Hello and welcome back to another edition of Lace ‘Em Up’s Presidential Election series for today we will be talking about the Election of 1940. FDR has been in office for two terms and his looking to move on, but problems that are occuring outseas will lead to Roosevelt making a choice that will shake American politics forever.

Franklin Roosevelt’s Second Term

President Franklin D. Roosevelt had overseen the biggest use of government power than any other president before him thanks in large part to his New Deal policies which were still popular in the eyes of poor and middle people.

While FDR’s New Deal may have been supported by many down trodden Americans, others (notably the conservatives and wealthy elites) saw all of this government spending and business regulating very harmful with the economy still in bad shape despite FDR’s efforts and the fact that the economy has shown signs of recovery during Roosevelt’s second term.

Problems continued to plague FDR’s two second terms when it came to passing domestic policies as the Supreme Court continued to block much of Roosevelt’s legislation which led to the creation of a Second New Deal but that was also dealt with scrutiny by the court and this resulted in Roosevelt making a very controversial decision.

President Roosevelt decides in his second terms that he wants to pack the Supreme Court with justices that would allow him to pass his programs into law and he even appointed eight new justices along the way.

This, as you can imagine led to split opinions among many including the Democrats, with some feeling that the New Deal was becoming an overreach of the federal government as it gave the president more power to deal with issues that usually would be dealt with under the belief of ‘States Rights’.

Regardless, FDR was still beloved by the public and after eight years in the Oval Office, Roosevelt was looking to retire following the end of the 1940 election, which means Roosevelt and many in his inner circle had to find someone who could continue his work going into the new decade.

Running for a Third Term?

While the U.S. continues to trough through the Great Depression, foreign conflicts are quickly engulfing parts of the world and will soon enough lead to another world war as German forces under the control of the Nazis are forming alliances to spread their influence around the globe whilst battling other nations like Russia and Great Britain.

The United States in 1940 however, remained netrual to the idea of joining the war despite the U.S. government providing aid to allies like Britain. The feel of non-intervention was high in the late 1930’s and early 40’s as many Americans like the ‘America First Committee’ were against the idea of involvement in foreign conflicts while others believed that the U.S. should get involved in the war.

While all of this is going on, FDR is considering his replacement to run for the presidency in 1940 and his thinking about choosing, Harry Hopkins as his successor as Hopkins was not only FDR’s Secretary of Commerce during his second term, but also was in charge of various New Deal programs and an important figure in when it came to the president’s partnership with the U.K.

Unfortunately, Hopkins issues with Stomach Cancer as well as growing tensions overseas and continuing the New deal, leads to FDR making the tough decision to run for a third term in office thus breaking the two term tradition that was established by George Washington and continued on by his successors.

News of Roosevelt’s third presidential bid shocked a whole lot of people and at the Democratic National Convention, FDR faced off challenges from the former Postmaster General and DNC Chairman, James Farley as well as John Nance Garner, the former Speaker of the House and FDR’s Vice President who disagreed with Roosevelt on a number of ideas.

Ultimately, Franklin Roosevelt was able to score the nomination for a third time with FDR becoming the first Democrat since Grover Cleveland in 1892 to have won the party’s nomination three times in a row.

With Garner no longer a part of Roosevelt’s adminsration, the president decides to chose his Secretary of Agriculture, Henry Agard Wallace as his new running mate.

1940 GOP Convention & Wendell Willkie

Following their embrassing defeat to FDR in the 1936 election, the Republican Party were quickly regaining some momentum in the midterm elections as Roosevelt’s court packing plan, the problematic economy and the divide within his own party led to the GOP getting more than 70 seats in Congress.

When the time came to nominate a candidate to challenge FDR in the 1940 election their were a few names that ran, but the top three were Thomas Dewey who was the District Attorney of New York, Robert A. Taft who was the Senator of Ohio and son of President William Howard Taft and finally Arthur Vandenburg who was the Senator from Michigan.

The issue of getting involved in what would later be called World War II had become a major factor for both political parties and the GOP were split between the isolationists aka those that didn’t want to be involved in the war and the interventionists aka those that did support involvement in the war.

Dewey won a lot of delegates in the early stages of the convention but as the event went on, his support was dwindling due to critics within the convention calling him out for his lack of foreign policy experience. Taft and Vandernburg were also criticized for their support of isolationism as the war continued to escalate meaning none of the top three candidates were able to get enough support to win their party’s nomination.

However, a dark horse candidate named Wendell Willkie, soon emerged and was looking to win the Republican Party’s nomination for president.

Willkie was a former lawyer turned businessman who had never held any political office and was a former Democrat who at first supported Franklin Roosevelt in 1932, but disagreed with one of his work programs known as the Tennessee Valley Authority (or TVA).

The TVA among things provided cheap electrical power in mostly rural areas which annoyed Willkie as his company was already providing electrical power to areas in the U.S. and felt that the government shouldn’t be competing with private corporations.

With the help of a large legion of supporters, the media and his abilities of persuasion eventually led to the delegates that supported Michigan, New York and Pennsylvania throwing their support behind Willkie and in the end, it was Wendell who got the Republican Party’s nomination.

Because many within the GOP were unsure about Wendell’s party loyalty, he allowed the folks inside the convention to decide on his running mate for the election.

Charles McNary, who was the Senate Minority Leader was soon chosen as Willkie’s running mate even though McNary was just one of many Republicans who attempted to block Willkie’s nomination with a “Stop Willkie” campaign. Nevertheless, the bussinessman turned presidential nominee went along with the decision as he needed the support of the GOP behind him.

Campaign Strategies & Policy Platforms

Much like what he did in 1936, FDR is running on his record but his also running on the promise that he wouldn’t get the country into war as many still leaned to the idea of isolationism.

His also running on the beliefs that now is not the time to have a different person in the White House with how things are going overseas and his mentioning that the Republicans and those involved in big business are still to blame for the effects of the Great Depression which is going to hurt Willkie’s chances since his a major businessman.

On the opposite side, critics are calling out Roosevelt for his decision to break the two term tradition with many Southerners in his own party being the most vocal with their distain. 

Willkie’s plan in terms of foreign policy was to intreven in the war, but only to give aid to British forces while at the same time not actually joining the war itself which made Wendell look something like a moderate.

On the campaign trail, WIllie verbally attacked Roosevelt’s decision to run for a third term and for how inefficent the New Deal was when came to fixing the ecomony.

While Willkie was vocal about his disapproval of the New Deal, he did support many New Deal ideas like minimum wage, regulating free markets and collective bargaining.

He also attacked the president for how the country wasn’t prepared to go to war and even challenged Roosevelt to a radio debate in what would’ve been the very first presidential election debate in American History, but FDR refused. 

Many Americans still had faith in the New Deal and this lead to Willkie being pelted with rotten fruit and vegetables while campaigning and FDR even thought about using Willkie’s relationship with his ex-wife to get the advantage over his rival, but nothing ever materialized…Overall it’s a competitive election unlike the previous two, but will that mean the outcome will be different?

Election of 1940: The Results

By election day of 1940, it was announced that Franklin Roosevelt had easily won re-election and in the process became the first and only president in U.S. History to be elected to a third term in office

FDR received 449 electoral votes and 54.7% of the popular vote making him the only person to win three consecutive elections with a majority of the vote and his also the first person since Grover Cleveland to win the popular vote in three straight presidential elections.

Wendell Willkie got 82 electoral votes from Midwestern states while also winning the states of Maine and Vermont, and got 44.8% of the popular vote.

Although he got less than what Hoover got in the popular vote in 1932, Willkie did outperform what Hoover and Landon when it came to the electoral votes…So there’s that.

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