Republicans, fearing an assured loss if they again nominated Hoover
for president, chose Governor Alfred Landon of Kansas, hoping to
mobilize the conservative reaction against Roosevelt. As usual,
Roosevelt was an enthusiastic campaigner, and the people supported
him whole-heartedly, escorting him on impromptu processions in
Chicago, Boston, and New York. As he exited his train, he called
out to crowds, "You look happier than you did four years ago," and
railed in his speeches against Hoover and against the New Deal's
enemies, never mentioning Landon by name. FDR awaited the election
results in his Hyde Park home. He defeated Landon by a landslide,
523–8 in the electoral college, the largest margin of victory in
over a century. The election of 1936 saw the birth of a new Democratic
political coalition: it became the party of the dispossessed, the
new party of the African Americans, and the party of the immigrants
and urban masses.
The inauguration speech in January of 1937 was "militantly humanitarian,"
and, to the President reveling in his electoral success, it seemed
that only the Supreme Court stood in his path. He launched a strident
attack on the institution within weeks of the beginning of his
second term. By now, Louis Howe had succumbed to an illness, and
the President could find no trustworthy and frank advisor as a
replacement. FDR developed a new bill on his own, and jubilantly
announced on February 5–two days after his annual White House reception
for the Judiciary–his plan for the Supreme Court. He proposed that
the court be reorganized because of its inability to meet its caseload,
and asked for permission to add an additional member for each Justice
over seventy who would not retire. At this time, six Supreme Court
members, including the four most conservative, were over 70.
From Vice President Garner down, many saw the court-packing bill
as a sign that the invincible FDR was taking his executive powers
too far. Some historians question whether the president would have
miscalculated public reaction to an attack on the Supreme Court
had Howe been at his side. The court- packing proposal was a sign
that there was no other advisor in Washington who would dare argue
with Roosevelt to his face and force him to hear all sides of a
story. Even Harry Hopkins, to whom FDR had turned after Howe's
departure, was reluctant to incur Roosevelt's wrath to his face,
and would find other ways to make the President hear another side
of an argument. The country was outraged at the court-packing plan,
calling it a dictatorial bill. Many politicians feared that Roosevelt
had challenged the basic democratic foundation of the United States.
Although FDR's court-packing plan met with a defeat at the hands
of his own party, the Supreme Court took his threat quite seriously.
Many justices retired or died within the year, and the Court held
up most New Deal reforms that came under review in the future.
However, the prestige FDR lost in the battle may have prevented
him from being able to pass further reform legislation, such as
an act to make the executive branch of government more efficient.
Once both Republicans and conservative Democrats realized that FDR
was not undefeatable, the whirlwind of legislation and high government
spending that had characterized the first term of his Presidency
could not be repeated.
From 1933 to 1937, the United States had been inching
its way out of the Depression, but due to a sharp decrease in government money
being injected into the economy, the country faced a sharp recession
in 1937. Although Roosevelt again presented legislation to Congress
that increased government spending, his magical hold over legislators
had ended, and his proposed legislation was by and large rejected.
By 1938, the New Deal had lost much of its momentum, and the results
showed in the 1938 Congressional elections. Republicans, though
not in the majority, made great cuts in the New Deal Congress's
power. By now, however, the President's attention was diverted by
foreign affairs, and the Depression continued until the war began.
