“Nothing to Fear…”

By Nolan Rettig

Although Herbert Hoover won the 1928 election in a landslide and enjoyed immense popularity for his first seven months, his fortune quickly changed after the Great Depression took root. It was the worst financial disaster America had had up to that point, and nothing Hoover was doing seemed to help. While some public works projects like the Hoover Dam provided job opportunities, the dam itself didn’t open until after he left office, with the only contribution Americans associated with him being the Smoot-Hawley tariff, which deepened the Depression by limiting US imports and exports by 67%. For that reason, his chances of re-election were far from ideal, with policies that made him popular in 1928, like Prohibition and laissez-faire economics, making him deeply unpopular by 1932.

For most of Hoover’s life, he’d striven to be the change he wanted to see in the world, organizing food relief programs and saving millions of lives in the process. As president, he believed it wasn’t his place to interfere with the economy and instead tried to convince millionaires to help the poor voluntarily, though without much success. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, governor of New York and fifth cousin of Theodore Roosevelt, was a different story. Using his experience in New York as a champion of “relief, recovery, and reform,” he launched an ambitious bid for the presidency in 1932, promising to adapt his gubernatorial policies into a “New Deal” that would end the Depression and make sure nothing like it happened again.

Roosevelt campaign poster, 1932. Courtesy of Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College.

FDR election New Yorker magazine cover, ca. 1932. Courtesy of The New Yorker.

As inspiring as FDR’s ideas already were to the public, it cannot be understated how talented of a speaker he was and how much he was able to use radio and newsreels (then new technologies) to his advantage. Hoover couldn’t have been at more of a disadvantage in this respect, as he not only lacked Roosevelt’s vigor when speaking to crowds, but he was often pelted with spoiled food when trying to deliver speeches during his campaign, ultimately delivering only ten while Roosevelt delivered twenty-seven. This isn’t to say that Roosevelt had a straight shot at the White House, however, as his campaign rested on shakier ground than most realized.

Having been diagnosed with Polio in 1921, Roosevelt was having serious difficulty walking by 1932, and was only able to do so with the assistance of leg braces. By that time, America had never had a disabled president, and FDR stood little chance of winning had the public realized how severe his condition was. That said, by choreographing his public appearances and limiting the number of photos of him wearing braces, he was able to keep the extent of his disability a secret, with his policies and natural charisma winning out over physical limitations and allowing him to handily win the 1932 election.

FDR on the campaign trail in Hollywood, CA. Most prints of him exiting cars or using his braces were destroyed, with photos like this being a rare exception. (Public Domain)

References

“1932: FDR’s First Presidential Campaign.” See How They Ran! FDR & His Opponents. Online exhibition by the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College. Accessed March 1, 2025.

Davidson Snorkin, Amy. “The F.D.R. New Yorker Cover That Never Ran.” The New Yorker, May 5, 2012. Accessed March 31, 2025.

Smith, Richard Norton and Timothy Walch. “The Ordeal of Herbert Hoover.” Prologue Magazine 36, no. 2, Summer 2004. Accessed March 31, 2025.