He ran as vice president

When Roosevelt ran for president in 1932, it wasn’t his first appearance on a presidential ticket. In 1920, he ran as vice president on the unsuccessful Democratic ticket that featured James Cox as president. Hoover was comfortably renominated at the Republican National Convention in Chicago in June, but Vice President Charles Curtis faced off against James Harbord, who had been John Pershing's chief of staff during World War I, in a contest for the position. Harbord's bid was unsuccessful. Roosevelt received the support of the majority of delegates at the Democratic convention in Chicago two weeks later, but Democratic Party regulations required a two-thirds majority to earn the nomination.

On the first ballot, Roosevelt fell more than 100 delegates short of winning, with Smith and John Nance Garner, the speaker of the House of Representatives who had been chosen in 1931, serving as his principal opponents. Garner withdrew his delegates after the first three ballots, and Roosevelt won the party's candidate on the fourth. Garner was formally chosen by a unanimous vote to serve as the vice presidential contender. The party's candidate was then accepted by Roosevelt in person, breaking with precedent. He pledged "you, I vow myself, to a new bargain for the American people" in his statement before the delegates.