*** Welcome to piglix ***

Governorship of Franklin D. Roosevelt


Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected governor of New York in 1928 and served from 1 January 1929 until his election as President of the United States in 1932. His term as governor provided him with a high-visibility position in which to prove himself as well as provide a major base from which to launch a bid for the presidency.

After several years out of politics following his defeat for vice president in the 1920 presidential election, by 1928, Roosevelt believed he had recovered sufficiently to resume his political career. He had been careful to maintain his contacts in the Democratic Party. In 1924, he had attended the 1924 Democratic National Convention and made a presidential nomination speech for the then-governor of New York, Al Smith. Although Smith was not nominated, he ran again in 1928, and Roosevelt again supported him. This time, he became the Democratic candidate, and he urged Roosevelt to run for governor of New York.

With one month before the November election the New York State Democrats had not yet chosen anyone to replace Smith, who needed a strong gubernatorial candidate to run to help him win the state's 47 electoral votes. Although Roosevelt was the ideal complement to Smith as a prominent rural Protestant without strong views on Prohibition who had supported Woodrow Wilson, he was very reluctant to run. Roosevelt was not sure he would win, and wished to continue his physical therapy at Warm Springs. Close aide Louis Howe urged him to wait; as Herbert Hoover would surely defeat Smith and likely serve two terms as president, being elected governor in 1932 would be better timing for the 1936 presidential election. After failing to persuade Roosevelt through many phone calls and telegrams from late September, Smith finally got him to agree on 2 October to run if nominated; the state convention did so the next day. Roosevelt had to make his peace with Tammany Hall, which he did with some reluctance. In the November election, Smith was heavily defeated by Republican candidate Herbert Hoover, but Roosevelt was elected governor by a margin of 25,608 votes out of more than 4 million votes cast, defeating Republican candidate Albert Ottinger.


...
Wikipedia

...