Landon v. Roosevelt Although when choosing Mr. Landon as their
presidential candidate the Republicans had little more hope of victory in November than when they ran Mr. Hoover in 1932, they may expect to find that the Governor of Kansas will be able to organise a vigorous campaign. He must make his own platform, and it will have to be more progressive than the colourless document put together at Cleveland. His new party manager promises action. The young Republicans, heartened by the brushing aside of the Old Guard, are prepared to work with a will, and a tremendous effort will be made towards the creation of a legendary " Kansas Coolidge " : plain American, honest son of the prairies—that is, a Main Street antithesis of Franklin Roosevelt. But Mr. Landon will not be able to denounce the New Deal, since his own programme so closely resembles it. The attack will be upon Rooseveltian waste and reckless experiment, backed by the old claim that the Republicans alone can govern.
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