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US President National Vote

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> United States > U.S. Executive > Popular Vote

Office

President

Type

General Election

Filing Deadline

June 01, 1928 - 12:00pm

Polls Open

November 06, 1928 - 06:00am

Polls Close

November 06, 1928 - 08:00pm

Term Start

March 04, 1929 - 12:00pm

Term End

March 04, 1933 - 12:00pm

Contributor

Thomas Walker

Last Modified

Chronicler November 09, 2008 09:23am

Data Sources

Congressional Quarterly Guide to U S Elections, third edition

Description

Calvin Coolidge was a popular President, but he was not free from struggles with Congress. Western Republicans in Congress pushed a bill which would bring some relief to farmers, but Coolidge vetoed the bill; he disliked governmental interference in the private sector. The Senate rejected Coolidge’s choice for Attorney General, which was an action that Congress had not taken in several decades. The major accomplishment of Coolidge’s second term was the ratification by the Senate of the Kellogg-Briand Treaty, in which fifteen industrial nations outlawed war as a means of solving international problems.

Herbert Hoover, the Secretary of Commerce, was widely sought for the Presidency. As the organizer of relief in Europe following the World War and then as organizer of relief following flooding of the Mississippi River in 1927, Hoover’s reputation as a humanitarian was established. Some of the Republican delegates had cast votes for him in 1920 and 1924, and he was immediately the front-runner in 1928. Senator Frank Willis of Ohio announced his candidacy for the nomination as well, but his campaign was cut short when he died on 3/30/1928. Hoover went on to win the nomination with the support of 77% of the delegates. Hoover was the first Quaker to be nominated for President by a major party.

The Democratic Party held its most unified convention since 1916. William McAdoo declined to run for President, and New York Governor Alfred E. Smith won the nomination on the first ballot. Smith was the first Catholic to be nominated for President by a major party.

The major issue of the campaign was the issue of repealing Prohibition. The 18th Amendment had been passed by Congress during Wilson’s administration, but Congress never did appropriate enough money for enforcement. Smith wanted to allow states to make laws which would regulate the sale of alcohol, and Hoover supported enforcement of the existing law. (The Prohibition Party in California even listed Hoover as its Presidential nominee.) The alcohol issue was related to the secondary issue of Smith’s Catholicism, although neither of the two major candidates discussed religion in the campaign. Smith gained support in New England from Catholics, but he lost support in the South.

Hoover and the Republicans carried the nation in a landslide. Smith won two states outside of the South (MA and RI), but Hoover carried VA, NC, FL, and TX (none of which had voted Republican since 1876). The Republicans picked up eight U.S. Senators and 30 U.S. House seats (several of them in the South). The Democrats found some solace in the fact that their nationwide total was the highest ever given to a Democratic nominee for President.