In 1932 he became the first defeated vice presidential candidate of a major party elected president
... 
Smith was the first Roman Catholic to gain a major party's nomination for 
president, and... [DOC] [TLE] Franklin D. Roosevelt: Campaigns and ElectionsMiller Center [PAR] The outcome of the 1932 presidential contest between Roosevelt and Hoover 
was ... FDR entered the 1936 election with a strong, but not invincible, hand.