The 1932 election of Franklin Delano Roosevelt seemed to hold the promise of
Democratic domination for years to come. However, leading up to the 1936
election, persistent economic problems, a controversial domestic agenda, and the
perception of a weak foreign policy were chipping away at public support. The
president faced unrelenting criticism from both the Left and the Right, and it
seemed unlikely that he would cruise to the same clear victory he enjoyed in
1932. But 1936 was yet another landslide win for FDR, which makes it easy to
forget just how contested the campaign was. In Voting Deliberatively , Mary
Stuckey examines little-discussed components of FDR?s 1936 campaign that aided
his victory. She reveals four elements of this reelection campaign that have not
received adequate the creation of public opinion, the attention paid to local
organizations, the focus on specific kinds of interests, and the public rhetoric
that tied it all together. Previous studies of the 1936 presidential election
discuss elements such as FDR?s vulnerability before the campaign and the
weakness of Republican candidate Alf Landon. But these histories pay little
attention to the quantity and quality of information Roosevelt acquired, the
importance of organizations such as the Good Neighbor League and the Committee
of One, the mobilization of the vote, and the ways in which these organizational
strategies fused with Roosevelt?s rhetorical strategies. Stuckey shows how these
facets combined in one of the largest victories in Electoral College history and
provided a template for future victory.