FDR - Jean Edward Smith [171]
Unaware of these developments, the Stop Roosevelt forces looked to the balloting with increasing confidence. Mississippi seemed to have crumbled despite Huey Long’s efforts, and there were rumors of defection in North Carolina and Iowa. There was increasing talk of Baker, the compromise candidate waiting in the wings. Some of Roosevelt’s closest associates had not been told of Garner’s switch. Rexford Tugwell and Harry Hopkins, who shared a cab to the stadium, looked as if they were going to a funeral.112
Shortly after eight o’clock Friday evening, July 1, 1932, the clerk began to call the roll for the fourth ballot. “Alabama, 24 votes for Roosevelt.” Arizona, Arkansas, the ranks were holding. Then California. McAdoo asked Chairman Tom Walsh for permission to explain the California vote. An eerie silence settled over Chicago Stadium as McAdoo made his way to the platform. “California came here to nominate a President of the United States,” he said. “She did not come here to deadlock this Convention.” Roosevelt delegates went wild. The organ struck up “Happy Days Are Here Again” followed by “California, Here I Come.” The Texas standard joined the parade. When order was eventually restored, McAdoo resumed: “The great state of Texas and the great state of California [sustained cheering] are acting in accordance with what we believe is best for America and best for the Democratic party. California casts its forty-four votes for Franklin D. Roosevelt.”113
Listening to the radio in Albany, FDR leaned back and grinned: “Good old McAdoo!” By announcing that Texas would also be making the switch, McAdoo had broken the deadlock. The bandwagon rush began. When Illinois was called, Mayor Cermak announced the combined strength of Illinois and Indiana—eighty-eight votes—“for the next President of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt.” Governor Ritchie personally announced Maryland’s switch to FDR. Missouri, Ohio, and Oklahoma came on board. As the alphabet neared the end, Governor Byrd came to the podium to announce Virginia’s switch.
At 10:32 P.M., Walsh announced the final tally: 945 votes for Roosevelt, 190 for Smith, who refused to concede. “Franklin D. Roosevelt having received more than two-thirds of all the delegates voting, I proclaim him the nominee of this Convention.”114
Walsh’s next announcement stunned the stadium. It was a telegram from Roosevelt saying he wished to fly to Chicago the next day to accept the nomination.115 When the cheering subsided, the organist sent the delegates back to their hotels to the tune of “Onward Christian Soldiers”—a tune not heard at Democratic conventions since the heyday of William Jennings Bryan.
“Mr. Roosevelt enters the campaign with a burden on each shoulder,” H. L. Mencken wrote in the Baltimore Evening Sun. “The first is the burden of his own limitations. He is one of the most charming of men, but like many another very charming man he leaves on the beholder the impression that he is also somewhat shallow and futile. The burden on his other shoulder is even heavier. It is the burden of party disharmony.” Mencken said Chicago bookies were offering 5-to-1 odds that Governor Ritchie, if nominated, would beat Hoover. When FDR got the nomination, they offered 5 to 1 that Hoover would win.116
Roosevelt’s decision to fly to Chicago electrified the nation.117 Tradition held that the Democratic and Republican nominees be formally notified in their hometowns by a