Election interferenceForeign interference in US elections dates back decades
Americans have spent the last 18 months wondering about Russian influence in the 2016 presidential election. Donald Trump would not be the first U.S. politician that foreign powers tried to help. In fact, two campaigns, in 1940 and 1960, featured bold attempts by hostile foreign powers to put their preferred candidates in the Oval Office. While neither was successful, both highlight a vulnerability in the American political system that, for the first time, has become the subject of major public discussion.
Americans have spent the last 18 months wondering about Russian influence in the 2016 presidential election.
Charges have already been filed against 12 Russian intelligence officers for interfering with the 2016 presidential campaign, as special counsel Robert Mueller continues investigating the extent of the Trump campaign’s links to Russia.
A Senate report concluded that the Russians’ interference was aimed at influencing the outcome of the election.
If true, the president would not be the first U.S. politician that foreign powers tried to help.
In fact, two campaigns, in 1940 and 1960, featured bold attempts by hostile foreign powers to put their preferred candidates in the Oval Office.
While neither was successful, both highlight a vulnerability in the American political system that, for the first time, has become the subject of major public discussion.
1940: Nazis try to beat FDR
As I point out in my book “Hitler’s American Friends: The Third Reich’s Supporters in the United States,” American politics was deeply divided in 1940. The key debate was over war and peace, in this case the Second World War raging in Europe.
American public opinion was split between those who wanted to help the flagging Allies – and potentially enter the war – and a bipartisan coalition of non-interventionists and isolationists. The Roosevelt administration was seen as interventionist; its opponents had their power base on Capitol Hill.
The 1940 election took place against this backdrop. For months, President Franklin Roosevelt refused to answer questions about whether he would run for a third term in office.
No one knew who might seize the Democratic nomination if FDR choose not to run. There was also no clear candidate who could command national support on the GOP side.
The Nazis concluded that if Roosevelt could be replaced by a non-interventionist, the prospects of U.S. involvement in the European war would be greatly reduced.
So Berlin enlisted the support of a sympathetic, well-connected American. William Rhodes Davis was an oilman with a sketchy business past who, in the late 1930s, made a fortune by selling cut-rate Mexican oil to Hitler’s government. Simultaneously, Davis cultivated connections inside the Democratic Party, making a sizable donation to its 1936 election efforts.
