# SDMB Retrospective US Presidential Elections 1936 **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [April 3, 2014, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-retrospective-us-presidential-elections-1936/685227 "2014-04-03T03:53:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![WillFarnaby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/willfarnaby/32/514_2.png) [@WillFarnaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WillFarnaby)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-retrospective-us-presidential-elections-1936/685227/21 "2014-04-08T13:32:45Z")
Roosevelt’s policies were a continuation of Hoover’s. No surprise that they both extended the depression. ---
**Author:** ![WillFarnaby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/willfarnaby/32/514_2.png) [@WillFarnaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WillFarnaby)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-retrospective-us-presidential-elections-1936/685227/22 "2014-04-08T13:35:21Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > It’s not just that Roosevelt led America out of the Depression (and he did, despite what conservatives now claim). By 1936 we were past the worst of that crisis. But Roosevelt was in the middle of preparing for the next crisis - World War II. > > Most Americans in 1936 were still isolationist and figured if we didn’t think about war, war wouldn’t think about us. Roosevelt was pretty much the only major politician who thought war was on the horizon and America needed to get ready. So if anyone else had been President in the critical years from 1937 to 1941, Germany might have won World War II. And the general consensus among historians\* is that would have been a bad thing. > > \*David Irving cast the dissenting vote. Roosevelt was working behind the scenes for war with Japan. No wonder he was the only one preparing for war. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-retrospective-us-presidential-elections-1936/685227/23 "2014-04-08T22:11:39Z")
> [@WillFarnaby](#): > > Roosevelt was a Rockefeller stooge. No comment on this CT. > [@](#): > > Besides that, your government high school version of events is losing credibility among some mainstream economists. > > [The Wall Street Journal - Breaking News, Business, Financial & Economic News, World News and Video](http://m.us.wsj.com/articles/SB123353276749137485?mobile=y) It’s difficult to take seriously a Wall Street Journal opinion piece on the Great Depression that presents no charts, no tables and no mention of output or unemployment rates. Instead, they talk about hours worked per person. I’m not surprised that there was an expansion of part time work during the depression, but the authors must have known that the picture they depicted was incomplete. From Margo (1993) here are 2 estimates of depression unemployment. All of them fell following March 1933. Note the bump in 1938, consistent with mainstream data-driven views on fiscal and monetary policy. [http://wm40.inbox.com/thumbs/78\_130b46\_fdee1fe\_oP.png.thumb](http://wm40.inbox.com/thumbs/78_130b46_fdee1fe_oP.png.thumb) Your citation was embarrassing and its authors clearly intended to mislead the reader. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-retrospective-us-presidential-elections-1936/685227/24 "2014-04-08T22:19:49Z")
> [@WillFarnaby](#): > > Roosevelt was a Rockefeller stooge. Cite? Did Rockefeller even approve of the New Deal? > [@WillFarnaby](#): > > Besides that, your government high school version of events is losing credibility among some mainstream economists. > > [The Wall Street Journal - Breaking News, Business, Financial & Economic News, World News and Video](http://m.us.wsj.com/articles/SB123353276749137485?mobile=y) Tip: Never, ever use the WSJ as a cite for that kind of proposition. It destroys your credibility. As for mainstream economists, [they’re mostly on the New Deal side, still.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_deal#Effect_on_the_Depression) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-retrospective-us-presidential-elections-1936/685227/25 "2014-04-08T22:21:01Z")
> [@WillFarnaby](#): > > Roosevelt’s policies were a continuation of Hoover’s. Well, yes, except for **almost every single fucking thing** FDR’s first term is remembered for. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-retrospective-us-presidential-elections-1936/685227/26 "2014-04-08T22:22:22Z")
> [@WillFarnaby](#): > > Roosevelt was working behind the scenes for war with Japan. :rolleyes: [That shit again?!](http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Pearl_Harbor) ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-retrospective-us-presidential-elections-1936/685227/27 "2014-04-08T23:34:58Z")
With regards to Pearl Harbor conspiracy theories, Cecil provided one treatment. > **[Did Roosevelt know in advance about the attack on Pearl Harbor yet say nothing?](https://www.straightdope.com/21343027/did-roosevelt-know-in-advance-about-the-attack-on-pearl-harbor-yet-say-nothing)** > > A STAFF REPORT FROM THE STRAIGHT DOPE SCIENCE ADVISORY BOARD ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-retrospective-us-presidential-elections-1936/685227/28 "2014-04-08T23:47:37Z")
> [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#): > > With regards to Pearl Harbor conspiracy theories, Cecil provided one treatment. > [Did Roosevelt know in advance about the attack on Pearl Harbor yet say nothing? - The Straight Dope](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1889/did-roosevelt-know-in-advance-about-the-attack-on-pearl-harbor-yet-say-nothing) From what I’ve read, while the Navy might have expected some Japanese attack, they had no worries WRT Pearl Harbor because they did not believe the Japanese **could** strike effectively so far away from their easternmost refueling-base. Pretty much the same way Al-Qaeda managed to pull off 9/11 – no one imagined they could do it. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-retrospective-us-presidential-elections-1936/685227/29 "2014-04-18T20:13:58Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Cite? > > Did Rockefeller even approve of the New Deal? I repeat. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2014, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-retrospective-us-presidential-elections-1936/685227/30 "2014-04-22T00:39:44Z")
:mad: C’mon, fessup! Who voted Prohibition?! ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2014, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-retrospective-us-presidential-elections-1936/685227/31 "2014-04-22T01:13:26Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > Or if [Edith Keeler](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edith_Keeler) had gotten to him first. Joan Collins in her prime? BOTH Mr and Mrs Roosevelt woulda hit that HARD. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2014, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-retrospective-us-presidential-elections-1936/685227/32 "2014-04-22T15:10:06Z")
Jim Kirk got there first. Another vote for FDR. A no-brainer in 1936 if ever there was one. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2014, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-retrospective-us-presidential-elections-1936/685227/33 "2014-04-24T01:59:09Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Most Americans in 1936 were still isolationist and figured if we didn’t think about war, war wouldn’t think about us. Roosevelt was pretty much the only major politician who thought war was on the horizon and America needed to get ready. So if anyone else had been President in the critical years from 1937 to 1941, Germany might have won World War II. And the general consensus among historians\* is that would have been a bad thing. > > \*David Irving cast the dissenting vote. And [Pat Buchanan](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Churchill,_Hitler_and_the_Unnecessary_War) (if he counts as a historian, which he doesn’t). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-retrospective-us-presidential-elections-1936/685227.md?page=1)