United States presidential election, 1940
Encyclopedia
The United States presidential election of 1940 was fought in the shadow of World War II
(in Europe) as the United States was emerging from the Great Depression
. Incumbent President Franklin D. Roosevelt
(FDR), a Democrat, broke with tradition and ran for a third term, which became a major issue. The surprise Republican candidate was maverick businessman Wendell Willkie
, a dark horse
who crusaded against Roosevelt's perceived failure to end the Depression and his supposed eagerness for war. Roosevelt, acutely aware of strong isolationist
sentiment in the U.S., promised there would be no involvement in foreign wars if he were re-elected. Willkie conducted an energetic campaign and managed to revive Republican strength in areas of the Midwest
and Northeast. However, Roosevelt won a comfortable victory by building strong support from labor unions
, big-city political machine
s, ethnic voters, and the traditionally Democratic Solid South
.
The subsequent passing of the 22nd Amendment
of the United States Constitution
in 1947 renders this election the only occasion in American history in which a candidate was elected to an unprecedented third term as president (Roosevelt was elected to a fourth term in 1944, but he died less than four months after his inauguration).
In the months leading up to the opening of the 1940 Republican National Convention
in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the GOP was deeply divided between the party's isolationists, who wanted to stay out of the war at all costs, and the party's interventionists, who felt that the United Kingdom
and her allies needed to be given all aid short of war to prevent the Germans from conquering all of Europe. The three leading candidates for the GOP nomination were all isolationists to varying degrees. The three frontrunners were Senator Robert Taft
of Ohio
, Senator Arthur H. Vandenberg
of Michigan
, and District Attorney
Thomas E. Dewey of New York
. Taft was the leader of the GOP's conservative, isolationist wing, and his main strength was in his native Midwest
and parts of the South. Dewey, the District Attorney for Manhattan
, had risen to national fame as the "Gangbuster" prosecutor who had sent numerous infamous mafia
figures to prison, most notably Lucky Luciano
, the organized-crime boss of New York City. Dewey had won most of the presidential primaries in the spring of 1940, and he came into the GOP Convention in June with the largest number of delegate votes, although he was still well below the number needed to win. Vandenberg, the senior Republican in the Senate, was the "favorite son" candidate of the Michigan delegation and was considered a possible compromise candidate if Taft or Dewey faltered. However, each of these candidates had weaknesses that could be exploited. Taft's outspoken isolationism and opposition to any American involvement in the European war convinced many Republican leaders that he could not win a general election, particularly as France
fell to the Nazis in May 1940 and Germany threatened Britain. Dewey's relative youth - he was only 38 in 1940 - and lack of any foreign-policy experience caused his candidacy to weaken as the Nazi military emerged as a fearsome threat. In 1940 Vandenberg was also an isolationist (he would change his foreign-policy stance during World War II
) and his lackadaisical, lethargic campaign never caught the voter's attention. This left an opening for a dark horse
candidate to emerge.
A Wall Street
-based industrialist named Wendell Willkie
, who had never before run for public office, emerged as the unlikely nominee. Willkie, a native of Indiana
and a former Democrat who had supported Franklin Roosevelt in the 1932 presidential election, was considered an improbable choice. Willkie had first come to public attention as an articulate critic of Roosevelt's attempt to break up electrical power monopolies. Willkie was the CEO
of the Commonwealth & Southern corporation, which provided electrical power to customers in eleven states. In 1933 President Roosevelt had created the Tennessee Valley Authority
, or TVA, which promised to provide flood control and cheap electricity to the impoverished people of the Tennessee River Valley. However, the government-run TVA would compete with Willkie's Commonwealth & Southern, and this led Willkie to criticize and oppose the TVA's attempt to compete with private power companies. Willkie argued that the government had unfair advantages over private corporations, and should thus avoid competing directly against them. However, Willkie did not dismiss all of Roosevelt's social welfare programs, and in fact he supported those he believed could not be managed any better by the free enterprise system. Furthermore, unlike the leading Republican candidates, Willkie was a forceful and outspoken advocate of aid to the Allies, especially Britain. His support of giving all aid to the British "short of declaring war" won him the support of many Republicans on the East Coast, who disagreed with their party's isolationist leaders in Congress. Willkie's persuasive arguments impressed these Republicans, who believed that he would be an attractive presidential candidate. Many of the leading press baron
s of the era, such as Ogden Reid of the New York Herald Tribune
, Roy Howard of the Scripps-Howard newspaper chain and John and Gardner Cowles, publishers of the Minneapolis Star
and the Minneapolis Tribune
, as well as The Des Moines Register and Look
magazine, supported Willkie in their newspapers and magazines. Even so, Willkie remained a long-shot candidate; the May 8 Gallup Poll showed Dewey at 67% support among Republicans, followed by Vandenberg and Taft, with Willkie at only 3%.
The German Army's rapid blitz into France in May 1940 shook American public opinion, even as Taft was telling a Kansas
audience that America needed to concentrate on domestic issues to prevent Roosevelt from using the war crisis to extend socialism
at home. Both Dewey and Vandenberg also continued to oppose any aid to Britain that might lead to war with Germany. Nevertheless, sympathy for the embattled British was mounting daily, and this aided Willkie's candidacy. By mid-June, little over one week before the Republican Convention opened, the Gallup poll reported that Willkie had moved into second place with 17%, and that Dewey was slipping. Fueled by his favorable media attention, Willkie's pro-British statements won over many of the delegates. As the delegates were arriving in Philadelphia, Gallup reported that Willkie had surged to 29%, Dewey had slipped 5 more points to 47%, and Taft, Vandenberg and former President Herbert Hoover
trailed at 8%, 8%, and 6% respectively.
Hundreds of thousands, perhaps as many as one million, telegrams urging support for Willkie poured in, many from "Willkie Clubs" that had sprung up across the country. Millions more signed petitions circulating everywhere. At the 1940 Republican National Convention
itself, keynote speaker Harold Stassen
, the Governor of Minnesota
, announced his support for Willkie and became his official floor manager. Hundreds of vocal Willkie supporters packed the upper galleries of the convention hall. Willkie's amateur status, his fresh face, appealed to delegates as well as voters. Most of the delegations were selected not by primaries but by party leaders in each state, and they had a keen sense of the fast-changing pulse of public opinion. Gallup found the same thing in polling data not reported until after the convention: Willkie had moved ahead among Republican voters by 44% to only 29% for the collapsing Dewey. As the pro-Willkie galleries repeatedly yelled "We Want Willkie", the delegates on the convention floor began their vote. Dewey led on the first ballot but steadily lost strength thereafter. Both Taft and Willkie gained in strength on each ballot, and by the fourth ballot it was obvious that either Willkie or Taft would be the nominee. The key moments came when the delegations of large states such as Michigan, Pennsylvania
, and New York left Dewey and Vandenberg and switched to Willkie, giving him the victory on the sixth ballot. The voting went like this:
[Table source: Richard C. Bain and Judith H. Parris, Convention Decisions and Voting Records (1973), pp. 254–256.]
Willkie's nomination is still considered by historians to have been one of the most dramatic moments in any political convention. Having given little thought to who he would select as his vice-presidential nominee, Willkie left the decision to convention chairman and Massachusetts Congressman Joe Martin
, the House Minority Leader
, who suggested Senate Minority Leader
Charles L. McNary
of Oregon
. Despite the fact that McNary had spearheaded a "Stop Willkie" campaign late in the balloting, the candidate picked him to be his running mate.
, had been established by President George Washington
when he refused to run for a third term in 1796
, and although two former two-term Presidents (Ulysses S. Grant
and Theodore Roosevelt
) had unsuccessfully sought nonconsecutive third terms, no sitting President had ever sought a third term. Roosevelt, however, refused to give a definitive statement as to his willingness to be a candidate again, and he even indicated to some ambitious Democrats, such as James Farley
, that he would not run for a third term and that they could seek the Democratic nomination. However, as Nazi Germany
swept through Western Europe
and menaced the United Kingdom
in the spring and summer of 1940 Roosevelt decided that only he had the necessary experience and skills to see the nation safely through the Nazi threat. He was aided by the party's political bosses, who feared that no Democrat except Roosevelt could defeat the popular Willkie.
At the July 1940 Democratic Convention in Chicago, Illinois
Roosevelt easily swept aside challenges from Farley and John Nance Garner
, his Vice-President. Garner was a Texas conservative who had turned against FDR in his second term due to his liberal economic and social policies. As a result, FDR decided to pick a new running mate; he chose Henry A. Wallace
of Iowa, his Secretary of Agriculture
and an outspoken liberal. Wallace was strenuously opposed by many of the party's conservatives, who felt that he was too radical and "eccentric" in his private life (he practiced New Age
spiritual beliefs, and often consulted with the controversial Russian spiritual guru
Nicholas Roerich
) to be an effective running mate. However, FDR insisted that without him on the ticket he would decline renomination. Wallace won the vice-presidential nomination by a vote of 626 to 329 for House Speaker William B. Bankhead
of Alabama
.
Willkie crusaded against Roosevelt's attempt to break the two-term presidential tradition, arguing that "if one man is indispensable, then none of us is free." Even some Democrats who had supported Roosevelt in the past disapproved of FDR's attempt to win a third term, and Willkie hoped to win their votes. Willkie also criticized what he claimed was the incompetence and waste in Roosevelt's New Deal welfare programs; he stated that as President he would keep most of FDR's government programs but would make them more efficient. However, many Americans still blamed business leaders for the Great Depression
, and the fact that Willkie symbolized "Big Business" hurt him with many working-class voters. Willkie was a fearless campaigner; he often visited industrial areas where Republicans were still blamed for causing the Great Depression and where FDR was highly popular. In these areas Willkie frequently had rotten fruit and produce thrown at him, and was heckled by crowds, yet was unfazed. Willkie also accused Roosevelt of leaving the nation unprepared for war, but Roosevelt's military buildup and transformation of the nation into the "arsenal of democracy" removed the "unpreparedness" charge as a major issue. Willkie then reversed his approach and charged Roosevelt with secretly planning to take the nation into World War II
. The accusation did cut into Roosevelt's support; in response FDR, in a pledge that he would later regret, promised that he would "not send American boys into any foreign wars." On election day - November 5 - Roosevelt received 27 million votes to Willkie's 22 million, and in the Electoral College, Roosevelt defeated Willkie 449 to 82. Willkie did get over six million more votes than the GOP's 1936 nominee, Alf Landon
, and he ran strong in rural
areas in the American Midwest
, taking over 57% of the farm vote. Roosevelt, meanwhile, carried every American city with a population of more than 400,000 except Cincinnati, Ohio.
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
(in Europe) as the United States was emerging from the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
. Incumbent President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
(FDR), a Democrat, broke with tradition and ran for a third term, which became a major issue. The surprise Republican candidate was maverick businessman Wendell Willkie
Wendell Willkie
Wendell Lewis Willkie was a corporate lawyer in the United States and a dark horse who became the Republican Party nominee for the president in 1940. A member of the liberal wing of the GOP, he crusaded against those domestic policies of the New Deal that he thought were inefficient and...
, a dark horse
Dark horse
Dark horse is a term used to describe a little-known person or thing that emerges to prominence, especially in a competition of some sort.-Origin:The term began as horse racing parlance...
who crusaded against Roosevelt's perceived failure to end the Depression and his supposed eagerness for war. Roosevelt, acutely aware of strong isolationist
Isolationism
Isolationism is the policy or doctrine of isolating one's country from the affairs of other nations by declining to enter into alliances, foreign economic commitments, international agreements, etc., seeking to devote the entire efforts of one's country to its own advancement and remain at peace by...
sentiment in the U.S., promised there would be no involvement in foreign wars if he were re-elected. Willkie conducted an energetic campaign and managed to revive Republican strength in areas of the Midwest
Midwestern United States
The Midwestern United States is one of the four U.S. geographic regions defined by the United States Census Bureau, providing an official definition of the American Midwest....
and Northeast. However, Roosevelt won a comfortable victory by building strong support from labor unions
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
, big-city political machine
Political machine
A political machine is a political organization in which an authoritative boss or small group commands the support of a corps of supporters and businesses , who receive rewards for their efforts...
s, ethnic voters, and the traditionally Democratic Solid South
Solid South
Solid South is the electoral support of the Southern United States for the Democratic Party candidates for nearly a century from 1877, the end of Reconstruction, to 1964, during the middle of the Civil Rights era....
.
The subsequent passing of the 22nd Amendment
Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Twenty-second Amendment of the United States Constitution sets a term limit for the President of the United States. The Congress passed the amendment on March 21, 1947...
of the United States Constitution
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.The first three...
in 1947 renders this election the only occasion in American history in which a candidate was elected to an unprecedented third term as president (Roosevelt was elected to a fourth term in 1944, but he died less than four months after his inauguration).
Republican Party nomination
- Businessman Wendell WillkieWendell WillkieWendell Lewis Willkie was a corporate lawyer in the United States and a dark horse who became the Republican Party nominee for the president in 1940. A member of the liberal wing of the GOP, he crusaded against those domestic policies of the New Deal that he thought were inefficient and...
of New YorkNew YorkNew York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east... - Manhattan District AttorneyNew York County District AttorneyThe New York County District Attorney is the elected district attorney for New York County , New York. The office is responsible for the prosecution of violations of New York state laws....
Thomas E. Dewey of New YorkNew YorkNew York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east... - Senator Robert TaftRobert TaftRobert Alphonso Taft , of the Taft political family of Cincinnati, was a Republican United States Senator and a prominent conservative statesman...
of OhioOhioOhio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus... - Senator Arthur H. VandenbergArthur H. VandenbergArthur Hendrick Vandenberg was a Republican Senator from the U.S. state of Michigan who participated in the creation of the United Nations.-Early life and family:...
of MichiganMichiganMichigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake".... - Former President Herbert HooverHerbert HooverHerbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States . Hoover was originally a professional mining engineer and author. As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted partnerships between government and business...
of CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
In the months leading up to the opening of the 1940 Republican National Convention
Republican National Convention
The Republican National Convention is the presidential nominating convention of the Republican Party of the United States. Convened by the Republican National Committee, the stated purpose of the convocation is to nominate an official candidate in an upcoming U.S...
in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the GOP was deeply divided between the party's isolationists, who wanted to stay out of the war at all costs, and the party's interventionists, who felt that the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and her allies needed to be given all aid short of war to prevent the Germans from conquering all of Europe. The three leading candidates for the GOP nomination were all isolationists to varying degrees. The three frontrunners were Senator Robert Taft
Robert Taft
Robert Alphonso Taft , of the Taft political family of Cincinnati, was a Republican United States Senator and a prominent conservative statesman...
of Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
, Senator Arthur H. Vandenberg
Arthur H. Vandenberg
Arthur Hendrick Vandenberg was a Republican Senator from the U.S. state of Michigan who participated in the creation of the United Nations.-Early life and family:...
of Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
, and District Attorney
District attorney
In many jurisdictions in the United States, a District Attorney is an elected or appointed government official who represents the government in the prosecution of criminal offenses. The district attorney is the highest officeholder in the jurisdiction's legal department and supervises a staff of...
Thomas E. Dewey of New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. Taft was the leader of the GOP's conservative, isolationist wing, and his main strength was in his native Midwest
Midwestern United States
The Midwestern United States is one of the four U.S. geographic regions defined by the United States Census Bureau, providing an official definition of the American Midwest....
and parts of the South. Dewey, the District Attorney for Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, had risen to national fame as the "Gangbuster" prosecutor who had sent numerous infamous mafia
Mafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
figures to prison, most notably Lucky Luciano
Lucky Luciano
Charlie "Lucky" Luciano was an Italian mobster born in Sicily. Luciano is considered the father of modern organized crime in the United States for splitting New York City into five different Mafia crime families and the establishment of the first commission...
, the organized-crime boss of New York City. Dewey had won most of the presidential primaries in the spring of 1940, and he came into the GOP Convention in June with the largest number of delegate votes, although he was still well below the number needed to win. Vandenberg, the senior Republican in the Senate, was the "favorite son" candidate of the Michigan delegation and was considered a possible compromise candidate if Taft or Dewey faltered. However, each of these candidates had weaknesses that could be exploited. Taft's outspoken isolationism and opposition to any American involvement in the European war convinced many Republican leaders that he could not win a general election, particularly as France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
fell to the Nazis in May 1940 and Germany threatened Britain. Dewey's relative youth - he was only 38 in 1940 - and lack of any foreign-policy experience caused his candidacy to weaken as the Nazi military emerged as a fearsome threat. In 1940 Vandenberg was also an isolationist (he would change his foreign-policy stance during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
) and his lackadaisical, lethargic campaign never caught the voter's attention. This left an opening for a dark horse
Dark horse
Dark horse is a term used to describe a little-known person or thing that emerges to prominence, especially in a competition of some sort.-Origin:The term began as horse racing parlance...
candidate to emerge.
A Wall Street
Wall Street
Wall Street refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, or...
-based industrialist named Wendell Willkie
Wendell Willkie
Wendell Lewis Willkie was a corporate lawyer in the United States and a dark horse who became the Republican Party nominee for the president in 1940. A member of the liberal wing of the GOP, he crusaded against those domestic policies of the New Deal that he thought were inefficient and...
, who had never before run for public office, emerged as the unlikely nominee. Willkie, a native of Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
and a former Democrat who had supported Franklin Roosevelt in the 1932 presidential election, was considered an improbable choice. Willkie had first come to public attention as an articulate critic of Roosevelt's attempt to break up electrical power monopolies. Willkie was the CEO
Chief executive officer
A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...
of the Commonwealth & Southern corporation, which provided electrical power to customers in eleven states. In 1933 President Roosevelt had created the Tennessee Valley Authority
Tennessee Valley Authority
The Tennessee Valley Authority is a federally owned corporation in the United States created by congressional charter in May 1933 to provide navigation, flood control, electricity generation, fertilizer manufacturing, and economic development in the Tennessee Valley, a region particularly affected...
, or TVA, which promised to provide flood control and cheap electricity to the impoverished people of the Tennessee River Valley. However, the government-run TVA would compete with Willkie's Commonwealth & Southern, and this led Willkie to criticize and oppose the TVA's attempt to compete with private power companies. Willkie argued that the government had unfair advantages over private corporations, and should thus avoid competing directly against them. However, Willkie did not dismiss all of Roosevelt's social welfare programs, and in fact he supported those he believed could not be managed any better by the free enterprise system. Furthermore, unlike the leading Republican candidates, Willkie was a forceful and outspoken advocate of aid to the Allies, especially Britain. His support of giving all aid to the British "short of declaring war" won him the support of many Republicans on the East Coast, who disagreed with their party's isolationist leaders in Congress. Willkie's persuasive arguments impressed these Republicans, who believed that he would be an attractive presidential candidate. Many of the leading press baron
Media proprietor
A media proprietor is a person who controls, either through personal ownership or a dominant position in any media enterprise. Those with significant control of a public company in the mass media may also be called "media moguls", "tycoons", "barons", or "bosses".The figure of the media proprietor...
s of the era, such as Ogden Reid of the New York Herald Tribune
New York Herald Tribune
The New York Herald Tribune was a daily newspaper created in 1924 when the New York Tribune acquired the New York Herald.Other predecessors, which had earlier merged into the New York Tribune, included the original The New Yorker newsweekly , and the Whig Party's Log Cabin.The paper was home to...
, Roy Howard of the Scripps-Howard newspaper chain and John and Gardner Cowles, publishers of the Minneapolis Star
Star Tribune
The Star Tribune is the largest newspaper in the U.S. state of Minnesota and is published seven days each week in an edition for the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metropolitan area. A statewide version is also available across Minnesota and parts of Wisconsin, Iowa, South Dakota, and North Dakota. The...
and the Minneapolis Tribune
Star Tribune
The Star Tribune is the largest newspaper in the U.S. state of Minnesota and is published seven days each week in an edition for the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metropolitan area. A statewide version is also available across Minnesota and parts of Wisconsin, Iowa, South Dakota, and North Dakota. The...
, as well as The Des Moines Register and Look
Look (American magazine)
Look was a bi-weekly, general-interest magazine published in Des Moines, Iowa from 1937 to 1971, with more of an emphasis on photographs than articles...
magazine, supported Willkie in their newspapers and magazines. Even so, Willkie remained a long-shot candidate; the May 8 Gallup Poll showed Dewey at 67% support among Republicans, followed by Vandenberg and Taft, with Willkie at only 3%.
The German Army's rapid blitz into France in May 1940 shook American public opinion, even as Taft was telling a Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
audience that America needed to concentrate on domestic issues to prevent Roosevelt from using the war crisis to extend socialism
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
at home. Both Dewey and Vandenberg also continued to oppose any aid to Britain that might lead to war with Germany. Nevertheless, sympathy for the embattled British was mounting daily, and this aided Willkie's candidacy. By mid-June, little over one week before the Republican Convention opened, the Gallup poll reported that Willkie had moved into second place with 17%, and that Dewey was slipping. Fueled by his favorable media attention, Willkie's pro-British statements won over many of the delegates. As the delegates were arriving in Philadelphia, Gallup reported that Willkie had surged to 29%, Dewey had slipped 5 more points to 47%, and Taft, Vandenberg and former President Herbert Hoover
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States . Hoover was originally a professional mining engineer and author. As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted partnerships between government and business...
trailed at 8%, 8%, and 6% respectively.
Hundreds of thousands, perhaps as many as one million, telegrams urging support for Willkie poured in, many from "Willkie Clubs" that had sprung up across the country. Millions more signed petitions circulating everywhere. At the 1940 Republican National Convention
1940 Republican National Convention
The 1940 Republican National Convention was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from June 24 to June 28, 1940. It nominated Wendell Willkie of Indiana for President and Senator Charles McNary of Oregon for Vice-President....
itself, keynote speaker Harold Stassen
Harold Stassen
Harold Edward Stassen was the 25th Governor of Minnesota from 1939 to 1943. After service in World War II, from 1948 to 1953 he was president of the University of Pennsylvania...
, the Governor of Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
, announced his support for Willkie and became his official floor manager. Hundreds of vocal Willkie supporters packed the upper galleries of the convention hall. Willkie's amateur status, his fresh face, appealed to delegates as well as voters. Most of the delegations were selected not by primaries but by party leaders in each state, and they had a keen sense of the fast-changing pulse of public opinion. Gallup found the same thing in polling data not reported until after the convention: Willkie had moved ahead among Republican voters by 44% to only 29% for the collapsing Dewey. As the pro-Willkie galleries repeatedly yelled "We Want Willkie", the delegates on the convention floor began their vote. Dewey led on the first ballot but steadily lost strength thereafter. Both Taft and Willkie gained in strength on each ballot, and by the fourth ballot it was obvious that either Willkie or Taft would be the nominee. The key moments came when the delegations of large states such as Michigan, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, and New York left Dewey and Vandenberg and switched to Willkie, giving him the victory on the sixth ballot. The voting went like this:
| Presidential Balloting, RNC 1940 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ballot | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 before shifts | 6 after shifts |
| Wendell Willkie Wendell Willkie Wendell Lewis Willkie was a corporate lawyer in the United States and a dark horse who became the Republican Party nominee for the president in 1940. A member of the liberal wing of the GOP, he crusaded against those domestic policies of the New Deal that he thought were inefficient and... | 105 | 171 | 259 | 306 | 429 | 655 | 998 |
| Robert Taft Robert Taft Robert Alphonso Taft , of the Taft political family of Cincinnati, was a Republican United States Senator and a prominent conservative statesman... | 189 | 203 | 212 | 254 | 377 | 318 | -- |
| Thomas E. Dewey | 360 | 338 | 315 | 250 | 57 | 11 | -- |
| Arthur H. Vandenberg Arthur H. Vandenberg Arthur Hendrick Vandenberg was a Republican Senator from the U.S. state of Michigan who participated in the creation of the United Nations.-Early life and family:... | 76 | 73 | 72 | 61 | 42 | -- | -- |
| Arthur James Arthur James (politician) Arthur Horace James was an American politician. He served as the 31st Governor of Pennsylvania from 1939 until 1943.He was elected governor as a Republican when the Democratic machine Arthur Horace James (July 14, 1883April 27, 1973) was an American politician. He served as the 31st Governor of... | 74 | 66 | 59 | 56 | 59 | -- | -- |
| Joseph W. Martin Joseph William Martin, Jr. Joseph William Martin, Jr. was a Republican Congressman and Speaker of the House from North Attleborough, Massachusetts. He was notably the only Republican to serve as Speaker between 1931 and 1995.... | 44 | 26 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Hanford MacNider Hanford MacNider Hanford “Jack” MacNider was a United States diplomat and United States Army General, serving in both World War I and World War II. He was a Scottish Rite Freemason.-Biography:... | 34 | 34 | 28 | 26 | 4 | -- | -- |
| Frank Gannett Frank Gannett Frank Ernest Gannett is the founder of Gannett media corporation.-Biography:Gannett was born in South Bristol, New York, United States, graduated from Bolivar High School , Bolivar, NY in 1893, and graduated from Cornell University. At the age of 30, he purchased his first newspaper, the Elmira... | 33 | 30 | 11 | 4 | 1 | 1 | -- |
| Herbert Hoover Herbert Hoover Herbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States . Hoover was originally a professional mining engineer and author. As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted partnerships between government and business... | 17 | 21 | 32 | 31 | 20 | 10 | -- |
| Styles Bridges Styles Bridges Henry Styles Bridges was an American teacher, editor, and Republican Party politician from Concord, New Hampshire. He served one term as 63rd Governor of New Hampshire before a twenty-four year career in the United States Senate.Bridges was born in West Pembroke, Maine. He attended the public... | 28 | 9 | 1 | 1 | -- | -- | -- |
| Scattering / Blank | 40 | 29 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 5 | 2 |
[Table source: Richard C. Bain and Judith H. Parris, Convention Decisions and Voting Records (1973), pp. 254–256.]
Willkie's nomination is still considered by historians to have been one of the most dramatic moments in any political convention. Having given little thought to who he would select as his vice-presidential nominee, Willkie left the decision to convention chairman and Massachusetts Congressman Joe Martin
Joseph William Martin, Jr.
Joseph William Martin, Jr. was a Republican Congressman and Speaker of the House from North Attleborough, Massachusetts. He was notably the only Republican to serve as Speaker between 1931 and 1995....
, the House Minority Leader
Party leaders of the United States House of Representatives
Party leaders of the United States House of Representatives are elected by their respective parties in a closed-door caucus by secret ballot and are also known as floor leaders. The U.S. House of Representatives does not officially use the term "Minority Leader", although the media frequently does...
, who suggested Senate Minority Leader
Party leaders of the United States Senate
The Senate Majority and Minority Leaders are two United States Senators who are elected by the party conferences that hold the majority and the minority respectively. These leaders serve as the chief Senate spokespeople for their parties and manage and schedule the legislative and executive...
Charles L. McNary
Charles L. McNary
Charles Linza McNary was a United States Republican politician from Oregon. He served in the Senate from 1917 to 1944, and was Senate Minority Leader from 1933 to 1944. In the Senate, McNary helped to pass legislation that led to the construction of Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River, and worked...
of Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
. Despite the fact that McNary had spearheaded a "Stop Willkie" campaign late in the balloting, the candidate picked him to be his running mate.
| Charles L. McNary Charles L. McNary Charles Linza McNary was a United States Republican politician from Oregon. He served in the Senate from 1917 to 1944, and was Senate Minority Leader from 1933 to 1944. In the Senate, McNary helped to pass legislation that led to the construction of Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River, and worked... | 848 |
|---|---|
| Dewey Jackson Short Dewey Jackson Short Dewey Jackson Short was a Republican U.S. Representative from Missouri's 7th congressional district for 12 terms and a staunch opponent of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal.-Early life:... | 108 |
| Styles Bridges Styles Bridges Henry Styles Bridges was an American teacher, editor, and Republican Party politician from Concord, New Hampshire. He served one term as 63rd Governor of New Hampshire before a twenty-four year career in the United States Senate.Bridges was born in West Pembroke, Maine. He attended the public... | 2 |
Democratic Party nomination
Democratic candidates:- Franklin D. RooseveltFranklin D. RooseveltFranklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
, President of the United States from New YorkNew YorkNew York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east... - James FarleyJames FarleyJames Aloysius Farley was the first Irish Catholic politician in American history to achieve success on a national level, serving as Chairman of the New York State Democratic Committee, Chairman of the Democratic National Committee and as Postmaster General simultaneously under the first two...
, former U.S. Postmaster General from New York - John Nance GarnerJohn Nance GarnerJohn Nance Garner, IV , was the 32nd Vice President of the United States and the 44th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives .- Early life and family :...
, Vice President of the United States from TexasTexasTexas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
Candidates gallery
Throughout the winter, spring, and summer of 1940 there was much speculation as to whether Roosevelt would break with long-standing tradition and run for an unprecedented third term. The "two-term" tradition, although not yet enshrined in the U.S. ConstitutionUnited States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.The first three...
, had been established by President George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
when he refused to run for a third term in 1796
United States presidential election, 1796
The United States presidential election of 1796 was the first contested American presidential election and the only one in which a president and vice- president were elected from opposing tickets...
, and although two former two-term Presidents (Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant was the 18th President of the United States as well as military commander during the Civil War and post-war Reconstruction periods. Under Grant's command, the Union Army defeated the Confederate military and ended the Confederate States of America...
and Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
) had unsuccessfully sought nonconsecutive third terms, no sitting President had ever sought a third term. Roosevelt, however, refused to give a definitive statement as to his willingness to be a candidate again, and he even indicated to some ambitious Democrats, such as James Farley
James Farley
James Aloysius Farley was the first Irish Catholic politician in American history to achieve success on a national level, serving as Chairman of the New York State Democratic Committee, Chairman of the Democratic National Committee and as Postmaster General simultaneously under the first two...
, that he would not run for a third term and that they could seek the Democratic nomination. However, as Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
swept through Western Europe
Western Europe
Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
and menaced the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
in the spring and summer of 1940 Roosevelt decided that only he had the necessary experience and skills to see the nation safely through the Nazi threat. He was aided by the party's political bosses, who feared that no Democrat except Roosevelt could defeat the popular Willkie.
At the July 1940 Democratic Convention in Chicago, Illinois
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
Roosevelt easily swept aside challenges from Farley and John Nance Garner
John Nance Garner
John Nance Garner, IV , was the 32nd Vice President of the United States and the 44th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives .- Early life and family :...
, his Vice-President. Garner was a Texas conservative who had turned against FDR in his second term due to his liberal economic and social policies. As a result, FDR decided to pick a new running mate; he chose Henry A. Wallace
Henry A. Wallace
Henry Agard Wallace was the 33rd Vice President of the United States , the Secretary of Agriculture , and the Secretary of Commerce . In the 1948 presidential election, Wallace was the nominee of the Progressive Party.-Early life:Henry A...
of Iowa, his Secretary of Agriculture
United States Secretary of Agriculture
The United States Secretary of Agriculture is the head of the United States Department of Agriculture. The current secretary is Tom Vilsack, who was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on 20 January 2009. The position carries similar responsibilities to those of agriculture ministers in other...
and an outspoken liberal. Wallace was strenuously opposed by many of the party's conservatives, who felt that he was too radical and "eccentric" in his private life (he practiced New Age
New Age
The New Age movement is a Western spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century. Its central precepts have been described as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and then infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational...
spiritual beliefs, and often consulted with the controversial Russian spiritual guru
Guru
A guru is one who is regarded as having great knowledge, wisdom, and authority in a certain area, and who uses it to guide others . Other forms of manifestation of this principle can include parents, school teachers, non-human objects and even one's own intellectual discipline, if the...
Nicholas Roerich
Nicholas Roerich
Nicholas Roerich, also known as Nikolai Konstantinovich Rerikh , was a Russian mystic, painter, philosopher, scientist, writer, traveler, and public figure. A prolific artist, he created thousands of paintings and about 30 literary works...
) to be an effective running mate. However, FDR insisted that without him on the ticket he would decline renomination. Wallace won the vice-presidential nomination by a vote of 626 to 329 for House Speaker William B. Bankhead
William B. Bankhead
William Brockman Bankhead was an American politician from Alabama who served as U.S. Representative and Speaker of the House. He was a Democrat. Bankhead was a prominent supporter of President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal of pro-labor union legislation, thus clashing with most other southern...
of Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
.
| Presidential Ballot | Vice Presidential Ballot | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war... | 946 | Henry A. Wallace Henry A. Wallace Henry Agard Wallace was the 33rd Vice President of the United States , the Secretary of Agriculture , and the Secretary of Commerce . In the 1948 presidential election, Wallace was the nominee of the Progressive Party.-Early life:Henry A... | 626 |
| James Farley James Farley James Aloysius Farley was the first Irish Catholic politician in American history to achieve success on a national level, serving as Chairman of the New York State Democratic Committee, Chairman of the Democratic National Committee and as Postmaster General simultaneously under the first two... | 72 | William B. Bankhead William B. Bankhead William Brockman Bankhead was an American politician from Alabama who served as U.S. Representative and Speaker of the House. He was a Democrat. Bankhead was a prominent supporter of President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal of pro-labor union legislation, thus clashing with most other southern... | 329 |
| John Nance Garner John Nance Garner John Nance Garner, IV , was the 32nd Vice President of the United States and the 44th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives .- Early life and family :... | 61 | Paul V. McNutt Paul V. McNutt Paul Vories McNutt was an American politician who served as the 34th Governor of Indiana during the Great Depression, high commissioner to the Philippines, administrator of the Federal Security Agency, chairman of the War Manpower Commission and ambassador to the Philippines.-Family and... | 68 |
| Millard Tydings Millard Tydings Millard Evelyn Tydings was an attorney, author, soldier, state legislator, and served as a Democratic Representative and Senator in the United States Congress from Maryland.-Early life:... | 9 | Alva B. Adams Alva B. Adams Alva Blanchard Adams was a Democratic politician who represented Colorado in the United States Senate from 1923 until 1924 and again from 1933 to 1941.-Biography:... | 11 |
| Cordell Hull Cordell Hull Cordell Hull was an American politician from the U.S. state of Tennessee. He is best known as the longest-serving Secretary of State, holding the position for 11 years in the administration of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt during much of World War II... | 5 | James Farley James Farley James Aloysius Farley was the first Irish Catholic politician in American history to achieve success on a national level, serving as Chairman of the New York State Democratic Committee, Chairman of the Democratic National Committee and as Postmaster General simultaneously under the first two... | 7 |
| Jesse H. Jones | 5 | ||
| Joseph C. O'Mahoney Joseph C. O'Mahoney Joseph Christopher O'Mahoney was a Democratic United States Senator from Wyoming.O'Mahoney was born in Chelsea, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, November 5, 1884. He attended the parochial and public schools and Columbia University, New York City... | 3 | ||
| Alben W. Barkley Alben W. Barkley Alben William Barkley was an American politician in the Democratic Party who served as the 35th Vice President of the United States , under President Harry S. Truman.... | 2 | ||
| Prentiss M. Brown Prentiss M. Brown Prentiss Marsh Brown was a Democratic U.S. Representative and Senator from the state of Michigan.- Biography :... | 1 | ||
| Louis A. Johnson Louis A. Johnson Louis Arthur Johnson was the second United States Secretary of Defense, serving in the cabinet of President Harry S. Truman from March 28, 1949 to September 19, 1950.... | 1 | ||
| Scott W. Lucas Scott W. Lucas Scott Wike Lucas was a two-term Democratic United States Senator from Illinois, and the United States Senate Majority Leader from 1948 to 1950.... | 1 | ||
| Bascomb Timmons | 1 | ||
| David I. Walsh David I. Walsh David Ignatius Walsh was a United States politician from Massachusetts. As a member of the Democratic Party, he served in the state legislature and then as Lieutenant Governor and then as the 46th Governor . His first term in the U.S... | 0.5 |
The fall campaign
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, and the fact that Willkie symbolized "Big Business" hurt him with many working-class voters. Willkie was a fearless campaigner; he often visited industrial areas where Republicans were still blamed for causing the Great Depression and where FDR was highly popular. In these areas Willkie frequently had rotten fruit and produce thrown at him, and was heckled by crowds, yet was unfazed. Willkie also accused Roosevelt of leaving the nation unprepared for war, but Roosevelt's military buildup and transformation of the nation into the "arsenal of democracy" removed the "unpreparedness" charge as a major issue. Willkie then reversed his approach and charged Roosevelt with secretly planning to take the nation into World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. The accusation did cut into Roosevelt's support; in response FDR, in a pledge that he would later regret, promised that he would "not send American boys into any foreign wars." On election day - November 5 - Roosevelt received 27 million votes to Willkie's 22 million, and in the Electoral College, Roosevelt defeated Willkie 449 to 82. Willkie did get over six million more votes than the GOP's 1936 nominee, Alf Landon
Alf Landon
Alfred Mossman "Alf" Landon was an American Republican politician, who served as the 26th Governor of Kansas from 1933–1937. He was best known for being the Republican Party's nominee for President of the United States, defeated in a landslide by Franklin D...
, and he ran strong in rural
Rural
Rural areas or the country or countryside are areas that are not urbanized, though when large areas are described, country towns and smaller cities will be included. They have a low population density, and typically much of the land is devoted to agriculture...
areas in the American Midwest
Midwestern United States
The Midwestern United States is one of the four U.S. geographic regions defined by the United States Census Bureau, providing an official definition of the American Midwest....
, taking over 57% of the farm vote. Roosevelt, meanwhile, carried every American city with a population of more than 400,000 except Cincinnati, Ohio.
Results
Source (Popular Vote): Source (Electoral Vote):Close states
Margin of victory less than 5%:- Michigan, 0.33%
- Indiana, 1.42%
- Wisconsin, 1.82%
- Maine, 2.33%
- Illinois, 2.43%
- Colorado, 2.55%
- New York, 3.56%
- New Jersey, 3.62%
- Minnesota, 3.83%
- Iowa, 4.41%
- Ohio, 4.41%
- Missouri, 4.77%
Results by state
| Franklin Roosevelt Democratic |
Wendell Willkie Republican |
Other | State Total | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| State | electoral votes |
# | % | electoral votes |
# | % | electoral votes |
# | % | electoral votes |
# | |||||
| Alabama | 11 | 250,726 | 85.2 | 11 | 42,184 | 14.3 | ||||||||||
| 1,309 | 0.4 | |||||||||||||||
| 294,219 | AL | |||||||||||||||
| Arizona | 3 | 95,267 | 63.5 | 3 | 54,030 | 36.0 | ||||||||||
| 742 | 0.5 | |||||||||||||||
| 150,039 | AZ | |||||||||||||||
| Arkansas | 9 | 158,622 | 79.0 | 9 | 42,121 | 21.0 | ||||||||||
| not on ballot | 200,743 | AR | ||||||||||||||
| California | 22 | 1,877,618 | 57.4 | 22 | 1,351,419 | 41.3 | ||||||||||
| 39,754 | 1.2 | |||||||||||||||
| 3,268,791 | CA | |||||||||||||||
| Colorado | 6 | 265,554 | 48.4 | |||||||||||||
| 279,576 | 50.9 | 6 | 3,874 | 0.7 | ||||||||||||
| 549,004 | CO | |||||||||||||||
| Connecticut | 8 | 417,621 | 53.4 | 8 | 361,819 | 46.3 | ||||||||||
| 2,062 | 0.3 | |||||||||||||||
| 781,502 | CT | |||||||||||||||
| Delaware | 3 | 74,599 | 54.7 | 3 | 61,440 | 45.1 | ||||||||||
| 335 | 0.3 | |||||||||||||||
| 136,374 | DE | |||||||||||||||
| Florida | 7 | 359,334 | 74.0 | 7 | 126,158 | 26.0 | ||||||||||
| not on ballot | 485,492 | FL | ||||||||||||||
| Georgia | 12 | 265,194 | 84.9 | 12 | 46,360 | 14.8 | ||||||||||
| 997 | 0.3 | |||||||||||||||
| 312,551 | GA | |||||||||||||||
| Idaho | 4 | 127,842 | 54.4 | 4 | 106,553 | 45.3 | ||||||||||
| 773 | 0.3 | |||||||||||||||
| 235,168 | ID | |||||||||||||||
| Illinois | 29 | 2,149,934 | 51.0 | 29 | 2,047,240 | 48.5 | ||||||||||
| 20,761 | 0.5 | |||||||||||||||
| 4,217,935 | IL | |||||||||||||||
| Indiana | 14 | 874,063 | 49.0 | |||||||||||||
| 899,466 | 50.5 | 14 | 9,218 | 0.5 | ||||||||||||
| 1,782,747 | IN | |||||||||||||||
| Iowa | 11 | 578,800 | 47.6 | |||||||||||||
| 632,370 | 52.0 | 11 | 4,260 | 0.4 | ||||||||||||
| 1,215,430 | IA | |||||||||||||||
| Kansas | 9 | 364,725 | 42.4 | |||||||||||||
| 489,169 | 56.7 | 9 | 6,403 | 0.7 | ||||||||||||
| 860,297 | KS | |||||||||||||||
| Kentucky | 11 | 557,222 | 57.4 | 11 | 410,384 | 42.3 | ||||||||||
| 2,457 | 0.3 | |||||||||||||||
| 970,063 | KY | |||||||||||||||
| Louisiana | 10 | 319,751 | 85.9 | 10 | 52,446 | 14.1 | ||||||||||
| 108 | 0.0 | |||||||||||||||
| 372,305 | LA | |||||||||||||||
| Maine | 5 | 156,478 | 48.8 | |||||||||||||
| 163,951 | 51.1 | 5 | 411 | 0.1 | ||||||||||||
| 320,840 | ME | |||||||||||||||
| Maryland | 8 | 384,546 | 58.3 | 8 | 269,534 | 40.8 | ||||||||||
| 6,037 | 0.9 | |||||||||||||||
| 660,117 | MD | |||||||||||||||
| Massachusetts | 17 | 1,076,522 | 53.1 | 17 | 939,700 | 46.4 | ||||||||||
| 10,771 | 0.5 | |||||||||||||||
| 2,026,993 | MA | |||||||||||||||
| Michigan | 19 | 1,032,991 | 49.5 | |||||||||||||
| 1,039,917 | 49.9 | 19 | 13,021 | 0.6 | ||||||||||||
| 2,085,929 | MI | |||||||||||||||
| Minnesota | 11 | 644,196 | 51.4 | 11 | 596,274 | 47.7 | ||||||||||
| 10,718 | 0.9 | |||||||||||||||
| 1,251,188 | MN | |||||||||||||||
| Mississippi | 9 | 168,267 | 95.7 | 9 | 7,364 | 4.2 | ||||||||||
| 193 | 0.1 | |||||||||||||||
| 175,824 | MS | |||||||||||||||
| Missouri | 15 | 958,476 | 52.3 | 15 | 871,009 | 47.5 | ||||||||||
| 4,244 | 0.2 | |||||||||||||||
| 1,833,729 | MO | |||||||||||||||
| Montana | 4 | 145,698 | 58.8 | 4 | 99,579 | 40.2 | ||||||||||
| 2,596 | 1.1 | |||||||||||||||
| 247,873 | MT | |||||||||||||||
| Nebraska | 7 | 263,677 | 42.8 | |||||||||||||
| 352,201 | 57.2 | 7 | not on ballot | 615,878 | NE | |||||||||||
| Nevada | 3 | 31,945 | 60.1 | 3 | 21,229 | 39.9 | ||||||||||
| not on ballot | 53,174 | NV | ||||||||||||||
| New Hampshire | 4 | 125,292 | 53.2 | 4 | 110,127 | 46.8 | ||||||||||
| not on ballot | 235,419 | NH | ||||||||||||||
| New Jersey | 16 | 1,016,404 | 51.5 | 16 | 944,876 | 47.9 | ||||||||||
| 12,934 | 0.7 | |||||||||||||||
| 1,974,214 | NJ | |||||||||||||||
| New Mexico | 3 | 103,699 | 56.6 | 3 | 79,315 | 43.3 | ||||||||||
| 244 | 0.1 | |||||||||||||||
| 183,258 | NM | |||||||||||||||
| New York | 47 | 3,251,918 | 51.6 | 47 | 3,027,478 | 48.0 | ||||||||||
| 22,200 | 0.4 | |||||||||||||||
| 6,301,596 | NY | |||||||||||||||
| North Carolina | 13 | 609,015 | 74.0 | 13 | 213,633 | 26.0 | ||||||||||
| not on ballot | 822,648 | NC | ||||||||||||||
| North Dakota | 4 | 124,036 | 44.2 | |||||||||||||
| 154,590 | 55.0 | 4 | 2,149 | 0.8 | ||||||||||||
| 280,775 | ND | |||||||||||||||
| Ohio | 26 | 1,733,139 | 52.2 | 26 | 1,586,773 | 47.8 | ||||||||||
| not on ballot | 3,319,912 | OH | ||||||||||||||
| Oklahoma | 11 | 474,313 | 57.4 | 11 | 348,872 | 42.2 | ||||||||||
| 3,027 | 0.4 | |||||||||||||||
| 826,212 | OK | |||||||||||||||
| Oregon | 5 | 258,415 | 53.7 | 5 | 219,555 | 45.6 | ||||||||||
| 3,270 | 0.7 | |||||||||||||||
| 481,240 | OR | |||||||||||||||
| Pennsylvania | 36 | 2,171,035 | 53.2 | 36 | 1,889,848 | 46.3 | ||||||||||
| 17,831 | 0.4 | |||||||||||||||
| 4,078,714 | PA | |||||||||||||||
| Rhode Island | 4 | 182,182 | 56.7 | 4 | 138,653 | 43.2 | ||||||||||
| 313 | 0.1 | |||||||||||||||
| 321,148 | RI | |||||||||||||||
| South Carolina | 8 | 95,470 | 95.6 | 8 | 4,360 | 4.4 | ||||||||||
| 2 | 0.0 | |||||||||||||||
| 99,832 | SC | |||||||||||||||
| South Dakota | 4 | 131,362 | 42.6 | |||||||||||||
| 177,065 | 57.4 | 4 | not on ballot | 308,427 | SD | |||||||||||
| Tennessee | 11 | 351,601 | 67.3 | 11 | 169,153 | 32.4 | ||||||||||
| 2,069 | 0.4 | |||||||||||||||
| 522,823 | TN | |||||||||||||||
| Texas | 23 | 909,974 | 80.9 | 23 | 212,692 | 18.9 | ||||||||||
| 1,865 | 0.2 | |||||||||||||||
| 1,124,531 | TX | |||||||||||||||
| Utah | 4 | 154,277 | 62.3 | 4 | 93,151 | 37.6 | ||||||||||
| 391 | 0.2 | |||||||||||||||
| 247,819 | UT | |||||||||||||||
| Vermont | 3 | 64,269 | 44.9 | |||||||||||||
| 78,371 | 54.8 | 3 | 422 | 0.3 | ||||||||||||
| 143,062 | VT | |||||||||||||||
| Virginia | 11 | 235,961 | 68.1 | 11 | 109,363 | 31.6 | ||||||||||
| 1,283 | 0.4 | |||||||||||||||
| 346,607 | VA | |||||||||||||||
| Washington | 8 | 462,145 | 58.2 | 8 | 322,123 | 40.6 | ||||||||||
| 9,565 | 1.2 | |||||||||||||||
| 793,833 | WA | |||||||||||||||
| West Virginia | 8 | 495,662 | 57.1 | 8 | 372,414 | 42.9 | ||||||||||
| not on ballot | 868,076 | WV | ||||||||||||||
| Wisconsin | 12 | 704,821 | 50.2 | 12 | 679,206 | 48.3 | ||||||||||
| 21,495 | 1.5 | |||||||||||||||
| 1,405,522 | WI | |||||||||||||||
| Wyoming | 3 | 59,287 | 52.8 | 3 | 52,633 | 46.9 | ||||||||||
| 320 | 0.3 | |||||||||||||||
| 112,240 | WY | |||||||||||||||
| TOTALS: | 531 | 27,313,945 | 54.7 | 449 | 22,347,744 | 44.8 | 82 | 240,424 | 0.5 | |||||||
| 49,902,113 | ||||||||||||||||
| TO WIN: | 266 | |||||||||||||||
See also
- President of the United StatesPresident of the United StatesThe President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
- United States Senate elections, 1940
- History of the United States (1918-1945)History of the United States (1918–1945)The history of the United States from 1918 through 1945 covers the post-World War I era, the Great Depression, and World War II. After World War I, the U.S. rejected the Versailles Treaty and did not join the League of Nations....
External links
- 1940 popular vote by counties
- How close was the 1940 election? — Michael Sheppard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology