Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

Scholarly studies and interpretations of the presidential and congressional campaigns and elections of 1936, 1940, and 1944 have been generally consistent in their theories, findings, and conclusions. In particular, they mostly agree that the issues, activities, rhetoric, voting behavior, and results of these three national elections were dominated by the fact that President Franklin D. Roosevelt was running for reelection. In his study of the American party system, political scientist James L. Sundquist stated, “The new Democratic party-the New Deal Democratic party-was issue-oriented, working-class-based and even more urban-centered than before, activist, liberal and wholly devoted to Rooseveltian leadership” ( Sundquist 1983 : 227). Likewise, in their study of the American party system, political scientists Everett C. Ladd, Jr and Charles D. Hadley concluded, “Roosevelt was notably successful in maintaining the support of people who thought of themselves as Democrats and in attracting independents to his cause” ( Ladd and Hadley 1975 : 83). Thus, it is helpful to examine and compare particular leadership, rhetorical, and other political skills of Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) that made him such an unusually effective campaigner, party leader, and vote-getter. In his book, Roosevelt: The Lion and the Fox (1956) , James MacGregor Burns explained and advanced a “power broker” thesis ... log in or subscribe to read full text