Once Franklin D. Roosevelt replaced Hoover in 1933 , Dickinson distinguished himself by coming out early and often against the New Deal . In a 1934 speech , he argued that the only beneficiaries of the new Agricultural Adjustment Act were the " brain trusters " behind the new programs , sneering that , " taken from their dismal classrooms , chicken farms , editorial rooms and law offices , they now loiter behind mahogany desks solving problems of the world . " '' Time '' commented in 1936 that he " demands ' sane , honest industrial and agricultural programs ' and a return ' to the ideas of our New England forefathers . ' " In May 1936 , '' Time '' reported that Dickinson was interested in the chance to run against President Roosevelt , speculating that " the buzzing in his large , well-shaped head " was the question , " ' If Warren Harding could get the Republican Presidential nomination in 1920 , why ca n't I get it in 1936 ? ' " It explained : Like Harding , he would personify a return to normalcy after a hectic Democratic regime . For dark horse Dickinson , oldtime Harding supporters have been quietly conducting the same kind of preconvention campaign that Harry Daugherty put on for his Dark Horse in 1920 — unobtrusively making friends , taking care not to offend leading candidates , building up a man on whom irreconcilably opposed factions could unite after a convention deadlock . In the 1936 Republican National Convention , there was no deadlock , so Dickinson 's aspiration to play in 1936 the role that Harding played in 1920 never came to pass . Instead , Kansas Governor Alfred Landon was the only viable candidate , and was nominated on the first ballot
1936 Republican National Convention
1936 Republican National Convention
Lester J. Dickinson