Darryl Paulson(First of three parts)
The Anti-Masonic Party held the first national political convention in Baltimore in 1824. Eight years later the Democrats held their first convention, also in Baltimore. Two years after its formation, the Republicans held their first convention in Philadelphia.
The sole purpose of the national convention is to rally the party faithful and select a candidate who can win the presidency. Unfortunately, many conventions have fallen short of this goal.
Many national conventions have affected the political system. The 1860 Democratic convention tore the party in two. Split by the slavery issue, northern Democrats nominated Stephen Douglas of Illinois and Southern Democrats selected John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky. The party split helped the new Republican Party win its first presidential election with Abraham Lincoln.
One of the most divisive conventions was the 1924 Democratic convention in New York City. The split was between the rural Protestants from the South and Midwest versus the new American coalition of city dwellers, immigrants, Catholics and Jewish voters.
The traditionalists nominated William McAdoo of California, who served as Treasury Secretary for his father-in-law Woodrow Wilson. The new Americans selected New York Governor Al Smith, an Irish Catholic, as their nominee.
The Ku Klux Klan played a major role at the convention and in American politics at this time. Unlike the post-Civil War Klan and the Klan which emerged in the 1950s and 1960s that was small and almost exclusively southern, the KKK of the 1920s had over 6 million members spread across America. This Klan appealed to Americans by stressing law and order and morality issues.
Smith attacked his opponent as “Ku Klux McAdoo,” while the traditionalists attacked Smith and his immigrant adherents for supporting “rum, Romanism and rebellion.” After 103 ballots, a convention record, Democrats selected John W. Davis, a little-known federal judge, as their candidate. The Democrats suffered a disastrous defeat.
Many see the 1964 Republican convention as a parallel to 2016. In both cases, moderate forces in the Republican Party sought to prevent the selection of what they perceived to be an extreme nominee.
After rejecting a moderate amendment on civil rights, Barry Goldwater gave his famous acceptance speech in which he stated, “extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice.” After convention delegates booed the speech of moderate Nelson Rockefeller, former President Dwight Eisenhower called the convention, “unpardonable. . . . I was deeply ashamed.”
Goldwater lost by more than 20 points to Lyndon Johnson.
The 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago is often perceived as one of the most divisive in American history. As the nation was split by civil rights and the Vietnam War, Sen. Eugene McCarthy of Minnesota and Robert Kennedy emerged to challenge Johnson. On March 31, Johnson shocked the nation by announcing “I will not seek, nor will I accept the nominee of my party for another term as your president.”
The assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. on April 4 and Robert Kennedy on June 4 just minutes after he won the California primary devastated Americans. Journalist Walter Lippmann observed that, “The world has never been more disorderly within memory of living man.”
Party committees and leaders selected most of the delegates and they favored Humphrey, who was viewed as the candidate to carry out Johnson’s policy in Vietnam. The McCarthy and Kennedy delegates wanted to end the war, not prolong it.
Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets to protest the war and Humphrey’s nomination. The Chicago convention was described as a “police riot” by a national commission. Down 20 points to Richard Nixon on Labor Day, Humphrey lost by only 500,000 votes, or about .5 percent.
George McGovern was the Democratic frontrunner in 1972. Many perceived him to be as far left as Goldwater had been on the right. “Anybody but McGovern” movements sprang up across the nation.
In this “most unusual convention,” as the New York Times called it, those who knew how to win elections were absent. Only 30 of 255 Democratic House members attended. Also missing were many of the big city mayors from Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston, Philadelphia and San Francisco.
A final blow to McGovern was that due to Democratic candidates who spoke at length to their supporters and a long roll call vote of delegations, it wasn’t until 3 a.m. that McGovern gave his acceptance speech. His appeal to “Come Home America” fell on deaf ears. Americans were soundly sleeping.
(Tomorrow: Conventions have been disrupted by credentials, rules, platforms.)
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Darryl Paulson is Professor Emeritus of Government at USF St. Petersburg and can be reached at [email protected] Column courtesy of Context Florida.
