United States presidential election, 1928
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The U.S. presidential election of 1928 pitted RepublicanHerbert Hoover against Democrat Alfred E. Smith. The Republicans were identified with the booming economy of the 1920s and Smith, a Roman Catholic, suffered politically from anti-Catholic prejudice, leading to a landslide victory for Hoover.
Nominations
Republican Party nomination
The Republican Convention was held in Kansas City, Missouri from June 12 to June 15, where Hoover became the party's candidate on the first ballot. In his acceptance speech he said "We in America today are nearer to the final triumph over poverty than ever before in the history of this land... We shall soon with the help of God be in sight of the day when poverty will be banished from this land."
Democratic Party nomination
The Democratic Convention was held in Houston, Texas, June 26 to June 28. Al Smith became the candidate on the second ballot. Smith was the first Roman Catholic to gain a major party's nomination for US President, and his religion became an issue during the campaign. Many Protestants feared that Smith would take orders from church leaders in Rome in making decisions affecting the country.
Prohibition Party nomination
The Prohibition Convention was held in Chicago, Illinois from July 10 through July 12. Although Smith did not openly come out against Prohibition, he was perceived by many as soft in the war against alcohol. Some members of the Prohibition Party wanted to throw their support to Hoover, thinking that their candidate would not win and that they didn't want their candidate to provide the margin by which Smith would win. Nonetheless, William F. Varney was nominated for President over Hoover by a margin of 68–45. Hoover did manage to get himself on the ballot as the Prohibition candidate in California.
General election
Results
The election was held on November 6, 1928.
Republican candidate Herbert Hoover won election by a wide margin on pledges to continue the economic boom of the Coolidge years. Smith won the electoral votes only of the traditionally Democratic US South and a few New England States. Hoover even triumphed in Smith's home state of New York by a narrow margin.
Smith's Catholicism hurt him in the South, where several states were won by the Republicans for the first time since Reconstruction. At the same time, his religion helped him with New England immigrants, which may explain his narrow victories in traditionally Republican Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
Smith achieved one other distinction in this election: the Democrats won a majority of large cities for the first time, signaling a trend of immense significance.
Source (Popular Vote): Leip, David. [1928 Presidential Election Results]. [Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections] (July 28, 2005).
Source (Electoral Vote): [Electoral College Box Scores 1789–1996]. [Official website of the National Archives]. (July 28, 2005).
References
- Vaughn Davis Bornet; Labor Politics in a Democratic Republic: Moderation, Division, and Disruption in the Presidential Election of 1928 1964
- Michael J. Hostetler; "Gov. Al Smith Confronts the Catholic Question: The Rhetorical Legacy of the 1928 Campaign" Communication Quarterly, Vol. 46, 1998
- Lichtman, Allan. Prejudice and the old politics: The Presidential election of 1928 (1979), statistical study
- Edmund A. Moore; A Catholic Runs for President: The Campaign of 1928 1956
- Robert A. Slayton, Empire Statesman: The Rise and Redemption of Al Smith (2001), is the standard scholarly biography
- Smith, Alfred E. Campaign Addresses 1929.
- Sweeney, James R. “Rum, Romanism, and Virginia Democrats: The Party Leaders and the Campaign of 1928.” Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 90 (October 1982): 403–31.
See also
External links
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