1936 United States presidential election in Tennessee

Summary

The 1936 United States presidential election in Tennessee took place on November 3, 1936, as part of the 1936 United States presidential election. Tennessee voters chose 11[2] representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

1936 United States presidential election in Tennessee

← 1932 November 3, 1936[1] 1940 →

All 11 Tennessee votes to the Electoral College
 
Nominee Franklin D. Roosevelt Alf Landon
Party Democratic Republican
Home state New York Kansas
Running mate John Nance Garner Frank Knox
Electoral vote 11 0
Popular vote 327,083 146,520
Percentage 68.78% 30.81%

County Results

President before election

Franklin D. Roosevelt
Democratic

Elected President

Franklin D. Roosevelt
Democratic

For over a century after the Civil War, Tennessee was divided according to political loyalties established in that war. Unionist regions covering almost all of East Tennessee, Kentucky Pennyroyal-allied Macon County, and the five West Tennessee Highland Rim counties of Carroll, Henderson, McNairy, Hardin and Wayne[3] voted Republican – generally by landslide margins – as they saw the Democratic Party as the "war party" who had forced them into a war they did not wish to fight.[4] Contrariwise, the rest of Middle and West Tennessee who had supported and driven the state's secession was equally fiercely Democratic as it associated the Republicans with Reconstruction.[5] After the disfranchisement of the state's African-American population by a poll tax was largely complete in the 1890s,[6] the Democratic Party was certain of winning statewide elections if united,[7] although unlike the Deep South Republicans would almost always gain thirty to forty percent of the statewide vote from mountain and Highland Rim support.

In 1920 by moving into a small number of traditionally Democratic areas in Middle Tennessee[8] and expanding turnout due to the Nineteenth Amendment and powerful isolationist sentiment,[9] the Republican Party captured Tennessee's presidential electoral votes and won the governorship and three congressional seats in addition to the rock-ribbed GOP First and Second Districts. In 1922 and 1924, with the ebbing of isolationist sympathy and a consequent decline in turnout,[10] the Democratic Party regained Tennessee's governorship and presidential electoral votes; however, in 1928 anti-Catholicism against Democratic nominee Al Smith in this powerfully fundamentalist state[11] meant that Herbert Hoover bettered Harding’s performance without however gaining the down-ballot coattails of 1920.

These Republican gains would be completely reversed in the 1930s due to the impact of the Great Depression, which was generally blamed upon the Republican Party’s policies during the 1920s. Internal divisions prevented the Republicans taking advantage of a disputed Democratic gubernatorial primary in 1932 between Lewis Pope and Hill McAlister,[12] and for the next third of a century the Republicans would rarely contest statewide offices seriously despite their continuing dominance of East Tennessee and half a dozen Unionist counties in the middle and west of the state.[13] Statewide politics for the decade and a half from the beginning of the Depression would be dominated by Edward Hull “Boss” Crump, whose Memphis political machine would consistently provide decisive votes in statewide Democratic primaries — aided by cross-party voting by Republicans in eastern mountain counties.[13] Crump would be supported during this era by long-serving Senator Kenneth Douglas McKellar.

Polls always had incumbent President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Vice President John Nance Garner easily carrying the state against Republican nominees Governor Alf Landon of Kansas and Frank Knox. A mid-October Literary Digest poll had Roosevelt winning the state by a two-to-one margin.[14] In the end Roosevelt received over 68 percent of the vote to Landon’s 30.82 percent, surpassing the Digest forecast.[15][16]

Analysis edit

Roosevelt’s 68.78 percent of the vote is the largest obtained by any presidential candidate in Tennessee since 1832, when Andrew Jackson received 95.42 percent of the total. Despite this, the most strongly Unionist counties of East Tennessee were steadfast in their support for Landon:[17] his 84.39 percent in Johnson County was the second-largest proportion Landon received in any county nationwide, whilst Sevier County and Cocke County were his sixth and eighth-best counties respectively.[18] Roosevelt was, however, the first Democrat since James Buchanan in 1856 to carry Hardin County, one of the small Unionist Highland Rim bloc in West Tennessee, and Morgan County.[19] FDR was also the first Democrat since Andrew Jackson to carry Anderson County.[19]

As of the 2020 presidential election, this election constitutes the last occasion when Bradley County and Greene County voted for a Democratic presidential candidate.[20]

Results edit

1936 United States presidential election in Tennessee
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Franklin D. Roosevelt (inc.) 327,083 68.78%
Republican Alf Landon 146,520 30.81%
Socialist Norman Thomas 686 0.14%
Prohibition D. Leigh Colvin 634 0.13%
Communist Earl Browder 319 0.07%
Union William Lemke 296 0.06%

Results by county edit

1936 United States presidential election in Tennessee by county[21][a]
County Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Democratic
Alfred Mossmann Landon
Republican
Norman Mattoon Thomas
Socialist
David Leigh Colvin
Prohibition
Earl Russell Browder
Communist
William Frederick Lemke
Union
Margin Total votes cast
# % # % # % # % # % # % # %
Anderson 2,348 55.73% 1,805 42.84% 12 0.28% 47 1.12% 1 0.02% 0 0.00% 543 12.89% 4,213
Bedford 2,428 82.00% 514 17.36% 3 0.10% 12 0.41% 4 0.14% 0 0.00% 1,914 64.64% 2,961
Benton 1,762 72.54% 661 27.21% 1 0.04% 2 0.08% 3 0.12% 0 0.00% 1,101 45.33% 2,429
Bledsoe 1,218 50.35% 1,178 48.70% 16 0.66% 7 0.29% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 40 1.65% 2,419
Blount 3,056 42.45% 4,119 57.22% 24 0.33% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% -1,063 -14.77% 7,199
Bradley 2,806 52.19% 2,561 47.64% 2 0.04% 5 0.09% 2 0.04% 0 0.00% 245 4.56% 5,376
Campbell 2,703 48.95% 2,814 50.96% 2 0.04% 3 0.05% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% -111 -2.01% 5,522
Cannon 1,166 69.82% 498 29.82% 2 0.12% 1 0.06% 2 0.12% 1 0.06% 668 40.00% 1,670
Carroll 2,989 56.15% 2,282 42.87% 6 0.11% 12 0.23% 13 0.24% 21 0.39% 707 13.28% 5,323
Carter 1,837 27.33% 4,858 72.27% 27 0.40% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% -3,021 -44.94% 6,722
Cheatham 1,352 87.62% 183 11.86% 2 0.13% 6 0.39% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 1,169 75.76% 1,543
Chester 1,172 67.20% 565 32.40% 1 0.06% 6 0.34% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 607 34.81% 1,744
Claiborne 3,036 55.71% 2,400 44.04% 7 0.13% 7 0.13% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 636 11.67% 5,450
Clay 661 62.42% 378 35.69% 6 0.57% 1 0.09% 13 1.23% 0 0.00% 283 26.72% 1,059
Cocke 1,217 24.57% 3,731 75.31% 1 0.02% 2 0.04% 3 0.06% 0 0.00% -2,514 -50.75% 4,954
Coffee 2,148 83.58% 408 15.88% 4 0.16% 9 0.35% 1 0.04% 0 0.00% 1,740 67.70% 2,570
Crockett 1,921 78.41% 525 21.43% 1 0.04% 2 0.08% 1 0.04% 0 0.00% 1,396 56.98% 2,450
Cumberland 1,426 50.05% 1,409 49.46% 7 0.25% 7 0.25% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 17 0.60% 2,849
Davidson 25,530 84.76% 4,467 14.83% 4 0.01% 37 0.12% 8 0.03% 73 0.24% 21,063 69.93% 30,119
Decatur 1,502 62.04% 919 37.96% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 583 24.08% 2,421
DeKalb 2,947 57.73% 2,140 41.92% 2 0.04% 12 0.24% 4 0.08% 0 0.00% 807 15.81% 5,105
Dickson 2,022 82.97% 402 16.50% 8 0.33% 5 0.21% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 1,620 66.48% 2,437
Dyer 3,355 83.90% 557 13.93% 9 0.23% 7 0.18% 11 0.28% 60 1.50% 2,798 69.97% 3,999
Fayette 1,764 98.38% 29 1.62% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 1,735 96.77% 1,793
Fentress 743 35.20% 1,299 61.53% 43 2.04% 9 0.43% 17 0.81% 0 0.00% -556 -26.34% 2,111
Franklin 3,534 86.92% 519 12.76% 2 0.05% 5 0.12% 2 0.05% 4 0.10% 3,015 74.15% 4,066
Gibson 4,744 82.79% 958 16.72% 5 0.09% 2 0.03% 21 0.37% 0 0.00% 3,786 66.07% 5,730
Giles 3,760 85.88% 600 13.70% 6 0.14% 10 0.23% 2 0.05% 0 0.00% 3,160 72.18% 4,378
Grainger 1,153 39.54% 1,754 60.15% 8 0.27% 1 0.03% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% -601 -20.61% 2,916
Greene 4,708 51.98% 4,313 47.62% 16 0.18% 15 0.17% 5 0.06% 0 0.00% 395 4.36% 9,057
Grundy 1,488 86.01% 238 13.76% 3 0.17% 1 0.06% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 1,250 72.25% 1,730
Hamblen 2,438 51.88% 2,261 48.12% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 177 3.77% 4,699
Hamilton 16,568 70.24% 6,917 29.32% 44 0.19% 43 0.18% 17 0.07% 0 0.00% 9,651 40.91% 23,589
Hancock 960 36.46% 1,673 63.54% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% -713 -27.08% 2,633
Hardeman 1,869 92.25% 157 7.75% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 1,712 84.50% 2,026
Hardin 1,538 53.13% 1,348 46.56% 9 0.31% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 190 6.56% 2,895
Hawkins 2,278 40.76% 3,300 59.04% 2 0.04% 9 0.16% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% -1,022 -18.29% 5,589
Haywood 1,725 98.23% 29 1.65% 1 0.06% 1 0.06% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 1,696 96.58% 1,756
Henderson 1,307 47.48% 1,380 50.13% 29 1.05% 27 0.98% 7 0.25% 3 0.11% -73 -2.65% 2,753
Henry 3,223 86.69% 470 12.64% 8 0.22% 13 0.35% 4 0.11% 0 0.00% 2,753 74.05% 3,718
Hickman 1,804 83.33% 353 16.30% 3 0.14% 3 0.14% 2 0.09% 0 0.00% 1,451 67.02% 2,165
Houston 813 80.82% 193 19.18% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 620 61.63% 1,006
Humphreys 1,279 81.00% 297 18.81% 1 0.06% 2 0.13% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 982 62.19% 1,579
Jackson 1,702 79.98% 422 19.83% 2 0.09% 1 0.05% 1 0.05% 0 0.00% 1,280 60.15% 2,128
Jefferson 1,079 31.29% 2,356 68.33% 2 0.06% 8 0.23% 3 0.09% 0 0.00% -1,277 -37.04% 3,448
Johnson 533 15.61% 2,882 84.39% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% -2,349 -68.78% 3,415
Knox 19,837 61.76% 12,183 37.93% 62 0.19% 19 0.06% 5 0.02% 14 0.04% 7,654 23.83% 32,120
Lake 3,604 96.88% 113 3.04% 1 0.03% 2 0.05% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 3,491 93.84% 3,720
Lauderdale 3,540 94.27% 203 5.41% 8 0.21% 2 0.05% 2 0.05% 0 0.00% 3,337 88.87% 3,755
Lawrence 4,773 58.46% 3,342 40.94% 12 0.15% 22 0.27% 6 0.07% 9 0.11% 1,431 17.53% 8,164
Lewis 1,068 76.34% 331 23.66% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 737 52.68% 1,399
Lincoln 3,451 88.76% 430 11.06% 1 0.03% 5 0.13% 1 0.03% 0 0.00% 3,021 77.70% 3,888
Loudon 2,146 47.61% 2,343 51.99% 6 0.13% 11 0.24% 1 0.02% 0 0.00% -197 -4.37% 4,507
Macon 876 38.25% 1,402 61.22% 2 0.09% 6 0.26% 4 0.17% 0 0.00% -526 -22.97% 2,290
Madison 6,095 82.93% 1,223 16.64% 19 0.26% 13 0.18% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 4,872 66.29% 7,350
Marion 2,664 60.08% 1,770 39.92% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 894 20.16% 4,434
Marshall 2,431 88.76% 300 10.95% 1 0.04% 2 0.07% 1 0.04% 4 0.15% 2,131 77.80% 2,739
Maury 3,809 88.07% 497 11.49% 9 0.21% 7 0.16% 3 0.07% 0 0.00% 3,312 76.58% 4,325
McMinn 4,077 48.35% 4,310 51.11% 45 0.53% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% -233 -2.76% 8,432
McNairy 1,742 51.19% 1,613 47.40% 4 0.12% 10 0.29% 34 1.00% 0 0.00% 129 3.79% 3,403
Meigs 994 56.90% 740 42.36% 13 0.74% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 254 14.54% 1,747
Monroe 4,106 54.03% 3,493 45.97% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 613 8.07% 7,599
Montgomery 3,314 79.28% 838 20.05% 7 0.17% 13 0.31% 4 0.10% 4 0.10% 2,476 59.23% 4,180
Moore 719 87.15% 101 12.24% 5 0.61% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 618 74.91% 825
Morgan 1,291 51.13% 1,225 48.51% 4 0.16% 5 0.20% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 66 2.61% 2,525
Obion 3,728 89.94% 417 10.06% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 3,311 79.88% 4,145
Overton 1,608 62.91% 942 36.85% 4 0.16% 2 0.08% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 666 26.06% 2,556
Perry 896 80.65% 210 18.90% 2 0.18% 3 0.27% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 686 61.75% 1,111
Pickett 454 40.54% 651 58.13% 2 0.18% 2 0.18% 11 0.98% 0 0.00% -197 -17.59% 1,120
Polk 2,283 56.20% 1,755 43.21% 12 0.30% 12 0.30% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 528 13.00% 4,062
Putnam 2,619 68.35% 1,207 31.50% 2 0.05% 1 0.03% 3 0.08% 0 0.00% 1,412 36.85% 3,832
Rhea 2,199 52.34% 1,964 46.75% 20 0.48% 18 0.43% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 235 5.59% 4,201
Roane 2,467 47.13% 2,757 52.66% 2 0.04% 1 0.02% 8 0.15% 0 0.00% -290 -5.54% 5,235
Robertson 2,629 86.03% 388 12.70% 2 0.07% 7 0.23% 1 0.03% 29 0.95% 2,241 73.33% 3,056
Rutherford 4,101 87.07% 580 12.31% 9 0.19% 13 0.28% 2 0.04% 5 0.11% 3,521 74.76% 4,710
Scott 827 29.05% 2,012 70.67% 5 0.18% 3 0.11% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% -1,185 -41.62% 2,847
Sequatchie 840 70.12% 353 29.47% 1 0.08% 2 0.17% 2 0.17% 0 0.00% 487 40.65% 1,198
Sevier 1,144 21.55% 4,126 77.73% 6 0.11% 9 0.17% 7 0.13% 16 0.30% -2,982 -56.18% 5,308
Shelby 61,504 96.56% 2,113 3.32% 61 0.10% 12 0.02% 8 0.01% 0 0.00% 59,391 93.24% 63,698
Smith 2,092 76.74% 626 22.96% 2 0.07% 1 0.04% 1 0.04% 4 0.15% 1,466 53.78% 2,726
Stewart 1,718 84.71% 303 14.94% 3 0.15% 4 0.20% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 1,415 69.77% 2,028
Sullivan 6,269 64.00% 3,492 35.65% 12 0.12% 19 0.19% 3 0.03% 0 0.00% 2,777 28.35% 9,795
Sumner 3,146 85.82% 517 14.10% 2 0.05% 1 0.03% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 2,629 71.71% 3,666
Tipton 4,683 97.58% 116 2.42% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 4,567 95.17% 4,799
Trousdale 765 91.18% 72 8.58% 2 0.24% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 693 82.60% 839
Unicoi 879 31.89% 1,850 67.13% 3 0.11% 1 0.04% 23 0.83% 0 0.00% -971 -35.23% 2,756
Union 963 34.90% 1,785 64.70% 7 0.25% 1 0.04% 3 0.11% 0 0.00% -822 -29.79% 2,759
Van Buren 690 73.33% 251 26.67% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 439 46.65% 941
Warren 2,304 80.28% 553 19.27% 5 0.17% 7 0.24% 1 0.03% 0 0.00% 1,751 61.01% 2,870
Washington 4,448 47.86% 4,788 51.52% 15 0.16% 36 0.39% 7 0.08% 0 0.00% -340 -3.66% 9,294
Wayne 733 35.91% 1,304 63.89% 2 0.10% 2 0.10% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% -571 -27.98% 2,041
Weakley 3,254 77.26% 928 22.03% 11 0.26% 11 0.26% 5 0.12% 3 0.07% 2,326 55.22% 4,212
White 1,814 75.14% 591 24.48% 2 0.08% 4 0.17% 1 0.04% 2 0.08% 1,223 50.66% 2,414
Williamson 2,769 90.52% 286 9.35% 4 0.13% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 2,483 81.17% 3,059
Wilson 3,108 85.27% 534 14.65% 1 0.03% 2 0.05% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 2,574 70.62% 3,645
Totals 328,083 68.77% 147,055 30.82% 692 0.15% 634 0.13% 326 0.07% 296 0.06% 181,028 37.94% 477,086

Notes edit

  1. ^ These figures differ from those in Dave Leip’s Atlas.

References edit

  1. ^ "United States Presidential election of 1936 — Encyclopædia Britannica". Retrieved December 25, 2018.
  2. ^ "1936 Election for the Thirty-eighth Term (1937-41)". Retrieved December 25, 2018.
  3. ^ Wright, John K. (October 1932). "Voting Habits in the United States: A Note on Two Maps". Geographical Review. 22 (4): 666–672.
  4. ^ Key (Jr.), Valdimer Orlando; Southern Politics in State and Nation (New York, 1949), pp. 282-283
  5. ^ Lyons, William; Scheb (II), John M.; Stair, Billy. Government and Politics in Tennessee. pp. 183–184. ISBN 1572331410.
  6. ^ Phillips, Kevin P.; The Emerging Republican Majority, pp. 208, 210 ISBN 9780691163246
  7. ^ Grantham, Dewey W. (Fall 1995). "Tennessee and Twentieth-Century American Politics'". Tennessee Historical Quarterly. 54 (3): 210–229.
  8. ^ Reichard, Gary W. (February 1970). "The Aberration of 1920: An Analysis of Harding's Victory in Tennessee". The Journal of Southern History. 36 (1): 33–49.
  9. ^ Phillips; The Emerging Republican Majority, p. 211
  10. ^ Phillips; The Emerging Republican Majority, p. 287
  11. ^ Larson, Edward J. Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America's Continuing Debate over Science and Religion. ISBN 9780465075102.
  12. ^ Majors, William R. (1986). Change and continuity: Tennessee politics since the Civil War. p. 65. ISBN 9780865542099.
  13. ^ a b Majors, Change and continuity, p. 72
  14. ^ "Flash—The Literary Digest Radio Presidential Poll". Blaine County Booster. Dunning, Nebraska. October 15, 1936. p. 1.
  15. ^ "1936 Presidential General Election Results – Tennessee". Retrieved December 25, 2018.
  16. ^ "The American Presidency Project – Election of 1936". Retrieved December 25, 2018.
  17. ^ Phillips; The Emerging Republican Majority, p. 288
  18. ^ Leip, Dave. "1936 Presidential Election Statistics". Dave Leip’s U.S. Election Atlas.
  19. ^ a b Menendez, Albert J. (2005). The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868-2004. pp. 298–304. ISBN 0786422173.
  20. ^ Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016
  21. ^ "TN US President Race — November 03, 1936". Our Campaigns.