The other day I posted a story about the come-from-behind success of Harry Truman in 1948. Today I have a story about the presidential
election of 1940 in which FDR officially broke the third-term barrier. Although the victory was not nearly as impressive
as that of four years earlier, Roosevelt defeated dark horse Republican candidate
Wendell Willkie. That victory was
seventy-eight years ago today.
Roosevelt’s unprecedented run caused concern among both
Republicans and Democrats; among the latter were would-be successors who had
patiently waited their turn for the presidency but were preempted by the
incumbent. These included former
ambassador Joseph P. Kennedy, Democratic chairman James A. Farley, and Vice
President John Nance Garner.
Willkie, a utility company executive, appeared virtually out
of nowhere to defeat better-known Republican leaders such as Thomas E. Dewey
and Robert A. Taft for the nomination. Willkie’s
performance was better than of Alf Landon’s four years earlier, but he still
lost by about five million votes and by very wide margin in the Electoral College.
Here is a colorful campaign poster for the Democratic ticket
in Missouri. What is especially notable—and
which prompted me to purchase it—is that four years hence Truman would again be
appearing on the party ticket with FDR, but this time as his vice-presidential
running mate.
Roosevelt defeated Midwesterner Willkie by 85,000 votes in
Missouri and captured its fifteen electoral votes. His coattails were strong enough to push
Truman on to reelection. Elected to the
Senate in 1934, Truman barely survived the Democratic primary this year because
of his ties to the corrupt Pendergast machine.
In the general election he won by a less than 2.5 percentage
points.
But that weren’t enough to pull gubernatorial candidate Larry
McDaniel over the finish line; McDaniel lost by 3,600 votes (out of 1.8
million). Frank G. Harris, who had been
lieutenant governor since 1933, was reelected and died in office four years
later. There was obviously some ticket splitting going on in Missouri that
year.
As an aside this cardboard political poster demonstrates
that some of the campaign material of this time had a second life. On the back side is a rancher/small
businessperson’s detailed budget for May 1, 1941. Telephone: four dollars.
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