The Presidential Election 1936

Two-term governor of Kansas, Alfred ‘Alf’ Landon, was chosen as the Republican candidate to run against incumbent Democratic president Franklin D. Roosevelt (F.D.R.). Roosevelt’s New Deal had achieved some financial stability in the years following the crash of 1929 and the measures he had put in place were popular with many Americans. In 1936, however, there was still considerable unemployment and some businessmen and politicians disagreed with certain Democratic policies such as the Social Security Act and tax revisions. The Republicans were not in a strong position, and Landon was a weak opponent and an ineffectual public speaker. Roosevelt had the support of labourers, famers and the poor, delivering him an astounding victory. He won every state apart from Vermont and Maine, and achieved 523 electoral votes and over 27 million popular votes.