Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1936-11-15
BY MARK SULLIVAN.

with the man elected-what
- will President Roosevelt do?
Will he 60 to the right? Will he go to
the left? Will he do anything about
the Supreme Court? Will he do any
thing about the Constitution? Specu-
lation on that sort Of question follows
the precedent of past elections and is
entertaining.
But the real place to look is not at
the man elected, but at the people
who elected him. If there are to be
permanent consequences of this cleo
ton, II 1t is sign of something in
process Of happening to America, 1t
lies in the minds of the 26,0000 900
people who said they wanted Mr..
Roosevelt to be the head of the Ma
ton.
Let us inquire just what was in their
minds. Not all Of them had the same
motive or expectation, for Mr.. Roose-
velt's majority is an extremely diverse
group. But we can find some COM
mon denominators that were vaguely
or definitely in the minds OF those
who voted for the New Deal.
On election day, the very earliest
clue to what was about to happen
came from that tiny New Hampshire
town which completed its voting earli-
est and first gave out the results. Ac-
cording to newspaper accounts, the
seven voters. wishing to be the first
district to proclaim its results, met
Just after midnight Of election morn
ing, and their returns were printed IN
the early issues of afternoon news
papers Of election day.
On the presidency they voted five
for Gov. Landon, two for Mr.. Roose-
welt. In that was no particular clue.
But in the voting for other offices was
o sign of the country's mind. AS re-
spects Governor. Senator, member Of
Congress and other minor Offices, all
seven voted Republican.
Symbolic of Margin.
Here obviously were seven persons,
conservative in bent, Republican by
tradition-but with two preferring
that Mr.. Roosevelt should continue
to be President. Those two were SYM
bolic of a margin which, multiplied
all over the country. gave Mr.. Roose-
welt a total vote of some $4,000, 900,
and a majority of 100000. Mr..
Roosevelt's majority came mainly
from persons whose voting for him
was an exception to their accustomed
ways of thought.
Largest, I think, among the motives
OF those who voted for Mr.. Roosevelt
was gratitude. Millions of persons, in
GLIDING some of the best type OF citi-
zen we have, had suffered in the de-
preston. They had suffered-and even
greater than their suffering in actual
tty was their apprehension of worse
that might come. During the years
of depression they had lost their jobs,
used up their savings, found them
selves unable to pay interest on mort
cages on their homes, seen the failure
of banks that contained their funds.
Employers had carried them until en-
ployers, too, fell into error Relatives
and friends had helped them until
they, too, became destitute.
In the midst of that despair they
had seen MIR. Roosevelt become Presi-
dent. With the mere fact of a new
administration had come hope. The
hope had been strengthened by sheer
infection Of optimism that radiated
from the new Presidents personality.
Presently hope had become budding
reality, in the form Of banks reopened.
employment renewed. In millions OF
cases these persons had had reason
to feel direct, concrete gratitude for
specific actions affecting them-the
new administration had prevented
foreclosure of mortgages on their
homes, had renewed mortgages at
lower rates Of interest, had made new
loans on generous terms.
All this resulted in what we may
call a gratitude vote" and 1t was
large. 1t may not have been intellec-
tually exact. But If Mr.. Roosevelt was
not the cause Of recovery he was the
symbol Of it; and it is the habit OF
most Of us to think In terms OF SYM
bos. Nearly every competent author
ity agrees, I think, that recovery was
bound to come anyhow; that indeed
1t might have been more rapid under
another President; that in fact it was
more rapid in other countries. Econ
omists know that; but the human in
stinct Of the average man, which felt
the emotion Of gratitude and deter
mined to give expression to 1t by vot-
ing for Mr.. Roosevelt-that quality OF
human nature may be as admirable as
the cold logic Of the economists.
Relatives and Friends.
It was not merely the complete and
utter victims Of the depression, not
merely those who had gone on relief.
It was also the relatives and friends
of these. Relatives and friends had
been under the burden of contribute
ing support to their intimates, and
this Mr.. Roosevelt had ended. Many
q worker who during the depression
had suffered no diminution Of in
come felt as grateful to the President
as those who had been obliged to go
on relief. Mr.. Roosevelt, to some ex-
tent, had established the idea that
relatives and friends need no longer
care for their own needy-the burden
Is on the Government. That notion
may not be good; If it is to be a per-
manent feature Of the American way
Of life America may not be better
country for it. But it had been done,
and those who had been relieved from
caring for their own unfortunates felt
gratitude to MIR. Roosevelt.
A large generalization to be made
about the Roosevelt voters has to do
with their economic status. They
were workers, laborers in factories,
collar workers In offices. Dur
ing the depression they had passed
through terror. Those who had not
lost their jobs had been fearful Of
losing them. Those who were elderly
were scared about their old age. Per-
haps not many Of them blamed their
employers, nor felt resentment toward
them. But they had come face to
face with the worst phase Of an eco
nomic system which from time to