How far was Roosevelt responsible for his own election victory in 1932?

By 1932 America had suffered 3 years of economic depression. President Herbert Hoover was widely disliked in America because times were very hard, and he was seen by people as cold and uncaring; Hoover's policy was not to intervene in the economy, and to leave the economy to recover by itself. This meant that people had been left for three years to suffer hardships while their government did nothing but hope the economy would recover. By the time of the Presidential election of 1932 American citizens wanted a change; they wanted a President who do something to make things happen, and this is what Roosevelt was offering them. Roosevelt promised Americans that he would end the depression; he convinced them that he cared for them and would get them through the bad times.

As part of Roosevelt's election campaign he promised Americans a "New Deal". This was a list of targets Roosevelt planned to achieve; in it there were four main points, they were: Government schemes to provide more jobs. Measures to revive industry and agriculture. Relief for the poor and unemployed. Protection for workers against irresponsible employers. All these points gained Roosevelt votes because at the time of the election, millions of Americans were unemployed and dependent on soup kitchens for food. By promising to abolish the prohibition laws on alcohol, he gained widespread support, and even middle class Americans who had work responded to him as they saw in him the only hope of saving America from revolution.

Roosevelt had been Assistant Secretary to the Navy when America joined the First World War, and had shown that he could carry out an important job, but he had since been crippled by polio; people saw that he had overcome polio with his determination, and felt that he would help them overcome the blows they had suffered too.

Roosevelt was a very good public speaker, and his campaign was optimistic and energetic. Roosevelt worked hard to take his message to ordinary men and women throughout America, by travelling round many parts of the country talking to people about the problems they faced.

President Hoover was very unpopular, and when he went campaigning his train would be pelted with eggs and tomatoes, people carried placards reading "Hang Hoover" and "In Hoover we trusted and now we are busted". Americans knew his policies, and felt that his view that business was not the responsibility of the government condemned people to suffer whatever blows the economy sent them without help; the shanty towns which grew up where migrant workers were forced to live beside the roadways as they travelled in search of work and wages were named "Hoovervilles" because Americans believed that they only existed because of the President's policies.

The fact that Americans knew the government's policies, and hated them, helped Roosevelt because he could be vague about precisely what he would do, but give a positive impression that he would do something, rather than nothing. Most of all Roosevelt offered Americans hope.

Roosevelt's victory was therefore due to both his own efforts, and to circumstances which were beyond his control; President Hoover's policy of non-intervention in the economy played into Roosevelt's hands, because it was seen to have condemned America to three years of economic misery; Hoover could not have expected a country which had regarded itself as a land of limitless opportunity, to suffer 13 million unemployed and potentially starving people, and to just wait for the economy to recover unaided. Roosevelt offered positive intervention in the economy to bring America out of the depression. Hoovers' personal image was also uncaring and cold, and Roosevelt made sure that his own was exactly the opposite. Roosevelt was seen as having triumphed over adversity in his own health, and seemed to be the man America needed to nurse the country out of sickness. He was also energetic and showed that he was willing to work hard to bring America back to prosperity. All this contributed to Roosevelt's success, but if the election had not been during the depression, it is possible that a prosperous America would not have even considered Roosevelt, because there would have been no reason to replace President Hoover with a candidate who did not outline his own policies exactly. Roosevelt did have a very good campaign which took his message all over the country, talking to people about their problems, showing he cared for them, and if he hadn't done that I don't think he would have won by such a large number of votes. The state of America at the time of the election gave Roosevelt the opportunity to offer Americans what they wanted, and the country was ripe for change. I therefore conclude that both Roosevelt's own actions, and factors outside of his control led to his win in the 1932 Presidential Election, but perhaps the greater role was played by the economic conditions and America's desire for change at the time.