Welcome back to another edition of Lace ‘Em Up’s Presidential Election series as I’ll be going over the election of 1944; President Roosevelt is looking to make history once again but to do so, his gotta go up against one the shining stars of the GOP’s Eastern Establishment.

America Enters The Second World War

So when we last encountered President Franklin D. Roosevelt, he won an unprecendented third term to remain while also campaigning on the promise that he wouldn’t get the country involved in World War II…but those plans would change following the events of December 7th 1941.

That day, the Empire of Japan launched kamikaze attacks on the U.S. Naval base known as Pearl Harbor on the island of Hawaii with around 2,400 dead, thousands more injured and numerous navy ships were destroyed; These attacks took many Americans by surprised and this led to the Roosevelt making two decisions that would defined his legacy and also sully his reputation.

On February 19th 1942, Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 which called for the capture of all Americans with Japanese descent to internment camps out of fear that they may support Japan’s sabotage efforts against the U.S.

Hundreds of Japanese Americans were held in these camps for many years but it wasn’t January 2nd 1945 when these internment camps were shut down and many Japanese Americans struggled with their lives as many of their belongs was either sold, confiscated or destroyed with many of them not being properly compensated…As you can imagine this is not only a black eye in America’s history but it’s also seen as the lowest point in the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt, even though many American’s at the time supported the camps.

FDR’s other decision was less contraversial as he delivered a speech to Congress a day after the tragedy where he proclaimed December 7th 1941 as “A Date that will live in Infany.” before asking Congress to declare war against the Empire of Japan which Congress overwhelmingly approved.

A few days following this, Germany and Italy would declare war with the United States, further signaling America’s involvement in World War II and FDR decided to run for a fourth term in office, however Roosevelt’s reasoning for running again was more understandable as the war was still going on and FDR believed it wouldn’t make much sense to change presidents in the midst of this global conflict and many agreed with him, so he decided to run again although there’s a few problems FDR is facing going into this election.

FDR’s Health & Finding a New VP

Considering how long his been in office and the dilemmas his had to deal with along the way, it’s safe to say that FDR’s health wasn’t exactly great.

From hypertension to congestive heart failure, Franklin Roosevelt’s health was put into question and many doubted if he could finish another term as president never mind run for president again, but in the final few months of the election Roosevelt runs a vigorious campaign where he would appear to the public and give a few speeches in order to dismay any rumors about his ill health.

In addition to his health and the on going war world, FDR also has to deal with the distain of many Southern Democrats who are looking to split away from the party over issues regarding the New Deal and how much control the federal government had as a result. While a number of Democrats ran for the party’s nomination, many of them didn’t even stand a chance against the popular wartime president.

However, many Southern Democrats were not keen on the idea of Vice President, Henry A. Wallace getting renominated as many were horrified of Wallace becoming president if Roosevelt died as Wallace was a major supporter of granting civil rights to African Americans and supported Labor Unions which were things that many Southern politicians dispised with a burning passion.

Despite the fact that 65% of people wanted Wallace to remain on the ticket according to a gallup poll that was conducted, by the time of the Democratic National Convention a few names were brought up to be FDR’s new running mate:

• William O. Douglas- Supreme Court Justice from Minnesota
• Alben Barkley- Senator from Kentucky
• John Bankhead II- Senator from Alabama
• Sam Ryburn- A House Speaker from Texas

The thing is though, many of these candidates didn’t stand a chance as many Wallace supporters attempted to block their nomination but their support wasn’t strong enough to get Wallace back on the ticket and thus a fight for the most delegates to become VP ensued at the convention.

One name that many Democrats proposed as a possible running mate for FDR was Harry S. Truman who the Senator from Missouri and chairman of the Senate Committee investigating fraud and wasteful spending during the war effort.

While Truman himself repeatedly told everyone he didn’t want to Vice President, many within the party pushed for him to be on the ticket as he felt like a safe choice compared to Wallace and more and more delegates were being presuaded to support Truman which ultimately led to the Missouri Senator getting the votes needed to replace Henry Wallace on the ticket as the new running mate.

The 1944 GOP Convention

Much like the previous election, the Republican Party had many candidates trying to get the nomination including returning names like Thomas Dewey (who was now the Governor of New York) and Wendell Willkie who ran and lost to FDR back in 1940.

A few new names were also tossed into the mix this around this time:

• Harold Stassen- Former Governor of Minnesota
• John Bricker-Governor of Ohio
• Everett Dirksen- U.S. Representative from Illnois
• Earl Warren-Governor of California
• General Douglas MacArthur- The Allied Commander of World War II

After Ohio Senator, Robert Taft announced that he wouldn’t seek the nomination this time around, many Conservative Republicans shifted their support to MacArthur, however due to him and Stassen fighting in World War II, both men were unable to properly fight for the nomination.

Wendell Willkie or Thomas Dewey were then seen as the odds on favorite to win the nomination but many in Dewey’s campaign team tried their best to prevent Willkie from getting the nomination again and after doing poorly in the Wisconsin primary, Willkie would drop out of the race and refused to endorse the winner before eventually dying months later from a heart attack on October 8th 1944.

With Willkie dropping out of the race and MacArthur busying fighting in World War II, Governor Dewey easily defeated the rest to become the Republican Party’s nominee for president in 1944.

When the time came to choose his running mate for the election, Dewey’s initial pick for a running mate was Earl Warren, however the conservative wing of the Republican Party wouldn’t support this, so instead Dewey chose John Bricker in order to keep the conservatives happy.

Campaign Strategies & Political Attacks

As the election fully got underway, Governor Thomas E. Dewey campaigned on the idea of shrinking the federal government while also easing regulations to help grow the economy as the war was reaching it’s conclusion by this point.

Dewey and the Republicans are making claims that Roosevelt has ties to communism and that his too old to be the running the country for another four years. There also bringing up claims that Harry Truman was once a associated with the KKK back in the 1920’s, which is a strategy that’s going to prevent the GOP from getting any votes from Southerners who are unhappy with FDR.

Like the last two elections, Roosevelt is running again on his record as commander and chief and the successes the Allied Forces were able to make against the Axis in places like France and the Philippines.

Roosevelt also is making it clear that the war is going well for the United States and now is not the time to hand over the reigns of power to what he calls “inexperience and immature hands”.

Another claim that the GOP is going to make against Roosevelt in this election is that the president sent a naval ship to rescue his Scottish Terriar named ‘Fala’ from a previous destination and he did so under the use of tax payer dollars.

In perhaps the most famous moment of the entire election, FDR is seen giving a speech where he rebukes the claims regarding his dog being rescued at tax payers expense while also making funny of the GOP in the process…Overall things look good for the incumbent president, but will his health problems finally be enough to end tenure in the White House?

Election of 1944: The Results & Aftermath

Once again…Franklin Roosevelt easily won re-election, becoming the first and only president in U.S. History to be elected for a fourth term.

FDR won 36 states, received 432 electoral votes and got 53.4% of the popular vote; This election much like 1940, made Roosevelt the first incumbent president since Woodrow Wilson to be re-elected with less of the electoral and popular vote compared to the previous election.

Thomas E. Dewey won 12 states, received 99 electoral votes and got 45.9% of the popular vote, which was the best performance for any Republican candidate running against FDR for president…It didn’t help him come close to winning the presidency though.

Tragically, Franklin D. Roosevelt would die from a cerebral hemorrhage at his home in Warm Springs, Georgia on April 12th 1945 at the age of 63 just a few months into his fourth term.

Harry S. Truman thus became the 33rd President of the United States and eventually an amendment was made to the U.S. constitution known as “The 22rd Amendment” which prevented future presidents from ever serving more than two terms, making FDR’s record as a four term president unbreakable with no signs of this breaking any time soon.

If you like this kind of content, be sure to leave your thoughts down below in the comment section and be sure to follow Lace ‘Em Up on X @laceemupoffice you can follow me also on X @hakeemfullerton and I’ll see you in the next article.