1936 United States presidential election

1936 United States presidential election
AndyHogan14 · Public domain · source
Election name	1936 United States presidential election
Country	United States
Type	presidential
Previous election	1932 United States presidential election
Previous year	1932
Next election	1940 United States presidential election
Next year	1940
Votes for election	531 members of the Electoral College
Needed votes	266 electoral
Turnout	61.0% ▲ 4.3 pp
Election date	November 3, 1936
Nominee1	Franklin D. Roosevelt
Party1	Democratic Party (United States)
Home state1	New York
Running mate1	John Nance Garner
Electoral vote1	523
States carried1	46
Popular vote1	27,747,636
Percentage1	60.8%
Nominee2	Alf Landon
Party2	Republican Party (United States)
Home state2	Kansas
Running mate2	Frank Knox
Popular vote2	16,679,543
Percentage2	36.5%
Title	President
Before election	Franklin D. Roosevelt
Before party	Democratic Party (United States)
After election	Franklin D. Roosevelt
After party	Democratic Party (United States)

1936 United States presidential election was held on Tuesday, November 3, 1936. Incumbent Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt sought a second term against Republican challenger Alf Landon, the Governor of Kansas. The election was a decisive referendum on Roosevelt's New Deal policies, enacted in response to the Great Depression, and resulted in one of the most lopsided victories in American political history. Roosevelt's coalition, which included organized labor, urban voters, African Americans, and Catholic and Jewish immigrants, delivered him an overwhelming popular and electoral mandate.

Background

The political landscape was dominated by the ongoing economic crisis of the Great Depression and the sweeping legislative agenda of President Roosevelt's First New Deal. Programs like the Works Progress Administration, the Social Security Act, and the National Labor Relations Act had reshaped the federal government's role, drawing fierce opposition from conservatives, many business leaders, and the Supreme Court of the United States, which had struck down key measures like the Agricultural Adjustment Act. The Republican Party, led by figures like former President Herbert Hoover, argued the New Deal represented dangerous overreach and fiscal irresponsibility. Meanwhile, critics from the left, such as Huey Long with his Share Our Wealth program and Francis Townsend with his pension plan, argued Roosevelt had not gone far enough, though Long's assassination in 1935 diminished this challenge.

Nominations

The 1936 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia renominated President Roosevelt and Vice President John Nance Garner by acclamation, abolishing the long-standing rule requiring a two-thirds majority for nomination. The party platform enthusiastically embraced the New Deal. The 1936 Republican National Convention in Cleveland selected Governor Alf Landon, a moderate from a traditionally Republican state, as its presidential nominee. Landon had supported some New Deal relief efforts but criticized its regulatory aspects and deficit spending. The convention chose newspaper publisher Frank Knox as his running mate. Other parties also fielded candidates: the Union Party, formed by followers of the late Huey Long, nominated William Lemke; the Socialist Party of America ran Norman Thomas; and the Communist Party USA put forward Earl Browder.

General election

The campaign was starkly defined by class and ideological divisions. Roosevelt, a masterful communicator via his fireside chats, campaigned aggressively, defending the New Deal as a necessary defense for the "forgotten man" against the "economic royalists" of big business. He toured the nation, giving speeches in key states like Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Illinois. Landon, a less charismatic campaigner, struggled to articulate a coherent alternative, at times appearing to accept popular New Deal programs while attacking their administration. The Republican campaign, supported by most major newspapers like the Chicago Tribune, warned of budget deficits and the dangers of centralized power. Literary figures like Ernest Hemingway and John Steinbeck generally supported Roosevelt, while the American Liberty League, funded by wealthy industrialists like the du Pont family, vehemently opposed him.

Results

Roosevelt achieved a historic landslide, carrying 46 of the then-48 states and winning 60.8% of the popular vote, a margin of over 11 million votes. He secured 523 electoral votes to Landon's 8, with Landon winning only Maine and Vermont; this result gave rise to the famous political joke, "As Maine goes, so goes Vermont." Roosevelt's victory was built on an unprecedented coalition that swept urban industrial centers, the Solid South, and made significant inroads among groups like African Americans, who began a major shift from the Party of Lincoln to the Democratic column. The Union Party candidate William Lemke won under 2% of the vote, failing to consolidate populist dissent. Voter turnout was high at 61%, reflecting the intense political engagement of the era.

Aftermath

The election solidified the Democratic Party's dominance and provided Roosevelt with an overwhelming mandate to expand the New Deal, leading to initiatives often called the Second New Deal. Emboldened by his victory and frustrated by the Supreme Court of the United States, Roosevelt soon launched his controversial "court-packing" plan to add more justices, a move that ultimately failed but pressured the Court into upholding key legislation like the National Labor Relations Act in cases such as NLRB v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp. The political realignment cemented during the election defined American politics for decades, creating the enduring New Deal coalition. The Republican Party was left weakened and introspective, beginning a long period of rebuilding that would eventually lead to the nomination of figures like Wendell Willkie in 1940.

Category:1936 United States presidential election Category:1936 elections in the United States