United States Senate elections, 1938
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Republican holds
Republican pickups
Democratic holds
Democratic pickups
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The U.S. Senate elections of 1938 occurred in the middle of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's second term. This occurred six years after the Democratic landslide in the 1932 election, and so the opposition Republicans gained six seats from the Democrats. However, the Democrats retained a commanding lead over the Republicans with more than two-thirds of the chamber.
A contemporary account [1] cited a number of reasons for the losses suffered by the Democrats. The first was the Recession of 1937, which had continued into the first half of 1938, and which had arguably weakened public confidence in the administration's New Deal economic policies. Controversy over the Judiciary Reorganization Bill of 1937 (Roosevelt's "court-packing" plan) was also a major factor. There were, in addition, strains between the more liberal New Deal supporters and the conservative wing of the Democratic party centered in the Southern states. These strains were exacerbated by an effort led by President Roosevelt to target certain conservative senators for defeat in Democratic primaries, including Walter George of Georgia, Millard Tydings of Maryland and Ellison Smith of South Carolina, along with the chairman of the House Rules Committee, John J. O'Connor of New York. While a number of New Deal supporters won primary elections, such as Sen. Alben Barkley in Kentucky, who defeated future baseball commissioner Happy Chandler, Sen. James P. Pope of Idaho, a prominent New Deal supporter, lost his bid for re-nomination, as did California senator William McAdoo, though McAdoo's Democratic opponent Sheridan Downey had campaigned as a liberal New Dealer who would also do more to improve pension plans.[2][3]
Given the high levels of Democratic success in the 1930, 1932, 1934 and 1936 elections, the Democrats did face a difficult position in defending a large number of seats, even without the pressures described above.
Overall, the Democrats would go on to lose 6 seats in the Senate, though with 69 seats, they retained a very strong majority position.
The Republicans took an open seat in New Jersey, and defeated five Democratic incumbents:
- Augustine Lonergan (D-CT)
- George McGill (D-KS)
- Fred H. Brown (D-NH)
- Robert J. Bulkley (D-OH)
- F. Ryan Duffy (D-WI)
Since McGill's defeat, Kansas has not elected a Democrat to the Senate, a trend continued with the 2010 election of Jerry Moran. In this election, the Republicans also captured a Senate seat in South Dakota that was held by Democrat Herbert Hitchcock. On December 29, 1936, Hitchcock had been appointed to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Republican Senator Peter Norbeck,[4] but was unsuccessful at recapturing the Democratic nomination in the primary.[4] Hitchcock's term, however, ended on November 8, 1938,[4] fifty-six days before the 76th United States Congress was sworn in.
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[edit] Senate composition before and after elections
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[edit] Senate contests in 1938
1 special election held due to resignation of Arthur H. Moore (D-NJ), who had been elected Governor of the state of New Jersey
2 special election held due to death of Royal S. Copeland (D-NY)
3 special election held due to death of Nathan L. Bachman (D-TN)
[edit] Further reading
- Dunn, Susan. Roosevelt's Purge: How FDR Fought to Change the Democratic Party (2010) excerpt and text search
- Plesur, Milton. "The Republican Congressional Comeback of 1938," Review of Politics Vol. 24, No. 4 (Oct., 1962), pp. 525-562 in JSTOR
[edit] References
- ^ 1939 Britannica Book of the Year, "Democratic Party," pages 205-6
- ^ http://books.google.com/books?id=bk0EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA13&lpg=PA13&dq=sheridan+downey+new+deal&source=bl&ots=5QbnMBWB0f&sig=1xRUwKWnnnoWfcMYb3p8KfVcKPo&hl=en&sa=X&ei=r0ntTpOSKsX_ggeFje2-BQ&ved=0CEEQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=sheridan%20downey%20new%20deal&f=false
- ^ http://newstalgia.crooksandliars.com/gordonskene/newstalgia-reference-room-sheridan-dow
- ^ a b c http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=H000646
[edit] See also
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