I’m reading “FDR” by Jean Edward Smith. Smith does more than simply list the accomplishments of this master politician. He takes time to explain how FDR made the sausage. As well, Smith explains technical aspects of the political process including electioneering, creating legislation, and building coalitions.
In the 1932 presidential election, FDR defeated the unpopular incumbent Hoover. He won in a landslide. He was almost passed over for the Democratic nomination. The 1928 Democratic presidential nominee and former New York Governor Al Smith maintained a strong coalition despite having lost to Hoover in 1928. FDR ran a great primary campaign winning most states and running far ahead of Smith. In 1932, delegates mattered. Al Smith would not concede without a fight.
Why?
In 1932, the Democratic nominee needed a 2/3 majority before being confirmed! FDR entered the Democratic convention with 58% of the delegates in hand from the primaries. Still 100 short of the required 2/3 majority. This is where the horse trading and the true value of the delegates came into play. It took 4 ballots, threats, promises, arm-twisting and the VP position for FDR to prevail. After three ballots, FDR’s team brokered a deal with the Texans to make their native son John N. Garner the VP candidate. This broke the log jam and paved the way to the 2/3 majority.
In 1936, the 2/3 majority was abolished. The rule change required a simple majority of delegates for a candidate to capture the Democratic nomination. The last time there was a convention where the leading candidate did not have a majority of delegates pledged was the 1976 Republican convention between Gerald Ford and Ronald Regan. Ford prevailed on the first vote.
In an extraordinary case where the candidate with the highest delegates coming into a convention did not win was the 1924 Democratic convention. William McAdoo of California and Al Smith of New York were the top contenders. McAdoo received 39.4% of the votes versus 22.0% for Al Smith on the first ballot. Only after 103 ballots was a compromise candidate Charles W Bryan of Nebraska selected as the nominee. As you guessed, Bryan lost. He was beat handily by Calvin Coolridge, who took 54.0 percent of the popular vote against Bryan’s 28.8%.
Today, the cost of running a competitive presidential campaign for the duration of the primary season is massive. The expense and the simple majority requirement by both major parties leaves the chance of a contested convention less and less likely.
The idea of a 2/3 majority is anathema to the democratic process. With such an onerous requirement, the people’s will can too easily be overruled by backdoor dealings of political brokers. Today, we have an electoral college and an anachronistic delegate system. A day may come when our democratic process becomes fully representative. We would put faith in a majority rule system where every vote has equal weight. Do we believe that the wisdom of crowds is correct, or do need a proxy system to protect us from ourselves? As a constituent of a state where my presidential vote lacks clout, I welcome a majority rule system.
The problem. It would take an amendment to the Constitution to abolish the electoral college. Before we get too gloomy about such prospects, we should remember that when this country was founded, only land owner, and certainly not slaves, blacks or women, were permitted to vote.
Here is a list of important amendments, each advancing us toward a true representative form of government.
1870: Blacks given the right to vote with the 15th Amendment
1913: Direct election of US Senators with the 17th Amendment
1920: Women given the right to vote with the 19th Amendment
1947: Limits the term of the president to two terms with the 22nd Amendment
1962: Prohibits revocation of voting rights due to a non-payment of a poll tax with the 24th Amendment
1971: Voting age reduced to 18 with the 26th Amendment
