Repeat
We rank two elections where winning is consistent.
College basketball season is over. We crowned South Carolina the winner in the ladies' tournament. It’s not often we get to declare South Carolinian's winners, but in this instance, we can.
On the men’s side, UConn kept the crown it won a year ago. A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned the Huskies’ dominance in this year’s tournament, and the likelihood of them repeating as champions was likely.
And for my generous paid subscribers who are faithful to Purdue, my thoughts and prayers are with you during this challenging time.
It’s difficult to repeat something. Let’s look at some examples. Take exercise. It’s hard to do on a regular basis. Eating healthy is also a challenge. Maybe being nice to people is something you find hard to repeat. You see where I’m going here.
Whether winning basketball tournaments or the presidency, repeating the feat is tough.
In the men's tournament, there have been eight repeat champions. In United States presidential history, twenty-one presidents have won reelection, which might seem easier unless you are one of the eleven who lost or the four who died. I have yet to see a basketball team lose the national championship because someone died in the middle of the game.
The point here is UConn repeated as champion and has a chance to do it a third time.
This brings us to back-back White House champion Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his presidential run from the 1930s through the early 40s, which turned out to be not so difficult.
Let's dive in.
41: The Presidential Election of 1936
Election Date: November 3, 1936
The Candidates:
FDR was an easy choice for renomination by the Democrats after he conquered fear and put people back to work.
He was such a dominant candidate that the Republicans turned to Kansas Governor Alf Landon, who doesn’t sound like a real person, much like there is no such school named Fairleigh Dickinson- unless you went to Purdue. Then you know.
Major Issue of the Day:
The Depression was still Great, and Europe was marching toward war.
Berlin hosted the Olympics while the King of England passed on his job, which wasn’t much to begin with.
We were still three years away from holding a national men's college basketball tournament.
The Winner:
Labor.
FDR put Americans back to work. They built roads and harnessed rivers to make electricity. Americans got a New Deal, one that spurred the United States to become an international superpower.
The States in the Electoral College:
48. The District of Columbia was still sitting on the bench of presidential elections.
Alaska and Hawaii were not states – so the US was this one big continent.
The Electoral College had 531 members, and the winner needed 266 votes.
FDR crushed Alf like Alf was a sixteen-seed who sneaked into the tournament. The president flipped four states: Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, and UConn—or, as it is usually called, Connecticut.
The score was 46-2, with Vermont and Maine going for Alf. They must not have spoken to the good people of Kansas, who saw fit not to vote for Alf.
FDR won 60% of the vote, which is like shooting 75% from the three-point line. Simply dominating.
The 2021 OKH Presidential Ranking:
FDR is ranked third and has the potential to move up the rankings. I have a big fat book about Roosevelt sitting on my shelf, waiting not to be read for many years.
Why Did I Rank it Here:
I’ll just cut to the chase on this one. These two rankings fit perfectly with the timely theme of UConn’s winning the national championship earlier this week.
It’s real in-depth stuff you can only get with Okay History.
After that beatdown, the Republicans had four years to develop a better candidate and plan, and they assumed that FDR would move on because that’s what presidents do.
Except when they didn’t.
FDR went for the threepeat.
Let’s dive in.
40: The Presidential Election of 1940
Election Date: November 5, 1940
The Candidates:
FDR was cruising. His Fireside chats were a hit. The Democratic party replaced Vice President John Garner with Henry Wallace. I’m not sure anyone noticed.
The Republicans plucked Wendell Willkie, a Wall Street industrialist and CEO of an electric company. He had plenty of traits going for him. He was a former Democrat, a one-time delegate for FDR back in 1932, and he never ran for office in his life. But he wasn’t an isolationist like other candidates who wanted nothing to do with the war in Europe, so he got the nod.
Major Issue of the Day:
War was raging in Europe, and there was a strong movement in the United States to stay out.
Indiana won the men's college basketball national championship, defeating Kansas.
The Winner:
Freedom.
About a year after we reelected FDR a third time, Japan attacked us, which forced the United States into the Second World War.
Thankfully, the vast resources of the United States prevailed and brought freedom to most of the world because FDR was still in charge.
The States in the Electoral College:
48. The District of Columbia would experience an influx of 300,000 new residents in the coming years, leading to significant housing issues. Fortunately, they didn’t have any representation in Congress to address it.
The Electoral College had 531 members, and the winner needed 266 votes.
Willkie made it more of a game, only losing to FDR by about 5 million votes and taking ten states. He flipped Indiana, Michigan, Iowa, both Dakotas, Nebraska, and Colorado and hilariously won Kansas.
He did not win his home state of New York, but to be fair, it was the same state as the president.
The 2021 OKH Presidential Ranking:
Third. I’ve never seen anyone rank FDR #1 on a presidential ranking. I could be the first.
Why Did I Rank it Here:
I would have ranked this higher if UConn somehow lost, and this post would have been about improbable victories. Either way, I tied this week’s ranking to the basketball outcome.
What do you think? Was FDR just dominant, like UConn, or were his opponents not good enough, unlike Purdue, a worthy opponent?
Anonymous and I spent the week in Cleveland, where we experienced the eclipse in totality. I have to say I wasn’t expecting much, but man, I was dead wrong.
It was the most beautiful thing I have experienced.
I don’t have any pictures to share because I wanted to experience it and not worry about how the picture would look. Pictures wouldn’t do it justice anyway.
I recommend you plan to see an eclipse in the future. In totality. Not this 90% of whatever. See this thing where the sun is blotted out. You will not regret it.
I’m back on Monday doing our Monday thing. Have a great weekend, and thanks as always for taking time out of your day to read OKH.
Okay,
Chris
There has been no other President like FDR- in both the good and bad senses of the idea.