Establishing the Union Party
In early 1936, it was clear that FDR would be re-nominated by the Democratic Party for a second term. The Great Depression had eased since his inauguration in 1933, but the problems were only ameliorated, not resolved. Interest groups began to coalesce around single issues as avenues for attacking the ongoing Depression, each of which criticized FDR for timidity in the face of a national emergency.

In the spring of 1936, three interest groups coalesced in an attempt to attract sufficient support to win the presidential election. The first group supported the Old Age Pension program proposed by Francis Townsend. In 1935, Townsend took the pension ideas that Herbert Hoover had been working on during his presidency and produced a national plan. FDR, who had opposed the idea since it had originated with Hoover, changed course and pushed the Social Security Act through Congress. As initially passed, Social Security did not cover everyone and was less remunerative than Hoover or Townsend had proposed. Townsend believed FDR was taking the credit for his work without delivering as much as Townsend believed possible, and he kept his Townsend clubs active. A test for the tension between Townsend and FDR came in late 1935 when a Townsend-endorsed Republican (Verner Main) won a runaway victory in a swing district in Michigan during a special election.

Sen. Huey Long represented the second interest group. He had established an organization name

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Establishing the Union Party
In early 1936, it was clear that FDR would be re-nominated by the Democratic Party for a second term. The Great Depression had eased since his inauguration in 1933, but the problems were only ameliorated, not resolved. Interest groups began to coalesce around single issues as avenues for attacking the ongoing Depression, each of which criticized FDR for timidity in the face of a national emergency.

In the spring of 1936, three interest groups coalesced in an attempt to attract sufficient support to win the presidential election. The first group supported the Old Age Pension program proposed by Francis Townsend. In 1935, Townsend took the pension ideas that Herbert Hoover had been working on during his presidency and produced a national plan. FDR, who had opposed the idea since it had originated with Hoover, changed course and pushed the Social Security Act through Congress. As initially passed, Social Security did not cover everyone and was less remunerative than Hoover or Townsend had proposed. Townsend believed FDR was taking the credit for his work without delivering as much as Townsend believed possible, and he kept his Townsend clubs active. A test for the tension between Townsend and FDR came in late 1935 when a Townsend-endorsed Republican (Verner Main) won a runaway victory in a swing district in Michigan during a special election.

Sen. Huey Long represented the second interest group. He had established an organization named Share Our Wealth that also had thousands of clubs throughout the nation. Long's proposal changed periodically as he attempted to form a winning coalition. His primary idea was for the federal government to institute a wealth cap for individuals; money seized from the wealthy would be used for a variety of programs including his preference for an old age pension. After Long was assassinated, the head of Share Our Wealth was Gerald L.K. Smith, later to become a leader of an anti-Semitic, White nationalist movement but at that time a left wing extremist suspicious of capitalists. By early 1936, the Share Our Wealth organizations were moribund, and Smith believed that they could remain relevant with Townsend.

The third group was the interests of agriculture. William Lemke, a U.S. Representative from North Dakota supported by the Republican Party and the Non-Partisan League, had sponsored the Frazier-Lemke Farm Bankruptcy Act, which sought to expand upon a Hoover initiative to save farms from foreclosure. As usual, FDR was not overly sympathetic with an act pointing back to a Hoover success, and when the Supreme Court ruled the act unconstitutional, FDR discouraged Lemke from a second attempt. Lemke persisted, and while the revised act also passed, the Supreme Court struck it down, too. Not long after Lemke filed for another term in the US House in early 1936, he was discussing the possibility of creating a Farm Union Party to advocate for agricultural interests.

A fourth interest group that eventually joined to help found the Union Party was the National Union for Social Justice. This group had been established by Charles E. Coughlin, a Catholic priest from Royal Oak, Michigan, who hosted one of the highest-rated radio programs in the nation. Coughlin had initially supported FDR's New Deal but became disillusioned in 1934. Throughout 1935 and 1936, Coughlin's radio program often stepped into the political arena. Coughlin decried capitalism and supported isolationism and nativism. It was only after the failure of the Union Party in the general election that Coughlin shifted into anti-Semitism.

Union Party formed
Townsend was in contact with Smith and Lemke before the Republican convention. They had some interest in the presidential candidacy of Sen. William E. Borah, the "bone-dry" Republican from Idaho. It became clear that the Republican delegates weren't interested in Borah's campaign. During the GOP convention, Townsend was in Baltimore and held a press conference. He announced that he, Smith, and Lemke had agreed to work together to support a slate of candidates pledged to taking Congress "out of the control of the Roosevelt dictatorship." The underlying message was that Republicans needed to nominate Borah to avoid a division in the anti-FDR camp (Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 6/11/1936).

Once the Republican National Convention nominated Alfred Landon for president, Townsend and his allies needed to decide whether they would only identify their preference among candidates or host their own ticket. The answer didn't take long. On 6/19/1936, Lemke announced that he would run for president under the Union Party banner. Thomas C. O'Brien, a labor attorney from Boston, had agreed to run for vice-president. Lemke said in his announcement that he wanted to battle the "reactionary elements of both of the old parties" (Nebraska State Journal, 6/20/1936). Lemke issued a 15-point platform that advocated the issues of his supporting interest groups: isolationism, limits on the Federal Reserve, agricultural mortgage assistance, a guaranteed minimum annual income for workers, the Townsend pension plan, protectionism, limits on the size of the federal government, and limits on the wealth of individuals (Bismarck Tribune, 6/20/1936).

Lemke's unexpected announcement rocked the political world. Wisconsin Progressives warned that Lemke might divide the left, allowing Landon to win. Norman Thomas agreed, saying that Republicans were probably funding Lemke's race (Chicago Tribune, 6/21/1936). Landon was less antagonistic, even though he worried about dividing the anti-FDR vote. He welcomed Lemke's race "so long as it serves to get the issues of the campaign before the people" (Long Beach Sun, 6/22/1936). In Wisconsin, a pre-planned meeting of the state affiliates of the Farmer Labor Party, Progressive Party, and Socialist Party met to plan strategy for the fall campaign; they unitedly rejected Lemke (New York Daily News, 6/22/1936).

Lemke's first official endorsement came at the national Townsend convention in Cleveland in July 1936. Coughlin addressed the convention early and warned against FDR. Delegates wanted to support Lemke but still offered time in the schedule to FDR, Landon, and Norman Thomas (Pittston Gazette, 7/16/1936). The three other candidates declined to participate. Lemke gave a spell-binding speech in which he stopped short of endorsing Townsend's specific pension plan. Even with the Townsend support, however, some officials in the national Townsend organization were planning to vote for FDR (Oakland Tribune, 7/21/1936). State primaries soon thereafter demonstrated that support for Townsend's plan was faltering; Townsend-endorsed candidates lost in the Kansas Democratic primary and the Missouri Republican primary on 8/4/1936 (Camden Morning Post, 8/6/1936).

In August 1936, the American Institute of Public Opinion (George Gallup) released its poll of the presidential race. It showed FDR leading Landon 49-45%; Lemke was third with 3% and Thomas fourth with 1%. The poll also interviewed Lemke's supporters and found that in 1932 they had voted FDR 70%, Hoover 9%, and Thomas 4% (St. Louis Globe-Democrat, 8/9/1936).

Coughlin's National Union for Social Justice held its first national convention in Cleveland in August 1936. Thirty thousand delegates appeared. Coughlin said that Lemke was his first choice, and he preferred Landon to FDR (Buffalo Evening News, 8/15/1936). The delegates supported Lemke almost unanimously but did not take a stand on the Union Party. Coughlin collapsed during an extemporaneous speech to the convention on the final day, after which the remainder of the convention was cancelled (Mansfield News-Journal, 8/17/1936).

The Campaign
Lemke spent most of 1936 travelling around the nation, giving speeches to various groups. In early September, he was in New England. In Maine, Lemke called on FDR to set aside his "Wall Street Gangsters" who were giving him bad advice (Kennebec Journal, 9/2/1936). At the time, the Union Party was trying to get on the ballot around the nation, filing lawsuits in some states to be able to use its party label. In Minnesota, Lemke promised to force bankers to return money they apparently owed the federal government (Minneapolis Star, 9/17/1936). In Ohio, Lemke promised that no candidate would win a majority of the electoral vote and that the US House would elect him (Cincinnati Enquirer, 9/25/1936).

As the campaign progressed, the state Union Party affiliates began to disintegrate. Some party leaders were suspicious of Coughlin and Catholics, others had never supported Townsend, and still others returned to earlier bigoted opinions. The Union Party's state ticket in New York State withdrew on 10/9 without comment, which left time for emergency replacements (Reading Times, 10/10/1936). A group of leaders of the National Union for Social Justice sued Coughlin for misuse of funds, embarrassing Lemke (Altoona Tribune, 10/17/1736). As the campaign neared its conclusion, Gerald L.K. Smith was beginning his transition from the far left to the far right. He helped found a Nationalist organization in New York State in October, after which Townsend and John Nystul (Lemke's campaign manager) both disowned him (Johnson City Chronicle, 10/21/1936).

Lemke's petitioning was unsuccessful in some states such as Kansas, and Oklahoma told voters it would not count any write-in votes (Blackwell Journal-Tribune, 10/17/1936). Pollsters of the day generally reported Lemke with 3-5% of the vote. Union Party leaders all expected their supporters to show up for Lemke, but in fact their speeches and radio addresses showed increasing signs of desperation. Coughlin charged FDR with fostering communism in a speech in Baltimore, and Townsend gave a radio address the same day charging FDR with failing to have any further plans to attack the Depression (Munster [Indiana] Times, 10/12/1936).

The day before the election, the presidential nominees were granted time to address the nation on the radio. Lemke spoke first; he was granted the slot from 9:30 to 10pm. Landon spoke at 10pm EST, sharing the microphone with Frank Knox. Earl Browder (Communist) was granted the time slot from 10:45 to 11pm, followed by FDR at 11pm (Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, 11/2/1936).

On election day, Lemke voted in Fargo. In speaking with reporters, he complained about charges by Jim Farley that his voting record was not sufficiently progressive, stating that his voting was 100% progressive. After his loss, Lemke sent a congratulatory telegram to FDR (Buffalo Evening News, 11/5/1936). Because he had been re-elected to the US House, Lemke believed that the Union Party "is here to stay," particularly given the increased number of members of the U.S. House who supported the Townsend pension plan (Baltimore Sun, 11/5/1936).


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