An Analysis of the Campaign of 1928 Grace R
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Loyola University Chicago Loyola eCommons Master's Theses Theses and Dissertations 1946 An Analysis of the Campaign of 1928 Grace R. Conant Loyola University Chicago Recommended Citation Conant, Grace R., "An Analysis of the Campaign of 1928" (1946). Master's Theses. Paper 108. http://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_theses/108 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Loyola eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of Loyola eCommons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. Copyright © 1946 Grace R. Conant AN ANALYSIS OF THE CAMPAIGN OF 1928 BY GRACE R. CONANT A THESIS SUMTTED IN PARTIAL FULFD.IJIFNT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DIDREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN LOYOLA UNIVERSITY JUNE 1946 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ...................................................... CHAPTER PAGE I. ECONOMIC CONDITIONS, 1920-1928 •••••••••••••••••••••••••• 1 Business activity and influence ••• Business civilization ••• Americans economic masters of the world ••• Foreign loans ••• Unequal distribution of wealth ••• Poverty ••• Slums ••• Textile mills ••• Coal mining districts ••• Rural areas ••• Growth of cities ••• Real estate boom ••• New salesmanship • • • Term, obsolescense ••• Pressure on heretical ••• Movies ••• Effect on tastes of the public ••• Church criticism of movies • • • Church attendance ••• Competition with amusements ••• Association of business with-religion ••• Education in the twenties ••• Developments of research ••• Business interest and influence ••• Prohibition ••• Effect upon the mores of the people ••• The intellec tuals ••• Writers ••• Escapists ••• Lack of stability and maturity ••• II. EVIDENCES OF NATIONAL DISSATISFACTION ••••••••••••••••••• 30 Attempt to stabilize agriculture ••• Overexpansion during World War ••• Post- war depression ••• Far.mer's demand of government aid ••• McNary-Haugen Bill ••• Veto ••• Mr. HoQver's plan ••• Reason for conservatism of the farmer ••• Weakness of organized labor ••• Reasons for same ••• The I.W.W. ••• The great steel strike ••• The R~d Scare ••• Prose- cution of aliens ••• Injunctions ••• A.F. of L. in league with employers ••• Lack of radicalism among working men ••• Basic principles of Socialism ••• Factions ••• Communists and their factions ••• Union in 1924 ••• Subsequent weakness of Socialists ••• Reasons ••• Socialist Platform in 1928 ••• Reasons for lack of strength. CHAPTER PAGE III. THE MEN AND THE ISSUES INVOLVED ••••••••••••••••••••••••• 70 Political parties seek power ••• Party platforms vague ••• Pressure groups ••• Industrial and financial consolidation ••• Attitude of the Supreme Court ••• Quasi- public corporations ••• Dangers of consolidation ••• Government position ••• Influential men backed by business interests ••• Hoover's policies as Secretary of Commerce ••• Chamber of Commerce ••• National Association of Manufacturers ••• Foreign securities ••• Hoover's supporters ••• The press ••• Platfo~s ••• Al Smith's qualifications ••• Backers ••• Campaign expenditures, both parties • • • Per Cert. contributed by business leaders • • • Low moral tone ••• Cult of hate. IV. REASONS FOR SMITH'S DEFEAT ............................. 113 Four decisive issues ••• Lack of constructive platform ••• Smith's stand on prohibition ••• Texas State conven tion ••• Mass meetings in South ••• .Anti-8mith sentiment ••• 'Solid South' and the religious question ••• Smith's graDIIIar ••• Bishop Cannon, foe of Smith ••• Fund contributions ••• Ku Klux Klan ••• Propaganda leaflets, papers ••• Thomas J. Heflin ••• Smith's personal creed ••• Anti-Saloon League ••• Politics from the pulpit • • • The whispering campaign ••• Negro plank • • • Donators to the cam paigns ••• John Raskob, •capitalist' ••• Attitude of the Press ••• Public relation counsel articles ••• The Hoover-for President Committee ••• Forecast of the depression ••• Speculation ••• Radio's part in the campaign ••• Smith, 'city man' ... Hoover, the 'great humanitarian' ••• Patronage ••• "Cult of Hate" ••• Indepen dent progressives ••• INTRODUCTION The campaign of 1928 took place one year before the most feverish and extensive period of industrial and financial consolidation in the history 1 of' American industry came to an abrupt close. As combination in owner- ship grew, leadership in business policies came more and more to be concentrated in the hands of' finance. It is not stretching the facts too far to say that a few dominant finance-capitalists groups were controlling the destinies of a great part of the country's business life by the end 2 of' the nineteen-twenties. The warnings of' Woodrow Wilson were unheeded; 3 the government support to industry, under President Coolidge, was pushed to extremes, and the high plateau of' the prosperity of' the twenties was attained. Under his regime the function of' the government, as interpreted by the Republican Party, was no longer limited to the task of' guarding the rights of' the citizens, but was directed to the task of' encouraging the developnent of' business. 4 It is of' social significance that the standards and ideas of' the financial and industrial leaders permeated the whole population. !Laidler, Harry W., Ph.D., Concentration 1a Control 1a American Industry, Thomas Y. Crowell Company, New York, 1931, vii. 2Hacker, Louis K. and Kendrick, Benjamin B.~ !h! United States ~ 1865, F .s. Crofts and Company, New York, 1941, 674. 3taidler, 315. 4.u:orrison, Samuel Eliot and Coumager, Henry Steele, .!h.2 Growth £.!: !h! American Republic, Oxford University Press, New York, 1937,II, 521,530. i There was little difference between the platforms of the two parties. 5 Both parties had ample financial backing, conseqtBntly the campdgn drew its life from the personalities of the two candidates. 6 Under the two party system there are numerous factions with conflicting interests within each party, one or more of which may feel that their cause will be better represented by a candidate of the other party. The result of the election proved that factional questions cut across party lines. In order of ~portance the issues seem to have been: (1) the belief that prosperity and the Republican Party were synonomous, (2) the prejudice of rural America against a city machine politician, (3) the opposition of the Protestants to electing a Catholic to the Presidency, and (4) the detennination of the Evangelical Protestants to retain prohibition.? One may ask whether: (1) the amount of money spent by either party was a determining factor, (2) what part the press played in influencing the voters, (3) how did the farmers and the large numbers of workers who were not prospering vote, and (4) why didn't the Socialists make a better showing? 5Hacker, 554, also Odegard, Peter H., and Helms, E. Allen, American Polities, Harper and Brothers, New York, 1938, 75. 6Hicks, John D., !!!! American Nation, Houghton Mifflin Company, New York, 1941, fJJ6. 7Ibid., 608. ii The result of the election of 1928 can be understood only if one has a grasp of the forces at work during the preceding years. Research in this field has been endless. Almost every phase of American life, economic and social, during the twenties has been the subject of books, pamphlets, and articles. Kuch must be omitted; a great deal dismissed because of its obvious bias. The parts retained depend upon the judgment and viewpoint of the writer. An honest attempt has been made to present the material in an impartial manner. iii CHAPTER I ECONOMIC CONDITIONS FROM 1921 to 1928 Never in the history of the United States has there been a period comparable to the one which this study covers. It seemed a golden age ot opportunity to the vast majority of Americans. Industrial progress had made possible a new and brighter life to those fortunate enough to be employed in the world of business. The results of the election of 1928 can be understood only by exploring the main currents ot the period. The phenomenal growth of industry during the nineteen-twenties caused great changes in the material and spiritual views of the people. Frederick L. Allen, in Only Yesterday, gives this searching analysis of the post-war period: A graph of business activity tor the years 1923-1929 shows a jagged upward climb to an unheard ot high plateau in 1929. That plateau represents nearly seven years of unparalleled plenty; nearly seven years during which men and women might be disillusioned about politics, religion, and love, but believed that at the end of the rainbow there was at least a pot of negotiable legal tender consisting of the profits of American industry and American salesmanship; nearly seven years duringwhich the business man was the dictator of our destinies, ousting the statesman, the priest, the philosopher, as the creator o! standards ot ethics and behavior. He was the final authority on the conduct of American society. 1 lAllen, Frederick Lewis, Only Yesterday, Blue Ribbon Books, Incorporated, New York City, 1931, 160. 1 2. Writing for Harper's Monthly Magazine in 1929, James Truslow Adams States: "Since the Industrial Revolution in the business classes have exercised political power and influence all out of proportion to their numbers •••• Ours is a business civilization. Our economic and social life has been dominated by the business man's point of view. It has infiuenced profoundly 2 our moral, intellectual, and even religious life." Americans