SDMB Retrospective US Presidential Elections 1928

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_1928

Without hindsight I’d definitely have voted for Al Smith, but with hindsight I’m inclined towards Hoover for tactical reasons as Smith would later go on to become a proto-Tea Partier and electing a Republican at this juncture would mean a Democrat could be elected in 1932.

I guess I’ll vote Socialist in protest.

Me too.

Probably Hoover. Stuff’s pretty good in America, the economy is buzzing along. We’ve had 8 years of Republican prosperity, and there’s no reason we can’t have 8 more. And Hoover’s certainly qualified for the job. He’s an engineer and humanitarian. The man fed Europe after the war, and as Commerce Secretary, has regulated but not overregulated, helping contribute to prosperity. Electing him will let him turn that managerial expertise to the whole country. And, his running mate is American Indian, an example of the racial progressiveness that the Republican party stands for, and is an accomplished Senator and Majority Leader in his own right.

Smith, on the other hand, has ties to the Tammany political machine.

Hoover was the Republican equivalent of Jimmy Carter—wonderful human being, lousy president. I do kind of like Mr. Curtis, but then images of Hoovervilles filled with the destitute spring to mind.

Attaboy! :cool:

If I was around then, I would probably have voted for Hoover. Being a fellow engineer, I would have thought Hoover would be a dam fine choice. And Smith’s connection to corruption would have bothered me, I would have been sure that Hoover wouldn’t have left any dirt around his office.

If I would have had the means to know what a disaster Hoover would have been, of course I wouldn’t have voted for him. But times being what they were, I would have probably been a typical northern Republican of the era, waiting to be converted by FDR.

:slight_smile:

Since I was about eight years old, every photo and caption in my grandparents’ copy of The Best of Life [Magazine] has been indelibly imprinted in my memory. So, for me, Norman Thomas will always be “that guy being pelted with eggs.” So, I’ll vote for him, out of sympathy for the opprobrium he apparently endured on the campaign trail.