November 8, 1932

1932 United States presidential election

Franklin D. Roosevelt defeats Herbert Hoover in the 1932 presidential election

Hoover conceded by telegram from his Stanford home at about half past nine. The winner then waited almost four months to take office.

8 November 1932

On 8 November 1932, amid the Great Depression, American voters chose presidential electors pledged overwhelmingly to Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Democratic governor of New York, and his running mate, House Speaker John Nance Garner. They were rejecting President Herbert Hoover's record and Vice President Charles Curtis with him.

Roosevelt took 57.4 percent of the popular vote — 22,818,740 ballots — against Hoover's 39.6 percent and 15,760,425. The Socialist nominee Norman Thomas received 884,781 votes and no electoral votes.

Forty-two states out of forty-eight

Six states stayed with Hoover; Roosevelt carried the rest. The returns ultimately produced a 472–59 Electoral College result — nearly nine-tenths of the College.

The same voters gave Democrats substantial majorities in both houses of Congress. Roosevelt's campaign had used the phrase New Deal, but the developed package of programs later attached to the term did not yet exist; the Democratic platform had explicitly promised repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment.

Conceded that night, inaugurated in March

At approximately 9:30 p.m., Hoover sent Roosevelt a concession telegram from his home at Stanford University.

Election night selected pledged electors; the electors cast the formal constitutional votes later. Under the pre-Twentieth Amendment calendar, the inauguration waited until 4 March 1933.

Sources

Researched 23 Aug 2026 6 sources 2 audit passes

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