The Republican policies had worked during the 1920s, so they weren’t completely useless. They contributed to the economic boom in America, which led to the growing of cities, the introduction of the car to normal day life, entertainment people couldn’t even imagine, more money circling the economy. These policies land marked America as one of the most, if not the most developed country in the whole world at the time. But after the Wall Street Crash, these laissez-faire policies just didn’t work. The people desperately needed government intervention. The Republicans only reacted at the end of 1930, which was too little too late. The people were looking for someone who would effectively take action, so they turned to Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Democrats.
Between Roosevelt and Hoover, it wasn’t just their policies which clashed: Herbert Hoover’s character was a huge contrast to that of Roosevelt’s, too. Hoover was a millionaire, so it would have been hard for him to relate to the American people’s problems. The people saw him as unimaginative, hard-hearted and cold. He believed that the people should receive help from just private charities and local governments, not the federal state. Many Americans actually blamed Hoover for the bad situation, and the fact that he simply didn’t act fast enough. Demonstrations involved people saying: “In Hoover we trusted and now we are busted.” The people had little faith in Hoover and his party, which explains why Roosevelt won by such a landslide victory. Not only had Hoover’s measures failed to produce recovery, but the economy was sinking even further into depression. The people thought Hoover was a cold, heartless man.
The Republicans were also seen as very unsympathetic – for example, the Bonus March. Thousands of servicemen who had fought in World War One peacefully asked for their war bonuses early. Hoover refused to meet them and sent General MacArthur to deal with the situation. MacArthur ordered the troops and police to use tear gas and to burn the marcher’s camps. This definitely angered a lot of people and only brought down Hoover’s reputation, and it only confirmed people’s views that Hoover simply did not care.
Roosevelt had a different attitude to Hoover, different policies and a different campaign, which eventually prompted the people to vote for him in 1932. His policies included state intervention, which happened to be exactly what the country needed at that stage. Roosevelt believed that the only way to come out of the depression was by the federal government helping the people. He promised a quick reaction (“this nation asks for action, and action now”). He also guaranteed government schemes to end unemployment, the revival of industries, relief for the poor, protection for workers etc. The people appreciated these assurances very much. His policies were exactly the fresh start the people craved. He also promised to put an end to prohibition: this was very popular, because the Americans were sick of the gangsters, the killings and the corruption. Promising to end prohibition won him a lot of support and popularity. As he was Governor of New York, he had already started making changes – for example, getting people back to work. People noticed that he had, so it proved to them that he really was willing to start making changes as soon as he could.
The people thought that Roosevelt had a fantastic personality: he was cheerful compared to the cold Hoover, he was optimistic and the people got the impression that he genuinely cared about them. Because he overcame polio, the people knew he had a strong fighting spirit and would never give up. People believed that Roosevelt would take real action. Roosevelt was not afraid to ask for advice on important issues from a wide range of experts: for example, factory owners, union leaders, economists etc. His compassionate character was favoured over Hoover’s cold, unfriendly attitude.
Not everyone favoured Roosevelt: a minority distrusted Roosevelt’s willingness to abandon old ideas of what the government should do. Some believed Roosevelt was ready to make reckless experiments, and that he was trying to stir up the poor (the “forgotten man”) against the rich. Others, although they didn’t particularly dislike Roosevelt, believed that he didn’t have the ability nor the experience to make an effective president. However these people who voted for Hoover were a minority, and were by far outvoted – Roosevelt won by landslide victory of over 7 million votes!
Roosevelt had a huge advantage over Hoover, which was an important factor for Roosevelt’s victory. While the people were angry at Hoover for not doing anything beneficial to help the economy, Roosevelt had done nothing wrong because he wasn’t President. While Hoover was frowning, Roosevelt was smiling. People associated the Depression with Hoover and the Republicans, because it was during their time in office in which the Depression happened: and their failure to deal with it effectively put the Republicans at a huge disadvantage.
At that stage, the people needed someone who cared. They needed someone who would make the effort to help them. They needed someone with a fantastic campaign, a campaign that would convince them to vote for a specific party. Roosevelt was their prime candidate: despite his paralyzed legs, he managed to go on a grand tour of the USA as part of his campaign. He realised people wanted action, and so he travelled over 20,000 km around the USA. On his tour, he made over 70 major speeches, in which he promised the American people “A New Deal.” He talked about the problems the country faced, and how he was going to help, and why the Republicans were in the wrong. He managed to convince many, many people that “Roosevelt is the only president who ever cared for people like us.” The people had faith that because he had successfully overcome serious complications which threatened his life, he was qualified to help America overcome their problems. His grand tour convinced many apprehensive voters that Roosevelt was the candidate worth voting for. Roosevelt especially appealed to the unemployed, homeless and poverty-stricken: he had assured them of quick, effective action.
I think that a main factor involved in the victory of the Democrats was negative cohesion. A lot of people were indifferent about Roosevelt and his party, but they were so against Hoover and the Republicans that they voted for the Democrats. It could have even gone as far as people disliking both candidates, but disliking Hoover more. This was an important factor because it contributed to the biggest landslide victory in many, many years.
So I think that Roosevelt himself was responsible for his election victory to a certain extent: when it came to his policies, campaign and character, the people vastly preferred Roosevelt to Hoover. However, Roosevelt wasn’t responsible for a lot of votes he received: many people voted for him because they disliked Hoover (because of his lack of action following the Wall Street Crash), and not because they particularly liked Roosevelt. Some people associated Hoover with the Depression as well, and didn’t want anything to do with him in the future. So although Roosevelt was voted for because people genuinely liked him, he was also voted for because people strongly disliked his opponent.