FDR - Jean Edward Smith [164]
FDR’s momentum continued. The week after North Dakota went to the polls, Georgia gave Roosevelt a resounding 8-to-1 victory against a stand-in favorite son.53 FDR captured all twenty-eight delegates and carried Warm Springs 218–1. The following week Iowa and Maine met in convention. The Stop Roosevelt forces had been active in both states, and there was substantial support for sending uncommitted delegations to Chicago. Farley made a special trip to Davenport to keep the Iowans in line, and Robert Jackson intervened in Maine.54 Both states voted to send delegations to Chicago pledged to Roosevelt.
“We always looked back upon March 29 as a red-letter day for the Roosevelt candidacy, if not the turning point of the entire campaign,” wrote Farley. “Iowa gave us twenty-six votes and Maine twelve. Those two states are far apart on the map—their people have little in common politically. When they took similar action on the same day, it demonstrated to us and to the country that Roosevelt had nationwide appeal.”55
Missouri and Maryland also met in convention at the end of March. As expected, Missouri voted to send its thirty-six delegates to Chicago pledged to its favorite son, former senator James M. Reed. In 1928, Missouri had supported Reed down the line, but this time he was a stalking horse for the real boss of Missouri politics, Tom Pendergast. “Pendergast assured me,” a Roosevelt scout wrote Howe, “that he informed Senator Reed that he might have the Missouri delegation as a complimentary vote until it was needed by Roosevelt.” At that time Pendergast said he would cast Missouri’s vote as a unit for FDR.56
Maryland, also as expected, chose to support its favorite son, Governor Albert C. Ritchie. Unlike Reed, or Murray for that matter, Ritchie was a serious candidate who was hoping for a convention deadlock. A probusiness Democrat, Ritchie had been governor of Maryland since 1920. He opposed government intervention in the economy (“Let natural forces take their course, as free and untrammeled as possible”) and was the beau ideal of the party’s conservatives.57 As The New York Times reported, “Governor Ritchie is looked upon as the candidate to whom the anti-Roosevelt forces may rally if they can delay Governor Roosevelt’s nomination.”58
Maryland was the first state to defect from the Roosevelt column. But the loss was offset the following day, when Arkansas senator Joseph T. Robinson withdrew from the race. Robinson told supporters he did not wish to contribute to another deadlocked convention. Left without its favorite son, Arkansas chose an uninstructed delegation, which gave Roosevelt all eighteen votes under the unit rule.
With the campaign unfolding as planned—actually, better than planned—Roosevelt considered the future. Howe and Farley were unexcelled as political managers but had little interest in policy. That deficiency would become a problem unless it was fixed. Sam Rosenman suggested that FDR tap the universities. “You have been having good experiences with college professors. If we can get a small group together willing to give us some time, they can prepare memoranda for you. You’ll want to talk with them yourself, and maybe out of all the talk some concrete ideas will come.”59
Roosevelt was intrigued. Did Rosenman have anyone in mind? he asked. Rosenman suggested Raymond Moley at Columbia. “He believes in your social philosophy and objectives, and he has a clear and forceful style of writing.” Roosevelt agreed. “We’ll have to keep this whole thing pretty quiet,” he told Rosenman. “Do you think these professors can be trusted not to talk about it on the outside? If it gets into the papers too soon it might be bad.”60
Roosevelt thought it over while Rosenman wheeled him into his bedroom for the night. FDR shifted himself from his wheelchair to his bed. “Well,” he