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Chapter 8: Politics in the 1930s

In the spring of 1931, my Dad talked with other people active
in politics concerning whom to support for the Democratic nomination
for President of the United States. Dad’s group settled on Franklin D.
Roosevelt, the Governor of New York. Al Smith had been the party’s
candidate in 1928 and was actively seeking support again. My parents
had supported Al Smith in 1928. Smith was a Roman Catholic and this
was a major point against him in the South, which was a traditional
Democratic stronghold. Indeed, my earliest memory of political activity
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port of Al Smith in 1928.
Dad was elected President of the “Roosevelt for President” com-
mittee in Utah. Dad felt that Roosevelt would be an appealing choice.
Theodore Roosevelt had received strong support and appreciation in
the American West. I recall Dad saying, “The name Roosevelt alone
is worth a million votes in the West.” Dad and his committee worked
hard and were successful at the Utah State Democratic Convention in
electing delegates pledged to vote at the coming National Convention
in Chicago. Dad was one of the delegates elected. Grandpa Holmes and
his second wife, “Aunt” Lucy, decided to drive back to the convention
in their car; Dad went with them and took my brother Sam. For the
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answer the telephone there. Sam normally had that job, which paid $1
per day. This was June 1932. The Convention was hotly contested but
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from New York to Chicago to accept the nomination.
The election of November 1932 was a real battle. To Dad’s
dismay, President Grant inserted a brief editorial in the Deseret News
(owned by the Church) urging President Hoover’s reelection. In those
days, it was traditional for presidential candidates to travel around the
nation in a special railroad train. People would be made aware of when
the train would come to their town. The candidate would speak to the
assembled crowd from the rear deck of the observation car on the train.

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