1932 United States presidential election in Alabama

1932 United States presidential election in Alabama

← 1928 November 8, 1932[1] 1936 →

All 11 Alabama votes to the Electoral College
 
Nominee Franklin D. Roosevelt Herbert Hoover
Party Democratic Republican
Home state New York California
Running mate John Nance Garner Charles Curtis
Electoral vote 11 0
Popular vote 207,910 34,675
Percentage 84.7% 14.1%

County results
Roosevelt
  40–50%
  50–60%
  60–70%
  70–80%
  80–90%
  90–100%


President before election

Herbert Hoover
Republican

Elected President

Franklin D. Roosevelt
Democratic

The 1932 United States presidential election in Alabama took place on November 8, 1932, as part of the nationwide presidential election. Alabama voters chose eleven representatives,[2] or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president. In Alabama, voters voted for electors individually instead of as a slate, as in the other states.

Since the 1890s, Alabama had been effectively a one-party state ruled by the Democratic Party. Disenfranchisement of almost all African-Americans and a large proportion of poor whites via poll taxes, literacy tests[3] and informal harassment had essentially eliminated opposition parties outside of Unionist Winston County and a few nearby northern hill counties that had been Populist strongholds.[4] The only competitive statewide elections became Democratic Party primaries that were limited by law to white voters. Unlike most other Confederate states, however, soon after black disenfranchisement Alabama’s remaining white Republicans made rapid efforts to expel blacks from the state Republican Party.[5] Indeed under Oscar D. Street, who ironically was appointed state party boss as part of the pro-Taft “black and tan” faction in 1912,[6] the state GOP would permanently turn “lily-white”, with the last black delegates from the state at any Republican National Convention serving in 1920.[5]

The 1920 election, aided by isolationism in Appalachia[7] and the whitening of the state GOP,[8] saw the Republicans gain their best presidential vote share in Alabama since 1884,[9] while the GOP even exceed forty percent in the House of Representatives races for the 4th, 7th and 10th congressional districts.[7] However, isolationist sentiment in Appalachia would ease after the election of Warren G. Harding[7] while funding issues meant the Republicans would not emulate their efforts in the rest of the decade.[10]

Then in 1928, a virtual “civil war” broke out in the state Democratic Party over the nomination of Al Smith,[11] as the hegemonic Democratic Party was placed in a quandary over the nomination of an urban, Catholic, racial liberal. The loyalists centred in the Black Belt supported Smith and the traditional Democratic Party as the best route to maintaining absolute white supremacy through encouraging capital investment, whereas the “Hoovercrats” led by former leaders of the Ku Klux Klan backed Republican Herbert Hoover and were intensely focused on nativism, Prohibition and Protestant fundamentalism.

After Smith narrowly carried the state, Hoovercrat leader James Thomas Heflin would not be renominated for the Senate in 1930, while the economic catastrophe of the Great Depression meant that this trend towards the GOP would be short-lived.[12] The Depression had extremely severe effects in the South, which had the highest unemployment rate in the nation, and many Southerners blamed this on the North and on Wall Street, rejecting Hoover’s claim that the Depression’s causes were exogenous.[13] No campaigning was done in the state, and polls showed always that Democratic nominees Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt and Speaker John Nance Garner would re-establish the large margins by which the state had been won before 1928. An early October poll showed Roosevelt leading incumbent President Herbert Hoover and Vice President Charles Curtis by a nine-to-two majority.[14] This poll underestimated the return of the Hoovercrats to the party, for Roosevelt won 84.74 percent of the vote to a mere 14.13 percent for Hoover.[15][16] This remains the only time in history that any presidential candidate has won every single county in Alabama,[17] due to Roosevelt carrying Southern Unionist and reliably Republican Winston County by just a single vote.

Results

[edit]
General election results[18]
Party Pledged to Elector Votes
Democratic Party Franklin D. Roosevelt L. R. Tucker 207,910
Democratic Party Franklin D. Roosevelt W. C. Davis 207,832
Democratic Party Franklin D. Roosevelt H. B. Fuller 207,773
Democratic Party Franklin D. Roosevelt B. H. Cooper 207,763
Democratic Party Franklin D. Roosevelt H. D. Agnew 207,760
Democratic Party Franklin D. Roosevelt Jas. B. Stanley 207,756
Democratic Party Franklin D. Roosevelt W. F. Miller 207,751
Democratic Party Franklin D. Roosevelt Bernard Harwood 207,723
Democratic Party Franklin D. Roosevelt T. E. Buntin 207,711
Democratic Party Franklin D. Roosevelt R. E. Jones 207,661
Democratic Party Franklin D. Roosevelt Y. M. Quinn 207,635
Republican Party Herbert Hoover (incumbent) Frank H. Lathrop 34,675
Republican Party Herbert Hoover (incumbent) Precy Pitts 34,664
Republican Party Herbert Hoover (incumbent) S. B. Adams 34,663
Republican Party Herbert Hoover (incumbent) Victor Hovis 34,657
Republican Party Herbert Hoover (incumbent) J. M. Pennington 34,655
Republican Party Herbert Hoover (incumbent) C. W. McKay 34,655
Republican Party Herbert Hoover (incumbent) C. P. Lunsford 34,654
Republican Party Herbert Hoover (incumbent) Arthur B. Fowler 34,649
Republican Party Herbert Hoover (incumbent) W. A. Clardy 34,647
Republican Party Herbert Hoover (incumbent) Leon McCalebe 34,634
Republican Party Herbert Hoover (incumbent) C. E. Roberts 34,628
Socialist Party of America Norman Thomas M. D. Alexander 2,030
Socialist Party of America Norman Thomas Otis H. Britton 2,029
Socialist Party of America Norman Thomas T. D. Hendrix 2,026
Socialist Party of America Norman Thomas C. G. Hutchisson 2,025
Socialist Party of America Norman Thomas Orville H. Mastin 2,025
Socialist Party of America Norman Thomas J. O. Meadows 2,025
Socialist Party of America Norman Thomas George Wilson 2,025
Socialist Party of America Norman Thomas Paul Nichols 2,023
Socialist Party of America Norman Thomas E. E. Stuart 2,023
Socialist Party of America Norman Thomas Henry Trapp 2,020
Socialist Party of America Norman Thomas W. Frank Wynne 2,020
Communist Party USA William Z. Foster Andrew M. Forsman 726
Communist Party USA William Z. Foster John A. Lindquist 676
Prohibition Party William David Upshaw William David Upshaw 13
Total votes 245,354

Results by county

[edit]
1932 United States presidential election in Alabama by county[19]
County Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Democratic
Herbert Clark Hoover
Republican
Norman Mattoon Thomas
Socialist
William Zebulon Foster
Communist
William David Upshaw
Prohibition
Margin Total votes cast
# % # % # % # % # % # %
Autauga 1,322 89.81% 138 9.38% 11 0.75% 1 0.07% 0 0.00% 1,184 80.43% 1,472
Baldwin 2,097 75.43% 544 19.57% 131 4.71% 8 0.29% 0 0.00% 1,553 55.86% 2,780
Barbour 2,207 96.88% 64 2.81% 6 0.26% 1 0.04% 0 0.00% 2,143 94.07% 2,278
Bibb 1,636 90.29% 145 8.00% 31 1.71% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 1,491 82.28% 1,812
Blount 2,232 77.99% 582 20.34% 43 1.50% 5 0.17% 0 0.00% 1,650 57.65% 2,862
Bullock 1,004 98.72% 12 1.18% 1 0.10% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 992 97.54% 1,017
Butler 2,280 96.45% 74 3.13% 9 0.38% 1 0.04% 0 0.00% 2,206 93.32% 2,364
Calhoun 4,392 85.98% 685 13.41% 28 0.55% 3 0.06% 0 0.00% 3,707 72.57% 5,108
Chambers 2,552 87.85% 342 11.77% 7 0.24% 4 0.14% 0 0.00% 2,210 76.08% 2,905
Cherokee 1,897 83.09% 359 15.72% 23 1.01% 4 0.18% 0 0.00% 1,538 67.37% 2,283
Chilton 1,664 51.17% 1,533 47.14% 53 1.63% 2 0.06% 0 0.00% 131 4.03% 3,252
Choctaw 1,533 96.90% 48 3.03% 1 0.06% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 1,485 93.87% 1,582
Clarke 2,408 97.69% 53 2.15% 3 0.12% 1 0.04% 0 0.00% 2,355 95.54% 2,465
Clay 2,104 68.78% 933 30.50% 13 0.42% 9 0.29% 0 0.00% 1,171 38.28% 3,059
Cleburne 1,403 77.43% 405 22.35% 2 0.11% 2 0.11% 0 0.00% 998 55.08% 1,812
Coffee 2,868 96.73% 95 3.20% 1 0.03% 1 0.03% 0 0.00% 2,773 93.52% 2,965
Colbert 2,908 89.64% 312 9.62% 24 0.74% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 2,596 80.02% 3,244
Conecuh 2,125 94.91% 114 5.09% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 2,011 89.82% 2,239
Coosa 1,265 82.63% 250 16.33% 15 0.98% 1 0.07% 0 0.00% 1,015 66.30% 1,531
Covington 3,855 97.15% 99 2.49% 10 0.25% 4 0.10% 0 0.00% 3,756 94.66% 3,968
Crenshaw 2,248 93.20% 127 5.27% 3 0.12% 30 1.24% 4 0.17% 2,121 87.94% 2,412
Cullman 2,910 73.78% 956 24.24% 71 1.80% 7 0.18% 0 0.00% 1,954 49.54% 3,944
Dale 2,300 93.65% 155 6.31% 1 0.04% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 2,145 87.34% 2,456
Dallas 3,027 96.62% 93 2.97% 12 0.38% 1 0.03% 0 0.00% 2,934 93.65% 3,133
DeKalb 4,217 54.13% 3,496 44.88% 73 0.94% 4 0.05% 0 0.00% 721 9.26% 7,790
Elmore 3,197 87.88% 159 4.37% 7 0.19% 275 7.56% 0 0.00% 2,922[a] 80.32% 3,638
Escambia 2,024 92.67% 157 7.19% 3 0.14% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 1,867 85.49% 2,184
Etowah 5,167 82.08% 1,066 16.93% 62 0.98% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 4,101 65.15% 6,295
Fayette 2,013 72.70% 733 26.47% 19 0.69% 4 0.14% 0 0.00% 1,280 46.23% 2,769
Franklin 2,876 64.53% 1,547 34.71% 34 0.76% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 1,329 29.82% 4,457
Geneva 2,559 90.33% 270 9.53% 1 0.04% 3 0.11% 0 0.00% 2,289 80.80% 2,833
Greene 665 95.82% 9 1.30% 20 2.88% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 645[b] 92.94% 694
Hale 1,276 94.59% 70 5.19% 1 0.07% 2 0.15% 0 0.00% 1,206 89.40% 1,349
Henry 1,741 97.43% 42 2.35% 4 0.22% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 1,699 95.08% 1,787
Houston 3,863 95.83% 157 3.89% 7 0.17% 2 0.05% 2 0.05% 3,706 91.94% 4,031
Jackson 3,112 76.69% 938 23.11% 8 0.20% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 2,174 53.57% 4,058
Jefferson 30,858 85.15% 4,567 12.60% 779 2.15% 34 0.09% 1 0.00% 26,291 72.55% 36,239
Lamar 2,207 89.24% 258 10.43% 4 0.16% 4 0.16% 0 0.00% 1,949 78.81% 2,473
Lauderdale 3,336 88.09% 431 11.38% 19 0.50% 1 0.03% 0 0.00% 2,905 76.71% 3,787
Lawrence 1,920 86.53% 299 13.47% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 1,621 73.05% 2,219
Lee 1,988 94.53% 103 4.90% 11 0.52% 1 0.05% 0 0.00% 1,885 89.63% 2,103
Limestone 2,667 95.94% 107 3.85% 5 0.18% 1 0.04% 0 0.00% 2,560 92.09% 2,780
Lowndes 1,073 98.35% 18 1.65% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 1,055 96.70% 1,091
Macon 905 94.07% 56 5.82% 1 0.10% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 849 88.25% 962
Madison 4,795 88.76% 559 10.35% 45 0.83% 3 0.06% 0 0.00% 4,236 78.42% 5,402
Marengo 2,097 95.45% 50 2.28% 50 2.28% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 2,047 93.17% 2,197
Marion 2,325 80.73% 545 18.92% 5 0.17% 1 0.03% 4 0.14% 1,780 61.81% 2,880
Marshall 3,921 79.45% 904 18.32% 65 1.32% 45 0.91% 0 0.00% 3,017 61.13% 4,935
Mobile 9,658 84.37% 1,710 14.94% 61 0.53% 18 0.16% 0 0.00% 7,948 69.43% 11,447
Monroe 1,972 96.52% 66 3.23% 3 0.15% 2 0.10% 0 0.00% 1,906 93.29% 2,043
Montgomery 10,066 95.57% 441 4.19% 18 0.17% 8 0.08% 0 0.00% 9,625 91.38% 10,533
Morgan 4,896 86.62% 656 11.61% 31 0.55% 69 1.22% 0 0.00% 4,240 75.02% 5,652
Perry 1,382 95.05% 37 2.54% 2 0.14% 33 2.27% 0 0.00% 1,345 92.50% 1,454
Pickens 1,479 87.10% 128 7.54% 9 0.53% 82 4.83% 0 0.00% 1,351 79.56% 1,698
Pike 2,545 97.92% 52 2.00% 1 0.04% 1 0.04% 0 0.00% 2,493 95.92% 2,599
Randolph 2,227 74.09% 767 25.52% 10 0.33% 2 0.07% 0 0.00% 1,460 48.57% 3,006
Russell 1,894 97.28% 46 2.36% 5 0.26% 2 0.10% 0 0.00% 1,848 94.92% 1,947
Shelby 2,365 72.48% 864 26.48% 33 1.01% 1 0.03% 0 0.00% 1,501 46.00% 3,263
St. Clair 2,185 59.46% 1,449 39.43% 38 1.03% 3 0.08% 0 0.00% 736 20.03% 3,675
Sumter 1,293 98.03% 26 1.97% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 1,267 96.06% 1,319
Talladega 3,353 84.33% 617 15.52% 4 0.10% 2 0.05% 0 0.00% 2,736 68.81% 3,976
Tallapoosa 3,391 95.87% 138 3.90% 6 0.17% 2 0.06% 0 0.00% 3,253 91.97% 3,537
Tuscaloosa 5,322 94.08% 302 5.34% 28 0.49% 4 0.07% 1 0.02% 5,020 88.74% 5,657
Walker 4,734 74.31% 1,583 24.85% 44 0.69% 10 0.16% 0 0.00% 3,151 49.46% 6,371
Washington 1,307 94.10% 81 5.83% 1 0.07% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 1,226 88.26% 1,389
Wilcox 1,358 98.33% 23 1.67% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 1,335 96.67% 1,381
Winston 1,006 49.83% 1,005 49.78% 7 0.35% 1 0.05% 0 0.00% 1 0.05% 2,019
Totals 207,910 84.76% 34,675 14.14% 2,030 0.83% 675 0.28% 13 0.01% 173,235 70.62% 245,303

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

[edit]

See also

[edit]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ In this county where Foster ran second ahead of Hoover, margin given is Roosevelt vote minus Foster vote and percentage margin Roosevelt percentage minus Foster percentage.
  2. ^ In this county where Thomas ran second ahead of Hoover, margin given is Roosevelt vote minus Thomas vote and percentage margin Roosevelt percentage minus Thomas percentage.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "United States Presidential election of 1932 — Encyclopædia Britannica". Retrieved January 16, 2019.
  2. ^ "1932 Election for the Thirty-seventh Term (1933-37)". Retrieved January 16, 2019.
  3. ^ Perman, Michael (2001). Struggle for Mastery: Disfranchisement in the South, 1888–1908. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press. p. Introduction. ISBN 9780807849095.
  4. ^ Webb, Samuel L. "From Independents to Populists to Progressive Republicans: The Case of Chilton County, Alabama, 1880-1920". The Journal of Southern History. 59 (4): 707–736. doi:10.2307/2210539. JSTOR 2210539.
  5. ^ a b Heersink, Boris; Jenkins, Jeffery A. (2020). Republican Party Politics and the American South, 1865-1968. Cambridge University Press. pp. 251–253. ISBN 9781107158436.
  6. ^ Casdorph, Paul D. (1981). Republicans, Negroes, and Progressives in the South, 1912-1916. The University of Alabama Press. pp. 70, 94–95. ISBN 0817300481.
  7. ^ a b c Phillips, Kevin P. (1969). The Emerging Republican Majority. Arlington House. p. 255. ISBN 0870000586.
  8. ^ Heersink and Jenkins, Republican Party Politics and the American South, p. 19
  9. ^ Leip, Dave. "Presidential General Election Results Comparison — Alabama". Dave Leip’s U.S. Election Atlas.
  10. ^ See "G.O.P. Funds Are Reported Short: Forces "Counted On" Disappoint Republican Political Managers". The Birmingham News. Birmingham, Alabama. August 19, 1922. p. 5.
  11. ^ Feldman, Glenn (September 13, 2004). "Epilogue. Ugly Roots: Race, Emotion and the Rise of the Modern Republican Party in Alabama and the South". In Feldman, Glenn (ed.). Before Brown: Civil Rights and White Backlash in the Modern South. University of Alabama Press. pp. 270–273. ISBN 9780817351342.
  12. ^ Lewinson, Paul (1965). Race, class and party; a history of Negro suffrage and white politics in the South. pp. 167–168.
  13. ^ Ritchie, Donald A. (2007). Electing FDR: the New Deal campaign of 1932. Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas. p. 143. ISBN 978-0700616879.
  14. ^ "Roosevelt Takes Bigger Lead in Digest Ballot: Has Total to date of 404,992 to 325,845 for Hoover with twenty States Represented". Kennebec Journal. Augusta, Maine. October 7, 1932. p. 3.
  15. ^ "1932 Presidential General Election Results — Alabama". Retrieved January 16, 2019.
  16. ^ "The American Presidency Project — Election of 1932". Retrieved January 16, 2019.
  17. ^ Thomas, G. Scott (1987). The pursuit of the White House: a handbook of presidential election statistics and history. Bloomsbury Academic. pp. 390, 418. ISBN 0313257957.
  18. ^ Alabama Official and Statistical Register, 1935. Wetumpka, Alabama: Wetumpka Printing Company. 1935. pp. 501–511.
  19. ^ "AL US President Race, November 08, 1932". Our Campaigns.