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The Western States Presidential Election of 1933, the 2nd WS presidential election, took place on October 14, 1933. Incumbent President Charles Curtis defeated Progressive Hiram Johnson and Liberal Frederick Steiwer to win a second term.
Background[]
President Curtis won the presidency in 1930 handily, taking over 70% of the vote against no major competition. He was seen by voters as a compromiser, an experienced elder statesman who could unite the country and effectively lead it through its early years. In his first three-year term as president, he largely lived up to this reputation, but vetos on several major progressive bills meant to help fight the effects of the Great Depression led to frustration among his political opponents.
A major development for this campaign was the recent introduction of political parties, after they were not allowed for the first elections in the country. Curtis joined the Conservative Party as soon as he was able, while the Progressive and Liberal parties formed on the opposite side of the spectrum. The president surprised some by announcing his reelection campaign early in the year, as he had not shown much interest in actively running for president in 1930, leading them to assume that he would retire from politics after one term.
Conservative Party Nomination[]
The Conservative National Convention was held from June 25-29 in Denver. Though there was token opposition to the president due to his old age and perceived centrism, Curtis was able to win the nomination on the first ballot. The convention, looking for a strong, ideological conservative voice to back him up, then nominated author and civic activist Arthur Vandenberg for vice president. Vandenberg was originally from Michigan, living there his whole life before the Second American Revolution, at which point he helped hundreds of people from his home state flee socialist control into Canada before leaving the country himself out of concern for his family's wellbeing. He eventually settled in California, resuming his political writings in a new nation. As hundreds of thousands of refugees from the east had undergone a similar journey and were now voters in the west, Conservative Party leadership thought that the nomination of a fellow exile might earn them a few extra votes.
Liberal Party Nomination[]
The Liberal National Convention was held from July 16-21 in Seattle. The party consisted mostly of anti-conservatives who were also in favor of business interests and not interested in the sweeping reforms proposed by the Progressives. Frederick Steiwer had been elected to the WS Senate in 1930 and was seen as one of the leaders of this new party. He won the nomination for president on the 3rd ballot. Herbert Hoover, a noted businessman and philanthropist, was nominated for vice president partially to convince him to open up his wallet and help fund a large part of the campaign.
Progressive Party Nomination[]
The Progressive National Convention was held from July 4-9 in San Francisco. Senator Hiram Johnson of California, a well-known progressive and one of the founders of this new Progressive Party, held vast influence over the convention's delegates and won the nomination on the first ballot. Looking for a running mate that had previously been a part of the National American Party, in order to avoid any petty divisions from dead parties bringing down his campaign, Johnson eventually settled on George W. Norris, who had been considered a potential candidate for president in 1930.
The Campaign[]
The first truly contested presidential campaign in Western States history, much of it was a feeling-out process for all sides. Candidates had to learn which areas were most important to target, especially with the relatively new popular voting method of election. This led to the natural conclusion by all three candidates that California, the most populated state, was an important place to campaign, and all of them made many stops there. President Curtis surprised many with the vigor of his campaign, as he travelled around actively to defend his administration's approach to the Great Depression so far.
Johnson fully expected to go to a second round runoff with Curtis and so did not choose to focus as many resources on the first round as he could, instead spending time in the Senate trying to pass more relief legislation. Steiwer campaigned hard, on the other hand, as he knew he was a rather distant third behind the Conservatives and Progressives. This was in large part due to the lukewarm reception of his party- people were confused on how exactly it was different from the Progressive Party, and then often reacted negatively when they eventually found that the answer had to do with business interests.
The Socialist Party campaign, led by James P. Cannon, never gained as much notoriety as Sinclair's campaign had in 1930. This was largely due to the fact that the leaders of the Western States had deliberately created an environment hostile to leftist politics, helped by anti-socialist propaganda films produced by Hollywood, which led large amounts of socialists to opt to move to the USCA, a socialist country which would accept their beliefs with open arms. This migration left increasingly few socialist supporters in the West, or at least increasingly few who were willing to admit it, and so the party found itself earning less than 2% of the overall vote.
Results and Aftermath[]
As election day ended, Johnson and political observers from all sides were generally confident that the election was going to a runoff, as no candidate seemed to have amassed the popular support necessary to win a majority of the vote. However, as the votes were counted, Curtis consistently overperformed his projections. Everyone was shocked when all the votes were tallied and Curtis was proclaimed the winner with 50.4% of the vote, securing a second term without even the need for a second round in the election.
Political analysts both at the time and today spent time debating the exact causes that led to the president's unexpected triumph. He was helped mightily by strong wins in his home state and neighboring Nebraska, who both voted for him with over 60% of the vote. Curtis also performed unexpectedly well in California, picking up 44% of the vote while Johnson went home with 51% in his own state. There are three factors which most historians agree pushed him over the top- the first was Johnson's lack of committed campaigning, as he seemed to overestimate his support in the wake of his strong write-in performance in 1930. The second was Curtis's strong and energetic campaign, with his good humor and attitude endearing him to voters and his heavy schedule convincing them that his age was no negative trait. The last was that Curtis just seemed to have abnormally strong support among common, middle class voters, who liked his moderate style of governance and honest ways. Political extremism was not in fashion in the Western States during this time, as people still reeled from the successful socialist revolution in the US, and so centrism was seen as an attractive trait. Despite the still-ongoing economic crisis, people thought that Curtis had handled the situation well enough, sticking to his own beliefs while also striking some deals with his political opponents that saw much-needed relief sent to the people. One last, more subtle reason for the president's victory could have been related to the shorter term length of the WS president compared to the US president. Being used to four year terms, voters in the Western States may have simply subconsciously felt that they hadn't yet seen enough of the president to make an honest judgement and send him home.
Curtis would go on to continue his moderate governance, but eventually his act did begin to wear thin about halfway through his second term as the Depression continued to worsen. The president was uncertain if he would pursue a third term in 1936, but he died suddenly of a heart attack early in that year, before he could make a final decision. Vice President Vandenberg became the second President of the Western States and governed with much more direct conservative gusto, blocking most relief legislation passed by the Progressive-controlled Congress.
Steiwer received only 7% of the vote in this election, with his best performance being 29% in his home state, and came to the conclusion that the Liberal Party experiment wasn't worth it- voters were simply unable to differentiate between the two non-conservative parties. Under his and other party leaders' direction, the Liberal Party merged with the Progressive Party in 1935, forming the Progressive-Liberal Party (PLP). This new alliance would go on to challenge President Vandenberg in 1936, this time having a much stronger showing as the country proved to be ready for more aggressive change.
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