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THE DEAD PRESIDENTS - FDR PROTECTING THE WHITE HOUSE

Today in history, Vice President Harry S. Truman became the 33rd president of the United States after Franklin D. Roosevelt passed on and became a member of THE DEAD PRESIDENTS...

POTUS QUOTUS - FDR STATE OF THE UNION 1935 - "Thank you for being a friend."

POTUS Photus - Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Franklin D. Roosevelt was the 44th Governor of New York the year he was elected POTUS in 1932. He defeated the incumbent, Herbert Hoover, who had to deal with the stock market crash of 1929. Prior to his term as governor of New York, he served as Woodrow Wilson's Assistant Secretary of the Navy, just like his cousin Theodore Roosevelt, who was the 33rd Governor of New York and the 26th POTUS. While TR went from the governorship to the vice presidency in 1901, the ticket of James Cox and FDR lost the White House in 1920, so FDR never served as vice president but was his party's choice for the office.

When FDR was sworn in as the 32nd President of the United States on March 4, 1933, the Great Depression was in full force. Since there was such a lag between the November 1932 election and the inauguration in March of 1933, the 20th Amendment was passed establishing the new start date for both the new Congress (January 3rd) and the new president, January 20th, which would take effect by the next presidential term. FDR used the federal government to help turn the tide of the depression by creating federal programs called the New Deal which would shape American politics for a generation. He would break with a precedent established by George Washington of serving two presidential terms by running for a third term in 1940. During his second term war broke out in Europe and in his 3rd term the Japanese Empire "suddenly and deliberately attack" our base in Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. FDR would become a wartime president and use that mantle as a reason not to change horse midstream when the 1944 election came around. He would win a fourth term, but not live to see the end.

He had 3 vice presidents, John Nance Garner of Texas served the first two terms, Henry Wallace served the 3rd and with FDR's health on the decline fear of the left-leaning Wallace becoming president, a more suitable candidate replaced him, Harry S. Truman was his 4th term VPOTUS and his successor. FDR would eventually be ranked behind Washington and Abraham Lincoln as one of our nation's greatest presidents, having presided over the nation during the Great Depression and World War II. Because of his monopoly of presidential elections from 1932-1944, the 22nd Amendment was passed establishing a two-term limit for presidents.

Franklin D. Roosevelt
32nd POTUS
March 4, 1932-April 12, 1945
New York
Democrat

Pointless Presidential Pfacts #16 - "Back-to-Back 50 Percenters (D)"

Barack Obama is one of only 3 Democratic presidents to be reelected back-to-back with over 50% of the popular vote. Franklin Roosevelt received over 50% of the popular vote in all four of his elections (1932, 1936, 1940, 1944). Before FDR, you have to go back to the first Democrat elected president, Andrew Jackson won both his elections (1828, 1836) with over 50%. In 2008, Obama was the first Democrat since Jimmy Carter's 1976 election to receive 50% of the popular vote.

Pointless Presidential Pfacts #9 - "4 Out of 5 Elections Recommend These Candidates"

Franklin D. Roosevelt and Richard Nixon both ran on a national ticket 5 times and won 4 out of the 5 elections. FDR ran (pre-Polio days) as the vice presidential candidate in 1920 with James Cox (yeah he was a presidential candidate), but Americans wanted a return to normalcy and voted the GOP ticket of Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge into office. In 1932, 12 years after that election, FDR would begin his 4 term winning streak in 1932, then winning again in 1936, 1940 and 1944. Dominance in 4 presidential elections by one individual led to the creation of the 22nd Amendment, limiting a president to 2 terms.

RN ran on a national ticket 8 years after FDR's last run for office. Nixon ran as Dwight Eisenhower's running mate in 1952 and 1956 and they defeated Adlai Stevenson, both times. In 1960, Nixon became the first incumbent vice president to run for president since John Breckenridge ran as a Southern Democrat 100 years before. Nixon was also the first two term incumbent VP to run since John Adams in 1796. Nixon lost a close election to John F. Kennedy in 1960, but 8 years later the former vice president ran again and in another close election defeated the incumbent vice president Hubert Humphrey. In 1968, it was Vice President vs. Former Vice President. The former vice president won and then won reelection in a landslide in 1972. Nixon was also the only former vice president to win a presidential election. So two people won 4 out of 5 national contests, one for president, the other for both president and vice president. FDR was one and Nixon's the other one. (see what I did there? No? NERDALERT!)

Pointless Presidential Pfacts #3 - "The One, the Only, George Washington"

George Washington. 1st POTUS. 1789-1797. Virginian. No Party Affiliation.

George Washington was unanimously elected by the ELECTORAL COLLEGE twice in 1789 and 1792. Never again has this been repeated, but it has come near unanimous first with James Monroe in 1820 (the closest), Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1936 (not far behind), and Ronald Reagan in 1984 (ditto and the most recent).

President James Monroe was reelected to a second term in 1820, unopposed in the "Era of Good Feelings." Monroe would receive 98.3% of the Electoral College votes, 3 members would not end up voting and one unfaithful elector cast a vote for Secretary of State John Quincy Adams because he felt he'd be a better president than Monroe.

In President Franklin Roosevelt's first try at reelection he received 60% of the popular vote and 98.5% of the Electoral College vote, losing just Vermont and Maine to Alf Landon in 1936.

In 1984, President Ronald Reagan won 59% of the popular vote and 97.6% of the Electoral College, that's everything except his opponent former Vice President Walter F. Mondale's home State of Minnesota and the District of Columbia.