Though a major poll at the time suggested that the increasingly divisive Franklin Roosevelt would lose the 1936 Presidential race to Alf Landon, Roosevelt prevailed by a huge margin. This design, based on FDR buttons from that campaign season, is printed on a white, 100% cotton tee, available in both unisex and a woman's version.
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graphic.
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Womens 100% Fine Jersey Cotton
T-Shirt
$19.99
Unisex 100% Fine Jersey Cotton
T-Shirt
$19.99
"The
only thing we have to fear is
fear itself." (FDR's first innaugural address, March 4, 1933) First Inaugural Address, March
4, 1933
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882 - April 12, 1945) faced significant hurdles during the 1936 presidential election season, most notably a poor economy, extensive unemployment and a tireless storm of critics, like popular radio host Father Charles Coughlin, who regularly used his sermons to attack Roosevelt.
"These economic
royalists complain that
we seek to overthrow the
institutions of
America. What they really
complain of is that we
seek to take away their
power." (Speech to the Democratic National Convention in 1936)
Republicans railed against FDR's New Deal, the series of relief programs enacted in response to the Great Depression, calling it too expensive and ineffective. But they lacked a strong candidate to oppose FDR, ultimately settling on Alf Landon, a Kansas governor who failed to energize their base.
"Freedom to learn is
the first necessity of
guaranteeing that man
himself shall be
self-reliant enough to
be free." (Address to the National Education Association in June 1938)
The popular Literary Digest, which had correctly predicted the winners of the past five presidential elections, famously printed a poll predicting a win for Republican Alfred Landon. In the end, though, FDR won in a landslide, sweeping all states except Maine and Vermont. Maine had enjoyed a long-standing reputation as a bellwether state for presidential elections, leading to the popular phrase "As Maine goes, so goes the nation," which contemporary Democratic strategist Jim Farley would amend to "As Maine goes, so goes Vermont."
"No business which
depends for existence on
paying less than living
wages to its workers has
any right to continue in
this country." (Roosevelt on the National Industrial Recovery Act in June 1933)
Roosevelt would be elected again in 1940, his historic fourth term dominated by World War II. He suffered a fatal cerebral hemorrhage on April 12, 1945 in Warm Springs, GA.
"We have not come
this far without a
struggle and I assure
you we cannot go further
without a struggle.
For twelve years this
Nation was afflicted
with hear-nothing,
see-nothing, do-nothing
Government.
The Nation
looked to Government but
the Government looked
away.
Nine mocking years
with the golden calf and
three long years of the
scourge!
Nine crazy
years at the ticker and
three long years in the
breadlines!
Nine mad
years of mirage and
three long years of
despair!
Powerful
influences strive today
to restore that kind of
government
with its
doctrine that that
Government is best which
is most indifferent.
For nearly four years
you have had an
Administration which
instead of twirling its
thumbs has rolled up its
sleeves.
We will keep
our sleeves rolled
up.
We had to struggle with
the old enemies of peace
- business and financial
monopoly, speculation,
reckless banking, class
antagonism,
sectionalism, war
profiteering.
They had begun to
consider the Government
of the United States as
a mere appendage to
their own affairs.
We
know now that Government
by organized money is
just as dangerous as
Government by organized
mob.
Never before in all our
history have these
forces been so united
against one candidate as
they stand today.
They
are unanimous in their
hate for me - and I
welcome their
hatred.
I should like to have it
said of my first
Administration that in
it the forces of
selfishness and of lust
for power met their
match.
I should like to
have it said of my
second Administration
that in it these forces
met their master."
(Franklin
Delano Roosevelt
campaign address at
Madison Square Garden,
New York City on October
31, 1936)
Franklin Delano Roosevelt's
Pearl Harbor
“A Date That Will Live in Infamy”
Address to the Nation from December 8th 1941
