On November 7, 1944, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected to an unprecedented, and heretofore unrepeated, fourth term as President of the United States. While this was a major achievement for any man, with 432 electoral votes (out of 531 available) and nearly 54% of the popular vote, Roosevelt’s fourth campaign was nearly a fait accompli. It had been his election to a third term that was most difficult as he had to break the two-term mold first cast by George Washington, and would require expert political maneuvering on his part to gain his party’s nomination.
From the outset, Roosevelt largely denied his ambition to seek a third term in office. He trod the line carefully, never saying that he wouldn’t continue to serve if elected, but that he wouldn’t actively campaign for his party’s nomination. Other democrats, including Roosevelt’s Vice President John Nance Garner and Secretary of State Cordell Hull lined up their bids for the nomination, but it would prove to be a long campaign ending in an unpredictable floor vote at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
While Roosevelt’s home state was New York, Chicago was very much a political stronghold for him. Chicago Mayor and Democratic heavyweight Ed Kelly was firmly in favor of a third term for Roosevelt and was behind an elaborate orchestration to help Roosevelt win a floor vote. As the delegates gathered, a note from the President was read to the crowd saying that he was not throwing his hat into the ring for the nomination, but that the delegates were free to vote for any candidate they chose. At this very moment, a voice echoed over a loudspeaker throughout the chamber shouting “We want Roosevelt! We want Roosevelt!” The chant picked up among the delegates, who began shouting along with their own variations - “New Jersey wants Roosevelt!” and “Iowa wants Roosevelt!” Roosevelt soon won 86% of the delegates and was handily nominated as the candidate for President by the Democratic Party.
Mayor Kelly was, of course, behind the mysterious voice on the loudspeaker. He had arranged for an employee of the Sewage Department, one of the more corrupt branches of the Chicago government, to stand in the basement with a microphone and begin the chant to change the momentum of the convention. In doing this, he managed to arrange popular support behind a candidate who hadn’t even announced his candidacy, and Roosevelt was able to run for a third term without appearing power hungry or ambitious; he was merely responding to the call of his party. It’s largely unknown how much Roosevelt had to do with Kelly’s actions, but it certainly wouldn’t be outside the realm of possibility that the two were in league with each other. Regardless of how he achieved it, Roosevelt’s handling of the war and America’s role in it during his third term is almost universally praised, as evidenced by a fourth nomination - this one unopposed - as the Democratic candidate for President.