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胡佛赢得1928年美国总统大选

1928年美国总统大选赋予了美国选民一个清晰的政治选择。民主党提名阿尔弗雷德.史密斯(Al Smith)为其总统候选人，他是著名的纽约州州长。共和党则提名休伯特.胡佛(Herbert Hoover)为其总统候选人。胡佛是一位工程师和商人，在沃伦.哈丁和加尔文.柯立芝执政期间，他曾担任美国商务部长。本周，我们就向你讲述美国1928年的总统大选。

阿尔弗雷德.史密斯在1924年曾经竞选过民主党的总统候选人提名，但他因党内的妥协而败给了约翰.戴维斯。然而，四年后，史密斯并没有放弃，作为州长，他在美国人口最多的州—纽约州给人留下了深刻的影响。他的竞选政策是在公众的控制下建立新的电站。史密斯知道，许多保守的美国人也许对他在纽约州推行强硬政府理念而担心，所以，他选择了一位曾经与通用汽车公司、杜邦公司和其他一些大公司合作过的一位共和党的工业界领导人为其竞选活动的负责人，史密斯希望这能有助于证明他是相信美国私有制的。

阿尔弗雷德.史密斯是一位强硬的政治领导人和富有成效的州长。但他的所作所为，使许多美国人，特别是生活在农村的保守的美国人害怕，这些人大都生活在农村或小城镇。而史密斯却来自城市，而且不是一般的城市，而是来自一个又大、又脏，到处都是外国人，整个城市充满希奇古怪的纽约市。史密斯的父母是爱尔兰人，他生长在纽约市，在富尔顿鱼市当销售员。史密斯是一位诚实的人，但许多美国人仅仅因为他是大城市里的人而不相信他，他们认为，对于美国生活来说，史密斯似乎是新的，不一样的和危险的生活方式。但生活在纽约市并不是史密斯的唯一问题，他还反对美国新颁布的一些法律，这些法律规定销售和生产酒精饮料是非法的。而且他还和纽约市的政治机器有着政治联系。但所有这一切，在许多美国人眼里，最重要的问题是，阿尔弗雷德.史密斯是一位天主教徒。

从乔治.华盛顿到托马斯.杰佛逊，再到亚伯拉罕.林肯，再到加尔文.柯立芝。每一任美国总统都是男性、白人和新教徒。当然，美国法律并没有规定什么候选人才能成为总统。但无数的传统美国人还没有做好将选票投给一位天主教徒的准备。史密斯的反对者在其竞选中并不常说他的宗教问题，但他们中的许多人担心史密斯会接受位于罗马的梵蒂冈(Vatican)的罗马教廷的指令，而不是与华盛顿的国会合作。阿尔弗雷德.史密斯对此予以回击，他对他的国家说：“我无法理解，作为一名天主教徒，我所受到的教育会与一个良好公民的价值观发生冲突。我所信仰的是上帝的旨意，这二者是不会发生冲突的。”

但许多信仰新教的美国人认为这二者是有冲突的，他们希望共和党能够推出一位有实力的候选人来与史密斯和他的民主党竞争。共和党没有辜负大家的期望，他们提名前商务部长休伯特.胡佛为总统候选人。休伯特.胡佛是一位非常有名的人物，人们都信任他，而且大家都喜欢他从一个穷人走向成功的人生历程。事实上，胡佛的人生历程与亚伯拉罕.林肯的奋斗历程很相似，林肯就是从一个农村的穷人走向顶峰的人。1874年胡佛出生在爱荷华州的一个农场里，他父亲是一个贫穷的金属工人，不断地把家庭从一个州向另一个州迁移。当胡佛只有六岁的时候，他父亲就去逝了，四年后，他母亲也去逝了。年轻的休伯特不得不到俄勒冈州与他的舅舅生活在一起。相比休伯特的父亲，他的舅舅要幸运的多，他在土地买卖中赚了钱，他资助休伯特考上加州的斯坦福大学(Stanford University)。在大学里，休伯特显露出非凡的数学才能。他学的是地质学，但他决定经商。

大学毕业后，休伯特.胡佛找到了一份工作，成为一名矿工。在此后的几年里，胡佛主要时间都在国外担任工程师，他的成功远远超出他最大的梦想，到他40岁的时候，他已经赚到了100多万美元。一战结束后，他为欧洲受饥饿的人筹集食品，他做得非常的好，因此他受到了欧洲和美国人民的高度赞扬。此后 ，他加入到沃伦.哈丁政府内阁，成为其商务部长。他在这个岗位上同样干得非常出色。1925年，他离开了沃伦.哈丁的内阁。但两年后，他又为减轻密西西比州遭受洪水的难民的痛苦而努力。同样，全国人注意到这个言语不多，做事认真的人，他在不同情况下都能把事情做得非常的出色。不过，有些美国人并不喜欢胡佛，包括一些通常支持共和党的人。例如，许多共和党职业的政治家就不相信他，因为他把大部分时间用在了商业上而不是用在政治上。一些股票经纪人认为胡佛可能会改革纽约股票交易所的规定。还有许多农民则认为胡佛对如何解决他们的经济问题没有新招。

这个，那个，这就是1928年美国选民所面临的选择。一方面，是史密斯，他是天主教徒，一位来自大城市的政客，他想推动社会变革。另一方面，是休伯特.胡佛，一个共和党人，一名商人，他证明了在美国一个穷苦的男孩能够实现其梦想，他是一个似乎在他所接触的领域都能够取得成功的人。此次竞选的焦点不在经济和宗教问题，而在于美国新颁布的禁酒法令。胡佛赞成禁酒法令；而史密斯则反对禁酒法令。这两位候选人还就如何向农民提供援助以及如何提高电和水的供给而展开辩论。

休伯特.胡佛赢得了1928年的美国总统大选，这是美国总统选举历史上优势最大的选举之一。胡佛获得了58%的公众选票，而史密斯只获得了40%的公众选票；胡佛获得了444张选举人选票，而史密斯只获得了87张选举人选票。于是，这位工程师和商人的休伯特.胡佛便于1929年入主白宫。在他入主白宫那天，稍稍出现了一点不不愉快。卸任总统柯立芝是一位对自己所拥有的钱非常在乎的人，在宣誓就职那天，他指责白宫的工作人员偷了他的鞋子。不过，最后，这位冷静的、保守的、做事干练的休伯特.胡佛就要领导美国了。

美国投票市场在股价不断推向创纪录的高点后走向拐点。每一个人都期望经济持续增长，经济规模不断壮大，但这仅仅是一个梦想。在不到一年的时间里，美国股票市场崩溃了，无数的人失去了工作，整个国家陷入了有史以来最为严重的经济危机。休伯特.胡佛自己对这场危机不必承担责任。然而，无论如何，在美国经济大萧条到来之前他当选总统是他自己的不幸。但带领国家走出困境是他的职责所在。同时，他将向人们证明要肩负起这使命，他这个人选是错误的。在他四年的总统生涯中，是美国历史上最为困难时期之一。下周我们将向你讲述胡佛政府的故事。

简评：

任何一个人都不能在任何一个领域都取得成功，除非他是万能的上帝。因此，除了非要迷信一个人的话，那么除了上帝，任何人都是不可迷信的。

胡佛，在许多美国人眼里，似乎是无所不能，做什么都能成功。这个人的确很了不起。但他并非是万能的，当他面对即将来临的历史上最为严重的经济危机时，他的表现是糟糕的。当然，胡佛也是很倒霉的，因为这历史上最为严重的经济危机让他赶上了，换了别人，可能与他一样。而罗斯福之所以能够成功，与胡佛给他提供的教训是分不开的。

Hoover Wins in 1928 

Herbert Hoover, right, and the president he followed in office, Calvin Coolidge 图中右边这位就是休伯特.胡佛，当加尔文.柯立芝卸任后，他就任总统

The presidential election of nineteen twenty-eight gave American voters a clear political choice. The Democratic Party nominated Al Smith. He was the popular governor of the state of New York. The Republican Party chose Herbert Hoover. He was an engineer and businessman who served as secretary of commerce for presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge. This week in our series, we tell us about the presidential election of nineteen twenty-eight.

Governor Alfred Smith of New York had campaigned for the Democratic presidential nomination in nineteen twenty-four. But he was defeated at the party convention by a compromise candidate, John Davis. Four years later, however, Smith could not be stopped. He had a strong record as governor of the nation's most heavily-populated state. He campaigned for the presidency on a policy of building new electric power stations under public control. Smith knew that many conservative Americans might be worried by his new ideas and his belief in strong government. So he chose as his campaign manager a Republican industrial leader who had worked with General Motors, DuPont and other major companies. Smith hoped this would prove his faith in the American private business system.

Al Smith 阿尔弗雷德.史密斯

Al Smith was a strong political leader and an effective governor. But he frightened many Americans, especially conservative citizens living in rural areas. They lived on farms or in small towns. Al Smith was from the city. And not just from any city, but New York City, a place that seemed big and dirty and filled with foreign people and strange traditions. Al Smith's parents came from Ireland. He grew up in New York and worked as a salesman at the Fulton Fish Market. Smith was an honest man. But many rural Americans simply did not trust people from big cities. Al Smith seemed to them to represent everything that was new, different, and dangerous about American life. But being from New York City was not Al Smith's only problem. He also opposed the new national laws that made it illegal to buy or produce alcoholic drinks. And he had political ties to the New York political machine. But worst of all, in the eyes of many Americans, Al Smith was a Roman Catholic.

From George Washington through Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and up to Calvin Coolidge, every American president had been male, white, and a Protestant Christian. Of course, there was no law requiring a candidate to be Protestant. But millions of traditional Americans just were not ready to give their vote to a Roman Catholic. Opponents of the Smith campaign generally did not speak openly about his religion. But many of them were afraid that Smith would take his orders from the Vatican in Rome, instead of working with the Congress in Washington. Al Smith fought back. He told the country, "I am unable to understand how anything I was taught to believe as a Catholic could possibly be in conflict with what is good citizenship. My faith," he said, "is built upon the laws of God. There can be no conflict between them. "  

But many Protestant Americans thought there was a conflict. And they looked to the Republican Party to supply a strong candidate to oppose Smith and the Democrats. The Republicans did just that. They nominated former secretary of commerce Herbert Hoover, one of the country's most popular men. Hoover was well-known to Americans. People trusted him. And they liked the way he had gained great personal success from poor beginnings. In fact, Hoover's life story would have pleased Abraham Lincoln, another American who rose from a poor family to fame. Hoover was born in the farm state of Iowa in eighteen seventy-four. His father was a poor metal worker who kept moving his family from state to state. Herbert Hoover's father died when the boy was just six years old. His mother died four years later. Young Herbert had to move to the western state of Oregon to live with his mother's brother. Herbert's uncle was luckier in life than Herbert's parents. He had made money in the land business. And he helped the boy gain admission to Stanford University in California. At the university, Herbert showed great skill in mathematics. And he decided to go into business as a geologist studying the science of the earth.

Herbert Hoover 休伯特.胡佛

After college, Herbert Hoover got a job as a mine worker. During the next several years, Hoover spent most of his time working as an engineer in foreign countries. And he succeeded beyond his greatest dreams. By the time he was forty years old, he had earned more than one million dollars. After World War One, he organized the effort to provide food for starving people in Europe. He did an excellent job, winning praise from people in Europe and the United States alike. Next, Hoover joined the administration of President Warren Harding, serving as the secretary of commerce. Again, he did a very good job. Hoover left the cabinet in nineteen twenty-five. But two years later, he organized efforts to provide relief for victims of a flood in the southern state of Mississippi. And again, Americans all around the country took note of this quiet, serious man who did such effective work in so many different kinds of situations. Some Americans, however, did not like Hoover, including some people who usually supported Republicans. For example, many professional Republican politicians did not trust him, because he had spent most of his life in business, not politics. Some stock market traders thought Hoover might change the rules on the New York Stock Exchange. And many farmers believed Hoover had no new ideas about how to solve their growing economic problems.

This, then, was the choice Americans faced in nineteen twenty-eight. On the one hand, Al Smith. A Democrat. A Roman Catholic. A politician from the city. A man wanting some social change. And on the other hand, Herbert Hoover. A Republican. A businessman who had proven the dream that even a poor boy could become great in America. A man who seemed to succeed with every effort he touched. The main issue in the campaign was not economics or religion, but the new national laws banning alcoholic drinks. Hoover was for the laws; Smith against them. The two candidates also argued about how to provide aid to struggling farmers, and how to increase electricity and water supplies.

Herbert Hoover won the election of nineteen twenty eight. It was one of the greatest victories in presidential history. Hoover won fifty-eight percent of the votes. Smith got just forty percent. And Hoover captured four hundred forty-four electoral votes to Smith's eighty-seven. And so it was that the engineer and businessman Herbert Hoover entered the White House in nineteen twenty-nine. There was some trouble the day he moved in. Outgoing President Coolidge was a man who watched every dollar he owned. And he accused some White House workers of stealing his shoes on the day of the inauguration. But -- finally -- safe, conservative, business-like Herbert Hoover was leading the country.

The nation's stock market reacted by pushing stock prices to record high levels. Everyone expected that economic growth would continue and expand. But the happy times were just a dream. Within one year, the stock market collapsed. Millions of people lost their jobs. The nation fell into the worst economic crisis it had ever faced. Herbert Hoover was not personally responsible for the crisis. In many ways, it was his own bad luck to be elected just before the disaster struck. But it was his job to guide the nation through its troubled waters. And he would prove to be the wrong person to give such leadership. His four years in office would be one of the most difficult periods in the nation's history. We will look at President Hoover's administration in our next program.

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