The Second Term Curse: Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Second Term
Franklin Roosevelt remained popular at the end of his first term, in spit of the fact that 8 million American workers remained unemployed in 1936. Voters still preferred Roosevelt's active approach to combating the effects of the Great Depression, in comparison to what they perceived to be Herbert Hoover's hands-off approach. In Roosevelt's first term as president, economic conditions had improved and Roosevelt was widely popular. Attempt by Louisiana populist Huey Long and others to organize a left-wing alternative to the Democratic Party ended with Long's assassination in 1935.
Roosevelt won re-nomination with little opposition at the 1936 Democratic National Convention. Despite resistance from southern delegates, Roosevelt's supporters were able to bring about an end to the long-established rule that required Democratic presidential candidates to win the votes of two-thirds of the delegates rather than a simple majority.
The Republicans nominated Kansas Governor Alf Landon. Landon was well-respected but not flashy. His chances were damaged by the public re-emergence of the unpopular Herbert Hoover. Roosevelt campaigned on his New Deal programs and continued to attack Hoover. Landon did not disparage the New Deal, but disagreed with its implementation. In the election Roosevelt won 60.8% of the vote and carried every state except Maine and Vermont. Democrats also grew their majorities in Congress, winning control of over three-quarters of the seats in each house. The Democrats expanded their base of support to include organized labor and African Americans, the latter of whom voted Democratic for the first time since the Civil War. Roosevelt won 86 percent of the Jewish vote, 81 percent of Catholics, 80 percent of union members, 76 percent of Southerners, and 75 percent of people on relief. Roosevelt carried 102 of the nation's 106 cities with a population of 100,000 or more.
With the election win in his pocket, Roosevelt's first target was reforming the Supreme Court. The court had overturned many of his programs, and the more conservative members of the court viewed numerous economic regulations as a breach of the right of freedom of contract. Roosevelt proposed the Judicial Procedures Reform Bill of 1937, which would have allowed him to appoint an additional Justice for each incumbent Justice over the age of 70. In 1937, there were six Supreme Court Justices over the age of 70. The size of the Court had been set at nine since the passage of the Judiciary Act of 1869. Roosevelt's "court packing" plan met intense political opposition including within his own party. His Vice President, John Nance Garner, was one of the leading opponents. A bipartisan coalition opposed the bill, and Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes took the unusual step of publicly calling for the defeat of the bill. The bill lacked necessary support for passage.
Likely not by coincidence, the court began to take a more favorable view of economic regulations. Roosevelt appointed a Supreme Court Justice in 1937 and within the next four years he would appoint seven of the nine Justices, effectively solving the problem for Roosevelt. Four of Roosevelt's Supreme Court appointees, Felix Frankfurter, Robert H. Jackson, Hugo Black, and William O. Douglas, would be particularly influential in re-shaping the direction of the Court.
Following the failure of the Judicial Procedures Reform Bill of 1937, conservative Democrats joined with Republicans to block the implementation of further New Deal programs. Roosevelt did manage to pass some legislation, including the Housing Act of 1937, a second Agricultural Adjustment Act, and the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. the latter bill outlawed child labor, established a federal minimum wage, and required overtime pay for certain employees who work in excess of forty-hours per week. He also won passage of the Reorganization Act of 1939.
When the economy began to deteriorate again in late 1937, Roosevelt asked Congress for $5 billion (equivalent to $87.14 billion in 2018) in relief and public works funding. This led to the creation of approximately 3.3 million jobs by 1938. Projects ranged from new federal courthouses and post offices, to facilities and infrastructure for national parks, bridges and other infrastructure across the country, architectural surveys and archaeological excavations.
Roosevelt became involved in the 1938 Democratic primaries, actively campaigning for candidates who were more supportive of New Deal reform. The move backfired. Roosevelt only managed to defeat only one target, a conservative Democrat from New York City. In the November 1938 elections, Democrats lost six Senate seats and 71 House seats, with losses concentrated among pro-New Deal Democrats. When Congress reconvened in 1939, Republicans led byr Senator Robert Taft formed a Conservative coalition with Southern Democrats, ending Roosevelt's ability to enact his domestic proposals.
On the international front, the isolationist movement prevented the U.S. from selling arms abroad. Roosevelt requested, but was refused, a provision to give him the discretion to allow the sale of arms to victims of aggression. At first Roosevelt did not challenge Congress's non-interventionist policies, in order to focus on his domestic agenda. But in his second term, dictatorial governments arose in Italy under Benito Mussolini and in Germany under Adolf Hitler. When Japan invaded China in 1937, isolationism limited Roosevelt's ability to aid China, where atrocities were taking place. Germany annexed Austria in 1938. Roosevelt said that, in the event of German aggression against Czechoslovakia, the U.S. would remain neutral. After completion of the Munich Agreement, American public opinion turned against Germany, and Roosevelt began preparing for a possible war with Germany.
When World War II began in September 1939 with Germany's invasion of Poland, Roosevelt looked for ways to assist Britain and France militarily. Isolationist leaders like Charles Lindbergh and Senator William Borah led the opposition to Roosevelt's proposed repeal of the Neutrality Act. Roosevelt was able to obtain Congressional approval of the sale of arms on a cash-and-carry basis. The Fall of France in June 1940 alarmed the American public, and isolationist sentiment declined. Roosevelt planned rapid build-up of the American military. In July 1940, a group of Congressmen introduced a bill that would authorize the nation's first peacetime draft, and with the support of the Roosevelt administration the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 passed in September. The size of the army would increase from 189,000 men at the end of 1939 to 1.4 million men in mid-1941.
In September 1940, Roosevelt openly defied the Neutrality Acts by concluding the "Destroyers for Bases" Agreement. Under that agreement the US obtained military base rights in the British Caribbean Islands, in return for 50 WWI American destroyers that were sent to Britain.
In the months prior to the July 1940 Democratic National Convention, many wondered if Roosevelt would run for an unprecedented third term. The two-term tradition was not yet mandated by the Constitution. It been established by George Washington when he refused to run for a third term in the 1796 presidential election. Roosevelt refused to give a definitive statement as to his plans for a third term. But as Germany gained military victories and as it appeared that the security of Britain was vulnerable, Roosevelt felt obligated to use his experience to see the nation safely through the war. The party's political bosses supported him, believing that no Democrat other than Roosevelt could defeat Wendell Willkie, the popular Republican nominee.
At the July 1940 Democratic Convention in Chicago, Roosevelt easily defeated challenges from James Farley and Vice President Garner. To replace Garner on the ticket, Roosevelt turned to Secretary of Agriculture Henry Wallace of Iowa, a former Republican who strongly supported the New Deal and was popular in farm states. The choice of Wallace was strenuously opposed by many of the party's conservatives, who saw Wallace as being too radical and "eccentric" in his private life. Roosevelt claimed that without Wallace on the ticket he would decline re-nomination, and Wallace won the vice-presidential nomination.
A late August poll taken by Gallup found the race to be essentially tied, but Roosevelt's popularity surged in September following the announcement of the Destroyers for Bases Agreement. Roosevelt won the 1940 election with 55% of the popular vote, 38 of the 48 states, and almost 85% of the electoral vote.
FDR's third term would bring on the challenges of a World War and of planning for the world that would follow. Like Moses, he would see the promised land of a post-war world, but would not set foot in it. Significant health issues, worsened by the stress of the significant challenges his presidency presented, would shorten his life leading to his death in April of 1945, just ahead of the surrender of the Axis powers.
Roosevelt won re-nomination with little opposition at the 1936 Democratic National Convention. Despite resistance from southern delegates, Roosevelt's supporters were able to bring about an end to the long-established rule that required Democratic presidential candidates to win the votes of two-thirds of the delegates rather than a simple majority.
The Republicans nominated Kansas Governor Alf Landon. Landon was well-respected but not flashy. His chances were damaged by the public re-emergence of the unpopular Herbert Hoover. Roosevelt campaigned on his New Deal programs and continued to attack Hoover. Landon did not disparage the New Deal, but disagreed with its implementation. In the election Roosevelt won 60.8% of the vote and carried every state except Maine and Vermont. Democrats also grew their majorities in Congress, winning control of over three-quarters of the seats in each house. The Democrats expanded their base of support to include organized labor and African Americans, the latter of whom voted Democratic for the first time since the Civil War. Roosevelt won 86 percent of the Jewish vote, 81 percent of Catholics, 80 percent of union members, 76 percent of Southerners, and 75 percent of people on relief. Roosevelt carried 102 of the nation's 106 cities with a population of 100,000 or more.
With the election win in his pocket, Roosevelt's first target was reforming the Supreme Court. The court had overturned many of his programs, and the more conservative members of the court viewed numerous economic regulations as a breach of the right of freedom of contract. Roosevelt proposed the Judicial Procedures Reform Bill of 1937, which would have allowed him to appoint an additional Justice for each incumbent Justice over the age of 70. In 1937, there were six Supreme Court Justices over the age of 70. The size of the Court had been set at nine since the passage of the Judiciary Act of 1869. Roosevelt's "court packing" plan met intense political opposition including within his own party. His Vice President, John Nance Garner, was one of the leading opponents. A bipartisan coalition opposed the bill, and Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes took the unusual step of publicly calling for the defeat of the bill. The bill lacked necessary support for passage.
Likely not by coincidence, the court began to take a more favorable view of economic regulations. Roosevelt appointed a Supreme Court Justice in 1937 and within the next four years he would appoint seven of the nine Justices, effectively solving the problem for Roosevelt. Four of Roosevelt's Supreme Court appointees, Felix Frankfurter, Robert H. Jackson, Hugo Black, and William O. Douglas, would be particularly influential in re-shaping the direction of the Court.
Following the failure of the Judicial Procedures Reform Bill of 1937, conservative Democrats joined with Republicans to block the implementation of further New Deal programs. Roosevelt did manage to pass some legislation, including the Housing Act of 1937, a second Agricultural Adjustment Act, and the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. the latter bill outlawed child labor, established a federal minimum wage, and required overtime pay for certain employees who work in excess of forty-hours per week. He also won passage of the Reorganization Act of 1939.
When the economy began to deteriorate again in late 1937, Roosevelt asked Congress for $5 billion (equivalent to $87.14 billion in 2018) in relief and public works funding. This led to the creation of approximately 3.3 million jobs by 1938. Projects ranged from new federal courthouses and post offices, to facilities and infrastructure for national parks, bridges and other infrastructure across the country, architectural surveys and archaeological excavations.
Roosevelt became involved in the 1938 Democratic primaries, actively campaigning for candidates who were more supportive of New Deal reform. The move backfired. Roosevelt only managed to defeat only one target, a conservative Democrat from New York City. In the November 1938 elections, Democrats lost six Senate seats and 71 House seats, with losses concentrated among pro-New Deal Democrats. When Congress reconvened in 1939, Republicans led byr Senator Robert Taft formed a Conservative coalition with Southern Democrats, ending Roosevelt's ability to enact his domestic proposals.
On the international front, the isolationist movement prevented the U.S. from selling arms abroad. Roosevelt requested, but was refused, a provision to give him the discretion to allow the sale of arms to victims of aggression. At first Roosevelt did not challenge Congress's non-interventionist policies, in order to focus on his domestic agenda. But in his second term, dictatorial governments arose in Italy under Benito Mussolini and in Germany under Adolf Hitler. When Japan invaded China in 1937, isolationism limited Roosevelt's ability to aid China, where atrocities were taking place. Germany annexed Austria in 1938. Roosevelt said that, in the event of German aggression against Czechoslovakia, the U.S. would remain neutral. After completion of the Munich Agreement, American public opinion turned against Germany, and Roosevelt began preparing for a possible war with Germany.
When World War II began in September 1939 with Germany's invasion of Poland, Roosevelt looked for ways to assist Britain and France militarily. Isolationist leaders like Charles Lindbergh and Senator William Borah led the opposition to Roosevelt's proposed repeal of the Neutrality Act. Roosevelt was able to obtain Congressional approval of the sale of arms on a cash-and-carry basis. The Fall of France in June 1940 alarmed the American public, and isolationist sentiment declined. Roosevelt planned rapid build-up of the American military. In July 1940, a group of Congressmen introduced a bill that would authorize the nation's first peacetime draft, and with the support of the Roosevelt administration the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 passed in September. The size of the army would increase from 189,000 men at the end of 1939 to 1.4 million men in mid-1941.
In September 1940, Roosevelt openly defied the Neutrality Acts by concluding the "Destroyers for Bases" Agreement. Under that agreement the US obtained military base rights in the British Caribbean Islands, in return for 50 WWI American destroyers that were sent to Britain.
In the months prior to the July 1940 Democratic National Convention, many wondered if Roosevelt would run for an unprecedented third term. The two-term tradition was not yet mandated by the Constitution. It been established by George Washington when he refused to run for a third term in the 1796 presidential election. Roosevelt refused to give a definitive statement as to his plans for a third term. But as Germany gained military victories and as it appeared that the security of Britain was vulnerable, Roosevelt felt obligated to use his experience to see the nation safely through the war. The party's political bosses supported him, believing that no Democrat other than Roosevelt could defeat Wendell Willkie, the popular Republican nominee.
At the July 1940 Democratic Convention in Chicago, Roosevelt easily defeated challenges from James Farley and Vice President Garner. To replace Garner on the ticket, Roosevelt turned to Secretary of Agriculture Henry Wallace of Iowa, a former Republican who strongly supported the New Deal and was popular in farm states. The choice of Wallace was strenuously opposed by many of the party's conservatives, who saw Wallace as being too radical and "eccentric" in his private life. Roosevelt claimed that without Wallace on the ticket he would decline re-nomination, and Wallace won the vice-presidential nomination.
A late August poll taken by Gallup found the race to be essentially tied, but Roosevelt's popularity surged in September following the announcement of the Destroyers for Bases Agreement. Roosevelt won the 1940 election with 55% of the popular vote, 38 of the 48 states, and almost 85% of the electoral vote.
FDR's third term would bring on the challenges of a World War and of planning for the world that would follow. Like Moses, he would see the promised land of a post-war world, but would not set foot in it. Significant health issues, worsened by the stress of the significant challenges his presidency presented, would shorten his life leading to his death in April of 1945, just ahead of the surrender of the Axis powers.