1932 — Vincent Dicks

FDR

The Frank Hague political machine convinced the Franklin D. Roosevelt campaign to make a speech at a rally at Sea Girt to launch his run for President. Hague, the DNC Vice Chair and Jersey City Mayor, had supported Al Smith at the Democratic Party Convention, but the Harvard-educated two-term governor of New York, and cousin of Teddy Roosevelt from two wealthy families (Roosevelt & Delano) was more appealing than the Catholic, Smith.

Hague, Roosevelt and NJ Gov. Moore at the Little White House in Sea Girt

Franklin had been Secretary of the Navy and run for VP in 1920. He was a popular two term New York Governor

America had fallen into a deep depression and the trains bringing rally goers south to Sea Girt included a free box lunch and a dime. Breadlines quickly formed around churches and other charities that passed out food. 25% of the country had no income, and there were few safety nets. While assessments of real estate in Sea Girt had not yet gone down, there was a long list of delinquent tax payments.

Perhaps due to the numbers out of work, the Asbury Park Press suggested 300,000 might show up, but a more realistic estimate of the crowd was 100,000. Planes flew overhead to report on traffic and the roads were jammed. State Police directed traffic around bottlenecks. It was a steamy August afternoon by the time Roosevelt arrived.

Over 600 police officers from northern cities supplemented Chief Panz, Patrolman James Enright and special officer John Cornielus. They patrolled Sea Girt along with the Camp and protected the candidate. They arrested over 20 men for pickpocketing.

Roosevelt promised to end Prohibition. The banning of alcohol had only increased organized crime. Herbert Hoover had recently solidified his desire to have the 18th amendment repealed, but FDR asked why he had not done it earlier:

“Once upon a time an orator who was describing the scenery of his State remarked that in the North it was "mountaineous" and that in the South it was "moisterious."

That classic description reminds me of the Republican national ticket this year — "high and dry" at one end and at the other end "increasing moisture."

But before I come to further elucidation on that point let me make another clear.

However we may differ as to method, we all agree that temperance is one of the cardinal virtues. In dealing with the great social problems in my own State, such as the care of the wards of the States, and in combating crime, I have had to consider most earnestly this question of temperance. It is bound up with crime, with insanity and, only too often, with poverty. It is increasingly apparent that the intemperate use of intoxicants has no place in this new mechanized civilization of ours. In our industry, in our recreation, on our highways, a drunken man is more than an objectionable companion, he is a peril to the rest of us. The hand that controls the machinery of our factories, that holds the steering wheel of our automobiles, and the brains that guide the course of finance and industry, should alike be free from the effects of over-indulgence in alcohol.

But the methods adopted since the World War with the purpose of achieving a greater temperance by the forcing of Prohibition have been accompanied in most parts of the country by complete and tragic failure. I need not point out to you that general encouragement of lawlessness has resulted; that corruption, hypocrisy, crime and disorder have emerged, and that instead of restricting, we have extended the spread of intemperance. This failure has come for this very good reason: we have depended too largely upon the power of governmental action instead of recognizing that the authority of the home and that of the churches in these matters is the fundamental force on which we must build. The recent recognition of this fact by the present Administration is an amazing piece of hindsight. There are others who have had foresight. A friend showed me recently an unpublished letter of Henry Clay, written a hundred years ago. In this letter Clay said that the movement for temperance ‘has done great good and will continue to do more’ but "‘t will destroy itself whenever it resorts to coercion or mixes in the politics of the country.’”

The bad times came to Sea Girt as well. New Mayor Ray Nellis had successfully run for mayor with a platform of austerity, and enacting limits to its debt capacity. Sea Girt had been on a building boom in the 1920s with the streets, water, sewers, beach cleaning, lifeguards and the new pavilion.

The boardwalk project, approved in 1929 was favored by a majority of taxpayers. In a poll of 499 taxpayers, 341 voted and 225 were in favor of construction of a 16-foot wide boardwalk between the Pavilion and Trenton Blvd. Of the 116 against, several oceanfront owners brought suit, but were defeated in court. The town finally resolved the 1875 maps which had called for a road in front of these properties.

By 1932, as construction was completed, the town was choking on the bill of $30,000 from the contractor. Mayor Nellis accused the prior administration of ‘juggling’ the contract. Previous Mayor and State Assemblyman Frank Durand was at the meeting and denied the allegations. The men shouted it out.

Nellis clamped down on spending as tax delinquencies in Sea Girt soared. Many people who had bought lots but had not yet built, abandoned them to a tax sale. Others sold one of their two homes. Some moved to the Shore permanently, but many more tried to sell their homes here and found no buyer.