FDR - Jean Edward Smith [446]
Some coldness of feet below knees; cocktail makes them right. The lower erector spinae are slightly affected. Gluteus medius partial R. and L.
Wassermann—negative with both alcoholic and cholesterinized antigen.
No symptoms of impotentia coeundi.
38. Looker, This Man Roosevelt 154–155.
39. Ibid. 140.
40. Earle Looker, “Is Franklin D. Roosevelt Fit to Be President?” Liberty 7–8, July 25, 1931.
41. The New York Times, November 22, 24, 1931.
42. Farley, Behind the Ballots 93.
43. Roosevelt’s announcement was made in a handwritten letter to Fred W. McLean, secretary of the Democratic State Committee of North Dakota, authorizing McLean to enter FDR’s name in the upcoming North Dakota primary. “I willingly give my consent, with full appreciation of the honor that has been done me.” The letter was dated January 22, 1932, but not released until the twenty-third. 1 Public Papers and Addresses of Franklin D. Roosevelt 623–624, Samuel I. Rosenman, ed. (New York: Random House, 1938).
44. In 1932, U.S. territories and possessions enjoyed thirty-eight votes at the Democratic National Convention, the same number as Michigan. The territorial vote was divided among Alaska, the Canal Zone, District of Columbia, Hawaii, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico, each of which had six, and the Virgin Islands, which had two. Thanks to the labors of Farley and Howe, Roosevelt won all the territorial vote save for the Philippines, which voted for Smith.
45. Farley, Behind the Ballots 94.
46. The New York Times, February 8, 1932.
47. Ibid., January 24, 1932. There were 1,154 delegates to the 1932 Democratic Convention, 54 more than in 1928, the increase (reflecting the 1930 census) coming principally in California (+18), New York (+4), Ohio (+4), and Texas (+6). With the two-thirds rule in place, it required 770 to nominate.
48. Robert Jackson memorandum of meeting with Al Smith, January 26, 1932. James A. Farley Papers, Library of Congress.
49. When the Minnesota credentials fight went to the floor of the convention, the Roosevelt delegation was seated 658¼ to 492¾, a clear indication of FDR’s strength. The vote for Roosevelt was very close to Farley’s January 23 prediction.
50. The New York Times, March 4, 1932.
51. Wheeler spoke the argot of embattled plainsmen. “Murray was a good man,” he told radio listeners in North Dakota, “but he was being used by a corrupt gang in the East, which for want of better name might be called the ‘Wall Street Crowd.’ ” Quoted in Keith L. Bryant, Jr., Alfalfa Bill Murray 229 (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1968).
52. FDR defeated Murray 52,634 to 32,036, with almost 85,000 votes cast. That contrasts to the 11,000 votes cast in the 1928 Democratic primary. Contemporary reports from North Dakota suggest at least 70,000 Republicans crossed over—apparently identifying Hoover with the Depression and wishing to vote for change. Bismarck Tribune, Valley City Times-Record, March 17, 1932. Also see The New York Times, March 16, 17, 1932.
53. Against the advice of party elders, including Sam Rayburn, Judge G. H. Howard of Atlanta filed as a proxy candidate for Speaker of the House John Garner. Roosevelt carried all 159 counties and defeated Howard roughly 60,000 to 8,000.
54. “It would have been absolutely impossible to have gotten an instructed delegation if Mr. James A. Farley had not come to Davenport,” Iowa Democrat John T. Sullivan wrote FDR. “As soon as Mr. Farley appeared, the opposition melted away.”
55. Farley, Behind the Ballots 99.
56. William Crawford to Howe, January 29, 1932, Howe Papers, FDRL.
57. Albert C. Ritchie, “Give Us Democracy,” North American Review (October 1930). Also see The New York Times, January 8, 1932.
58. The New York Times, June 28, 1932.
59. Sam Rosenman, Working with Roosevelt 56–57 (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1952).
60. Ibid. 58.
61. Ibid.
62. Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., The Crisis of the Old Order 400 (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1957).
63. In the summer of 1932, Berle, together with economist Gardiner