1932 and Earl Browder stood up for the communists for the first time. All of these candidates had no chance. They achieved less than 5% of the popular vote and no votes on the electoral body.

Huey Long , the popular governor of Louisiana , who had also considered running but was assassinated in September 1935, might have had a much better chance .

Election campaign

President Roosevelt delivering a campaign speech in 1936

Roosevelt campaigned for a continuation of his New Deal. Landon, a moderate Republican, did not oppose the New Deal as a whole, but denounced what he saw as too big a bureaucracy . However, the incumbent attacked the Republicans sharply, accusing them of wanting to reverse his reforms. He also portrayed the opposition as untrustworthy by blaming Republican politicians for the crisis through their policies of economic deregulation .

Result

Results by county: blue counties were won by Roosevelt, red counties were won by Landon. The stronger the color, the greater the lead in votes

Opinion polls erroneously predicted either a close election result or even a clear victory for Landon ( literary digest disaster ), but on election day, November 3, 1936, Roosevelt won like a landslide. He received 60.8% of the vote; 36.5% of the voters voted for Landon. He won in 46 of the 48 states, only in Maine and Vermont the Republican challenger won a majority. This left Roosevelt with 523 electors and Landon only eight. This corresponded to a share of 98.49%; to date - apart from the unanimous elections of George Washington and James Monroe  - it is the best result in Electoral College . The percentage of votes in the population was also the best result in a presidential election to date. Since then, only Lyndon B. Johnson has just exceeded this result with 61.1% in 1964 . In Congress, the Democrats expanded their dominance even further; since the civil war no party had had such a large majority. Together with the 1964 elections , this election is considered to be the Democratic Party's greatest triumph in a nationwide election.

Roosevelt owed his re-election to broad support from various sections of the population, which has long been known as the New Deal Coalition . This was composed of traditionally liberal and left-wing liberal forces, small farmers, the urban population , trade unions , Jewish communities and African-Americans from the northern states (those from the southern states were mostly excluded from voting by federal legislation). Even the mostly conservative south, traditionally a stronghold of the Democrats (which was later reversed), voted unanimously for him. The President interpreted the election result as a mandate for the continuation of the New Deal and its progressive policy .

candidate	Political party	be right		electors
		number	percent
Franklin D. Roosevelt	democrat	27,752,648	60.8%	523
Alf Landon	republican	16,681,862	36.5%	8th
William Lemke	unionist	892.378	2.0%	0
Norman Thomas	socialist	187.910	0.4%	0
Earl Browder	Communist	79,315	0.2%	0
Other		53,586	0.1%	0
total		45,647,699	100%	531

266 votes were necessary for the election to the president.

literature

• Donald Richard Deskins, Hanes Walton, Sherman C. Puckett: Presidential Elections, 1789-2008: County, State, and National Mapping of Election Data. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 2010, ISBN 978-0-472-11697-3 , pp. 357-366 (= Chapter 40: Franklin D. Roosevelt's First Reelection. ).

Web links

Commons : 1936 US Presidential Election  - Collection of Pictures, Videos, and Audio Files