1932 - Roosevelt vs. Hoover
Roosevelt campaigns in 1932; Courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library
With the nation’s economy still staggering through the Great Depression, both incumbent Republican President Herbert Hoover and his Democratic challenger, New York Governor Franklin Roosevelt, find it difficult to raise money. Joseph R. Nutt, the treasurer of the Republican National Committee, announces that Hoover will run the most economical national campaign in a generation, but even so, the Republicans are so strapped that they set up scores of “Hoover Clubs,” which collect a $1 fee from members. Roosevelt makes an unprecedented nationwide radio appeal for contributions. Saying that he recognizes that times are hard, he pledges to eliminate “useless ballyhoo” and run a much more frugal presidential campaign than those of the past. In a swipe against the Republicans and their corporate contributors, Roosevelt says that the Democratic Party “has no favorite group upon which it can call for large sums under the promise of privilege or immunity, express or implied.” Instead, he seeks “an aggregate of small contributions” from ordinary citizens.
Less conspicuously, the Roosevelt campaign turns to importers and exporters for financial support, sending a letter to them in which it promises that the Democratic candidate will lower tariffs if elected. The Democrats also rely on a small number of wealthy donors, including John Jacob Raskob, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee and builder of the Empire State Building, who donates $25,000. Publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst contributes a similar amount.
In the final weeks of the campaign, GOP officials tell The New York Times that donors are finally loosening their purse strings in support of Hoover, but it’s apparently too little too late. Ultimately, the RNC can muster only $3 million, giving the GOP a smaller than usual advantage over the Democrats, who raise $2.2 million. Even so, Roosevelt’s supporters worry about being outspent. Democratic Senator Huey Long of Louisiana jokingly explains: “The problem with the Democrats is that we have all the votes and no money . . . the best thing we could do is sell President Hoover a million votes for half what he is going to pay to try to get them.” (A year later Long will split with FDR and allegedly plan his own run for the White House.)
On Election Day, Roosevelt wins an overwhelming victory, beating Hoover in the popular vote by 57.4 percent to 39.7 percent and racking up an Electoral College advantage of 472 to 59.
SOURCES: “Nutt Puts New Low on Party Expenses,” The New York Times, August 31, 1932; Charles R. Michael, “Presidential Campaign Costs in Course of Deflation,” The New York Times, October 9, 1932; “Gov. Roosevelt Asks Many Small Gifts To Run His Campaign,” The New York Times, August 26, 1932; “Assails Democrats on Bid to Importers,” The New York Times, November 1, 1932; “Democrats Open Final Fund Drive,” The New York Times, November 2, 1932; Richard Norton Smith, review of The Chief: The Life of William Randolph Hearst by David Nasaw, Columbia Journalism Review, May/June 2000; “Republican Purses Opening for Hoover,” The New York Times, October 28, 1932; Mark Green, Selling Out: How Big Corporate Money Buys Elections, Rams Through Legislation, and Betrays Our Democracy (New York: William Morrow), 2002; “1932 Presidential Election Results,” David Leip’s Atlas of the U.S. Presidential Elections.
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