FDR - Jean Edward Smith [447]
64. The New York Times, April 27, 1932.
65. Ernest K. Lindley, The Roosevelt Revolution—First Phase 7 (New York: Viking Press, 1933).
66. Moley, After Seven Years 5, 10–11.
67. For the text of the “forgotten man” speech, see 1932 Public Papers of Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt 572–573 (Albany, N.Y.: J. B. Lyon, 1937). The term “forgotten man” was supplied by Moley and is taken from an 1883 essay by Yale economist William Graham Sumner. Sumner was referring to the middle class. The Forgotten Man and Other Essays 465–498 (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1918).
Probusiness Democrats were aghast at FDR’s rhetoric. “I will take off my coat and fight to the end against any candidate who persists in any demagogic appeal to the masses of the working people of this country to destroy themselves by setting class against class and rich against poor,” rasped Al Smith, who had become the party’s principal spokesman for an alliance with big business. The New York Times, April 14, 1932.
68. The New York Times, April 19, 1932; 1932 Public Papers 577–583.
69. Ibid. 588–591.
70. Quoted in Freidel, Franklin D. Roosevelt: The Triumph 290. Garner was a reluctant candidate at best. On the eve of the convention he confided to his manager, Sam Rayburn, that he did not want a deadlocked convention. “I want to live long enough to see a Democrat in the White House. So we must make certain we don’t have a deadlock in Chicago. Sam, you and I both know that I am not going to be nominated for President. But a lot of these people who are pushing me are loyal friends, and … I couldn’t very well say no.” D. B. Hardeman and Donald C. Bacon, Rayburn: A Biography 137–138 (Austin: Texas Monthly Press, 1987).
71. H. L. Mencken, Making a President: A Footnote to the Saga of Democracy 117 (New York: Knopf, 1932).
72. Don Hayner and Tom McNamee, The Stadium 19 (Chicago: Performance Media, 1993).
73. Farley, Behind the Ballots 114.
74. Flynn, You’re the Boss 89.
75. The two-thirds rule was adopted at the Democratic party’s first convention, which was held in Baltimore in 1832. “A nomination made by two-thirds of the whole body would show a more general concurrence of sentiment in favor of a particular individual, would carry with it a greater moral weight and be more favorably received than one made by a smaller number,” wrote Senator William R. King of Alabama, a member of the committee that drafted the rule. Frank R. Kent, The Democratic Party: A History 116–119 (New York: Century, 1928).
76. Farley, Behind the Ballots 117.
77. Williams’s telegram was to his former Senate colleague James Reed of Missouri. Reed released it to The New York Times, June 26, 1932.
78. FDR to Farley, June 27, 1932. Farley, Behind the Ballots 119.
79. Alben W. Barkley, That Reminds Me 141 (New York: Doubleday, 1954).
80. Farley said afterward that the contesting Louisiana delegation, headed by former governor Jared Y. Sanders, had agreed to support Roosevelt if they were seated, but the Roosevelt camp believed Long’s claim to the seats to be superior. Farley, Behind the Ballots 124.
81. T. Harry Williams, Huey Long: A Biography 580 (New York: Knopf, 1969). Ed Flynn said, “Never in all my experience have I listened to a finer or more logical argument than [Long] presented for the seating of his delegation. You’re the Boss 96. For the text of Long’s presentation see Official Proceedings of the 1932 Democratic Convention 61–64 (Washington, D.C.: Democratic National Committee, 1932).
82. Farley Convention Diary, Farley Papers, Library of Congress.
83. Iowa and North Carolina, which had jumped the traces to vote against Long, returned to the Roosevelt stable. Considering that Boston mayor James Michael Curley headed the Roosevelt Puerto Rico delegation, its status was surely questionable.
84. The Wheeler quotation is from Neal, Happy Days Are Here Again 179; Farley, Behind the Ballots 105.
85. Flynn, You’re the Boss