| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 State-by-state results | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Western States Presidential Election of 1936, the 3rd WS presidential election, took place on October 10, 1936. PLP candidate William Borah defeated incumbent president Arthur Vandenberg with a first round majority of votes to become the 3rd President of the Western States.
Background[]
In the last presidential election, conservative President Charles Curtis surprisingly won a second term in the first round of the election, preventing a widely-expected runoff against Progressive candidate Hiram Johnson. Curtis would continue to govern in his moderate, yet still committedly conservative, style, which made more of the populace turn against him as time went on and their economic situation failed to improve in the face of the Great Depression. The president was mulling whether he felt up to another reelection campaign when he suddenly died of a heart attack in January 1936. This thrust Vice President Arthur Vandenberg, an exile from the United States who had held no other political office besides the vice presidency, into the executive mansion.
Vandenberg was a conservative intellectual who stuck closely to his guiding principals, vetoing any legislation that he felt overstepped the authority of the federal government. This, combined with the fact that he had not been elected to the office and was not at all from the west, made citizens of the WS feel that he was an unworthy president who didn't aim to govern in their interests, a feeling that was boosted every time he blocked vital economic relief legislation.
Meanwhile, the Conservative's two main opponents, the Progressive and Liberal parties, had agreed to a merger in 1935. This would be their first presidential election as a unified group.
Conservative Party Nomination[]
The Conservative National Convention was held from July 4-8 in Sacramento. The two main candidates were President Vandenberg and Governor Frank Merriam of California. Vandenberg faced opposition mainly because of his status as a non-westerner, but he managed to win the nomination on the first ballot, the party not being willing to break with their incumbent president. Arthur Capper, formerly a senator from Kansas, had been appointed to the vacant vice presidency by Vandenberg and confirmed by Congress. As the new incumbent vice president, he earned the nomination. It was hoped that his genuine Western roots would help endear the ticket to the majority of voters. The Conservative ticket was informally referred to as "the Arthurs".
Progressive-Liberal Party Nomination[]
The Progressive-Liberal National Convention was held from June 15-22 in Denver. Hiram Johnson announced that he was not running after his failed campaign in 1933, but this was a ruse- he did want to be nominated and worked with his allies to arrange a draft effort. Some of the many other candidates running included Charles L. McNary of Oregon, Alf Landon of Kansas, and Alva B. Adams of Colorado. The main obstacle to Johnson's bid, though, was William E. Borah, longtime Senator from Idaho. Borah had been known, in the US Senate, as a maverick, often going against the National American Party's leadership. Now that he was part of a fully progressive party in the WS, he did not come into that sort of conflict nearly as often, but he still had his moments of defiance. This made party leadership reluctant to support him, as they knew he would be a candidate and president they couldn't control. However, he won almost every primary election going into the convention, which gave him no guarantee to win the nomination, but did give him momentum. The first ballot was almost tied between Johnson and Borah, each having a little over 200 delegates. Johnson then peaked on the second ballot, going to over 300 delegates, but still short of nomination. The convention would then go to 48 ballots over the next week, with Johnson and Borah remaining deadlocked at the top. Finally, not wanting to see such division in the party he largely helped build, Johnson decided to "withdraw" from the race he was never officially in, reaffirming to the convention that he was not in the running. This allowed Borah to take the nomination barely on ballot 49. Immediately showing his maverick personality, Borah demanded to be allowed to pick his own running mate as Johnson had essentially done in 1933. The senator had been impressed by Joseph C. O'Mahoney, a fellow senator from Wyoming, who had proven to be a strong opponent of big business during his time in politics. Despite concerns over his Catholicism, party leaders did not want to cause an immediate rift with their new presidential candidate, and so relented and let Borah have his pick.
The Campaign[]
Borah was eager to finally have his time on the national stage as the face and leader of his party. He spoke in several major cities throughout the campaign, keeping his characteristic combative style and never entirely sticking to his party's stated platform. The divisive internal party politics of the convention were put aside in the hopes of finally getting a Progressive as president; Johnson campaigned heavily for Borah in his home state of California.
Vandenberg did less campaigning, hoping to create the image that he was busy working as president to combat the economic crisis. However, he had no legislative record to stand on, as he had spent most of his time in office vetoing bills rather than passing them. Borah and the PLP attacked him relentlessly on this point, some calling him the "obstructer-in-chief." They built upon voters' preexisting suspicions of the exile president by framing him as an ambitious man who only held the office of the presidency for its prestige, rather than out of any real desire to help the people.
Results and Aftermath[]
Borah, boosted by strong performances in his home of Idaho and also in California, took the presidency with a first-round majority of votes. O'Mahoney became the highest elected Catholic official in any of the three American nations' history. Despite his age, 71 at inauguration, Borah aimed to start off his presidency quickly with aid for the people, which he began to accomplish with the Recovery Act of 1937. Despite his progressivism, Borah was also a believer in individual rights, and opposed some legislation that he felt encroached on these rights. A maverick to the end, he sent shockwaves through his party and the country when he vetoed the Interstate Public Works Act, which would have established a national administration to provide jobs and rebuild the country, in summer 1937. This signaled the start of what would be a rocky relationship between the president and Congress. Progressives in Congress often complained that they couldn't be sure what would happen to any bill they passed- even if Borah said he would support it, he was known to change his mind, and not afraid to use his veto power.
Though he was an isolationist, Borah believed in friendly, peaceful relations with other countries around the world. His first action in this regard was to open diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union, making the WSA the second of the three American nations to do so, after the USCA. Instead of building up the military and fortifying the border in fear of a socialist invasion from the USCA, he believed that he could negotiate a deal between the two countries and guarantee peace on the continent. In a move unanimously opposed by his cabinet, he contacted General Secretary Earl Browder of the USCA in hopes of holding a peace summit where both countries could recognize each other and set their official borders. The only thing stopping him from achieving his goal was the refusal of Browder and the USCA government, who still saw the western states as their rogue territory.
Through a controversial first term, Borah managed to get more legislation passed than either of his predecessors, beginning the process of getting the country back on its feet. His occasional and unpredictable vetos, combative style, and unique beliefs on foreign policy caused much debate, and his popularity tended to wildly fluctuate throughout his time as president. Despite this and his ever-advancing age, President Borah decided to run for a second term in 1939.
| ||||||||||||||||||||
