How FDR Used Tax Dollars To Buy An Election
By: Tyler Curtis
October 11, 2022
Most Americans knew FDR hadn’t brought the U.S. out of the Depression, but they weren’t about to vote against their own perceived interests.
In modern democracies, we tend to over-interpret the outcome of an election. When one candidate prevails over another, by however large or small a margin, we conclude that “the people” must be endorsing that candidate’s entire policy program. In reality, the process by which people choose whom to vote for is complex, messy, and often irrational.
Few historians understand this better than David Pietrusza. The author of several books on presidential elections, Pietrusza has the uncanny ability to take the reader back in time and experience what it was really like for voters and candidates to live through an intense presidential campaign.
In his latest book, “Roosevelt Sweeps Nation: FDR’s 1936 Landslide and the Triumph of the Liberal Ideal,” Pietrusza tackles what appears to have been an unexciting election year. As the subtitle indicates, Franklin Roosevelt won his second term in 1936 by an overwhelming margin, taking nearly 61 percent of the popular vote and winning 46 of 48 states.
The final vote tallies make it seem like the 1936 campaign had no drama. Roosevelt cruised to victory on the back of his great policy successes, as the country gave him an indisputable mandate to continue with the New Deal, right?
Wrong, says Pietrusza. Roosevelt’s reelection actually masked the truth about how controversial the New Deal really was. It was so controversial, in fact, that many in Roosevelt’s camp were worried it would cost him the election. According to one poll conducted just 10 months before the balloting began, only 38 percent of respondents said they supported the New Deal.
more
https://thefederalist.com/2022/10/11/how-fdr-used-tax-dollars-to-buy-an-election/
