Biographer James M. Burns suggests that Roosevelt 's policy decisions were guided more by pragmatism than ideology , and that he " was like the general of a guerrilla army whose columns , fighting blindly in the mountains through dense ravines and thickets , suddenly converge , half by plan and half by coincidence , and debouch into the plain below . " Roosevelt argued that such apparently haphazard methodology was necessary . " The country needs and , unless I mistake its temper , the country demands bold , persistent experimentation , " he wrote . " It is common sense to take a method and try it ; if it fails , admit it frankly and try another . But above all , try something . " Though 8 million workers remained unemployed in 1936 , economic conditions had improved since 1932 and Roosevelt was widely popular . An attempt by Huey Long and other individuals to organize a left-wing alternative to the Democratic Party collapsed after Long 's death in 1935 . Roosevelt won re-nomination with little opposition at the 1936 Democratic National Convention , while his allies overcame Southern resistance to permanently abolish the long-established rule that had required Democratic presidential candidates to win the votes of two-thirds of the delegates rather than a simple majority . The Republicans nominated Kansas Governor Alf Landon , a well-respected but bland candidate whose chances were damaged by the public re-emergence of the still-unpopular Herbert Hoover . While Roosevelt campaigned on his New Deal programs and continued to attack Hoover , Landon sought to win voters who approved of the goals of the New Deal but disagreed with its implementation
1936 Democratic National Convention
1936 Democratic National Convention
Franklin D. Roosevelt