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Summer Session Kansan
Friday, July 10, 1964
Democratic Delegates Voted for Change in History in 1932
WASHINGTON—(UPI)—The 1932 Democratic National Convention towers tall in history because the delegates—unknown to themselves at the time—were voting for a revolutionary change in the American way of life.
There never was much suspense in the balloting, and there never was much doubt that Franklin D. Roosevelt would win the nomination. His forces had firm control of the convention machinery. He led by a wide margin on the first ballot, increased his strength on the second and third and won on the fourth. In those days it required a two-thirds vote, instead of a simple majority, for a candidate to win. Otherwise Roosevelt would have won on the first ballot.
GOV. FRANKLIN D. Roosevelt of New York generally was known as an amiable man and a good votegetter in his native state. He was admired because of the spirit he displayed in partly overcoming crippling polio. But around the nation there were thoughtful men, including columnist Walter Lippmann, who doubted he was of the stature to be President of the United States.
Convention delegates on that hot June evening in Chicago could not possibly have had any inkling of the force they were setting in motion when they sent Roosevelt over the top on the fourth ballot with 945 out of 1154 votes. He seemed to most of them to be a middle-road man, possibly more conservative than liberal, and it was known that he favored cutting federal expenditures by 25 per cent, or so he said.
THE WHIRLWIND struck the day after Roosevelt moved into the White House; for 100 days it raged unabated and it really never quieted down for more than two decades. Born in the agony of the nation's worst depression, the New Deal of Roosevelt and Truman also spanned the world's worst war.
As soon as he took office President Roosevelt veered the nation sharply to the left and hurried it a good distance down the road that ends in the welfare state. Old ideas were
born: fireside chats, the five-day week, "there is nothing to fear but fear itself," social security, "tax and tax and spend and spend," lend lease, Bundles for Britain, Iwo Jima, G.I. Joe, Jeep, United Nations and "traitor to his class." With the possible exception of Abraham Lincoln, Roosevelt was the best-loved and most-hated man ever to occupy the White House.
HE GOT INVOLVED in all of this because of the energy of a smart Irishman named James A. Farley, who stands an excellent chance of going down in history as the best political technician of our time. A year and a half before the 1932 convention convened Farley began working to get the nomination for Roosevelt. He stormed up and down
and across the country.
In his story of those days called "Behind the Ballots," Farley does not sav so but it is obvious that he never made a strategic or tactical error. When the time came, he made some expert maneuvers that put Roosevelt men into such key jobs as temporary and permanent chairman of the convention.
HIS MEN controlled the important committees and he kept a firm but friendly rein on an exuberant Roosevelt supporter who wanted to tear the convention to pieces with his bare hands—Huey Long of Louisiana.
The drama at Chicago in 1932 was supplied by Alfred E. Smith. Four years earlier he had taken the political licking of his life when he ran for President against Herbert Hoover
and had announced he never would run for anything again. But as the 1929 depression deepened it became apparent that Hoover would be a sitting duck for anybody who ran against him. The Happy Warrior suddenly marched back to the wars, bringing with him the entire Massachusetts delegation, a good bloc from New York state and scattered strength from other sections of the Eastern seaboard.
IT WAS THE END of a long friendship between Roosevelt and Smith. A weary night of balloting began. First: Roosevelt 666. Smith 201. Scattered among John N. Garner, Harry F. Byrd and others 268. Second: Roosevelt 677. Smith 194. Third: Roosevelt 682. Smith 190. Those ballots had taken all night and
the convention adjourned at 9:15 a.m. Farley splashed some cold water on his face, waved aside the idea of sleep and went to work to win the California and Texas delegations to Roosevelt. His persuasion prevailed.
When the convention reconvened for the fourth ballot, William Gibbs McAdoo of California gave his votes to Roosevelt, Texas followed. Fourth and final ballot: Roosevelt 945, Smith $100\frac{1}{2}$, Others $18\frac{1}{2}$, John N. Garner was nominated for Vice-President, but Smith didn't wait for that. As soon as Roosevelt had won, the Happy Warrior got on a train for New York and, if you will pardon a paradox, rode into both the sunrise and sunset, the sunrise of the solar system and the sunset of his exciting career.
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