California REALTORS© Liked Willkie in Roosevelt Landslide
OCTOBER 2006 - The California Real Estate Association and it's monthly magazine did not endorse a candidate in the 1940 presidential election, but Republican Wendell Willkie got plenty of attention. The October, 1940 issue of California Real Estate Magazine featured a full page campaign ad for the GOP nominee. There were no such ads for the incumbent, Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt.
The previous June prominent REALTORS© including former NAREB President William M. Garland attended the Republican National Convention. According to the Magazine he was impressed. "Col. Garland reports that the Philadelphia Convention named a strong ticket in Willkie and McNary as did the 1900 Philadelphia Convention to which he was a delegate and which nominated McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt."
Election Day was November 5. Roosevelt was elected to an unprecedented third term winning 38 of 48 states, including California. In "The Election Aftermath" the Magazine editorialized "The die has been cast and Presidential tradition has been rudely shattered...the voters have now displayed their indifference toward tradition and toward the ever-mounting taxes and cost of government."
The same December issue included a message from the re-elected President to California REALTORS©. "The real estate associations of the country have a vital function to perform...in supplying adequate housing at reasonable cost where it is vitally needed."
