88 Years Ago Today, Adolf Hilter Took PowerAfter Losing The Popular Vote in the 1932 Elections. Sound Familiar?

The election results appeared at first to be a setback for the upstart candidate. Dismissed as a blow-hard and a rabble-rouser, many refused to take him seriously. Others came to his defense and argued that you shouldn’t take him ‘literally.’ Political leaders felt he could be contained and that even if he ever came to power his impact would be minimal. He lost the popular vote by a signficiant margin — not once, but twice in the preedcing year. Yet a series of events conspired to change the course of history and on January 30th, 1933, Adolf Hitler became the German Chancellor.

A little over a year and a half later, the German President (in the photo with Hitler), Paul von Hindenburg died. Hitler remained deferrential to von Hindenburg in public, often bowing in his presence (see image below). It was all a charade.

In truth, the wolf had been let into the gates and was simply waiting for his moment to strike. It came in August 1934 with the death of von Hindenburg. Supported by the German military, Hitler becomes President of Germany and moves swiftly to then…