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1932 Democratic Party presidential primaries

← 1928 March 8 to May 20, 1932 1936 →
1,154 delegates to theDemocratic National Convention 770 (two-thirds) votes needed to win
Candidate Franklin D. Roosevelt Al Smith John Nance Garner Home state New York New York Texas Delegate count 666.25 201.75 90.25 Contests won 11 1 2 Popular vote 1,464,607 415,795 249,816 Percentage 49.44% 14.04% 8.43%
First place by popular vote First place by convention roll call      Roosevelt     Smith     Garner     Various[a]
Previous Democratic nominee Al Smith Democratic nominee Franklin D. Roosevelt

From March 8 to May 20, 1932, voters and members of theDemocratic Party elected delegates to the1932 Democratic National Convention for the purpose of nominating a candidate forpresident in the1932 United States presidential election.^[1]New York GovernorFranklin D. Roosevelt was selected as the nominee through a series ofprimary elections andcaucuses culminating in the1932 Democratic National Convention held from June 27 to July 2, 1932, inChicago,Illinois.

Al Smith was the unsuccessful Democratic nominee for president in 1928. After receiving the Democratic nomination, Smith was prohibited by New York law from simultaneously running for reelection inthe 1928 gubernatorial election. Smith persuaded his then-allyFranklin D. Roosevelt to run in his place.^[2] Roosevelt won.

Though Smith's initial plan was to use the 1928 campaign as a springboard to the White House in 1932, he demurred following his defeat, loosening his grip on both theDemocratic National Committee andTammany Hall and instructing several inquirers, including Roosevelt, that he would not seek the White House in 1932. However, Smith began to reconsider his decision following a series of snubs by Roosevelt, his own dissatisfaction with the private sector, and the rising odds of a Democratic victory overHerbert Hoover following the1929 stock market crash and ensuingGreat Depression.^[2]

Beginning the day after his 1931 inauguration for a second term asGovernor of New York, Roosevelt allowed his aidesLouis Howe andJames Farley to float his name as a potential candidate for president in 1932.^[3]

An early test of Roosevelt's strength came when Democratic National Committee chairmanJohn Jakob Raskob floated a proposal to have the party endorse the repeal ofProhibition and theSmoot–Hawley Tariff Act, both positions unpopular with Roosevelt's potential base in the South and West. Endorsing the tariff would also signal a boost to Smith's bid for a second nomination for president, since Smith had already endorsed it.^[4] Defying Raskob's expectations, Roosevelt opposed the motion and gathered enough support to force Raskob to withdraw both proposals at the March 5 meeting, thereby solidifying his support in the South and West. Regional leaders likeCordell Hull began to rally behind Roosevelt's potential candidacy.^[5]

Roosevelt and his supporters spent much of 1931 cultivating support from party leaders and potential delegates in the South and West. Roosevelt secured endorsements from Hull,Pat Harrison,James F. Byrnes, andRichard Russell Jr.^[6] These conversations, along with internal polling conducted byJesse I. Straus and theScripps-Howard newspaper agency, convinced Roosevelt that he was a serious front-runner for the nomination.^[7]

At the January 9, 1932 national committee meeting, Roosevelt's allies successfully moved to place the 1932 convention in Chicago and elevate an ally to secretary of the party.^[8] On January 23, Roosevelt officially announced his candidacy.

In February 1932, Smith publicly commented that he “would place [his] cause in the hands of the people and risk [his] chances without making an active campaign for the nomination.”^[9] While this was not a clear declaration of candidacy, political observers saw this as an indication that Smith was making himself available as a “Stop Roosevelt” candidate ahead of the first primary contest, which would be held inNew Hampshire.^[9]

Candidate	Born	Office Held	State	Delegates
Franklin Delano Roosevelt	January 30, 1882 (age 50) Hyde Park, New York	44th Governor of New York (1929–1932)	New York	666.25

Candidate	Born	Office Held	State	Delegates
Al Smith (Campaign)	December 30, 1873 (age 58) Manhattan,New York	42nd Governor of New York (1919–1920, 1923–1928)	New York	201.75
John Nance Garner	November 22, 1868 (age 63) Detroit, Texas	39th Speaker of the House of Representatives (1931–1933)	Texas	90.25

Many delegations were not selected in public statewide primaries. The following table shows delegates awarded at a state level by convention, committees, and other means that did not involve votes by a public electorate.

• Republican Party presidential primaries, 1932
• White primary

• Smith, Jean Edward (2007).FDR (1st ed.). New York: Random House.ISBN 978-1-4000-6121-1.
• Caro, Robert (1974).The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York. New York: Knopf.ISBN 978-0-394-48076-3.OCLC 834874.

• 1932 United States Democratic presidential primaries
• Tammany Hall
• Al Smith

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