Presidential election in the United States in 1940

‹  1936  •   •  1944 ›
39th presidential election
November 5, 1940
			Democratic Party
			Franklin D. Roosevelt / Henry A. Wallace
			electors					449
			be right				27,313,945
									54.7%
			Republican Party
			Wendell Willkie / Charles McNary
			electors					82
			be right				22,347,744
									44.8%
Election results by state
38 states   Roosevelt / Wallace						10 states   Willkie / McNary
President of the United States
Before the election Franklin D. Roosevelt Democratic Party						Elected Franklin D. Roosevelt Democratic Party

The 39th presidential election in the United States took place on November 5, 1940 . Acting President Franklin D. Roosevelt of the Democrats broke with tradition and ran for a third term. He was challenged by business lawyer and political career changer Wendell Willkie , who was surprisingly nominated by the Republicans . Willkie, who belonged to the liberal party wing and called for an internationalist orientation in foreign policy , prevailed within the party against a number of conservative and isolationist Republicans.

While the Americans were called to elect a new president , the country gradually recovered from the Great Depression ; Meanwhile the Second World War had broken out in Europe . The main topics of the election campaign were therefore the worsening situation in Europe and possible effects on the USA, the economic situation of the country and Roosevelt's aspiration to be elected a third time. Despite Willkie's vigorous election campaign, the incumbent won by a comfortable margin. In the years that followed, Roosevelt led his country through World War II. The defeated challenger Willkie supported the president's foreign policy course and undertook a number of diplomatic missions on his behalf during the war years, which has earned him great respect to this day.

Starting position

The Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt was first elected president in 1932 . He defeated the Republican incumbent Herbert Hoover in a clear decision. His electoral success was primarily due to the Republican government's inability to end the economic crisis known as the Great Depression . After his election victory, Roosevelt implemented extensive economic and social reforms under the heading of the New Deal . This included extensive regulation of the financial markets, programs to alleviate humanitarian need, the introduction of social security and a minimum wage, and public employment programs. In November 1936, Roosevelt was landslide re - elected with nearly 61% of the vote and electors from all states except Maine and Vermont . Despite the legislative successes of its reforms, which were very popular among the population, the country's economic recovery from the economic crisis was slow. In 1938/39 the situation even deteriorated again for a time. In Roosevelt's second term in office, the internal party conflicts increased, especially since the conservative wing from the southern states felt the policy of the White House as too liberal. Above all, there was resentment over the President's plan to increase the number of judges on the Supreme Court . The background to this was that the Supreme Court , which until the end of the 1930s was predominantly made up of conservative judges, overturned a number of New Deal initiatives. With his proposal Roosevelt intended to influence the proportion of votes in the court by appointing a number of liberal judges himself. Both the internal party disputes among the Democrats and the economic situation allowed the opposition Republicans to win numerous seats in the 1938 congressional elections, although it was still far from being enough for a majority.

The foreign policy played in the first six years of the Roosevelt administration virtually no role. However, he normalized relations with many countries in Central America with his " Good Neighborhood Policy " . Only the increasingly aggressive behavior of the German Reich from 1938/39 found its way into public debates. But despite Hitler's bellicose rhetoric (and later his invasion of Poland), US involvement in Europe was out of the question. In 1937 Roosevelt spoke of placing the Third Reich under a kind of "political quarantine". Since the end of the First World War , the majority of the population and Congress were inclined to isolationism . This meant that the aggressive policies of the Third Reich and the Japanese Empire did not see any danger for their own country. It was believed that there was no endangerment due to the great geographic distance of two oceans alone. Even after the German invasion in France publicly in May and June 1940 told Roosevelt that the US would not engage in a military conflict. However, he expressed his solidarity with the United Kingdom and pledged to provide aid to the ally. Before the presidential election, however, he was not prepared to take any concrete steps.

Candidates

Democratic Party

Democratic candidates:

• 

  President Franklin D. Roosevelt

• 

  Vice President John Nance Garner

Vice President John Nance Garner (left) rejected a third application by Roosevelt for the presidency in 1940, but was unsuccessful in his internal party opposition. This shot shows the two of them meeting in 1942

During the winter of 1939/40 there was speculation among the American public whether President Roosevelt would break with tradition and run for a third term in the fall of 1940. The 22nd amendment to the constitution , which provides for a legal limitation to two terms of office , was only passed in 1951. However, by 1940 no president had served more than two terms in office. Roosevelt made no binding statement by spring whether he would run again. However, the worsening foreign policy situation prompted him not to rule out an application entirely. After the German invasion of France , the president announced that he would accept the Democratic nomination should his party decide to re-establish it. Many Democrats had now come to the conclusion not only that Roosevelt was best suited to lead the country in times of global political tension, but that the president, who remained very popular with the people, also had the best chance of helping his party win again .

At the Nominations Congress on July 18, 1940, Roosevelt was challenged by his own Vice President John Nance Garner . Garner was placed at Roosevelt's side in 1932 and 1936 in order to geographically and ideologically compensate for the democratic election ticket. The vice president was from Texas and a Conservative Southern Democrat. In 1932 Garner gave up his own presidential candidacy and recommended that his party delegates elect Roosevelt, who then made his former rival his deputy. From 1937 onwards, his friendship with the president deteriorated when he decidedly rejected the judicial reform he was aiming for to increase the number of judges at the Supreme Court . He never really made friends with the New Deal either. A third term of Roosevelt's office, he declined decidedly and therefore decided to run for office himself. However, this endeavor was doomed to failure, as Roosevelt prevailed at the convention with a clear majority. As a consequence, the president selected a new running mate . He decided against fierce opposition from the conservative southern states for his Agriculture Minister Henry A. Wallace , an avowed liberal.

Republican Party

Republican candidates:

• 

  Wendell Willkie, attorney

• 

  Senator Robert A. Taft

• 

  District Attorney Thomas E. Dewey

• 

  Senator Arthur H. Vandenberg

• 

  Ex-President Herbert Hoover

• 

  Senator Charles L. McNary

The Republican Party was divided by the beginning of the election year. Domestically, a conservative and a liberal-progressive to moderate party wing opposed each other. The Conservatives called for a return to laissez-faire politics as in the 1920s under Presidents Harding , Coolidge and Hoover, as well as a revision of the New Deal, as they opposed state interference in economic life. The liberal-progressive wing was in favor of maintaining many of the New Deal programs, but wanted to make them more efficient. Republicans were also split into two camps on foreign policy issues. The majority of the party’s leaders belonged to the isolationists, who wanted to keep the US’s foreign policy engagement to an absolute minimum. They rejected demands from the British under Prime Minister Winston Churchill to provide military support to the United Kingdom in its war against the Nazi regime, for example in the form of supplies of equipment and weapons.

Wendell Willkie (right) in conversation with his vice presidential candidate, Senator Charles L. McNary

As favorites for the Republican candidacy in early 1940, the two Senators Robert A. Taft and Arthur H. Vandenberg and the New York District Attorney Thomas E. Dewey . Taft was the leader of the conservative party wing and stood for an isolationist course in foreign policy. Vandenberg and Dewey were also considered isolationists in 1940. While Vandenberg found favor with both conservative and liberal tendencies in the party, Dewey was clearly part of the liberal party wing. Senator Charles L. McNary was seen as an outsider in the running for candidacy . Ex-President Herbert Hoover also figured he had a chance of being put up as a compromise candidate and thus making a political comeback. Another candidate was the lawyer and businessman Wendell Willkie . However, due to his political inexperience, his very liberal positions and his demand for an active foreign policy, he was given little chance. The fact that he was with the Democrats until 1938 made an application seem almost hopeless, despite his talent for public appearances and his personality, which is often perceived as charismatic .

Dewey had won a number of primary elections, but in 1940 the overwhelming majority of delegates were elected not by primary elections but by the local party executive committee. In any case, only a small number of states held such primaries; therefore there was at least the theoretical possibility that each of the candidates would be nominated. After the National Socialists' victory over France saw many political observers as a danger to the USA, Dewey's approval fell quickly, as at 38 he was viewed as too inexperienced to lead the country in such times of crisis. Meanwhile, public approval for Wendell Willkie continued to grow. This was now also supported by a number of media representatives with whom the lawyer was on good terms. When the party conference began on June 24th, a nomination for Willkies still hardly seemed possible. But the meeting received thousands of telegrams in the course of the next two days from citizens in favor of Willkie. At the gathering, his supporters made themselves heard with chants as they repeatedly chanted “We want Willkie!”. In the first ballot, Dewey was ahead, but the young prosecutor clearly missed the necessary absolute majority. Willkie did surprisingly well in third behind Dewey and Taft. In the third ballot he finally overtook Taft in the number of delegates, in the fourth round he also left Dewey behind, but it was not enough to achieve an absolute majority. Dewey's supporters, who also belonged to the liberal wing, now defected Willkie, who finally managed to defeat Taft in the sixth ballot. He became a candidate for a major party for the presidential election without ever having held any political office. Until Donald Trump was nominated in 2016 , Willkie was the only candidate from a major party without ever holding a political office or a high military rank. Since then, only General Dwight D. Eisenhower has been a candidate for president in 1952 without holding any political office. After his nomination, Willkie did not select his candidate for the vice presidency himself, but left the selection to the delegates. The convention chose Charles L. McNary, a Senator from Oregon . McNary, who had withdrawn his own hopeless application, seemed a sensible addition to Willkie, both through his political experience and geographically.

Although Willkie's defeated opponents were officially loyal, there was also criticism within the party. Above all, the still influential wing of the Isolationists was skeptical of the candidate. Herbert Hoover and Robert Taft were not very convinced of Willkie. Even a personal meeting of Willkies with Hoover in the summer of that year did not change anything. The Conservatives in the party viewed Willkie as too liberal, whose convictions both domestically and internationally were more like Roosevelt's than his own. On the other hand, Willkie was widely supported by Liberal Republicans; The 1936 presidential candidate Alf Landon was actively involved in his support.

Election campaign

Willkie poster from the 1940 election campaign

Roosevelt during the election campaign (September 27, 1940)

Willkie concentrated his election campaign on three major topics: the supposed inefficiency of the New Deal , what he saw as a lack of preparation for an impending war and Roosevelt's attempt to be elected for a third term. Like the majority of the US population, Willkie was not hostile to the New Deal as a whole. Willkie advocated numerous reforms such as the introduction of social security , the creation of the separate banking system and further regulations of the financial markets as well as a statutory minimum wage. He made this attitude clear again and again during his campaign appearances, since for many Americans the policy of economic deregulation , which was pursued by the Republicans before Roosevelt took office, was still blamed for the crisis. Even though he was a businessman, Willkie had no doubt that the almost completely deregulated economy of the 1920s was mainly responsible for the collapse of the stock market and the accompanying global economic crisis . Willkie also understood that the humanitarian hardship resulting from the Great Depression, where it was not fought, as in large parts of Europe, formed an ideal breeding ground for totalitarian and fascist regimes such as in the German Reich or Japan . He therefore announced that in the event of an election victory, he would keep a large part of the New Deal, but make many of the programs more efficient and less bureaucratic . The Republican applicant named the supposed bureaucracy of the New Deal as the main reason for the lack of a larger and more sustainable economic upswing, although the economic and humanitarian situation has improved noticeably since Roosevelt took office (in fact, a major upswing did not begin until World War II). Willkie also said he would work more closely with business as president to finally end the economic depression. However, many US citizens were skeptical of the fact that he himself was a representative of so-called big business. Roosevelt and his Democrats referred to the successes of the New Deal reforms, which should be consolidated and expanded if the elections are successful.

In terms of foreign policy, there were fewer differences between the two candidates. Both refused to talk to the Nazi leadership and declared their solidarity with the British and French. Roosevelt presented himself as an experienced statesman and experienced crisis manager who had the necessary leadership qualities to lead the country safely through these troubled times of world politics. Meanwhile, Willkie accused the president of not adequately preparing the country against an impending war. Although Roosevelt actually a slow since 1938 upgrade began, he found himself not least by Willkie's criticism forced to place a month before the election, the reintroduction of compulsory military service in October 1940. Willkie was initially positive about this decision, but then backtracked a little after the majority of the public reacted negatively to this move by the White House. However, many media outlets believed that this maneuver had seriously harmed Willkie. Both candidates and the majority of the population still refused to participate directly in the war.

The Republicans have sharply criticized Roosevelt's efforts for a third term. The president has been accused of considering himself irreplaceable. With his liberal positions, Willkie hoped to win over democrats and other liberal currents who refused a third term for the president. Although there was no legal limit to two terms, there was such a tradition: It went back to the first President, George Washington, who recommended that all successors rule no longer than two terms. In opposition to Roosevelt, a series of campaigns in support of Willkie's candidacy were formed. Even some Democrats joined the under the slogan “No third term! Democrats for Willkie ”(“ No third term! Democrats for Willkie ”). Willkie told his supporters: "If one man is indispensable, then none of us is free." ("If a man is indispensable, none of us are free").

Although Willkie competed against a still popular incumbent, he was able to inspire the masses with his performances. Willkie was known not only as a charismatic but also as a gifted public speaker. His election campaign events were always well attended. Willkie biographer Steve Neal wrote that Willkie was able to arouse such enthusiasm at his performances as no Republican candidate since Theodore Roosevelt has done. Like his opponent, Willkie recognized the importance of broadcasting, where he addressed the public directly in commercials. Republican National Committee chairman Joseph William Martin later wrote that Willkie wanted to buy so much airtime on the radio that the party spent all campaign money (including those earmarked for the 1942 congressional elections).

In September 1940, Willkie surprisingly received an official declaration of support from the renowned newspaper The New York Times , known as a liberal medium. This was remarkable in that she otherwise supported mostly democratic candidates. Willkie was the only one of Roosevelt's four Republican opponents for whom this newspaper issued an election recommendation. In both 1932 and 1936, and again in 1944, the Times endorsed Franklin D. Roosevelt.

However, by American standards, the election campaign had been remarkably fair on both sides. Both candidates showed respect for their opponent and let out personal attacks on the other.

Result

Results by county: Blue counties were won by Roosevelt, red shaded by Willkie. The stronger the color, the greater the lead in votes

During the election campaign, Roosevelt consistently led all opinion polls, although his lead over the summer and early autumn was sometimes well below ten percent. Above all, this showed that, due to his political experience, many Americans were more likely to trust him to lead the USA safely through the critical world situation. According to the polls, had it not come to war in Europe, Willkie would have been given serious chances of victory.

The presidential election took place on November 5, 1940. Roosevelt won 27.3 million votes, which was 54.7%. 22.3 million eligible voters voted for Willkie, gaining 44.8% of the vote. In the Electoral College , Roosevelt clearly prevailed with a voting ratio of 449 to 82. Responsible for this high victory in the electoral body was the fact that he was able to win the election in 38 of the 48 federal states, although these majorities were comparatively tight , especially in the populous states of the east coast . In New York, for example, the home state of both candidates, the incumbent won only about four percent ahead. In doing so, however, he secured all 47 electors in what was then the most populous state in the United States. In addition to traditionally republican strongholds in parts of New England , Willkie was also successful in the Midwest ; including in Indiana , where he was born and raised. Surprisingly, he also won in Michigan by a wafer-thin margin. Meanwhile, Roosevelt was successful in all other regions of the country. Both on the west coast and in all of the southern states , where the Democrats were still dominant at the time, he secured all of the states and thus the electoral votes to be given there. The president was particularly successful in the country's major cities, where the population traditionally tends to vote for left-wing liberal candidates. With the exception of Cincinnati , Roosevelt was able to win every city with more than 400,000 inhabitants.

With his victory, Roosevelt was the only American president confirmed for a third term.

Despite the clear defeat, the Republicans recovered from their severe defeat in 1936 . While Roosevelt's number of votes of around 27 million voters remained almost identical, Willkie was able to win over six million votes compared to the election four years earlier. As a result of Willkie's gains, Roosevelt was one of only three presidents to date who fell short of the results of the last election with fewer votes in the electorate and in the Electoral College, but were re-elected. This was previously the case only with James Madison in 1812 and later with Barack Obama in 2012 . Andrew Jackson received fewer percentages in the popular election in 1832 , but more electors than in his first election victory in 1828 . Woodrow Wilson, on the other hand, was able to win more votes in his confirmation in 1916 than in 1912 , while the result in the electoral committee was much tighter than four years earlier.

candidate	Political party	be right		electors
		number	percent
Franklin D. Roosevelt	democrat	27,313,945	54.7%	449
Wendell Willkie	republican	22,347,744	44.8%	82
Norman Thomas	socialist	116,599	0.2%	0
Roger Babson	Prohibitionist	65,922	0.1%	0
Other		53,586	0.1%	0
total		49.902.113	99.9% *	531

* to 100% missing percent: invalid votes / other candidates

266 votes were necessary for the election to the president.

Effects

Roosevelt and his wife Eleanor on their way to be sworn in for his third term on January 20, 1941

Roosevelt was sworn in for his third term on January 20, 1941. In the period after the election, domestic politics largely faded into the background. Immediately after the election, when the UK's requests for American aid grew louder, at the request of the President, Congress passed the Lending Act, which henceforth supplied the allied British with numerous war goods. The Soviet Union, for whose dictator Josef Stalin Roosevelt forged an alliance against Hitler in the years to come , received extensive military aid in the form of arms deliveries and other armaments in its fight against the German Reich.

The defeated challenger Willkie also spoke out clearly in favor of the lending and leasing law , which earned him considerable criticism from the isolationists in his own party. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Roosevelt's promise not to intervene with US troops had become obsolete and the United States entered the war . Willkie developed into a political ally of the president during the war years and undertook a number of diplomatic missions on his behalf. Although there were skeptics in his own party about his approach to Roosevelt, he was also given a lot of respect for his attitude. Willkie biographer Steve Neal wrote that Willkie's foreign policy stance during the election campaign and the war years helped the US enter the war politically unanimously. Still, Willkie's actions were partly responsible for his defeat in the Republican primaries for the 1944 presidential election . Willkie died suddenly of a heart attack in October 1944 . President Roosevelt, meanwhile, was re-elected and led his country to victory in World War II. However, he no longer experienced this; he died in April 1945 of a cerebral haemorrhage . His presidency went down in American history as a formative, both domestically and internationally.

Others

• The 2004 published novel by Philip Roth , The Plot Against America ( The Plot Against America ), an alternate history , has the presidential election from 1940 on. In the novel, however, Charles Lindbergh , known as a Nazi sympathizer, is nominated by the Republican Party, who triumphs over Roosevelt.

literature

• Richard Moe: Roosevelt's Second Act: The Election of 1940 and the Politics of War. Oxford University Press, New York 2015, ISBN 978-0-1902-6628-8 .
• 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. 367-375 (= Chapter 41: Franklin D. Roosevelt's Second Reelection. ).

Web links

Commons : 1940 US Presidential Election  - Collection of Images, Videos, and Audio Files

• Presidential Election of 1940 at 270towin.com (English)

Remarks

1. ^ ^{A b c d e} Franklin D. Roosevelt: Campaigns and elections. ( October 10, 2014 memento on the Internet Archive ) Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia.
2. ↑ Steve Neal: Dark Horse. A Biography of Wendell Willkie. University Press of Kansas, Lawrence KS 1989, ISBN 0-7006-0454-5 , pp. 129-130.
3. ↑ Steve Neal: Dark Horse. A Biography of Wendell Willkie. University Press of Kansas, Lawrence KS 1989, ISBN 0-7006-0454-5 , p. 191.
4. ↑ The choice of a candidate: Wendell Willkie 1940. In: The New York Times , September 19, 1940 (English), online (PDF; 579.6 kB) .
5. ↑ Steve Neal: Dark Horse. A Biography of Wendell Willkie. University Press of Kansas, Lawrence KS 1989, ISBN 0-7006-0454-5 , pp. 4-6.