Final answer:
Franklin Delano Roosevelt aimed to rescue the U.S. from the Great Depression. He was elected in 1932 after Herbert Hoover's unsuccessful term, promising optimism and change without providing specific details. Roosevelt's New Deal would become his strategy for economic recovery.
Step-by-step explanation:
The United States presidential candidate who hoped to pull the country from the edge of collapse during the Great Depression was Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR). During his 1932 presidential campaign, Roosevelt presented himself as a beacon of hope and change, despite offering few specifics on how he planned to resolve the nation's economic crisis. The American public, disillusioned with President Hoover's inability to address the economic downturn effectively, was ready for a new direction and embraced Roosevelt's message of optimism.
Roosevelt's campaign strategy was to create a new coalition of voters who had been hit hardest by the depression. This strategy included efforts to include African American voters, gaining significant support in urban areas and the Midwest. Upon winning the 1932 election, Roosevelt would initiate a series of programs and reforms known as the New Deal, aimed at economic recovery and providing relief to millions of Americans.
Throughout his campaign, FDR capitalized on Hoover's declining popularity due to the growing unemployment, farm foreclosures, business failures, and bank closings. Meanwhile Hoover, although having insights into the speculative nature of the era's prosperity, was restricted by his philosophy of American individualism and failed to provide the necessary relief measures to counter the spiraling depression.