Indiana was seen as critical to Smith's chances in the national election;[2] however, by early July, observers predicted that the opposition of the politically powerful Indiana Ku Klux Klan and the Anti-Saloon League would make it impossible for Smith to carry the state.[3] Hoover blamed Democrats and the Federal Reserve System for the interwar farm crisis in a campaign visit to Indiana in late August,[4] but the Indiana Farm Bureau did not endorse either ticket.[5] Smith's Catholicism, opposition to Prohibition, and association with Tammany Hall alienated progressives who branded the candidate as a "patron of gambling and vice." Anti-Catholicdog whistles marked the Republican campaign in Indiana, leading Protestants across denominational lines to vote for Hoover. Hoover's national surrogates warned that Smith would "flood the nation with unsavory immigrants," create an epidemic of alcoholism, and open the path to state socialism.[6] When Smith's train crossed into Indiana, he was greeted by a burning cross visible from the window of his car.[7]
Background
Partisan coalitions in Indiana at the turn of the century reflected the regional, ethnic, and religious roots of the settler population, with the descendants of White Southerners, German Americans, and Irish Americans (especially Catholics) voting reliably Democratic, while Yankees, Nordic and Scandinavian Americans, and British Americans favored the Republican Party. Southern Indiana leaned Democratic and Northern Indiana leaned Republican, in line with the loose correlation between ethnicity and geography. The state's notable concentration of German Catholics contributed to its closeness in presidential elections during the Third Party System relative to other Lower North states. William Jennings Bryan's 1896 presidential campaign saw the state move more securely into the Republican column, as German Catholics alienated by Bryan's outspoken Evangelicalism, conservatives unnerved by the candidate's agrarianradicalism, and urban workers frightened by threats of mass layoffs in the event of a Bryan victory voted Republican for the first time. Following this political realignment, Woodrow Wilson became the only Democrat to carry Indiana during the Fourth Party System (1896–1932) in 1912. Republican support remained greater in urban areas than in rural areas based on the strength of Republican urban political machines.[8]
Indiana chose 15 electors on a statewide general ticket. State law required voters to elect each member of the Electoral College individually, rather than as a group.[10] This sometimes resulted in small differences in the number of votes cast for electors pledged to the same presidential candidate, if some voters did not vote for all the electors nominated by a party.[11] The following table quotes the official returns published by the secretary of state of Indiana, which list the votes for the first elector on each ticket.[12]
1928 United States presidential election in Indiana[12]
↑"Indicated Strength of 1928 Candidates: Smith's Chances in National Contest Compared with Coolidge and Hoover Slate of Votes". Wall Street Journal. May 26, 1928.
Henning, Arthur Sears (July 1, 1928). "Democrats' Hopes Seen in Corn Belt and the West East: Two Battlegrounds Chosen for Inroads on States Normally Republican". Washington Post.
Oulahan, Richard V. (August 26, 1928). "Republicans Turn to Fight in East; Think West Is Safe: Work's Coming Visit to This Region Stresses Belief That This Is Chief Battleground". New York Times.
Tucker, Robert G. (September 16, 1928). "Indiana for Hoover Party Leaders Say: But Figures on Majority Are Being Reduced; Klan Backs G.O.P. State Fight Is in Doubt". Washington Post.
Tucker, Robert G. (September 30, 1928). "Big Odds Are Faced by Smith in Indiana: Held to Have Hardest Fight of Any Democrat in Recent Years. G.O.P. Majority Claimed". Washington Post.
↑"Brookhart Visions Hoover Prosperity: Iowa Insurgent Asserts Republican Victory Will Solve Agricultural Problem". New York Times. August 27, 1928.
↑"Farmers Urge Hoover to State Relief Plans: Indianans Ask for Specific Outline in Acceptance; Neither Ticket Is Endorsed". New York Times. July 13, 1928.
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