1936 Democratic National Convention
The 1936 Democratic National Convention was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from June 23 to 27, 1936. The convention resulted in the nomination of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Vice President John N. Garner for reelection.
| 1936 presidential election | |
 .jpg) Nominees Roosevelt and Garner | |
| Convention | |
|---|---|
| Date(s) | June 23–27, 1936 |
| City | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Venue | Convention Hall Franklin Field |
| Candidates | |
| Presidential nominee | Franklin D. Roosevelt of New York |
| Vice presidential nominee | John N. Garner of Texas |
Change in Rules
Before 1936, the rule for nominating candidates for President and Vice President required a two-thirds vote of the delegates.
However, this rule was abolished at the 1936 Democratic Convention, and conventioneers adopted a rule which provided that a simple majority could nominate, allowing for candidates to more easily be nominated and thus produce less balloting.
It also began to diminish the South's clout at the convention, making it easier for Democrats to begin adopting civil rights and other liberal ideas into their platforms; while the two-thirds rule had long given the South a de facto veto on presidential nominees, Roosevelt pushed for the removal of the policy, in part due to past deadlocks (for example, the 1924 presidential nomination had required 103 ballots over a month).[1]
With the rule's abolition, Missouri Senator Bennett Champ Clark noted that "the Democratic Party is no longer a sectional party, it has become a great national party."[1] Southern Democrats would continue to decline in power,[1] ultimately leading to the Dixiecrat movement and Nixon's 1968 Southern strategy.
South Carolina Senator Ellison D. Smith walked out of the convention hall once he saw that a black minister, Marshall L. Shepard, was going to deliver the invocation.[2]
Results
The Balloting:
| Democratic National Convention presidential vote, 1936 | |
|---|---|
| Candidates |  |
| Name | Franklin D. Roosevelt |
| Certified Votes | Voice Vote(100.00%) |
| Margin | 0 (0.00%) |
President Roosevelt and Vice President Garner were renominated by acclamation without need for a roll-call vote.
In his acceptance speech on June 27 at the adjacent Franklin Field, Roosevelt remarked, "This generation of Americans has a rendezvous with destiny."
See also
References
- Schulman, Bruce (1994). From Cotton Belt to Sunbelt: Federal Policy, Economic Development, and the Transformation of the South, 1938-1980. Duke University Press. pp. 44–46. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
- "Curtains for Cotton Ed". Time. 1944-08-07. Retrieved 2012-05-09.
External links
- Democratic Party Platform of 1936 at The American Presidency Project
- Roosevelt Nomination Acceptance Speech for President at DNC (transcript) at The American Presidency Project
- A film clip "Democrats Cheer, 1936/06/24 (1936) is available at the Internet Archive
| Preceded by 1932 Chicago, Illinois |
Democratic National Conventions | Succeeded by 1940 Chicago, Illinois |
