It is 3 days before a Presidential election. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the incumbent Democrat, is running for re-election. The Republican nominee is the Governor of Kansas, Alfred M. Landon. Landon is not the problem: His campaign was rather inoffensive.
Considerably more offensive are the charges that many have made against Roosevelt and his series of programs for lifting the country out of the Great Depression, programs he put under the umbrella term "The New Deal." FDR summarized these, in a more palatable way, in a speech to the nation over the radio networks of the time, a.k.a. one of his "Fireside Chats," on June 28, 1934:
A few timid people, who fear progress, will try to give you new and strange names for what we are doing. Sometimes they will call it "Fascism," sometimes "Communism," sometimes "Regimentation," sometimes "Socialism." But, in so doing, they are trying to make very complex and theoretical something that is really very simple and very practical.
A story FDR liked to tell as he ran for a 2nd term in 1936 was this:
A wealthy man in a fine suit and top hat fell into deep water. He didn't know how to swim, and was on the verge of drowning. Hearing his cries, another man dove into the water, and saved him, as his top hat floated away. The man who had almost drowned regained his breath, and, for a moment, seemed grateful.
Three years later, though, he returned, and denounced his rescuer for not saving his hat, too!
The very rich, and their hired spokesmen, said FDR was trying to "destroy capitalism." Sound familiar? Their successors have said it about every Democratic Presidential nominee since.
A wealthy man in a fine suit and top hat fell into deep water. He didn't know how to swim, and was on the verge of drowning. Hearing his cries, another man dove into the water, and saved him, as his top hat floated away. The man who had almost drowned regained his breath, and, for a moment, seemed grateful.
Three years later, though, he returned, and denounced his rescuer for not saving his hat, too!
The very rich, and their hired spokesmen, said FDR was trying to "destroy capitalism." Sound familiar? Their successors have said it about every Democratic Presidential nominee since.
Presidential candidates have frequently held rallies close to the election, sometimes in New York, sometimes in their hometowns. John F. Kennedy had his at the Boston Garden in 1960. Bill Clinton, having already had the Democratic Convention at the 4th and current version of The Garden, had one at the Meadowlands Arena 2 days before.
FDR, from Hyde Park, in Dutchess County, actually closer to Albany than to Midtown Manhattan, did have a home in Manhattan, so New York, for practical purposes, could be called his hometown. And so he had his close-to-Election Day rally at The Garden, which was arguably already, even though it did not use the slogan for decades to come, the world's most famous arena. He said:
We had to struggle with the old enemies of peace -- business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering. They had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. We know now that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob.
Never before in all our history have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand today. They are unanimous in their hate for me -- and I welcome their hatred.
I should like to have it said of my first Administration that, in it, the forces of selfishness and of lust for power met their match. I should like to have it said of my second Administration that, in it, these forces met their master!...
Here is an amazing paradox! The very employers and politicians and publishers who talk most loudly of class antagonism and the destruction of the American system now undermine that system by this attempt to coerce the votes of the wage earners of this country. It is the 1936 version of the old threat to close down the factory or the office if a particular candidate does not win. It is an old strategy of tyrants to delude their victims into fighting their battles for them.
FDR went on in this vein for some time. Tweaking the details, this speech could have been given by a Democratic leader in every Presidential election that has followed.
FDR went on in this vein for some time. Tweaking the details, this speech could have been given by a Democratic leader in every Presidential election that has followed.
*
October 31, 1936 was a Saturday. Actor Michael Landon was born on this day.
Baseball season was over. The NHL season began 5 days later. The NBA hadn't been founded yet. And while the NFL had been known to schedule games for Saturdays in this era, they did not do so on this occasion. But there were college football games, including the following:
* Number 1 Minnesota were beaten by Number 3 Northwestern, 6-0 at Dyche Stadium (now Ryan Field) in the Chicago suburb of Evanston, Illinois. This was the 1st season with the Associated Press poll, of the nation's college football writers. This win, and Number 2 Pitt's tie, vaulted Northwestern to Number 1 in the next poll. They went on to win the Big Ten Conference title, but blew their undefeated season in their last game, losing to Notre Dame. Despite not even winning their own league, Minnesota were awarded the National Championship by the AP. So the poll system was flawed from the very beginning.
* Number 2 University of Pittsburgh and Number 5 Fordham played to a 0-0 tie at the Polo Grounds. This was the 2nd of 3 straight seasons in which Pitt and Fordham played each other at the Polo Grounds, without either scoring. Finally, in 1938, they played at Pitt Stadium, and Pitt won, 24-13.
* Number 4 University of Washington beat Oregon, 7-0 at Multnomah Stadium (now Providence Park) in Portland, Oregon. Washington won the Pacific Coast Conference title, but Pitt beat them in the Rose Bowl
* Number 6 Army were upset by Colgate, 14-7 at Michie Stadium in West Point, New York.
* Number 8 Louisiana State beat Vanderbilt, 19-0 at Dudley Field (now First Bank Stadium) in Nashville. LSU finished the regular season undefeated, and won the Southeastern Conference title.
* Number 9 Tulane beat Louisiana Tech, 22-13 at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans.
* Number 10 Marquette beat Number 20 Saint Mary's of California, 20-6 at Marquette Stadium in Milwaukee.
* Number 11 Nebraska beat Missouri, 20-0 at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska. Nebraska won the Big Six Conference title (later the Big Seven, the Big Eight, and the Big Twelve). They were not invited to any of the early bowl games, but they did have inter-sectional matchups, losing to Pittsburgh at home, and beating Oregon State in Portland.
* Number 12 Yale were upset by Dartmouth, 11-7 at the Yale Bowl in New Haven, Connecticut.
* Number 16 Auburn were upset by Number 19 Santa Clara, 12-0 at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco. Santa Clara were invited to the Sugar Bowl, and beat LSU.
* Number 20 Pennsylvania beat Navy, 16-6 at Franklin Field in Philadelphia.
* Notre Dame beat Ohio State, 7-2 at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana.
* North Carolina beat North Carolina State, 21-6 at Kenan Stadium in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
* Mississippi State beat Sewanee University, 68-0 at Municipal Stadium in Jackson, Mississippi. Sewanee, based in Sewanee, Tennessee, downgraded their football program in 1940, dropping out of the Southeastern Conference. Since 1973, they have played in NCAA Division III.
* The night before, Duquesne University of Pittsburgh lost to the University of Detroit, 14-7 at University of Detroit Stadium. Duquesne rebounded from this, and were invited to the Orange Bowl, where they beat Mississippi State. Duquesne closed its football program after the 1950 season, and restored it at the NCAA Division I-AA (now NCAA FCS) in 1993. The University of Detroit closed its football program after the 1964 season, and haven't restarted it. They've been the University of Detroit Mercy since 1980.
* Texas Christian University beat Baylor, 28-0 at Amon G. Carter Stadium in Fort Worth, Texas. TCU, led by quarterback Sammy Baugh, won the Southwest Conference title. They were invited to play in the inaugural Cotton Bowl in Dallas, and beat Marquette, 16-6. Marquette closed its football program after the 1960 season.
* In New York City, in addition to Fordham's scoreless tie with Pitt, New York University beat Lafayette, 46-0 at Yankee Stadium; and Manhattan beat City College, 28-7 at Ebbets Field.
And among New Jersey's teams, Number 17 Princeton were held to a tie by Harvard, 14-14 at Harvard Stadium in Boston; and Rutgers lost to Lehigh, 19-0 at Neilson Field in New Brunswick.
No comments:
Post a Comment