Pinback button promoting Democratic Party candidates in Congressional elections in Pennsylvania, 1934. The Whitehead & Hoag Co., Newark, New Jersey. Pictures President Franklin Roosevelt.
The 1934 midterm elections were effectively a referendum on the New Deal. Republicans hoped to stem the tide of lost seats that had begun in 1932, and if possible halt implementation of Roosevelt's agenda. But with millions of Americans still out of work, arguing that government should return to the policies that had brought on the Depression was a tough sell. Democrats bolstered their majorities in both houses, and Roosevelt solidified his base for the 1936 campaign.
