James Wolfenden - 3rd Term

3rd Term

By 1932, as Hoover's sincere, but insufficient efforts to ease the widespread economic crisis could not arrest the continuing downturn, it was clear that voters were turning to the Democratic nominee, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. On November 3, there was a massive pre-election GOP rally in Media, attended by 1,500 of the party faithful, which Senator McClure described as "an inspiration".

Governor Arthur James, himself not up for election, vigorously defended the Hoover record, comparing the latter to Abraham Lincoln, in whom "people had faith and reelected" against great odds during the Civil War. Congressman Wolfenden, who was up for election, however, was only listed as a "guest" at the rally and did not speak, according to the ChesterTimes.

President Hoover carried Delaware County by 75,291 to FDR's 32,413, including the City of Chester by over two to one. In fact, the GOP machine that dominated Pennsylvania for many years was still able to deliver the state for the unpopular Hoover, 1,453,540 to 1,295,948, making it one of the few major industrial states to swing his way.

Wolfenden won by an even larger majority than Hoover, 70,177 to 32,139, in beating Democrat Matthew Randall. The lopsided county registration figures of 134,038 Republicans to only 8,152 Democrats certainly made the task of winning quite difficult for any Democrat.

But, when Wolfenden returned to Washington to serve his third term, he would find many fewer of his Republican colleagues sitting with him. The GOP’s ranks in Congress were decimated, the venerable old party having lost no fewer than 101 House seats and twelve Senate seats, in the FDR landslide. That left the House lineup in favor of the Democrats, 313 to 117, with five independents, and 59 to 36 in the Senate.

In 1933, President Roosevelt, in order to try to relieve the widespread misery due to a now unthinkable unemployment rate of 25% that he inherited from the previous Republican administration, began submitting his New Deal legislation to Congress, which had a top-heavy Democratic majority. From 1933 to 1938, Wolfenden voted against most New Deal proposals, with the exception of several major pieces of legislation, such as the constitutional amendment to repeal Prohibition and allow the purchase of liquor (1933), the Relief Act to allocate money to relieve suffering (1933); the Gold Reserve Act, which devalued the dollar taking the U.S. off the gold standard (1934); the Social Security Act (1935); the Fair Labor Standards Act, which set a forty hour work week along with a minimum wage (1938).

Some of the bills he voted against were: the Agriculture Adjustment Act to raise farm prices and distribute surplus food to the needy (1933); the Tennessee Valley Authority to federally fund power development in an area especially hit hard by the Depression (1933), the NIRA to allow employees to collectively bargain without interference, along with banning child labor (1933); the Securities Act to reform the stock market (1934); the Reciprocal Tariff Act (1934), the Tax Bill to raise revenue, mostly from the wealthy (1934). Other bills he opposed were: the Relief Act (1936), the Holding Company Act (1936), the Guffey-Snyder Coal Act to help raise the price of Pennsylvania's coal (1936); the Soil Conservation and Relief Act to reforest land (1938) and federal Crop Insurance (1938).

He also voted for isolationist neutrality legislation and opposed earlier efforts to build up defenses, which also reflected the view of the majority of his party and a large segment of the public.

During this period, Wolfenden served on the Migratory Bird Conservation Commission and also introduced HR164, which was aimed towards "discouraging, preventing, punishing the crime of lynching", one of the most vile manifestations of racial hatred still occurring in the Deep South. With conservative Southern Democrats generally controlling the major committees, there was little chance of civil rights legislation being passed.