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Henry Breckinridge's 1936 Democratic presidential campaign
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| Contributor | Chronicler |
| Last Edited | Chronicler Feb 20, 2025 07:57pm |
| Category | News |
| News Date | Feb 20, 2025 07:00pm |
| Description | Henry S. Breckinridge was the only Democrat to mount a nationwide challenge to President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1936 primaries. He obtained ballot status in the primary in four contiguous states, winning no delegates. Overall, he was held to just 3% of the overall Democratic primary vote.
Background
At the beginning of 1936, Breckinridge was well-known as the attorney for Charles Lindbergh. Breckinridge came from a prominent Kentucky family; his great-grandfather John Breckinridge was US Attorney General for Thomas Jefferson, a first cousin once removed was Vice President John C. Breckinridge, and his father served in the Spanish-American War. Woodrow Wilson appointed Breckinridge Assistant Secretary of War in 1913, a position he had no real qualifications for. Breckinridge was assigned the task of retrieving Americans stuck in Europe at the beginning of World War I, which he wasn’t overly interested in doing and allowed Herbert Hoover to do the work instead as a volunteer. Then in 1916 Breckinridge and the War Secretary resigned because they wanted to increase the size of the US Army against Wilson’s wishes.
Breckinridge served in World War I and then earned a place on the US Olympic fencing team in 1920. Settling in New York City, he became an attorney for the rich and famous. His most prominent client was Charles Lindbergh, and the two men were best friends for 15 years. A major connection between the two was Breckinridge’s wife, Aida de Acosta Breckinridge, the first woman aviator and the only woman to have flown a dirigible by herself in history. In many ways, she was more interesting than her husband. Breckinridge and Lindbergh worked to move President Hoover’s 1930 Conference on Child Health and Protection into advocacy for eugenics, but the deepening Depression dissipated interest. Breckinridge served as Lindbergh’s attorney during the kidnapping controversy, eventually even sitting at the prosecution table when Hauptmann was tried. In 1933, Breckinridge served as attorney for the Joint Congressional Committee to Investigate Dirigible Disasters.
Senatorial Campaign, 1934
Although he was a Democrat, Breckinridge did not generally support the New Deal. He had supported Byrd at the 1932 Democratic National Convention (Roanoke Times, 9/6/1934). When FDR cancelled a group of air mail contracts in 1934, Lindbergh wrote a letter to FDR and the Postmaster General, but Breckinridge released it to the press before it reached Washington for a greater impact (Riverside Daily Press, 2/12/1934). The Liberty League, a group of anti-New Deal Democrats, coalesced in 1934 and began to investigate how it could undermine FDR. One of its members was Wilson’s SOS Bainbridge Colby, who had been a founder of the Progressive Party in 1912. Colby and his circle of influence helped convince Breckinridge to run for the US Senate in 1934 on the Constitutional Party line. Initially, newspapers believed that Breckinridge’s entry would make the race “a three-cornered affair” with incumbent Royal S Copeland and his Republican opponent (Miles City Star, 9/30/1934). During the fall campaign, however, Breckinridge was engaged in representing Lindbergh during the preparation for Hauptmann’s trial (Reidsville Review, 10/8/1934). Breckinridge canvassed New York in the week before the midterm election, proclaiming that FDR was “ripping up” the Constitution unnecessarily (Buffalo Courier Express, 11/3/1934). On election day, Copeland won re-election with 55% of the vote, with his Republican challenger winning 37%. Breckinridge placed fifth with less than 1%.
Considering that the nation was enduring a Depression, Breckinridge had a successful 1935. He spent the early part of the year attending the Hauptmann trial, earning a handsome fee from Lindbergh. Then a deceased cousin, the editor of the Lexington Herald, left Breckinridge $15,000 (Hardinsburg Herald, 3/1/1935). In June, Breckinridge spoke at the Tusculum College commencement (Rogersville Review, 5/23/1935) and then told the Tennessee Bar Association that FDR was elevating the federal bureaucracy to replace Congress (Nashville Banner, 6/7/1935). A month later, Breckinridge led a weeklong critique of the New Deal at the Institute of Politics (Buffalo News, 7/19/1935). In the fall, he advocated that the Republicans forego a 1936 national convention and instead work with disaffected Democrats to stop what he called the Russocrats (Boston Globe, 9/4/1935).
Entering the Race
As the year 1936 dawned, it was unclear what Breckinridge planned. He wrote to Ohio and asked for blank petitions; these letters usually mentioned the name of the candidate (Piqua Daily Call). A reporter contacted Sen. Byrd to ask if Breckinridge was working for him again, but Byrd said he would not be a candidate and didn’t know Breckinridge’s plans (Danville Register and Bee, 1/15/1936). Later in January, Breckinridge flew down to Macon, Georgia, where a gathering of states’ rights leaders met with Ku Klux Klansmen to discuss how to stand against FDR (Macon News, 1/29/1936). After working for two months trying to recruit a candidate, Breckinridge realized he had the name recognition to run himself; on Leap Day of 1936, he contracted with a man in Columbus, Ohio named C.A. Weinman to circulate his petitions for the Ohio primary (Bellingham Herald, 2/29/1936).
The Breckinridge campaign picked up steam quickly. Walter H. Buck, the leader of a Maryland group called the Association for the Defense of the Constitution, agreed to collect signatures in their state (Hagerstown Morning Herald, 3/3/1936). On March 4, 1936, three years after FDR took the oath of office, Breckinridge opened his Maryland headquarters. He said that the New Deal “destroys jobs” and offered a 12-point program for the voters to consider (Hanover Evening Sun, 3/5/1936). In New Jersey, FDR’s petitions forgot to include him as a presidential contender, only listing names of people running as delegates to the DNC. Breckinridge responded by saying that since FDR wouldn’t be on the ballot there, he (Breckinridge) was entitled to all the delegate votes (which is not how the system worked; Lexington Herald, 4/13/1936).
Breckinridge appeared on the ballot in four primaries in 1936 during a three-week period. His first appearance was in Pennsylvania on April 28, where FDR crushed him 95-5%. A week later, Roosevelt and Breckinridge faced off in Maryland. Breckinridge hoped to win the supporters of recently deceased Gov. Ritchie, but on primary day FDR won an 83-15% victory. Still, Breckinridge’s supporters celebrated: they said that their vote confirmed their statement that FDR would not be able to win Maryland in the general election (Hanover Evening Sun, 5/5/1936). By this time, Breckinridge was finally facing reality and stopped campaigning. When Ohio voted a week later, FDR won by a 94-6% margin. Breckinridge’s electoral campaign ended in New Jersey on May 19. He received 81% of the vote; the remaining 19% wrote in FDR. However, missing from this information is the fact that 200,000 Democrats in New Jersey voted for delegates but not in the presidential race (only 60,000 Democrats voted in the presidential preference race). Breckinridge, back at home in New York City, told a reporter that he would not attend the Democratic National Convention that year (Lexington Herald, 6/20/1936).
Breckinridge then toyed with the idea of running for president using the Constitution Party label (Lovington Reporter, 6/26/1936). He within a month decided to support the Landon-Knox ticket instead (Moline Daily Dispatch, 7/15/1936). Thereafter, Breckinridge returned to his role as attorney for the rich and famous. In 1940, he ended his relationship with Lindbergh after the latter said that western nations shouldn’t step in to stop Hitler. Thereafter, Breckinridge began to disassociate from far right groups, which likely was hurting his legal career.
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