From the Archives: Economic Anxiety May Decide Crucial Election

Editors' Note: The crucial midterm elections, with democracy hanging in the balance, are but two weeks away and we're seeing a lot of coverage of things like ... the high price of gasoline and Snickers bars, not to mention endless horse race stories about the likely effect of unpopular leaders.  Was there any other time when a vital election was covered by obscuring the real matter at issue?  We took a deep dive into our 252-year archives and fished this out:  (In a future issue, we'll look at what happened after the election.  Spoiler alert: it turned out badly!)

Adv. - WIN A FREE MEAL JUST BY PICKING RAGS FOR 14 HOURS!  KIDS OK! ⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻      November 1, 1932                   LATE CITY FINAL★★★                        PRICE: TWO CENTS ⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻ By Margot Oater Berlin Correspondent By Cable to The Massachusetts Spy With the crucial German election only a few days away, economic issues are taking a front seat in the minds of German voters, weary of high unemployment while fearing a rise in inflation.  The National Socialists and Social Democrats are both vigorously competing for votes, in some cases by putting forward claims not supported by evidence. The National Socialists are campaigning on economic anxiety Chancellor von Papen accused the National Socialists of trying to “stab the Government in the back” while negotiations in Geneva around war reparations are continuing, although he cited no basis for that claim.   For his part, the charismatic populist National Socialist party leader, Adolf Hitler, has accused his political opponents of being tools of international Jewry, again without factual support. But the charges and counter-charges are being ignored by most voters, who are most concerned about German's bad economic situation.  And Hitler's party is making hay with the charge that the current depression in Germany is caused by the indemnities imposed on Germany by the Versailles Treaty.  Some critics note that depressed economic conditions prevail in other countries including those who receive those indemnities, like Britain and France. And some Germans, tired of the endless wrangling between the two extreme parties, are considering Bruening's Center Party, which seeks a third way between right and left and wants to move Germany forward together. Concern is also rising that elections may be disrupted by extremists on both sides.  In October, Nazi brown shirts were arrested in Silesia on charges of terrorist activities intended to disrupt Reichstag elections, which Nazi party officials were quick to dismiss as a “witch hunt” and “Jew news.” A recent dispatch from The New York Times described the current election campaign as “lively” and informed its readers that informed German observers now believe that “the Nazi movement has seen its best days” and that the National Socialist party has “lacked something of its former drive.” The Times report also downplayed the seriousness of the Nazi threat to seize power by force and violence, assuring its readers that the German Government “is prepared to use the Army against a Hitler attempt to seize power.” German voters appear not to regard any potential threat to German democracy as a top-tier political issue, focussing instead on kitchen-table issues like unemployment and possibility of a recurrence of the ruinous inflation of the 1920's. “I'm really concerned about the economy.  I haven't been able to find a job in months, and I'm more worried about keeping wurst and pretzels on the table than I am about all this scare talk about the end of democracy,” said Prenzlauer Berg housewife Margot Schneider-Gruene. “We need to get the economy moving again and I think this Hitler fellow will be good for business confidence, ” said Potsdam undertaker Teodor Kreuz. The New York Times, Oct. 23, 1932 On the other hand, backers of the Social Democratic Party express concern that Hitler, if given any power at all, will make himself a dictator and unleash a wave of mass violence against political enemies and Jews, whom he has made a focus of his campaign.  Some of them even make far-fetched accusations that a National Socialist government will send its political enemies to so-called “concentration camps” and even “burn down the Reichstag.” Long-time bipartisan observers of the political scene dismiss those concerns.  “The average German voter has no time for extremist threat or predictions of disaster.  In my focus groups, voters are telling me they are looking for leaders who will reach across the aisle and propose bipartisan solutions to the economic crisis,” said Frank Luntz. The election may turn on the decisions made by undecided voters who feel “politically homeless” in the current environment, according to Frankfurter Allgemeine columnist Rolf Wetterdas. “We are looking for someone who will stand up for Christian German values like increasing the birthrate of Aryan children, although we are appalled by some of the rhetoric we are heaing on all sides,” Wetterdas wrote yesterday in his influential newspaper column. The liveliness of the campaign, featuring stormtroopers rampaging through the streets of major German cities yelling party slogans through bullhorns, has caught the attention of foreign visitors to Germany. “I'm very impressed by the very strong, very beautiful National Socialist campaign.  Germany needs a very powerful man to take over and make Germany great again.  I hope that someday we'll have a President like Adolf Hitler,” said Queens property owner Fred C. Drumpf. Material from The New York Times News Service was included in this dispatch.