Notable moments in convention history

A look back at US political conventions that have encompassed a wide spectrum of ideologies.

• 1830: The first national political convention is convened in Philadelphia by the Anti-Masonic Party.

• 1831: The shortlived National Republican Party, formed in opposition to Andrew Jackson, holds the first convention to feature a keynote speaker.

• 1832: The first Democratic National Convention meets in Baltimore and becomes a prototype for the modern political convention.

• 1844: Democrats choose James Polk over Martin Van Buren, making Polk the first dark horse ever selected at a convention. News is relayed by a new device – the telegraph.

• 1856: The first Republican National Convention is held in Philadelphia, where delegates form the outlines of today's Republican Party.

• 1860: Republicans select Abraham Lincoln as their nominee over preconvention favorite William Seward.

• 1896: William Jennings Bryan delivers his famous "cross of gold" speech at the Democratic National Convention, captivating delegates and winning the nomination at age 36.

•1912: Republicans select William Howard Taft over Teddy Roosevelt, causing Roosevelt to bolt from the party and run on the Progressive ("Bull Moose") ticket.

• 1924: Democrats take 103 ballots to nominate a candidate in the longest-running convention (16 days) in US history. Delegates consider nominating the first woman, Lena Springs, for vice president.

• 1924: Coverage of both conventions is broadcast over radio for the first time. Only 4.7 percent of American homes own radios.

• 1940: Eleanor Roosevelt delivers a stirring speech that mollifies a fractured Democratic Party, one night after her husband, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, was nominated for an unprecedented third term.

• 1948: Democrats, hoping to draft Gen. Dwight Eisenhower, instead settle for Harry Truman. He delivers a surprising convention speech and eventually wins the election running against a " do-nothing Congress."

• 1964: Conservative Republicans prevail in nominating Barry Goldwater over moderate William Scranton. Goldwater gets trounced in the election, but the Republican Party shifts to the right and begins to take control of the South.

• 1968: Democrats, fractured over the Vietnam War, nominate Hubert Humphrey at a convention in Chicago wracked by antiwar protests in the streets.

• 1976: The Republican convention opens without a clear nominee – the last time that has happened. President Gerald Ford ends up defeating Ronald Reagan on the first ballot, but Reagan delivers a rousing speech.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Notable moments in convention history
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2012/0824/Notable-moments-in-convention-history
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe