Franklin D. Roosevelt: Campaign Address at Madison Square Garden

U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Campaign Address at Madison Square Garden in New York City on October 31, 1936, culminated an aggressive campaign in which the Democratic incumbent drew enormous enthusiastic crowds. The substantive issue in the campaign was whether to continue to go forward with the New Deal reforms, particularly those adopted as part of what scholars call the Second New Deal, or to turn away from these changes as radical and dangerous to the idea of limited government. Although unemployment remained high, the New Deal had stimulated a significant degree of recovery from the low point of the depression, provided relief and government employment to millions of Americans, and instituted substantial social and regulatory reforms, most important the establishment of Social Security and a labor relations system designed to assist workers in establishing unions and winning collective bargaining rights.

In his Campaign Address at Madison Square Garden, the president responds to criticisms coming from Republicans and employers, says that he welcomes the hatred of the rich, and promises to continue to serve both the interests of the American people as a whole and the unemployed, workers, farmers, and young people. Roosevelt responds with vehemence to a last-minute “paycheck” campaign by Republicans trying to convince workers that the payroll tax that would begin on January 1, 1937, was unfair, would rise substantially in the future, and would never be returned to them in benefits. Roosevelt points out that employers and employees paid equal amounts for the old-age-insurance Social Security program and that employers alone paid for the unemployment insurance compensation system also established by the Social Security Act. The election resulted in the biggest popular vote mandate in U.S. history and a widening of the already substantial Democratic margin in Congress.