Dating to October of 1940, this clip features Senator Hiram Johnson speaking in opposition to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s proposed third term, and voices support for the Republican candidate Wendell Wilkie. This endorsement represented a turnabout of sorts for Johnson, who supported FDR’s runs in 1932 and 1936. Johnson became disenchanted with FDR after the President tried to pack the Supreme Court as part of his maneuvers with New Deal legislation.

Hiram Warren Johnson (September 2, 1866 – August 6, 1945) was initially a leading American progressive and then a Liberal Isolationist Republican politician from California. He served as the 23rd Governor of California from 1911 to 1917 and as a United States Senator from 1917 to 1945. He was also Theodore Roosevelt’s running mate in the 1912 presidential election on the Progressive (also known as the “Bull Moose”) ticket.

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