The Republican primaries and convention of 1932
It wasn't a secret going into 1932 that Frank Lowden was the obvious pick. He had previously been a fairly popular president and was only voted out of office on what was effectively a fluke election, considering how President Roosevelt was viewed at the time.
[1] Indeed, former president Lowden was hailed as a bringer of prosperity and a man of stability compared to the sudden collapse of Roosevelt. Many on the right and the left took the market collapse and forcibly moderated policies as a sign that the Democrats could simply no longer be trusted to run the US. Therefore, Frank Lowden was the favorite for both the nomination and the general election for the Republicans.
That being said, Lowden was not unopposed in his march to the nomination.
Lowden was challenged by a variety of small figures, some with very serious political aspirations and others just had their names tossed into the ring.
The most notable of Lowden's serious challengers were Frank Knox (in no way related to Philander), Joseph I. France, Hiram Johnson, and finally a semi-serious bid from the elder statesman Calvin Coolidge.
Frank Knox was by far the most radical of the bunch, at least in terms of economic interventionism. Frank Knox made his money as a publisher but many of his most memorable moments were on the battlefield. He was previously considered a rather conservative figure but the extreme economic issues destroyed his previously moderate edifice. He had been turned into a preacher of what he termed "economic justice."
His anger at the economic meltdown and his experiences on the battlefield led him to create a policy which called for an "army of labor" to be created which would both employ the unemployed on public works projects but also train them in a variety of skills that would be useful for future employment. Some (perhaps rightfully) pointed out that the policy was outright beyond the pale for the party and that it was a more robust form of President Roosevelt's NWPA, but Knox fought for the nomination anyway. Sadly he was not a tough opponent for Lowden, the type of progressives who were interested in his message had long since been jettisoned from the party.
Frank Knox, perhaps better as a Progressive?
Joseph I. France was a similar case, though he was far less notable. He was from a wing of the party that was just on the verge of leaving the GOP but stayed for because they found the Progressive party to be objectionable for whatever reasons they might have. Though his policy was less exciting than Knox's "army of labor" it was still too far to the left, too progressive for the party to let him win. France's trip to the Soviet Union was also a commonly brought up fact, leaving France little room to express his viewpoint and merely try to dodge attacks from Lowden.
Naturally, Johnson had also thrown his long since decrepit hat into the ring.
Since his disappointment at the ballot box last time around, it was made abundantly clear to him that he was no longer wanted in the Progressive Party. The La Follette's wanted their party back from him now that the two brothers were old enough to run for President themselves. Johnson was a stubborn old donkey but he wasn't a fool, and so he switched back to the GOP pretending to be on a crusade to "win back Progressivism". Johnson's ego prevented him from ever rebuilding the bridges in the party during or before the primary season and so his campaign went down in flames faster than what was expected.
Calvin Coolidge presented and interesting challenge to Lowden however. The senator from Massachusetts had become something of an elder statesman of the party, representing the stalwart right Conservatives.
[2] He was several notches to the right of Lowden. Coolidge was dissatisfied with Lowden's policies and considered them too controlling of the economy, even if only by a little bit. Coolidge was also keenly interested in deescalating the radicalized labor groups in the country that he warned would cause even more bloodshed than before if something was not done to mitigate their radicalization. Coolidge and Lowden went tit for tat with each other but no one came out on top. Ultimately Coolidge's campaign never got off the ground in the way that he had wanted so it remained in political limbo until the convention ended the presidential dreams of Coolidge.
There was also a few less notable candidates as well as a few draft movements, the most interesting of the draft movements of course was the Draft Hughes movement which tried to draft Supreme Court Justice Charles Evans Hughes. Hughes had been a candidate before and lost to Wilson. Hughes kept quiet about the movement due to his job. The movement never got off the ground as a result.
Unsurprisingly, Lowden sailed to victory as was predicted and was nominated to be President by the GOP. His vice presidential pick was then decided to be his old vice president, shocking no one. There was some trepidation in regards to rumors that made it seem that moderates would choose a different Vice President by revolting during the nomination so that a different running mate was selected, but Charles Curtis was selected with acclaim at the convention as Lowden desired.
They were ready to take on whatever the Democrats and Progressives threw at them.
The Democratic primaries and convention of 1932
The Democrats were in the exact opposite situation as the Republicans in 1932. The running was wide open due to Roosevelt's unpopularity
[3] and there were no clear leaders in the opening days. The Democratic "playing field" was wide open in a way that had perhaps never happened before. Avoiding a controversial and brokered election would be hard enough for the Democrats, never mind actually winning the election.
Senator Carter Glass from Virginia was one of the early leaders in the race. He was from the more progressive wing of the party that was all but discredited because of Roosevelt's unpopularity yet still he trudged onwards. Despite this, Glass gained momentum early on by placing blame on Smith and focusing on attacking him rather than anyone else. Smith was a popular target
[4] and Glass was able to deflect many attacks against him because of his increasingly aggressive attacks on Smith, linking him to Roosevelt. This strategy worked for a time, but it quickly grew old after the vociferous James A. Reed began to attack Glass for himself being so close to Roosevelt himself.
James Reed, presumably (barely) hiding his anger at everyone and everything.
Reed was an attack dog through and through. A rare breed of man that lacked shame and sensibility. Beyond his bulldoggish nature, his most notable personality trait was of course his racial
awareness. Reed shared many of the racial viewpoints of the average southern gentleman at the time though he typically took his racial views several steps forward. He had also recently added rabid anti-semitism to his repertoire of hate, giving him backdoor funding from Henry Ford himself. Despite Reed's funding and willingness to fight, he was always running a close fourth in the race.
The second in the race, at least at the beginning was Jesse H. Jones of Texas. He was an entrepreneur by trade and had no government experience. He was a particularly successful businessman which made him popular, with some claiming that only a businessman could fix the economy. He also hailed from the conservative end of the party, being a popular choice for those who did not want to vote for Reed. Ultimately his star faded fast. Jones wasn't a particularly charismatic man and had little experience in the large scale public speaking a presidential campaign entails. His lack of charisma as well as Reed's withering attacks on his person (at least once referring to Jones as an "albino nigra" which caused some controversy) caused Jones to slip to third place before the convention was in full swing.
Though he joined later on in the race, Congressman Walter F. George of Georgia made a splash when he entered. George was dissatisfied with Jones and was more annoyed by Reed's persistence at slandering everyone than anything else and so he tossed his hat into the ring. He was something of a mainline conservative heavyweight and he entered just as Jones was seeing his support erode causing him to rocketed up the totem pole. George quickly received the backing of the party apparatus and when the convention rolled around he was in the lead with little effort required.
Georgia's big boss and favorite son, Walter F. George
Naturally the two old heads were also running, battling it out with each other more than making a case for their own campaigns. Smith had the upper hand since he wasn't nearly as tarnished as McAdoo but being so closely associated with President Roosevelt did him no favors. The two certainly wouldn't win but they both fought on despite the odds stacked against them. For both of them this was to be their final bid at the president's desk.
The convention was short - but deadly.
As the story goes, both Smith and McAdoo confronted each other while flanked by lackeys. McAdoo had started a screaming match after calling Smith a "Papist bastard." Both sides began yelling insults and got in each other's faces.
What happened before the death is still debated and Smith's later explanation of the event itself remains under scrutiny due to his later withdrawal from public. As he told it, he said something to the effect of "We have the northern delegates, you don't even have the south." and McAdoo went into a rage. McAdoo shouted "We have the south and we'll win the north!" before collapsing. McAdoo had a massive heart attack, likely dying before his body touched the ground. Some consider Smith's telling of the story to be apocryphal as it seems to be referencing events that took place in the future in a prophetic manner.
[5] However there is no proof disproving his telling of the story outside of Smith's poor mental health following the incident. Doubters of Smith's story suggest that he made up the statement to give purpose to his former political ally's death.
The reaction to McAdoo's death was divisive. Inside the convention there was chaos for a short bit. Though in the aftermath, things became more sober rather than chaotic. McAdoo's reputation was practically nonexistent at the time of his death compared to what sway he held back in the 20's but he was still a man all the same. The news of the event took time to reach the rest of the world, but when it did then convention was named the "deadliest convention since 1860" by some as a snide reference to the calamity of the 1860 Democratic convention
[6] in which the Southern delegates bolted and effectively gave the election to Lincoln.
After the initial shock was over and McAdoo's corpse was removed from the floor, they got down to the ballot. The first round was unsurprising, besides the small amount of support of McAdoo which scattered after his untimely death, the rest of the positions held. Walter F. George was in first but not enough to secure the nomination outright, therefore sending them to the second ballot.
No one bowed and their support held firm, and the second ballot passed into the third. And then the third into the fourth, and then the fifth. At the fifth ballot, Jesse H. Jones surprised everyone and endorsed Glass rather than George. George and Glass were then effectively tied with each other. Walter George approached Reed multiple times attempting to get an endorsement but George wouldn't accede to Reed's request.
Reed wanted to be the running mate in exchange for the endorsement. Walter George was an astute political mind and knew that this election wasn't going to be won, and therefore the running mate should be chosen to balance the other side. So, if a conservative was chosen as the presidential nomination, a progressive should be the running mate and vice versa. Therefore, George refused Reed's demands out of hand. Party unity was paramount.
On the 10th ballot, enough support had eroded from Smith and George that Glass was able to win the nomination by a small margin. Walter George promptly congratulated Senator Glass. He wasn't angry for having lost, "They'll be more races" he supposedly said to Glass. Reed was already threatening a 3rd party run, feeling as though him and George should have won and was very vocal about that. As the story goes, he calmed down after Glass reassured him regarding anti-lynching legislation and promising a cabinet position.
And so the Democratic Party's internal issues were settled for another 4 years.
The Progressive convention of 1932
Compared to the Democrats, the Progressive convention was a much more subdued affair. This was inevitable since no one died, but also because of the party had already coalesced around a single leader as of 1932. In some ways it could be compared to the Republicans, though it lacked the numerous smaller challenges that Lowden encountered.
Previous to 1932, the party had been dominated by three factions. Firstly the La Follette Progressive faction which was made up of the center-left who had personal loyalty to the La Follette family more than anything else and tended to go to the more moderate candidate. Then there was the Leftist faction which was built up of various banned, entryist, or otherwise associated leftist groups. Finally was the Old Progressive faction which was made of up the people who had left the Republican Party during the initial split from the GOP.
Hiram Johnson's departure following his disappointing showing and the Great Depression obviously changed the makeup of the party. The Old Progressive faction supporters either joined the La Follette Progressive faction or simply rejoined the GOP for Johnson's Presidential campaign. As a result, the La Follette Progressive faction and the Left faction
[7] made up the party, for better or worse.
Needless to say, the now eligible Bob La Follette had no issues getting his party's nomination. Indeed, he had the majority's acclaim and admiration. To the vast majority of people, he was seemingly a reincarnation of his now almost deified father. He did however, receive a challenge from Joseph I. France after his failed bid for the Republican nomination although that gave him no trouble with his entrance being late and the Old Progressive faction long gone. The only stumbling block in his way came in the form of a draft Olson movement that looked to draft Minnesota governor
[8] Floyd Olson for the party's nomination. Olson publicly declined and endorsed Bob after the two parlayed together, finding they had a shared vision for the country. They promised to find a way to work together in the future.
For the Bob's running mate, long time Progressive Representative from Pennsylvania Melville Clyde Kelly was selected. Kelly was one of the few Progressive party members to hold national office outside of Minnesota and Wisconsin and was chosen for that fact so that he could show that the Progressive Party was a national one, not a regional one.
Robert "Young Bob" La Follette
How they would do would depend entirely on how the young Bob turns voters out for him.
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Getting back in the habit of actually writing updates for this. Will release the next update (much) quicker than this one. I'll likely be more frugal with snippets than what I had originally planned.
[1]: Mostly just hysterics. Roosevelt's policies weren't bad and mitigated the Great Depression in a way that Hoover never did historically (though they have to way to know that!), but people still felt he either meddled too much in trade or too much in the economy. Sometimes both.
[2]: Stayed on as Senator since he never took up the whole VP thing.
[3]: Once again, more down to the finger pointing game than anything else but the actual critiques of him are different on the left and right. The Right tends to complain about his interference in the economy. The Left complains about the lack thereof. Both occasionally complain about his free trade policy.
[4]: Closely associated with Roosevelt ergo an easy target.
[5]: FORESHADOWING, FORESHADOWINNGGGGGG
[6]: No one ever accused Republicans of being funny.
[7]: Now much larger because of the Great Depression, perhaps understandably.
[8]: Olson ran in 1928 and won a VERY close race. He's popular at home and around the Midwest.