United States presidential election

This entry contains 48 subentries, comprising an overview and brief accounts of each election from 1789 to 2000.

Overview

Presidential elections have taken place in the United States quadrennially, beginning in 1789. They include both the process of candidate nomination and the subsequent campaign for election. Since the 1830s, nomination has centered on national party conventions called to choose individuals to run for president and vice president and to adopt the party's platform. Delegate selection for these conventions was for a long time wholly extralegal and determined by local party traditions. Early in the twentieth century, some states set up presidential primaries to choose delegates and record voter preferences among the aspiring candidates. In the late 1960s, a further reform movement began to broaden the ability of party members to participate in delegate selection and to reduce the influence of party organizations. By the end of the twentieth century the party primary system dominated the nominating process, with party conventions reduced to a merely symbolic role.

An incumbent president who desires renomination usually obtains it without a serious primary challenge. If a president does not want it or has already served two terms, the convention makes the final choice, sometimes only after a lengthy and bitter struggle. Beginning in the late 1950s, rapid modes of transportation and ease of communication usually enabled one candidate to build up a strong lead prior to the convention and to win on the first ballot. Thus, the preconvention campaign has become the decisive part of the nominating process. Since 1972, the primaries have determined every major party nominee. Broadening public participation has reduced the role of state party leaders and hence also reduced past practices of convention bargaining among politicians who control blocs of delegates.

Candidates for president were often chosen from among successful governors, especially the governors of key states like Ohio and New York, which have large blocs of electoral votes. By the late twentieth century, Texas, California, and the deep South emerged as major breeding grounds for presidential nominees. In the nineteenth century, generals frequently won presidential nominations, but none has since 1956. After World War II the trend seemed to move away from governors in favor of U.S. senators because of greatly increased American concern with foreign relations and the greater national "visibility" senators can acquire. The trend reversed itself in the 1970s, as governors won every presidential election between 1976 and 2000, with the sole exception of 1988.

Once chosen, the presidential candidate selects a new national party chairman and sets up his own campaign organization. In the nineteenth century the nominee himself did little stumping and conducted instead a "front porch" campaign, but the twentieth century saw increased candidate involvement, often reaching a frantic pace after the middle of the century. From the 1920s on, radio figured prominently in getting the candidates' messages disseminated; since the 1952 campaign, television has been the key medium, although the Internet shows promise of playing a growing role in future campaigns. Generally the media increased in importance as grass-roots party organization declined in vigor and usefulness. Public relations experts and opinion pollsters also came to occupy crucial roles in campaign management.

Little has changed overall in the extent to which presidential campaigns emphasize general appeals and slogans rather than focus on clear-cut issues. With communications improvements, these appeals are more often carefully designed for national audiences instead of being tailored to each local group encountered on a campaign tour. Nevertheless, the New Deal era and the elections of 1964 and 1972 did see issues posed more sharply than usual.

The seven presidential campaigns between 1976 and 2000 represent a period of change in American politics, including new rules for campaigns, challenges to the two-party system, and altered electoral coalitions. The 1976 campaign was the first conducted under new rules for selecting convention delegates and new campaign finance regulations, and by 1992 these changes had been fully assimilated by both the Democratic and Republican parties. Extending the turmoil of the 1960s, these campaigns witnessed regular challenges to the two-party system by divisive primaries and significant independent candidacies. In addition, the dissension associated with the Vietnam War protests and the Watergate scandal of 1972–1974 developed into a persistent "anti-Washington" theme in presidential campaigns. During this period there were significant changes in the major parties' electoral coalitions as well, with southerners and religious conservatives shifting from the Democratic to the Republican camp in the 1970s and 1980s.

Conversely, suburbanites, Californians, and northeasterners shifted from the Republican camp to the Democratic in the 1990s. These shifting political alliances resulted in an extremely closely divided electoral map, as revealed by the 2000 presidential campaign. In the closest presidential election in modern history, Al Gore, the Democratic candidate, carried the popular vote by 650,000 votes, and George W. Bush, the Republican candidate, carried the electoral college by four votes. As the twenty-first century unfolded, no party seemed likely to create a national mandate anytime soon. Instead, divided government and close elections were likely to be the dominant features of American presidential politics for some time to come.

Bibliography

Asher, Herbert B. Presidential Elections and American Politics: Voters, Candidates, and Campaigns Since 1952. 4th ed. Chicago: Dorsey Press, 1988.

Brinkley, Alan, and Davis Dyer. The Reader's Companion to the American Presidency. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2000.

Congressional Quarterly. Presidential Elections Since 1789. 5th ed. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly, 1991.

Dallek, Robert. Hail to the Chief: The Making and Unmaking of American Presidents. New York: Hyperion, 1996.

DeGregorio, William A. The Complete Book of U.S. Presidents. New York: Wings Books, 1993.

Dover, E. D. Presidential Elections in the Television Age, 1960–1992. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 1994.

Graff, Henry E. The Presidents: A Reference History. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997.

Heale, M. G. The Presidential Quest: Candidates and Images in America Political Culture, 1787–1852. New York: Longman, 1982.

Hofstadter, Richard. The American Political Tradition. New York: Knopf, 1948.

Leuchtenburg, William E. In the Shadow of FDR: From Harry Truman to Ronald Reagan. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1983.

Levy, Leonard W., and Louis Fisher. Encyclopedia of the American Presidency. 4 vols. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994.

Lorant, Stefan. The Presidency: A Pictorial History of Presidential Elections from Washington to Truman. New York: Macmillan, 1951.

Milkis, Sidney M. The Presidents and the Parties: The Transformation of the American Party System Since the New Deal. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993.

Nelson, Michael, ed. Congressional Quarterly's Guide to the Presidency. 2 vols. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly, 1996.

Polsby, Nelson W., and Aaron Wildavsky. Presidential Elections: Strategies and Structures of American Politics. New York: Chatham House, 2000.

Pomper, Gerald M. Nominating the President: The Politics of Convention Choice. New York: Norton, 1966.

Rosebloom, Eugene H. A History of Presidential Elections. 3rd ed. New York: Macmillan, 1970.

Wright, Russell O. Presidential Elections in the United States: A Statistical History, 1860–1992. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 1995.

1789 and 1792

These first two campaigns had no formal nominations, only one presidential candidate, and little opposition to the second choice. The Constitution ratified, the Continental Congress delayed three months before fixing the first Wednesday in January 1789 for choosing electors, the first Wednesday in February for their voting, and the first Wednesday in March for starting the new government. Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia elected electors; the Massachusetts legislature chose from elected electors; New Hampshire's election failed and its legislature appointed electors, as did those of the remaining states. Thirteen states could cast ninety-one votes; two states had not ratified, and one (New York) failed to elect or appoint electors; four electors failed to vote. George Washington received sixty-nine votes, one of the two votes of every elector. John Adams received thirty-four of the second votes, and the other thirty-five were scattered among ten different candidates (John Jay, Robert Harrison, John Rutledge, John Hancock, George Clinton, Samuel Huntington, John Milton, James Armstrong, Edward Telfair, and Benjamin Lincoln).

In 1792 fifteen states could cast 132 electoral votes. Alexander Hamilton's financial measures and the consolidation of national power roused an opposition (Jeffersonian Antifederalists), which centered its efforts on the defeat of Adams by the Antifederalist George Clinton, since to defeat Washington was seen to be futile. The attempt failed. Washington's vote was again unanimous, and Adams defeated Clinton by seventy-seven votes to fifty.

Bibliography

Elkins, Stanley M., and Eric McKitrick. The Age of Federalism: The Early American Republic, 1788–1800. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993.

McDonald, Forrest. The Presidency of George Washington. Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1974.

1796

For the first time the national election was contested by political parties. The French Revolution, the Genêt affair, and Jay'S Treaty resulted in bitter partisanship. Without the modern machinery of nomination, the Federalists informally agreed on John Adams as Washington's successor; with him they chose Thomas Pinckney as the vice presidential nominee. With more enthusiasm the Democratic-Republicans chose their leaders, Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr. Electors were chosen in sixteen states—by popular vote in six and by the legislature in ten. Of the total electoral votes, Adams secured seventy-one, Jefferson sixty-eight, Pinckney fifty-nine, and Burr thirty; the remaining forty-eight were divided among nine others.

Bibliography

Brown, Ralph Adams. The Presidency of John Adams. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1975.

Miller, John C. The Federalist Era: 1789–1801. New York: Harper & Row, 1960.

Sharp, James Roger. American Politics in the Early Republic: The New Nation in Crisis. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1993.

1800 and 1804

The election of 1800 marks a turning point in American political history. Its preliminaries were expressed in the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions proffered by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison as a party platform. Its party machinery, still more essential to success, was directed by Aaron Burr, with supplemental support in Pennsylvania and South Carolina.

Burr had already established the nucleus of a political machine that was later to develop into Tammany Hall. With this organization, he swept New York City with an outstanding legislative ticket, gained control of the state assembly, and secured the electoral votes of New York for the Democratic-Republicans. He had already secured a pledge from the Democratic-Republican members of Congress to support him equally with Jefferson. Hence the tie vote (seventy-three each) that gave him a dubious chance for the presidency. The Federalist candidates were John Adams, sixty-five votes, and Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, sixty-four votes.

Publicly disclaiming any intent to secure the presidency, Burr was, nevertheless, put forward by the Federalists in order to defeat Jefferson and bring about another election. A slight majority in the House of Representatives enabled them to rally six states to Burr and divide the vote of two others, thus neutralizing the vote of the eight states that supported Jefferson. The contest was prolonged through thirty-five fruitless ballots; on the thirty-sixth, by prearrangement, a sufficient number of Federalists cast blank ballots to give Jefferson ten states and the presidency.

This narrow escape from frustrating the popular will led the incoming administration to pass the Twelfth Amendment to the Constitution, separating the balloting for president and vice president, in time for the 1804 election. Jefferson covertly helped eliminate Burr in New York, and the party caucus brought George Clinton forward as candidate for the vice presidency. Burr, already divining his political ostracism, attempted to recover ground as an independent candidate for governor of New York. Representative Federalists of New England sought his support in their plans for disunion, but he refused to commit himself to such a program. The Federalists selected Pinckney as their presidential candidate, and chose Rufus King for the vice presidency. Jefferson, preeminently successful in the more important measures of his administration, was triumphantly reelected in 1804 as president with Clinton as vice president.

Bibliography

Ellis, Joseph J. American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson. New York: Knopf, 1996.

Malone, Dumas. Jefferson the President. Boston: Little, Brown, 1970.

McDonald, Forrest. The Presidency of Thomas Jefferson. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1976.

Peterson, Merrill D. Thomas Jefferson and the New Nation. New York: Oxford University Press, 1970.

Weisberger, Bernard A. America Afire: Jefferson, Adams, and the Revolutionary Election of 1800. New York: William Morrow, 2000.

1808 and 1812

The field of candidates for the Democratic-Republican nomination in 1808 included James Madison, the choice of Thomas Jefferson; James Monroe, somewhat tainted by affiliation with John Randolph and the Quids, who were anathema to the outgoing administration; and George Clinton, a New Yorker not favored by the Virginia Dynasty. Jefferson's own refusal to consider a third term confirmed the two-term tradition for a president. At the party caucus Madison received eighty-three votes; his rivals, three each.

The Federalist opposition was led by Charles Pinckney and Rufus King, but the chief obstacle to the Madison slate came from his own party, notably in Virginia and Pennsylvania, where William Duane, a powerful journalist, was unreconcilable. The malcontents finally voted the party ticket, and in the electoral college Madison obtained 122 out of 176 votes. Clinton ran far behind on the presidential ticket but became vice president by a wide margin. Defeated for the presidency, the Federalists nevertheless made serious inroads upon the Republican majority in the House of Representatives.

In 1812 Madison secured his renomination by a tacit rather than a formal yielding to the demands of Henry Clay and the war hawks. With Clinton having died in office, the vice presidential nomination, tendered first to John Langdon of New Hampshire, went to Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts. Opposition to the party slate was led by DeWitt Clinton of New York, who finally accepted nomination from the prowar Republicans, with the endorsement of the Federalists. Jared Ingersoll of Pennsylvania was nominated as his running mate. The electoral college gave Madison 128 votes, against 89 for Clinton. Vermont and Pennsylvania stood by Madison, but New York was led by Martin Van Buren into the Clinton column. Gerry and the ticket could not carry the candidate's own state of Massachusetts, notwithstanding his recent election as governor. Thus, at the beginning of the War of 1812, the Republican party was seriously divided.

Bibliography

Ketcham, Ralph. James Madison. New York: Macmillan, 1971.

Rutland, Robert A. The Presidency of James Madison. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1990.

1816 and 1820

There was no campaign by parties in 1816 worth the name, none at all in 1820. President James Madison's choice was James Monroe, old Jeffersonian protégé, secretary of state and war. Some Democratic-Republicans favored Gov. Daniel D. Tompkins of New York. Younger Republicans, interested in nationalist measures following the War of 1812, including a bank, protective tariffs, and internal improvements to speed the development of the West, preferred William H. Crawford, secretary of the treasury and citizen of Georgia. They gave him fifty-four votes in the congressional caucus to sixty-five for Monroe. In the electoral college, Monroe overwhelmed Rufus King, signer of the Constitution and statesman of note, but a Federalist whose party now was thoroughly discredited by the Hartford Convention. Monroe was given 183 votes to 34 for King.

Newer sectional conflicts and rivalry among the younger leaders embittered the Era of Good Feeling, but President Monroe was secure. He was reelected in 1820, with only one dissenting electoral vote (cast by William Plummer of New Hampshire for John Quincy Adams). Federalists saw a greater menace to their propertied interests rising with the democracy of the West; it was to dethrone "King Caucus" (the congressional caucus nominating system) and the Virginia dynasty in the free-for-all campaign of 1824.

Bibliography

Ammon, Harry. James Monroe: The Quest for National Identity. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1971.

Cunningham, Noble E., Jr. The Presidency of James Monroe. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1996.

Dangerfield, George. The Awakening of American Nationalism, 1815–1828. New York: Harper & Row, 1965.

1824

With the second inauguration of James Monroe in 1820, preparations began for the next campaign, which was to mark the beginning of the transition from federalism to democracy, with resulting voter realignment under new party emblems. The five candidates were prominent in national affairs and represented sections or factions rather than parties. In general, the politicians supported William H. Crawford; John Quincy Adams represented business; John C. Calhoun, the South and the rising slavocracy; Henry Clay, the expanding West; and Andrew Jackson, the people everywhere. The first three were cabinet members, Clay was speaker of the House, and Jackson was the country's most popular military figure.

Crawford was virtually eliminated by a paralytic stroke; Jackson was brought in late by his friends; Clay's support was never impressive; and Calhoun withdrew and became candidate for vice president on both the Adams and Jackson tickets. No candidate received a majority electoral vote. Jackson secured the greatest number, 99; Adams, 84; Crawford, 41; and Clay, 37. The House of Representatives made a selection and chose Adams. Jackson's supporters charged that a "corrupt bargain" had been made when it was learned that Clay threw his support to Adams in exchange for the position of secretary of state. The effect of Jackson's complaint was that he immediately began campaigning for the election of 1828.

Bibliography

Dangerfield, George. The Awakening of American Nationalism, 1815–1828. New York: Harper & Row, 1965.

Hargreaves, Mary W.M. The Presidency of John Quincy Adams. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1985.

Nagel, Paul. John Quincy Adams: A Public Life, A Private Life. New York: Knopf, 1997.

1828 and 1832

In 1828 President John Quincy Adams stood for reelection on the National Republican ticket and Andrew Jackson of Tennessee made his second campaign for the presidency, his supporters now being called Democrats. Designated the people's candidate by the action of friends in the legislature of his own state, Jackson won and held the necessary support of influential leaders in New York, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina. The campaign was waged throughout the administration of Adams. It was not marked by any clear-cut declaration of political principle or program, and Jackson came to think of it as a personal vindication.

Of the twenty-four states, Delaware and South Carolina still expressed their choice by vote of the legislature. In twenty-two states the elections were held in the period from late October to early December. There was a great increase in the popular vote cast, and both candidates shared in the increase: 647,286 being cast for Jackson and 508,064 for Adams. The electoral vote stood 178 for Jackson to 83 for Adams. John C. Calhoun of South Carolina was again elected vice president. In many parts of the nation there was evidence of a more effective organization of the vote than in any previous contest, yet over and above all considerations in this election was the appeal that the frontier hero made to an increasing body of democratically minded voters. Jackson himself was the cause of an alignment of public opinion in the years that followed. Jackson men controlled the Congress, and platforms and programs were supported by leaders and sections and groups, but not by clearly defined political parties.

Naturally, Jackson stood for re-election in 1832, although he had spoken in favor of a single term, and the campaign to renominate him began at once. After December 1831, when Henry Clay returned to the Senate, he, rather than Adams, received the support of most of those who were opposed to Jackson. This did not include Calhoun, who in 1830 had broken with Jackson. Clay was formally presented by a national convention that met in December 1831. He was endorsed by a national convention of young men, which prepared a platform in a meeting held in May of 1832. In that month a national convention of Jackson supporters nominated Martin Van Buren of New York for the vice presidency. The newly formed Anti-Masonic party supported William Wirt of Maryland.

The campaign not only witnessed the general use of the national party convention, but platforms were presented and cartoons freely used, and there was a concentration of popular attention upon the pageantry of parades. Aside from the personal contest between Jackson and Clay, the issues centered on Jackson's attack on the Bank of the United States and particularly his veto of the bill for the recharter of the bank, a bill that had the backing of Clay supporters in both houses of Congress. Twenty-four states participated in this election, and all except South Carolina provided a popular vote. The electorate endorsed Jackson's administration, for the distribution of the vote in twenty-three states gave Jackson, 687,502 votes; Clay, 530,189; and Wirt, 101,051. In the electoral college the vote stood Jackson, 219; Clay, 49; and Wirt, 7; with the 11 votes representing South Carolina cast for John Floyd of Virginia.

Bibliography

Cole, Donald B. The Presidency of Andrew Jackson. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1993.

Dangerfield, George. The Awakening of American Nationalism, 1815–1828. New York: Harper & Row, 1965.

Remini, Robert V. Andrew Jackson and the Course of American Freedom, 1822–1832. New York: Harper & Row, 1981.

1836

Made up chiefly of Anti-Masons, National Republicans, and anti-Jackson Democrats, the Whig Party, formed in 1834, lacked unity. Because of this, the Whig leaders decided to put forward several sectional candidates in the 1836 presidential campaign. Accordingly, Judge Hugh L. White was entered in the race through nomination by legislative caucuses in Tennessee and Alabama, held in January 1835. At about the same time, Judge John Mc-Lean was nominated by a legislative caucus in Ohio, but he withdrew from the race in the following August. Sen. Daniel Webster was nominated by a Massachusetts legislative caucus, also in January 1835. Still another candidate of the Whigs was Gen. William H. Harrison, who was formally nominated by both Anti-Masonic and Whig state conventions in Pennsylvania in December 1835.

Meanwhile, at the Democratic National Convention held in Baltimore on 21–22 May 1835, Martin Van Buren, who was President Andrew Jackson's personal choice, had been unanimously nominated for the presidency. No platform was adopted by the convention, but a committee was authorized to draw up an address. Published in the party organ, the Washington Globe, on 26 August 1835, this address presented Van Buren as one who would, if elected, continue "that wise course of national policy pursued by Gen. Jackson." For all practical purposes, this address may be regarded as the first platform ever issued by the Democratic party.

When the election returns were finally in, Van Buren had won the presidency with 170 electoral votes and a popular vote of 765,483 to 739,795 for his opponents. White received 26 electoral votes, Webster 14, and Harrison 73, while South Carolina bestowed its 11 votes on W. P. Mangum. No candidate for the vice presidency received a majority of the electoral vote, so on 8 February 1837, the Senate chose the Democratic candidate Richard M. Johnson over his leading rival, Francis Granger.

Bibliography

Niven, John. Martin Van Buren: The Romantic Age of American Politics. New York: Oxford University Press, 1983.

Remini, Robert V. Martin Van Buren and the Making of the Democratic Party. New York: Columbia University Press, 1959.

Wilson, Major L. The Presidency of Martin Van Buren. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1984.

1840

Distinctive in American history as the first national victory of the Whig party, the campaign of 1840 was unique for its popular and emotional appeal, organized on an unprecedented scale. To the Whigs belongs the credit of introducing into a presidential battle every political device calculated to sway the "common man." The Whig convention, assembled at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on 2 December 1839, nominated Gen. William Henry Harrison of Indiana for president and John Tyler of Virginia for vice president. No attempt was made to frame a platform; indeed, the only bond uniting the various groups under the Whig banner was a determination to defeat the Democrats. The Democratic convention, held at Baltimore on 5 May 1840, was united behind Martin Van Buren for president, but the choice of a vice president was left to the state electors. A platform on strict construction lines was adopted.

The Whigs conducted their campaign at a rollicking pitch. Harrison was adroitly celebrated as the "Hard Cider and Log Cabin" candidate, a phrase the Democrats had used in contempt. Popular meetings, "log cabin raisin's," oratory, invective against Van Buren the aristocrat, songs, and slogans ("Tippecanoe and Tyler Too") swamped the country. In the election Harrison polled an electoral vote of 234, a popular vote of 1,274,624; Van Buren received 60 electoral votes and 1,127,781 popular votes. A minor feature in the campaign was the appearance of an abolition (the Liberty) party, whose candidate, James G. Birney, received 7,069 votes. Although the causes for Van Buren's defeat should be traced back to his opposition to Jackson, the Panic of 1837, the unpopular Seminole Wars, and the campaign methods employed by the Whigs contributed largely to Harrison's success.

Bibliography

Gunderson, Robert Gray. The Log-Cabin Campaign. Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 1957.

Peterson, Norma L. The Presidencies of William Henry Harrison and John Tyler. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1989.

1844

No outstanding Democratic candidate could muster the necessary two-thirds vote in the 1844 convention, so James K. Polk of Tennessee, the first "Dark Horse" (compromise candidate), was nominated with George M. Dallas of Pennsylvania as running mate, on a platform demanding "the re-annexation of Texas and the re-occupation of Oregon" and in favor of tariff reform. The Whigs nominated Henry Clay of Kentucky and Theodore Freling-huysen of New Jersey on a platform favoring protective tariffs and a national bank, but quibbling on the Texas annexation issue, which alienated some of the Whigs. The Liberty party unanimously selected James G. Birney as its presidential candidate. Polk carried New York by a small popular majority and was elected with 170 electoral votes to 105 for Clay. The popular vote was Polk, 1,338,464; Clay, 1,300,097; and Birney, 62,300.

Bibliography

Bergeron, Paul H. The Presidency of James K. Polk. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1987.

McCoy, Charles A. Polk and the Presidency. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1960.

1848

The Whig nominee, Zachary Taylor, who sidestepped the burning issue of Slavery extension, coasted to victory on his military reputation with Millard Fillmore as his vice president. His Democratic opponent, Gen. Lewis Cass of Michigan, straddled the slavery extension question by advocating state sovereignty. The new Free Soil Party, specifically opposed to extension and headed by Martin Van Buren, split the Democratic vote in New York and thus contributed materially to Taylor's triumph. (Gerrit Smith, the National Liberty party candidate and staunch abolitionist, advised those who would not vote for an abolitionist to vote for Van Buren, rather than Cass.) Taylor carried half the states: eight in the South and seven in the North. The popular vote was Taylor, 1,360,967; Cass, 1,222,342; Van Buren, 291,263; Smith 2,733. The electoral vote was Taylor, 163; Cass, 127.

Bibliography

Hamilton, Holman. Zachary Taylor: Soldier in the White House. Indianapolis, Ind.: Bobbs-Merrill, 1951.

Rayback, Robert J. Millard Fillmore: Biography of a President. Buffalo, N.Y.: American Political Biography Press, 1959.

Smith, Elbert B. The Presidencies of Zachary Taylor and Millard Fillmore. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1988.

1852

The Whig party, suffering from apathy and demoralized by the slavery issue, entered the 1852 campaign in dangerously weak condition. Democratic victory seemed almost certain, but the question of who would serve on the Democratic ticket remained open. After many ballots, the leading Democrats, Lewis Cass, James Buchanan, and Stephen Douglas, fell out of the running and a dark horse, Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire, was nominated with William R. King of Alabama. The Whigs nominated the military hero Gen. Winfield Scott; the Free Soilers nominated the antislavery leader John P. Hale of New Hampshire. Both major parties endorsed the Compromise of 1850, so there were no issues and little contest. Pierce carried all states save Massachusetts, Vermont, Kentucky, and Tennessee. The popular vote was Pierce, 1,601,117; Scott, 1,385,453; and Hale, 155,825. The electoral vote was Pierce, 254; Scott, 42.

Bibliography

Gara, Larry. The Presidency of Franklin Pierce. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1991.

Nichols, Roy F. Franklin Pierce: Young Hickory of the Granite Hills. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1931.

1856

In its first presidential campaign, the Republican party nominated John C. Frémont of California. Its platform opposed slavery expansion and condemned slavery and Mormonism as twin relics of barbarism. The American, or Know-Nothing, party nominated Millard Fillmore, who had succeeded to the presidency following the death of Zachary Taylor. The Democrats nominated James Buchanan, selecting John C. Breckinridge as his running mate. Their conservative platform stressed States' Rights, opposed sectionalism, and favored a somewhat ambiguous plank that gave popular sovereignty to the territories. The electoral vote was Buchanan, 174; Frémont, 114; and Fillmore, 8. The popular vote was Buchanan, 1,832,955; Frémont, 1,339,932; and Fillmore, 871,731. The Republicans rejoiced at their showing, having won the votes of eleven free states, while the Democrats congratulated themselves for saving the Union.

Bibliography

Klein, Philip S. President James Buchanan: A Biography. University Park: Penn State University Press, 1962.

Smith, Elbert B. The Presidency of James Buchanan. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1975.

1860

The Democratic National Convention met amid great excitement and bitterness over the slavery issue, at Charleston, South Carolina, on 23 April 1860. The delegates from the eight states of the far South (Southern Democrats) demanded the inclusion of a plank in the platform providing that Congress should guarantee slave property in the territories. This was refused, and after several days of useless wrangling and failure to unite the convention upon a candidate, adjournment was taken to Baltimore on 18 June. At this meeting the convention nominated Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois for president, and later the national committee nominated Herschel V. Johnson of Georgia for vice president. The platform pledged the party to stand by the Dred Scott decision or any future Supreme Court decision that dealt with the rights of property in the various states and territories.

Southern Democrat delegates met separately at Baltimore on 28 June and nominated John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky for president and Joseph Lane of Oregon for vice president. The platform reaffirmed the extreme Southern view regarding slavery. Meanwhile, the remains of the old-line Whig and American (Know-Nothing) parties had met in a convention in Baltimore on 9 May and adopted the name of the Constitutional Union Party and a seemingly simple platform: "the Constitution of the country, the Union of the States and the enforcement of the laws." They nominated John Bell of Tennessee for president and Edward Everett of Massachusetts for vice president and attempted to ignore slavery and other sectional issues, with a plea for the preservation of the Union.

The Republican National Convention met in Chicago on 16 May. By means of the platform issues of non-extension of slavery, homestead law, and advocacy of a protective tariff, the agricultural elements of the Northern and Western parts of the country and the industrial elements of Pennsylvania, New England, and other Northern and Eastern sections of the country were united. At first it seemed that the convention would nominate either William H. Seward of New York or Salmon P. Chase of Ohio, but when a deadlock between their respective supporters seemed imminent, the convention instead nominated Abraham Lincoln of Illinois on the third ballot. Hannibal Hamlin of Maine received the nomination for vice president on the second ballot. The split in the Democratic party made possible Lincoln's election. He received 180 electoral votes against 72 for Breckinridge, who carried the extreme Southern states, and 39 for Bell, who carried the border states. Douglas received but 12 electoral votes—9 from Missouri and 3 of the 7 from New Jersey. The popular vote totaled 1,865,593 for Lincoln, 1,382,713 for Douglas, 848,356 for Breckinridge, and 592,906 for Bell. The combined opponents thus received 958,382 votes more than Lincoln, who was a minority president during his first administration.

Bibliography

Donald, David H. Lincoln. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995.

Oates, Stephen B. With Malice Toward None: The Life of Abraham Lincoln. New York: Harper & Row, 1977.

Paludan, Philip S. The Presidency of Abraham Lincoln. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1994.

1864

A national convention was called in the name of "the executive committee created by the national convention held in Chicago on the sixteenth day of May 1860." The use of the name Republican was carefully avoided. The convention met in Baltimore on 7 June 1864 and named itself the National Union (Arm-In-Arm) Convention. The Republican leaders wanted to appeal to Union sentiment and eliminate partisan influence as much as possible. The platform, which was unanimously adopted, was a statement of "unconditional Union" principles and pledged the convention to put down rebellion by force of arms. Abraham Lincoln was nominated for a second term by the vote of every delegate except those from Missouri, who had been instructed to vote for Gen. Ulysses S. Grant. The nomination then was made unanimous. Andrew Johnson of Tennessee, a leading Southern Democrat who had been staunch in his loyalty to the Union, was nominated for vice president. The Democratic party met in convention on 29 August, also in Chicago. Its platform declared the war a failure and advocated the immediate cessation of hostilities and the restoration of the Union by peaceable means. The convention nominated Gen. George B. McClellan for president and George H. Pendleton for vice president. McClellan accepted the nomination but at the same time virtually repudiated the platform out of fear that it would alienate the Northern electorate.

At first it appeared that the Democrats might defeat Lincoln, but the victories of the Union army in the field—particularly the capture of Atlanta in September—proved that the war was not a failure and rallied the people to support Lincoln and Johnson and the Union cause. The election took place on 8 November. For the first time in U.S. history certain states—those of the South—deliberately declined to choose the electors whose job it was to select the president. Lincoln carried every state that took part in the election except New Jersey, Delaware, and Kentucky. He received 212 electoral votes, while McClellan received 21. Lincoln was given a popular majority of only 403,151 votes out of a total of 4,010,725 cast. This election was one of the most vital in the history of the country because the very survival of the national Union may have depended upon the outcome.

Bibliography

Castel, Albert E. The Presidency of Andrew Johnson. Lawrence: Regents Press of Kansas, 1979.

Donald, David H. Lincoln. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995.

Oates, Stephen B. With Malice Toward None: The Life of AbrahamLincoln. New York: Harper & Row, 1977.

Paludan, Philip S. The Presidency of Abraham Lincoln. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1994.

1868 and 1872

The issues in 1868 were southern Reconstruction and the "Ohio Idea" (payment of the national debt in green-backs). Horatio Seymour of New York and Frank Blair of Missouri, the Democratic nominees, ran on a platform calling for a restoration of the rights of the southern states and payment of the war bonds in greenbacks. Alarmed by Democratic victories in 1867, the Republicans nominated the war hero, Ulysses S. Grant, and Schuyler Colfax of Indiana. Their platform acclaimed the success of Reconstruction and denounced as repudiation the payment of the bonds in greenbacks. Personal attacks on the candidates and Republican "waving the bloody shirt" were campaign features. An effort to replace the Democratic nominees in October failed but foreshadowed defeat. Grant received 214 electoral votes to Seymour's 80, and nearly 53 percent of the popular vote, receiving 3,013,421 votes to 2,706,829 for Seymour. Seymour carried eight states. The result was a personal victory for Grant rather than for Republican policies.

Dissatisfaction with the Reconstruction policy and a desire for reform led to a Liberal Republican organization, supported by tariff and civil-service reformers, independent editors, and disgruntled politicians. The new party nominated Horace Greeley, with B. Gratz Brown of Missouri as vice president, to oppose Grant's reelection in 1872. (Grant's running mate in this campaign was Henry Wilson of Massachusetts.) Its platform demanded civil-service reform, universal amnesty, and specie payment. The tariff issue was straddled to please Greeley, a protectionist. The Democrats accepted the Liberal Republican platform and nominees. The Greeley campaign lacked enthusiasm, and he was mercilessly lampooned. Grant received 286 electoral votes to Greeley's 66 and over 55 percent of the popular vote, receiving 3,596,745 votes to 2,843,446 for Greeley. Greeley died shortly after the election and before the electoral college met. His electoral votes were scattered among four other candidates.

Bibliography

McFeely, William S. Grant: A Biography. New York: Norton, 1981.

Perret, Geoffrey. Ulysses S. Grant: Soldier and President. New York: Random House, 1997.

Simpson, Brooks D. The Reconstruction Presidents. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1998.

1876

This campaign is especially notable because it resulted in the famous disputed presidential election. The leading aspirant for the Republican nomination was James G. Blaine of Maine. His name was presented to the national convention at Cincinnati by Robert G. Ingersoll in a striking speech in which he dubbed Blaine "the Plumed Knight." Among the other candidates were Benjamin H. Bristow of Kentucky, Roscoe Conkling of New York, Oliver P. Morton of Indiana, and Rutherford B. Hayes of Ohio. For six ballots Blaine led the field, but his involvement in a scandal brought to light a few weeks before the Republican convention caused a stampede to Hayes on the seventh ballot, resulting in his nomination. William A. Wheeler of New York was named as his running mate. The platform endorsed the Resumption Act and eulogized the Republican party for its work during the Civil War and Reconstruction.

Thomas F. Bayard of Delaware, Allen G. Thurman of Ohio, Winfield Scott Hancock of Pennsylvania, and Thomas A. Hendricks of Indiana sought the Democratic nomination, but the leading contender was Gov. Samuel J. Tilden of New York, who was named on the first ballot. Hendricks was then nominated for the vice presidency. The scandals of the Grant administration were denounced in unsparing terms and "reform" was declared to be the paramount issue. Repeal of the clause of the act of 1875 providing for the resumption of specie payments was advocated, but Tilden personally was known to be a sound-money man rather than a Greenbacker. The platform also declared in favor of civil-service reform.

During the campaign, the Democratic speakers dwelt heavily upon the scandals under Republican rule and contended that only through a change of men and parties could there be any real reform. Republican orators resorted to "bloody shirt" tactics (that is, revived the Civil War issues), questioned Tilden's loyalty during that conflict, and praised Hayes's military record—four honorable wounds and a brevet major generalcy. In the North the campaign was a quiet one, but in some of the southern states, attempts to intimidate African American voters produced violent outbursts and considerable bloodshed.

Early returns on election night indicated Tilden's election, but quickly it became obvious that the result would be in doubt. When the electoral college met and voted, Tilden received 184 unquestioned votes, Hayes, 165. The 4 votes of Florida, Louisiana's 8 votes, South Carolina's 7 votes, and Oregon's 1 vote were claimed by both parties. After a protracted, bitter dispute, Congress created an electoral commission of five senators, five representatives, and five Supreme Court judges to help decide the result. Of the senators, three were to be Republicans and two Democrats; of the representatives, three were to be Democrats and two Republicans; four of the judges, two Republicans and two Democrats, were designated by their districts, and together they were to choose the fifth judge. It was expected that the fifth judge would be David Davis, but his election to the Senate by the Democrats in the Illinois legislature gave him an excuse to decline the thankless task. The choice then fell upon Joseph P. Bradley, who had been appointed to the bench as a Republican but then made several decisions that made him acceptable, temporarily, to the Democrats.

In case the two houses of Congress, voting separately, refused to accept any return, the dispute was to be referred to the commission, whose decision was to be final unless it was rejected by both houses. The two houses, voting separately on strict party lines, did disagree. The decision, therefore, rested with the commission, which, in all cases, by a vote of eight to seven (Bradley voting with the majority), refused to go against the election results as certified by the state authorities (in the case of Oregon by the secretary of state) and declared in favor of the Republican contenders. In each case the Senate accepted this decision, while the House rejected it. All the disputed votes were therefore counted for Hayes and Wheeler, and they were declared elected.

Bibliography

Hoogenboom, Ari. Rutherford B. Hayes: Warrior and President. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1995.

Simpson, Brooks D. The Reconstruction Presidents. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1998.

Woodward, C. Vann. Reunion and Reaction: The Compromise of1877 and the End of Reconstruction. Boston: Little, Brown, 1951.

1880

Taking place during a business revival and with no definite issue before the country, the 1880 campaign was routine politics. The Republicans overcame a serious split between groups headed by James G. Blaine and Roscoe Conkling by nominating James A. Garfield, a member of neither faction, over former President Ulysses S. Grant, who had the support of the Conkling wing in seeking a third term in office. The nomination of Chester A. Arthur for the vice presidency appeased the Conkling faction. Against Garfield the Democrats nominated Winfield Scott Hancock, a nonpolitical Civil War general. However, their party had no positive program and was discredited by its factious opposition to the Hayes administration, two factors that led to a narrow defeat. The Republicans carried the "doubtful states" and regained control over Congress. The popular vote was Garfield, 4,453,295; Hancock, 4,414,082. The electoral vote was Garfield, 214; Hancock, 155.

Bibliography

Doenecke, Justus D. The Presidencies of James A. Garfield and Chester A. Arthur. Lawrence: Regents Press of Kansas, 1981.

Peskin, Allan. Garfield: A Biography. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1978.

1884

Fought primarily between Republican James G. Blaine and Democrat Grover Cleveland, the campaign of 1884 was one of the most vicious in American history. There were several reasons why it became relentlessly personal in character. From the moment of Blaine's nomination in Chicago on 6 June, he came under heavy fire from the reform element of all parties. He was believed to be allied with the spoils element in Republican politics; he had an unhappy record for baiting the South; he favored certain big business interests; and his railroad transactions had raised a suspicion that he had used his position as speaker of the House for personal profit. To divert attention from these attacks, certain Republicans published evidence that Cleveland, nominated on 10 July, also in Chicago, was the father of an illegitimate son born in Buffalo some ten years earlier.

There were virtually no serious issues between the two parties—both had good reason not to meddle seriously with the currency question or tariffs, and international affairs attracted little attention. One leading feature of the campaign was the secession of a large body of Republicans who could not stomach Blaine and who became Cleveland Democrats, or Mugwumps. Another feature was the open enmity of Tammany Hall, under political boss John Kelly, for Cleveland, and the success of it and other malcontents in carrying many Irish voters over to Blaine or to the new Antimonopoly party headed by Benjamin F. Butler. After exchanges that one observer compared to the vulgar battles between quarreling tenement dwellers, the two parties approached election day running neck and neck. Democratic victory was finally decided by the vote of New York state, where three key events unfolded: the Rev. Samuel D. Burchard's "rum, Romanism and rebellion" speech at a reception for Blaine, the "Belshazzar's feast" of Republican millionaires and politicians at Delmonico's just before the election, and Roscoe Conkling's knifing of Blaine; together, the three spelled a narrow defeat for Blain. Cleveland and his running mate, Thomas A. Hendricks, obtained a popular vote of 4,879,507 against Blaine's 4,850,293, and an electoral vote of 219 against Blaine's 182. Butler's popular vote was just over 175,000, and that of John P. St. John, Prohibition candidate, was just over 150,000.

Bibliography

Summers, Mark Wahlgren. Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion: TheElections of 1884. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2000.

Welch, Richard. The Presidencies of Grover Cleveland. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1988.

1888

The Tariff was the chief issue of this campaign, which resulted in the election of Republican candidate Benjamin Harrison over Grover Cleveland by a majority of the electoral college but not of the popular vote. The Republicans had approached the election with scant hope of victory, for Cleveland had proved an admirable president; however, when his annual message of 1887 was devoted entirely to arguments for tariff reform, they gained new hope. The issue was one on which they could rally nearly all manufacturers, most general businesses, and perhaps a majority of workingmen. Benjamin Harrison, who represented extreme high-tariff demands, was nominated by the Republicans at Chicago on 25 June after James G. Blaine withdrew for health reasons and John Sherman and Walter Q. Gresham, whose tariff views were moderate, failed to gain any additional supporters. Levi P. Morton was named Harrison's vice presidential candidate.

Harrison was supported by Blaine, by manufacturing interests who were induced by the Republican chairman (Matthew S. Quay) to make large campaign donations, and by Civil War veterans hungry for pension legislation. With their assistance, Harrison waged an aggressive campaign, during which his speechmaking abilities made a deep impression on the country.

Cleveland, who was renominated by the Democrats at Saint Louis early in June, felt that his presidential office made it improper for him to actively campaign, and his running mate, former Sen. Allen G. Thurman of Ohio, was too old and infirm to be anything but a liability to the party; to make matters worse, campaign funds were slender. However, the worst news for the Democrats involved their national chairman, Sen. Calvin S. Brice of Ohio, who held high-tariff convictions, was allied with big business, and refused to put his heart into the battle. Two weeks before election day, the Republicans published an indiscreet letter by Lord Sackville-West, the U.S. minister to Britain, hinting to a supposed British colleague that Cleveland would probably be more friendly to England than Harrison; and though Cleveland at once had Sackville-West recalled, the incident cost him many Irish-American votes. Cleveland received 5,537,857 popular votes, Harrison 5,447,129; but Cleveland had only 168 electors against Harrison's 233. Clinton B. Fisk of New Jersey, the Prohibition candidate, polled 249,506 votes; Alson J. Streeter of Illinois, the Union Labor nominee, 146,935.

Bibliography

Sievers, Harry J. Benjamin Harrison: Hoosier President. New York: University Publishers, 1968.

Socolofsky, Homer E., and Allan B. Spetter. The Presidency of Benjamin Harrison. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1987.

1892

Grover Cleveland was reelected over Benjamin Harrison in 1892 by a majority, the size of which surprised observers of both parties. Cleveland had been named on the first ballot at the Democratic convention in Chicago, although David B. Hill of New York had made a demagogic attempt to displace him. Adlai E. Stevenson was selected for the vice presidency. The incumbent Harrison, who had estranged the professional politicians of his party, who had quarreled with its most popular figure (James G. Blaine), and who had impressed the country as cold and unlikable, was reluctantly accepted by the Republicans at Minneapolis on 10 June. With no other desirable candidate available, the party found it politically unfeasible to repudiate his administration. However, the McKinley Tariff of 1890 had excited widespread discontent, the Sherman Silver Purchase Act of the same year had angered the conservative East, and heavy federal expenditures had caused general uneasiness. Cleveland's firm stand on behalf of the gold standard and low tariffs and his known strength of character commended him to large numbers of independent voters. One factor that hurt the Republicans was the great strength manifested by the Populists, who polled 1,040,000 votes for James B. Weaver of Iowa and James G. Field of Virginia, most from old Republican strongholds in the Middle West. Another factor was the labor war at Homestead, Pennsylvania, which revealed that the highly protected steel industry did not properly pass on its tariff benefits to the worker. Cleveland, with a popular vote of 5,555,426, had 277 electors; Harrison, with a popular vote of 5,182,690, had 145; while Weaver won 22 electoral votes.

Bibliography

Nevins, Allan. Grover Cleveland: A Study in Courage. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1932.

Welch, Richard. The Presidencies of Grover Cleveland. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1988.

1896

This campaign and election marked the end of a twenty-two-year period in which neither major party had been able to control the national government for more than the life of a single Congress; it ushered in a period of Republican domination that lasted until 1911. Favored by Marcus A. Hanna's cannily managed campaign, William McKinley of Ohio was named on the first ballot by the Republican convention meeting at Saint Louis. Garret A. Hobart was selected as the vice presidential candidate. The traditional party platform was adopted with the exception of a declaration for the Gold Standard until Bimetallism could be secured by international agreement. A bloc of western delegates bolted and organized the Silver Republican Party.

With Cleveland tainted by the sour economy, no candidate had an inside track on the Democratic nomination. The important contest was over the platform. As presented to the delegates, it was an anti-administration document favoring free silver at the sixteen-to-one ratio, criticizing the use of injunctions in labor disputes, and denouncing the overthrow of the federal income tax. In its support William Jennings Bryan delivered his "Cross of Gold" oration and endeared himself to the silver delegates by his effective answers to the criticisms of the administration orators. The enthusiasm growing out of that speech gave impetus to Bryan's candidacy for the presidential nomination. Backing this was also the long campaign he had waged by personal conferences, speeches, and correspondence with the inflationist delegates from the South and West. Another factor was the bolting Republicans and the Populists, who saw themselves being forced to support the Democratic nominee and demanded someone not too closely identified with the regular Democratic party platform. Bryan appealed to the delegates as the Democrat who could unite the silver and agrarian factions. The Populists, Silver Republicans, and National Silver party members joined the Democrats in support of Bryan. The administration Democrats placed a National Democratic ticket in the field to hold conservative Democratic votes away from him, nominating John M. Palmer of Illinois as their presidential candidate.

The campaign was highly spectacular. The Democrats exploited Bryan's oratory skills by sending him on speaking tours across the country, at which enormous crowds came out to hear him. In sharp contrast, the Republican management kept McKinley at his home in Canton, Ohio, where carefully selected delegations made formal calls and listened to "front porch" speeches by the candidate. More important was the flood of advertising, the funds for building local organizations, and the large group of speakers that campaigned for McKinley, which all were maintained by Hanna's organization. The metropolitan press, like the other business groups—except the silver miners—overwhelmingly opposed Bryan. The results showed a sharp city-versus-rural division, with Bryan carrying the Solid South and most of the trans-Missouri states. The remainder, including California, Oregon, North Dakota, Kentucky, and Maryland, went to McKinley. With him were elected a Republican House and a Senate in which various minor party members held a nominal balance of power. The popular vote was unusually large, each candidate receiving larger totals than any previous candidate of his party, McKinley's vote being 7,102,246 and Bryan's 6,492,559. The electoral vote was 271 and 176, respectively.

Bibliography

Glad, Paul W. McKinley, Bryan, and the People. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1964.

Gould, Lewis L. The Presidency of William McKinley. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1980.

1900

The presidential candidates and most of the issues of the 1896 campaign carried over to the 1900 campaign. With the trend of prices upward, the pressure for inflation had declined, and the expansion of American control over new territories had created the issue of Imperialism. At the Republican convention in Philadelphia, a combination of circumstances forced Marcus A. Hanna and President William McKinley to accept Theodore Roosevelt as the vice presidential candidate. The party's position on the new territories was defined as American retention with "the largest measure of self-government consistent with their welfare and our duties." When the Democrats met at Kansas City, they once again selected William Jennings Bryan as their presidential candidate, but they were unwilling to accept the conservatives' proposal to forget the last platform and make anti-imperialism the only issue. The 1896 platform was reendorsed, an antitrust plank added, and imperialism designated the "paramount issue."

The campaign lacked the fire of 1896. The Republicans emphasized the "Full Dinner Pail" and the danger threatening it from the Democratic platform; the Democrats stressed the growth of monopolies under the McKinley administration and the danger of imperialistic government. The result was a more emphatic Republican victory than in 1896, one generally interpreted as an endorsement of both McKinley's domestic and foreign policies. The popular vote was McKinley, 7,218,491; Bryan, 6,356,734. McKinley obtained 292 electoral votes to 155 for Bryan. This election made Roosevelt's elevation to the presidency automatic upon McKinley's death in September 1901.

Bibliography

Gould, Lewis L. The Presidency of William McKinley. Lawrence: Regents Press of Kansas, 1980.

Morgan, Wayne H. William McKinley and His America. Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 1963.

1904

Theodore Roosevelt, who succeeded to the presidency on the death of William McKinley in 1901, ardently hoped to be nominated and elected "in his own right." The death of Marcus A. Hanna of Ohio, whom the big business interests of the country would have preferred, made possible the president's nomination by acclamation when the Republican convention met in Chicago on 21 June. Charles W. Fairbanks of Indiana was chosen for the vice presidency. The Democrats, meeting at Saint Louis on 6 July, pointedly turned their backs upon "Bryanism" by omitting from their platform all reference to the money question. They nominated for president Alton B. Parker, a conservative New York judge, who at once pledged himself to maintain the gold standard, and for vice president, Henry Gassaway Davis, a wealthy West Virginia octogenarian. Business leaders, more afraid of the Democratic party than of Roosevelt, contributed so heavily to the Republican campaign chest that Parker rashly charged "black-mail." He claimed that the Republican party had forced corporations to contribute funds to the campaign, and in return the government pledged to suppress evidence it had against them. Roosevelt, indignantly denying the charge, won by a landslide that reclaimed Missouri from the Solid South and gave him 336 electoral votes to Parker's 140 and a popular plurality of 2,544,238. Prohibitionist, Populist, Socialist, and Socialist Labor candidates received only negligible support.

Bibliography

Brands, H.W. TR: The Last Romantic. New York: Basic Books, 1997.

Gould, Lewis L. The Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1991.

Morris, Edmund. Theodore Rex. New York: Random House, 2001.

Mowry, George E. The Era of Theodore Roosevelt and the Birth of Modern America, 1900–1912. New York: Harper & Row, 1958.

1908

Theodore Roosevelt, although at the height of his popularity, refused to run for a second elective term in 1908, but swung his support at the Republican convention to William Howard Taft, who was nominated. The convention selected James S. Sherman of New York for the vice presidency. William Jennings Bryan completely dominated the Democratic convention and became its nominee. Party differences on the issues played an insignificant role in the election. After an apathetic campaign Bryan carried only the Solid South, Kansas, Colorado, and Nevada, although he received about 44 percent of the popular vote, securing 6,412,294 to Taft's 7,675,320. Taft's electoral vote was 321; Bryan's, 162. The Republicans won the presidency And both houses of Congress.

Bibliography

Anderson, Donald F. William Howard Taft: A Conservative's Conception of the Presidency. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1973.

Coletta, Paolo E. The Presidency of William Howard Taft. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1973.

1912

This campaign marked the culmination of the progressive movement in national politics and resulted in the return of the Democrats after sixteen years of Republican presidents. The struggle for the Republican nomination became a bloody battle between the progressive and conservative wings, aided in each case by personal followings and some division of support from large interests. In the beginning it was the progressive Sen. Robert M. La Follette of Wisconsin against the incumbent, William Howard Taft. But former President Theodore Roosevelt, who had been largely responsible for Taft's nomination in 1908, entered the race to rally behind him Republicans who believed Taft had been too friendly with the conservative Old Guard. The influence in Taft's hands was sufficient to return delegates pledged to him where they were named by conventions, but either Roosevelt or La Follette was successful in states where presidential primaries were held, save one. The conservative-controlled national committee placed Taft delegates on the temporary roll in all contests, and the small majority resulting gave Taft the nomination. Roosevelt was later nominated by the newly organized Progressive (Bull Moose) party, consisting largely of Republican bolters.

The contest for the Democratic nomination was also hard fought with both of the leading candidates accepted as progressives. Beauchamp ("Champ") Clark of Wisconsin led from the beginning and had an actual majority in the convention for a time, but when William Jennings Bryan transferred his support to the second progressive, Woodrow Wilson, a shift began that resulted in the latter's nomination. The choice for vice president was Thomas R. Marshall. All three party platforms adopted planks unusually favorable to progressive policies. Wilson, backed by a united party, won easily, and Roosevelt was second. There was an unusual amount of shifting of party loyalties, although most Democrats voted for Wilson and most Republicans for Roosevelt or Taft. Wilson's popular vote was 6,296,547, Roosevelt's was 4,118,571, and Taft's was 3,486,720. The electoral vote was, respectively, 435, 88, and 8. The Democrats won majorities in both branches of Congress. In spite of the three-way contest, a fourth candidate, Eugene V. Debs, Socialist, secured approximately 900,000 votes.

Bibliography

Burton, David H. The Learned Presidency: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and Woodrow Wilson. Rutherford, N.J.: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1988.

Clements, Kendrick A. The Presidency of Woodrow Wilson. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1992.

Cooper, John Milton, Jr. The Warrior and the Priest: Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1983.

Link, Arthur S. Wilson. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1947.

Mowry, George E. Theodore Roosevelt and the Progressive Movement. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1946.

1916

This campaign reunited the Republican party and determined that American foreign policy should be left in Woodrow Wilson's hands. The Republicans reunited when, after the nomination of Charles Evans Hughes, Theodore Roosevelt, already nominated by the rapidly declining Progressive party, announced support of the ticket. There was no opposition to the renomination of President Wilson and Vice President Thomas R. Marshall. The Democrats defended the policies of the administration, especially the Underwood Tariff and the measures for the regulation of business. They also praised the foreign policy as one that had kept the United States out of war and preserved national honor. The Republicans attacked the policies of the administration, promised a stronger foreign policy, and were supported by the more extreme partisans of both alliances in the European war.

The results were in doubt for several days because of the close vote in several states. Wilson won the presidency, carrying Ohio, New Hampshire, the South, and most of the border and trans-Missouri states, including California, with an electoral vote of 277, against 254 for Hughes. The popular vote was Wilson, 9,127,695; Hughes, 8,533,507. Congress remained Democratic only because independent members of the House were friendly.

Bibliography

Clements, Kendrick A. The Presidency of Woodrow Wilson. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1992.

Cooper, John Milton, Jr. The Warrior and the Priest: Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1983.

1920

The debate on the League of Nations determined the alignment of political forces in the spring of 1920. The Republicans were confident: the wounds of the intraparty strife of 1912 had been healed; the mistaken strategy of 1916 admitted; and the conservative mood of the country was easily interpreted. They met in convention in Chicago, could not agree upon any one of the leading pre-convention candidates (Frank O. Lowden, Hiram Johnson, or Leonard Wood), and nominated Warren G. Harding, senator from Ohio, on the tenth ballot. Calvin Coolidge, governor of Massachusetts, was nominated for the vice presidency. The Democrats met in San Francisco. None of the discussed candidates, William G. McAdoo, Alfred E. Smith, John W. Davis, A. Mitchell Palmer, or James M. Cox, commanded a great following. Cox, governor of Ohio, was nominated on the forty-fourth ballot, with Franklin D. Roosevelt, thirty-eight-year-old assistant secretary of the navy, as vice presidential nominee. The Socialist party, meeting in May, nominated Eugene Debs for the fifth time. A Farmer-Labor ticket appeared also.

None of the platforms was unexpected or significant on domestic issues. The Republicans attacked the president and opposed American entrance into the League of Nations. The Democratic national committee supported Wilson's appeal for a "solemn referendum" on the covenant of the League; Cox waged a persistent and vigorous campaign. Harding, remaining at his home for the most part, contented himself with vague generalizations. Neither candidate had been nationally known at the outset of the contest, no clear-cut issue developed, and no real contest transpired. The total vote cast was 26,733,905. The Nineteenth Amendment had been proclaimed in August, and in every state women were entitled to vote. Harding won more than 60 percent of the total vote cast. Cox won the electoral vote in only eleven states, receiving 127 electoral votes to Harding's 404. The Socialist vote was 919,799, but the strength of all the third parties totaled only about 5.5 percent.

Bibliography

Ferrell, Robert H.. The Strange Deaths of President Harding. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1996.

Trani, Eugene P., and David L. Wilson. The Presidency of Warren G. Harding. Lawrence: Regents Press of Kansas, 1977.

1924

As in 1920, the candidates in 1924 were new in a presidential Canvass. The Republican convention, meeting in Cleveland, with a few scattered votes in dissent, nominated Calvin Coolidge, who as vice president had succeeded to the presidency in August 1923 when President Warren Harding died. The vice presidential nomination, refused by several, was accepted by Charles G. Dawes of Illinois. The platform was marked by extreme conservatism. The Democrats met in New York and were in almost continuous session for two and a half weeks. Not only did serious division exist on the matter of American adherence to the League of Nations and on the proposed denunciation of the Ku Klux Klan, but also upon the choice of the nominee. Each of the two leading candidates, Alfred E. Smith and William G. McAdoo, possessed enough delegates to prevent the nomination of the other, and finally on the 103d ballot the nomination went to John W. Davis of West Virginia. Gov. Charles W. Bryan of Nebraska was nominated for vice president. The platform called for a popular referendum on the League of Nations.

The Conference for Progressive Political Action brought about a series of meetings and eventually a widespread support of Sen. Robert M. La Follette in his independent candidacy, with Burton K. Wheeler as his running mate. La Follette's platform, in which appeared most of the progressive proposals of the previous twenty years, was endorsed by the Socialist party and the officers of the American Federation of Labor. So real did the threat of the third-party candidacy appear to be that much of the attack of the Republicans was on La Follette, who waged an aggressive campaign.

The total vote cast exceeded that of 1920 by 2.36 million, but because of the vote cast for La Follette (nearly 5 million), that cast for Republican and for Democratic tickets was less than four years earlier, Coolidge securing 15,718,211 votes, and Davis 8,385,283. La Follette carried Wisconsin (13 electoral votes). Coolidge topped the poll in thirty-five states, receiving 382 electoral votes, leaving the electoral vote for Davis in only twelve states, or 136 votes.

Bibliography

Ferrell, Robert H. The Presidency of Calvin Coolidge. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1998.

Sobel, Robert. Coolidge: An American Enigma. Washington D.C.: Regnery, 1998.

1928

On 2 August 1927, President Calvin Coolidge announced that he would not run for reelection in 1928. The majority of Republican party leaders was undecided as to which candidate they should support. A popular movement, taking its strength from the rank and file voters, forced the nomination of Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover on the first ballot at the Republican National Convention, which met at Kansas City, Missouri, in June. The platform contained strong support of the usual Republican policies, such as a protective tariffs and sound business administration. It advocated the observance and rigorous enforcement of the Eighteenth Amendment. Charles Curtis of Kansas was nominated for vice president. The Democrats met at Houston, Texas, and on 28 June nominated New York Gov. Alfred E. Smith, the first Catholic to be nominated for the presidency. They then nominated Arkansas Sen. Joseph T. Robinson for vice president. The platform did not differ strikingly from that of the Republicans. The contest became one between rival personalities. Smith, an avowed "wet," took a stand in favor of a change in the Prohibition amendment, and advocated that the question of Prohibition and its enforcement be left to the determination of the individual states.

At the election on 6 November, Hoover was overwhelmingly successful. He carried forty states, including five from the Old South, with a total of 444 electoral votes. Smith carried eight states with an electoral vote of 87. The popular plurality of Hoover over Smith was 6,375,824 in a total vote of 36,879,414.

Bibliography

Burner, David. Herbert Hoover: A Public Life. New York: Knopf, 1979.

Fausold, Martin L. The Presidency of Herbert C. Hoover. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1985.

Finan, Christopher M. Alfred E. Smith: The Happy Warrior. New York: Hill and Wang, 2002.

1932 and 1936

The presidential campaign of 1932 began in earnest with the holding of the Republican National Convention at Chicago from 14 to 16 June. President Herbert Hoover and Vice President Charles Curtis were renominated on the first ballot. The platform praised the Hoover record, including his program for combating the depression. After a long debate a "wet-dry" plank on Prohibition was adopted, which favored giving the people an opportunity to pass on a repeal amendment. The Democratic National Convention was also held in Chicago, 27 June to 2 July 1932. On the fourth ballot, Gov. Franklin Delano Roosevelt of New York was nominated for the presidency, defeating Alfred E. Smith and ten other candidates. John Nance Garner of Texas was selected as the vice presidential candidate. The platform pledged economy, a sound currency, Unemployment relief, old-age and unemployment insurance under state laws, the "restoration of agriculture," and repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment together with immediate legalization of beer.

After a campaign featuring Roosevelt's promise of "a new deal," the elections were held on 5 November. The popular vote for each party was as follows: Democratic, 22,809,638; Republican, 15,758,901; Socialist, 881,951; Socialist-Labor, 33,276; Communist, 102,785; Prohibition, 81,869; Liberty, 53,425; and Farmer-Labor, 7,309. The electoral vote was 472 for the Democrats and 59 for the Republicans.

In 1936 the Republican National Convention was held at Cleveland beginning on 9 June. Gov. Alfred M. Landon of Kansas and Frank Knox, a Chicago publisher, were nominated for the presidency and vice-presidency, respectively. The platform strongly denounced the New Deal administration, from both constitutional and economic viewpoints. It pledged the Republicans "to maintain the American system of constitutional and local self-government" and "to preserve the American system of free enterprise." The Democratic National Convention assembled at Philadelphia on 25 June for what proved to be a ratification meeting for the New Deal. President Roosevelt and Vice President Garner were renominated without opposition. The platform vigorously defended the New Deal and pledged its continuance. When the election was held on 3 November, the Democrats again won an overwhelming victory, carrying every state except Maine and Vermont. The popular vote for each party was as follows: Democratic, 27,752,869; Republican, 16,674,665; Union, 882,479; Socialist, 187,720; Communist, 80,159; Prohibition, 37,847; and Socialist-Labor, 12,777. The Democrats received 523 electoral votes while the Republicans received only 8.

Bibliography

Burns, James MacGregor. Roosevelt: The Lion and the Fox. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1956.

Freidel, Frank. Franklin D. Roosevelt: A Rendezvous with Destiny. Boston: Little, Brown, 1990.

Schlesinger, Arthur M., Jr. The Age of Roosevelt: The Crisis of the Old Order, 1919–1933. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1957.

1940

Although either Robert A. Taft, Arthur H. Vandenberg, or Thomas E. Dewey was expected to be the Republican candidate, the nomination was won by Wendell L. Willkie at Philadelphia, 28 June, on the sixth ballot. As president of a large utilities corporation Willkie had fought the New Deal, but in foreign affairs he was an internationalist, and with Europe at war, this fact commended him to the liberal element of the party, which carried his nomination against the Old Guard. The nomination of a liberal by the Republicans, together with the international crisis, in turn made the nomination of Franklin D. Roosevelt by the Democrats (Chicago, 16 July) a practical certainty, even though his running for a third term was unprecedented. Foreign affairs dominated the campaign. Both candidates promised aid to the Allies; both promised at the same time to keep the United States out of foreign wars. Roosevelt and Henry A. Wallace, secretary of agriculture, received 27,307,819 popular and 449 electoral votes against 22,321,018 popular and 82 electoral votes for Willkie and Charles L. McNary of Oregon.

Bibliography

Burns, James MacGregor. Roosevelt: The Soldier of Freedom. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1970.

Freidel, Frank. Franklin D. Roosevelt: A Rendezvous with Destiny. Boston: Little, Brown, 1990.

1944

Thomas E. Dewey, governor of New York, was nominated by the Republican convention in Chicago on 26 June with little opposition. John W. Bricker of Ohio was chosen as his running mate. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, running for a fourth term, encountered even less opposition at the Democratic convention in Chicago. The real struggle revolved around the choice of a vice presidential candidate. With Roosevelt's support, Vice President Henry Wallace could probably have been nominated for another term, but the opposition to Wallace from within the party convinced the president that a compromise candidate had to be found. James F. Byrnes of South Carolina was acceptable to the White House and to the party conservatives, but not to labor, in particular not to Sidney Hillman of the Congress of Industrial Organizations. Accordingly, Sen. Harry S. Truman of Missouri was nominated on the second ballot on 20 July.

In the November election Roosevelt received 25,606,585 popular and 432 electoral votes to Dewey's 22,014,745 popular and 99 electoral votes. The Democrats preserved their control of both houses of Congress.

Bibliography

Burns, James MacGregor. Roosevelt: The Soldier of Freedom. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1970.

Freidel, Frank. Franklin D. Roosevelt: A Rendezvous with Destiny. Boston: Little, Brown, 1990.

Goodwin, Doris Kearns. No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994.

1948

The Republicans, having gained control of Congress in 1946 and confidently expecting to turn the apparently un-popular Truman administration out of power in the autumn elections, for the first time in the party's history renominated a defeated candidate, Thomas E. Dewey, at the convention meeting in Philadelphia on 21 June. The Democrats, on the other hand, suffered from severe internal conflicts. Truman's nomination at Philadelphia on 15 July roused no enthusiasm. Radicals left the party and, meeting in the same city on 22 July, nominated Henry A. Wallace and Sen. Glen Taylor of Idaho as the candidates of the Progressive party. Southerners, offended by the civil rights planks of the Democratic platform, also seceded and in Birmingham, Alabama, on 17 July, formed the States' Rights Democratic Party, with Gov. J. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina and Gov. Fielding L. Wright of Mississippi as their candidates.

Under these circumstances Truman's candidacy appeared to be hopeless. The president, however, proved to be a whistle-stop campaigner of unexpected ability. Moreover, he enjoyed the support not only of organized labor and of African American voters but, as it turned out—to the great surprise of prophets and pollsters—of midwestern farmers as well. The election was close—Truman retired for the evening on election night thinking he had lost. He and Alben W. Barkley of Kentucky polled 24,105,812 popular and 304 electoral votes against 21,970,065 popular and 189 electoral votes for Dewey and Gov. Earl Warren of California. Thurmond polled 1,169,063 popular votes and the 38 electoral votes of South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Wallace won 1,157,172 popular votes. The Democrats regained control of Congress by small majorities.

Bibliography

Hamby, Alonzo L. Man of the People: A Life of Harry S. Truman. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.

Karabell, Zachary. The Last Campaign: How Harry Truman Won the 1948 Election. New York: Knopf, 2000.

McCullough, David. Truman. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992.

1952

After a long and bitter struggle, the internationalist wing of the Republican party succeeded on 11 July in bringing about the nomination of Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower against the opposition of Sen. Robert A. Taft and his supporters. The Democrats, following the Republicans to Chicago ten days later, turned to Gov. Adlai E. Stevenson of Illinois, who consented to become a candidate only at the last moment. In the campaign that followed Stevenson suffered from revelations of corruption in the Truman administration, from the widespread dissatisfaction with the seemingly inconclusive results of the war in Korea, and from the vague feeling that it was "time for a change." Eisenhower's personal appeal, moreover, was immense. He and Sen. Richard M. Nixon of California polled 33,936,234 votes to 27,314,987 for Stevenson and Sen. John J. Sparkman of Alabama. The Republicans carried the electoral college, 442 to 89. They carried the House of Representatives by a narrow margin and tied the Democrats in the Senate.

Bibliography

Ambrose, Stephen. Eisenhower: The Soldier and Candidate, 1890– 1952. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1983.

Cochran, Bert. Adlai Stevenson: Patrician Among the Politicians. New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1969.

Patterson, James T. Mr. Republican: A Biography of Robert A. Taft. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1972.

1956

Adlai E. Stevenson was renominated on the first ballot by the Democrats at Chicago, with Sen. Estes Kefauver of Tennessee as his running mate. President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Vice President Richard M. Nixon were renominated by the Republicans at San Francisco with equal ease. The campaign, however, was far from a rehash of 1952. Stevenson, having been advised that his serious discussions of issues in 1952 had been over the voters' heads, agreed to pitch his campaign at a somewhat lower level. The results disappointed his more ardent supporters without winning him any votes. The Suez crisis, occurring on the eve of the election, further strengthened the administration's position by creating a national emergency. In the election the president polled 35,590,472 popular and 457 electoral votes to Stevenson's 26,022,752 popular and 73 electoral votes. As in 1952, Eisenhower broke into the Solid South, carrying not only Florida, Virginia, and Tennessee, which he had carried in 1952, but also Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana. In spite of his personal triumph, however, the Democrats carried both houses of Congress.

Bibliography

Ambrose, Stephen. Eisenhower: The President. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1984.

Broadwater, Jeff. Adlai Stevenson and American Politics: The Odyssey of a Cold War Liberal. New York: Twayne, 1994.

Greenstein, Fred I. The Hidden-Hand Presidency: Eisenhower as Leader. New York: Basic Books, 1982.

1960

The Democrats nominated Sen. John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts at Los Angeles in July, with Sen. Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas as his running mate. The Republicans, meeting at Chicago two weeks later, nominated Vice President Richard M. Nixon and Henry Cabot Lodge of Massachusetts. The most striking feature of the campaign was a series of televised debates, in which the candidates submitted to questioning by panels of reporters. By sharing a national audience with his lesser-known opponent, Nixon may have injured his own cause. Indeed, the debates, in view of the closeness of the result, may have been the decisive factor in Kennedy's victory. The final vote was not known until weeks after the election. Kennedy received 34,227,096, Nixon 34,108,546, and minor candidates 502,773. Despite the fact that Kennedy won by only 118,550 votes and had only 49.7 percent of the total vote as compared with 49.6 percent for Nixon, the President-elect won 303 electoral votes to Nixon's 219. At forty-three, Kennedy was the youngest man ever elected to the presidency (although not the youngest to occupy the office). He was also the first Roman Catholic ever to become president.

Bibliography

Matthews, Christopher. Kennedy and Nixon: The Rivalry That Shaped Postwar America. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996.

Parmet, Herbert S. JFK: The Presidency of John F. Kennedy. New York: Dial Press, 1983.

White, Theodore H. The Making of the President: 1960. New York: Atheneum, 1962.

1964

Upon assuming office following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in November 1963, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson acted quickly to restore public calm and to achieve many of President Kennedy's legislative goals. Johnson was subsequently nominated by acclamation by the Democrats, meeting in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The only uncertainty was the choice of a vice presidential nominee. After Johnson's earlier veto of Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, brother of the slain president, the choice of Johnson and the party fell to Minnesotan Hubert H. Humphrey, assistant majority leader of the Senate.

Conflict over the presidential nomination centered in the Republican party. New York's Gov. Nelson Rockefeller represented the moderate and liberal factions that had dominated the party since 1940. A new, conservative group wasled by Arizona's Sen. Barry M. Goldwater, who offered "a choice, not an echo." Presidential primaries indicated the limited appeal of both candidates, but no viable alternative emerged. Goldwater accumulated large numbers of delegates in the nonprimary states, particularly in the South and West, and sealed his first-ballot victory with a narrow win in the California primary. Rep. William E. Miller of New York was selected as his running mate.

The main issues of the 1964 campaign were presented by Goldwater, who challenged the previous party consensus on a limited welfare state and the emerging Democratic policy of accommodation with the Communist world. The Democrats defended their record as bringing peace and prosperity, while pledging new social legislation to achieve a "Great Society." The armed conflict in Vietnam also drew some attention. In response to an alleged attack on American warships in the Gulf of Tonkin, the president ordered retaliatory bombing of North Vietnam, at the same time pledging "no wider war."

In the balloting, Lyndon Johnson was overwhelmingly elected, gaining 43,129,484 popular votes (61.1 percent) and a majority in forty-four states and the District of Columbia—which was voting for president for the first time—for a total of 486 electoral votes. Goldwater won 27,178,188 votes (38.5 percent) and six states—all but Arizona in the Deep South—for a total of 52 electoral votes. There was a pronounced shift in voting patterns, with the South becoming the strongest Republican area, and the Northeast the firmest Democratic base.

Bibliography

Dallek, Robert. Flawed Giant: Lyndon Johnson and His Times, 1961–1973. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.

Perlstein, Rick. Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus. New York: Hill & Wang, 2001.

White, Theodore H. The Making of the President: 1964. New York: Atheneum, 1965.

1968

The presidential election took place in an atmosphere of increasing American civil disorder, evidenced in protests over the Vietnam War, Riots in black urban neighborhoods, and assassinations of political leaders. On 31 March, President Lyndon B. Johnson startled the nation by renouncing his candidacy for re-election. His withdrawal stimulated an intense contest for the Democratic nomination between Minnesota's Sen. Eugene McCarthy, New York's Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, and Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey. Kennedy appeared to have the greatest popular support, his campaign culminating in a narrow victory over McCarthy in the California primary. On the night of this victory, Kennedy was assassinated. Humphrey abstained from the primaries but gathered support from party leaders and from the Johnson administration. At an emotional and contentious convention in Chicago, Humphrey easily won nomination on the first ballot. Maine's Sen. Edmund S. Muskie was selected as the vice presidential candidate.

Former Vice President Richard M. Nixon was the leading candidate for the Republican nomination. He withstood challenges from moderate Gov. Nelson Rockefeller of New York and conservative Gov. Ronald Reagan of California. Gaining a clear majority of delegates on the first ballot at the party's convention in Miami Beach, he then named Gov. Spiro T. Agnew of Maryland as his running mate. A new party, the American Independent Party, was organized by Gov. George C. Wallace of Alabama and able to win a ballot position in every state. Curtis LeMay, former air force general, was selected as the new party's vice presidential candidate. The campaign centered on the record of the Johnson administration. Nixon denounced the conduct of the war and promised both an "honorable peace" and ultimate withdrawal of American troops. He also pledged a vigorous effort to reduce urban crime and to restrict school Desegregation. Wallace denounced both parties, calling for strong action against North Vietnam, criminals, and civil rights protesters. Humphrey largely defended the Democratic record, while also proposing an end to American bombing of North Vietnam.

The balloting brought Nixon a narrow victory. With 31,785,480 votes, he won 43.4 percent of the national total, thirty-two states, and 301 electoral votes. Humphrey won 31,275,166 votes, 42.7 percent of the total, thirteen states and the District of Columbia, and 191 electoral votes. Wallace gained the largest popular vote for a third-party candidate since 1924—9,906,473 votes and 13.5 percent of the popular total. The five southern states he captured, with 46 electoral votes, were too few to accomplish his strategic aim—a deadlock of the electoral college.

Bibliography

Ambrose, Stephen E. Nixon: The Triumph of a Politician. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1987.

Gould, Lewis L. 1968: The Election That Changed America. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 1993.

White, Theodore H. The Making of the President: 1968. New York: Atheneum, 1969.

1972

The Nixon administration provided the campaign setting in 1972 with a series of American policy reversals, including the withdrawal of most American ground forces from Vietnam, the imposition of wage and price controls, and presidential missions to Communist China and the Soviet Union. President Richard M. Nixon's control of the Republican party was undisputed, resulting in a placid party convention in Miami, where he and Vice President Spiro T. Agnew were renominated.

In the Democratic party, major party reform resulted in a more open delegate selection process and increased representation at the convention of women, racial minorities, and persons under the age of thirty. At the same time, a spirited contest was conducted for the presidential nomination. The early favorite, Maine's Sen. Edmund S. Muskie, was eliminated after severe primary defeats. Alabama's Gov. George C. Wallace raised a serious challenge but was eliminated from active campaigning after being seriously injured in an assassination attempt. The contest then became a two-man race between South Dakota's Sen. George S. McGovern and former Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey, the 1968 candidate. A series of upset primary victories and effective organization in local party caucuses culminated in a direct victory for McGovern in the California primary and a first-ballot nomination in Miami, the convention city. The vice presidential Democratic position was awarded to Missouri's Sen. Thomas Eagleton. After the convention adjourned, it was revealed that Eagleton had been hospitalized three times for mental depression. He was persuaded to resign, and the Democratic National Committee then, at McGovern's suggestion, named Sergeant Shriver as his running mate. With Wallace disabled, the American Independent party named Rep. John G. Schmitz of California as its presidential candidate.

The Democrats attempted to focus the campaign on the alleged defects of the administration, including the continuation of the war in Vietnam, electronic eavesdropping by the Republicans on the Democratic national headquarters at Washington's Watergate complex, and governmental favors for Republican party contributors. The full extent of these improprieties was not revealed, however, until the following year. Aside from defending the Nixon record, the Republicans attacked the Democratic candidate as advocating radical positions on such issues as amnesty for war resisters, marijuana usage, and abortion, and as inconsistent on other questions. Much attention centered on 25 million newly eligible voters, including the eighteen-year-olds enfranchised by constitutional amendment.

The final result was an overwhelming personal victory for Nixon, who won the highest total and proportion of the popular vote in electoral history. Nixon won 47,169,905 popular votes (60.7 percent) and 521 electoral votes from forty-nine states. McGovern won 29,170,383 popular votes (37.5 percent), but only 17 electoral votes (from Massachusetts and the District of Columbia). Despite this landslide, the Republicans failed to gain control of the House and lost two seats in the Senate.

Bibliography

Ambrose, Stephen E. Nixon: The Triumph of a Politician. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1987.

White, Theodore H. The Making of the President: 1972. New York: Atheneum, 1973.

Witker, Kristi. How to Lose Everything in Politics Except Massachusetts. New York: Mason & Lipscomb, 1974.

1976

The Democratic nomination attracted hopefuls from across the political spectrum. Former Georgia Gov. James Earl (Jimmy) Carter, an unknown moderate, defeated better-known rivals in a classic campaign. Under-standing the new delegate selection rules, Carter first attracted media attention by winning the Iowa caucus and the New Hampshire primary, and then defeated in turn each of his liberal and conservative rivals. The national convention displayed great unity, and Carter picked former Minnesota Sen. Walter F. Mondale as his vice presidential candidate.

The Republican nomination contest was more divisive. Gerald R. Ford, the only president not to have been elected to the office, faced a conservative challenge from former California Gov. Ronald Reagan. After a bitter campaign, Ford prevailed with slightly more than half the delegates, and at a divided national convention replaced Vice President Nelson A. Rockefeller (also appointed to office and not elected) with Kansas Sen. Robert Dole. Ford ran on the record of his brief administration, emphasizing continued restraint on the federal government and détente with the Soviet Union. Carter offered a mix of conservative and liberal critiques of the Nixon-Ford record, including the poor economy and foreign policy controversies. His basic appeal was returning trust and morality to government, promising the voters, "I will never lie to you." Both candidates sought to avoid divisive social issues, such as abortion.

On election day 54 percent of the electorate went to the polls and gave Carter a very narrow victory; he won 50 percent of the popular vote (40,828,929 ballots) and 23 states and the District of Columbia for 297 electoral votes. The key to Carter's success was victory in all but one of the southern states. Ford won 49 percent of the popular vote (39,148,940 ballots) and 27 states for 241 electoral votes. The independent campaign of former Sen. Eugene McCarthy received 1 percent of the vote and influenced the outcome in several states.

Bibliography

Anderson, Patrick. Electing Jimmy Carter: The Campaign of 1976. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1994.

Greene, John Robert. The Limits of Power: The Nixon and Ford Administrations. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1992.

Kutler, Stanley I. The Wars of Watergate: The Last Crisis of Richard Nixon. New York: Knopf, 1990.

Stroud, Kandy. How Jimmy Won: The Victory Campaign from Plains to the White House. New York: Morrow, 1977.

1980

The 1980 presidential election occurred in an atmosphere of crisis. The taking of American hostages in Iran in 1978 and the invasion of Afghanistan by the Soviet Union in 1979 had produced popular indignation, while the scar-city of oil and a poor economy generated discontent. Tensions mounted with the founding of the Moral Majority, a religious interest group, and President Jimmy Carter declared the country suffered from a "malaise" and a "crisis of confidence." Under these circumstances, the Republican nomination attracted several candidates. Former California Gov. Ronald Reagan was the early favorite but had to overcome spirited challenges from party moderates, including former Rep. George Bush of Texas and Rep. John Anderson of Illinois. At the national convention, Reagan chose Bush for vice president, but Reagan's conservatism led Anderson to run as an independent in the general election, stressing moderation.

Meanwhile, President Carter faced serious divisions in the Democratic party. His principal challenger was Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy. Although popular with party liberals, questions about Kennedy's character and foreign policy crises undermined his campaign, allowing Carter to score early and decisive primary victories. Kennedy pursued his campaign into a divided convention, where he refused to endorse Carter. The fall campaign produced sharp ideological divisions. Carter ran a liberal campaign based on his comprehensive energy program, plans to manage the economy, the Equal Rights Amendment, and human rights in foreign policy. In contrast, Reagan ran a conservative campaign based on free enterprise, reduction of federal spending, traditional moral values, and an anticommunist foreign policy. The climax of the campaign came in the last televised presidential debate, when Reagan asked the voters "Are you better off than you were four years ago?"

On election day, 54 percent of the electorate went to the polls and gave Reagan a decisive victory. He won 51 percent of the popular vote (43,899,248) and 44 states for 489 electoral votes; his victory extended to every region of the country, including the South. Carter won 41 percent of the popular vote (35,481,435) and 6 states and the District of Columbia for 49 electoral votes. Independent Anderson collected 7 percent of the vote but won no states.

Bibliography

Cannon, Lou. Reagan. New York: Putnam, 1982.

Evans, Rowland, and Robert Novak. The Reagan Revolution. New York: Dutton, 1981.

Germond, Jack W., and Jules Witcover. Blue Smoke and Mirrors: How Reagan Won and Why Carter Lost the Election of 1980. New York: Viking, 1981.

Jordan, Hamilton. Crisis: The Last Year of the Carter Presidency. New York: Putnam, 1982.

Kaufman, Burton Ira. The Presidency of James Earl Carter, Jr. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1993.

1984

The 1984 presidential campaign occurred in a climate of peace and prosperity. Anti-Soviet foreign policy produced a sense of security and a strong economy reduced discontent. While the nation faced many problems, the public was tranquil compared to previous elections. President Ronald Reagan enjoyed considerable personal popularity, even with voters who disagreed with him on issues, and was not challenged for the Republican nomination. Although there was some grumbling from the right wing about Vice President George Bush, both he and Reagan were renominated by acclamation, giving the Republicans the luxury of a united party. They also enjoyed the support of a broad conservative coalition, including many southerners and religious conservatives, who came to be known as Reagan Democrats.

Among the Democrats, former Vice President Walter Mondale was the front-runner, but he received a strong challenge from former Colorado Sen. Gary Hart, who won the New Hampshire primary, and the Reverend Jesse Jackson, the first African American candidate to make a serious presidential bid. A divided Democratic National Convention made history by nominating the first female vice presidential candidate, New York Rep. Geraldine Ferraro. During the campaign Reagan ran on the theme of "It's morning in America," stressing national pride and optimism and his defense and economic policies. Mondale offered a liberal alternative, attacking Reagan's aggressive foreign policy and conservative economic program. Mondale received attention for his unpopular promise to raise taxes to reduce the federal budget deficit. The candidates also differed on women's rights and Abortion, and a "gender gap" developed in favor of the Democrats. Reagan ran far ahead for most of the campaign, stumbling briefly when he showed apparent signs of age in a televised debate.

On election day 53 percent of the electorate went to the polls and overwhelmingly reelected Reagan. He won 59 percent of the popular vote (54,281,858 ballots) and 49 states for a record high 525 electoral votes; indeed, he came within some 4,000 votes of being the first president to carry all fifty states. Mondale won 41 percent of the popular vote (37,457,215) and carried only the District of Columbia and his home state of Minnesota, for 13 electoral votes.

Bibliography

Cannon, Lou. President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1991.

Germond, Jack W., and Jules Witcover. Wake Us When It's Over: Presidential Politics of 1984. New York: Macmillan, 1985.

Mayer, Jane, and Doyle McManus. Landslide: The Unmaking of the President, 1984–1988. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1988.

Wills, Garry. Reagan's America: Innocents at Home. New York: Penguin Books, 1988.

1988

The selection of candidates for the 1988 campaign began in an atmosphere of uncertainty. President Ronald Reagan could not run for reelection and, although the economy was strong, some of the costs of Reagan's programs caused public concern. In addition, the Iran-Contra scandal had hurt Reagan's foreign policy, and tensions over social issues were increasing. The Democratic nomination attracted a crowded field. Because of his strong showing in 1984, former Colorado Sen. Gary Hart was the favorite but a personal scandal ended his campaign early. Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukak is became the front-runner because of a well-financed and disciplined campaign. After winning the New Hampshire primary, Dukakis outlasted his rivals, including a strong surge for the Reverend Jesse Jackson, who finished second and hoped for the vice presidential nomination. Instead, Texas Sen. Lloyd Bentsen was chosen in an otherwise united national convention.

Vice President George Bush, the Republican favorite, attracted numerous opponents and was upset in the Iowa caucus by Kansas Sen. Robert Dole and televangelist Marion (Pat) Robertson and his "invisible army" of religious conservatives. Bush rallied to win in New Hampshire and the southern primaries that followed. The unity of the national convention was marred by a controversial vice presidential choice, Indiana Sen. J. Danforth (Dan) Quayle, whom critics accused of lacking the personal and intellectual qualifications necessary for high office.

The fall campaign began with Dukakis enjoying a big lead in the polls, but it collapsed under Republican attacks on his record and liberal views, some of which had racial overtones. The Bush campaign stressed the Reagan record on foreign and economic policy and included the pledge, "Read my lips. No new taxes." Dukakis campaigned on his immigrant roots, fiscal conservatism, and the need for economic growth, calling for "good jobs at good wages."

Fifty percent of the electorate went to the polls and gave Bush a solid victory—54 percent of the popular vote (48,881,221) and 40 states for 426 electoral votes. Dukakis won 46 percent of the popular vote (41,805,422 ballots) and 10 states and the District of Columbia for 112 electoral votes.

Bibliography

Cramer, Richard Ben. What It Takes: The Way to the White House. New York: Random House, 1992.

Germond, Jack W., and Jules Witcover. Whose Broad Stripes and Bright Stars?: The Trivial Pursuit of the Presidency, 1988. New York: Warner Books, 1989.

1992

The end of the Cold War in 1990 left the United States in search of a "new world order," while major economic and social transformations suggested the need for a new domestic agenda, and the 1992 campaign occurred in a time of great change. These strains produced high levels of disaffection with politics and government. Republican President George Bush's popularity after the Persian Gulf War reduced the number of contenders for the Democratic nomination. Arkansas Gov. William J. (Bill) Clinton emerged early as the front-runner, and a unified national convention nominated another southerner, Tennessee Sen. Albert Gore, for the vice presidency.

Bush's early popularity also reduced the number of contenders for the Republican nomination, but a weak economy and his broken pledge not to raise taxes led commentator Patrick Buchanan to enter the race. Although Buchanan won no primaries, he embarrassed Bush and created dissension at the national convention, where Bush and Vice President Dan Quayle were renominated.

The fall campaign began with Bush behind in the polls, but unlike in 1988 he never recovered. Bush campaigned on his foreign policy successes, free enterprise, and conservative social issues and sharply attacked his opponent's character. Clinton offered himself as a "new Democrat" with a moderate message of economic opportunity and personal responsibility and waged a disciplined campaign.

The independent candidacy of Texas billionaire and political newcomer H. Ross Perot complicated the race. He launched his campaign from a television talk show in February but withdrew from the race in July, only to reenter in September. Drawing on voter discontent, Perot offered an attack on politics and government as usual.

On election day 55 percent of the electorate went to the polls and gave Bill Clinton a narrow victory—43 percent of the popular vote (44,908,254 ballots) and 32 states and the District of Columbia for 370 electoral votes. At age forty-six, Clinton was the first baby boomer to win the White House. Bush won 38 percent of the popular vote (39,102,343 ballots) and 18 states for 168 electoral votes. Perot received 19 percent of the popular vote, for the second strongest performance by a twentieth-century independent candidate, but won no states.

Bibliography

Germond, Jack W., and Jules Witcover. Madas Hell: Revolt at the Ballot Box, 1992. New York: Warner Books, 1993.

Maraniss, David. First in His Class: A Biography of Bill Clinton. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995.

1996

The Republican landslide in the 1994 midterm elections set the stage for the presidential election of 1996. Expecting to win handily, the Republicans nominated Senate Majority Leader Robert Dole of Kansas, a seventy-three-year-old pragmatic conservative who was known for his dry wit. Despite his age and dour demeanor, Dole was minimally acceptable to all elements of the Republican coalition. He chose as his running mate Representative Jack Kemp, a former Buffalo Bills quarterback from upstate New York. Fearing a sweeping Republican victory, Democrats united behind President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore, making Clinton the first Democrat nominated without substantial opposition since Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1944. H. Ross Perot, the Texas billionaire whose third-party candidacy garnered 19 percent of the vote in 1992, entered the race as an independent.

Clinton pursued a strategy of "triangulation," attempting to stake out a position between Republicans and Democratic liberals in Congress. He called for a balanced federal budget, declared that the "era of big government is over," and advocated a welfare reform bill that took away one of the Republicans' key issues. Clinton's candidacy was also buoyed by the wave of prosperity that swept the country during his first term, and by a growing backlash against the Republican Congress and House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

The Republicans ran a lackluster campaign, marked by Dole's clumsy rhetoric. They blamed Clinton for a lack of leadership, character, and trustworthiness, but these charges did not stick with most voters. Dole resigned from the Senate, but could not shake his image as a Washington insider. Desperate, he proposed a tax cut he had once scorned, but this only damaged his credibility. The Republican ticket was also hurt by memories of a partial federal government shutdown in the fall of 1995, which most voters blamed on the Republican Congress. In the end, Clinton won 49 percent of the popular vote to Dole's 41 percent, took every region of the country except the South, and captured a large majority of the electoral college.

Bibliography

Denton, Robert E., Jr. The 1996 Presidential Campaign: A Communication Perspective. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 1998.

Pomper, Gerald M., et. al. The Election of 1996: Reports and Interpretations. Chatham, N.J.: Chatham House, 1997.

2000

The conflicted legacy of the Clinton years profoundly shaped the presidential election of 2000, an election that ultimately proved to be the longest, one of the closest, and among the most controversial in history. Ultimately decided by the Supreme Court, the election highlighted serious flaws in the nation's electoral system.

The campaign opened in the midst of the nation's longest economic boom and in the wake of the Monica Lewinsky scandal, which led to President Clinton's impeachment. Vice President Al Gore fended off a primary challenge by New Jersey Senator Bill Bradley to secure the Democratic nomination. A staunch environmentalist and policy enthusiast, Gore had held national elective office from the age of twenty-eight. Though smart and experienced, Gore was widely viewed as wooden, and he was haunted by his ties to the Clinton administration. Nevertheless, in a time of peace and prosperity, most commentators believed the election was Gore's to lose.

The Republicans chose Texas Governor George W. Bush over Arizona Senator John McCain. Son of the forty-first president, Bush had been a heavy drinker and playboy before becoming a born-again Christian at age forty. Affable and self-confident, but widely viewed as both inexperienced and an intellectual lightweight, Bush used his family name and connections to raise a huge campaign war chest. Rejecting the hard-line approach taken by Republican congressional leaders since 1994, Bush ran as a "compassionate conservative" and argued that a limited government could care for those in need by enlisting the private sector.

Two key questions framed the campaign: was Bush competent to be president, and did Gore have the personal integrity required? Both men picked running mates designed to offset these concerns. Bush selected Richard "Dick" Cheney, who had served as his father's secretary of defense during the Gulf War. Gore chose Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman, an openly observant Orthodox Jew who had publicly denounced Clinton's sexual conduct. (Lieberman was the first Jew named to the presidential ticket of a major party.) In debates, Bush generally did better than expected, while Gore was caught in several exaggerations and misstatements that hurt his credibility. Nevertheless, as the election neared, dissatisfaction with both candidates prompted some voters to turn to Green Party candidate Ralph Nader, who argued for sweeping reform of the political system.

When the election was held on 7 November Gore won the popular vote by 540,000 votes, a mere five of every 1,000 cast. Meanwhile, Bush appeared to have won the electoral college by 271 to 266 votes, thus becoming the first president since 1892 to be elected without a plurality of the popular vote. The outcome, however, remained uncertain for thirty-six days because of the closeness of the vote in Florida, where only a few hundred votes separated the two candidates. The Democrats protested election irregularities, particularly involving punch-card voting, and demanded a manual recount in certain counties. Eventually, they took their case to the courts. The Florida Supreme Court initially ruled 4 to 3 in favor of allowing such a recount, but its decision was over-turned by the U.S. Supreme Court in a controversial 5 to 4 ruling. The justices' decision in Bush v. Gore effectively ended the election and delivered the presidency to Bush. The election revealed problems with vote-counting machinery and procedures that disfranchised voters, and prompted some commentators to call for an end to the electoral college system.

Bibliography

Ceaser, James W., and Andrew E. Busch, The Perfect Tie: The True Story of the 2000 Presidential Election. Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2001.

Deadlock: The Inside Story of America's Closest Election by the Political Staff of the Washington Post. New York: Public Affairs, Washington Post Co., 2001.

Jamieson, Kathleen Hall, and Paul Waldman, eds. Electing the President, 2000. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2001.

Rakove, Jack, ed. The Unfinished Election of 2000. New York: Basic Books, 2001.

—Wendy Wall

For the most recent presidential election, see United States presidential election, 2008.

For the next presidential election, see United States presidential election, 2012.

United States

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of the United States

Federal government Constitution Taxation Legislature Congress House Speaker Party Leaders Congressional districts Senate President pro tempore Party Leaders Presidency President Vice President Cabinet Federal agencies Judiciary Federal courts Supreme Court Circuit Courts of Appeal District Courts Elections Presidential elections Midterm elections Political Parties Democratic Republican Third parties Subdivisions State government Governors Legislatures (List) State Courts Local Government

Other countries · Atlas  US Government Portal view • talk • edit

Elections for President and Vice President of the United States are indirect elections in which voters cast ballots for a slate of electors of the U.S. Electoral College, who in turn directly elect the President and Vice President. They occur quadrennially (the count beginning with the year 1792) on Election Day, the Tuesday between November 2nd and 8th.^[1] The most recent election occurred on November 4, 2008, with the next one scheduled for November 6, 2012.

The process is regulated by a combination of both federal and state laws. Each state is allocated a number of Electoral College electors equal to the number of its Senators and Representatives in the U.S. Congress.^[2] Additionally, Washington, D.C. is given a number of electors equal to the number held by the smallest state.^[3] U.S. territories are not represented in the Electoral College.

Under the U.S. Constitution, each state legislature is allowed to designate a method of choosing electors.^[2] Thus, the popular vote on Election Day is conducted by the various states and not directly by the federal government. Once chosen, the electors can vote for anyone, but – with rare exceptions like an unpledged elector or faithless elector – they vote for their designated candidates and their votes are certified by Congress in early January. The Congress is the final judge of the electors; the last serious dispute was in United States presidential election, 2000.

The nomination process, including the primary elections and the nominating conventions, were never specified in the Constitution, and were instead developed by the states and the political parties.

Contents 1 History 2 Nominating process 3 The popular vote on Election Day 4 Electoral college 5 Trends 6 Electoral college results 7 Voter turnout 8 Statistical forecasts 9 See also 10 Notes 11 External links

History

Article Two of the United States Constitution originally established the method of presidential elections, including the electoral college. This was a result of a compromise between those constitutional framers who wanted the Congress to choose the president, and those who preferred a national popular vote.

Each state is allocated a number of electors that is equal to the size of its delegation in both houses of Congress combined. With the ratification of the 23rd Amendment to the Constitution in 1961, the District of Columbia is also granted a number of electors, equal to the number of those held by the least populous state. However, U.S. territories are not represented in the Electoral College.

Under the original system established by Article Two, electors could cast two votes to two different candidates for president. The candidate with the highest number of votes became the president, and the second-place candidate became the vice president. This presented a problem during the presidential election of 1800 when Aaron Burr received the same number of electoral votes as Thomas Jefferson and challenged Jefferson's election to the office. In the end, Jefferson was chosen as the president due to Alexander Hamilton's influence in the House of Representatives. This created a deep rivalry between Burr and Hamilton which resulted in their famous 1804 duel.

In response to the 1800 election, the 12th Amendment was passed, requiring electors to cast two distinct votes: one for President and another for Vice President. The Amendment also established rules when no candidate wins a majority vote in the Electoral College. If no candidate receives a majority, the selection of President is decided by a ballot of the House of Representatives. For the purposes of electing the President, each state only has one vote. A ballot of the Senate is held to choose the Vice President. In this ballot, each senator has one vote. If the President is not chosen by Inauguration Day, the Vice President-elect acts as President. If neither are chosen by then, Congress by law determines who shall act as President, pursuant to the 20th Amendment.

In the presidential election of 1824, Andrew Jackson received a plurality, but not a majority, of electoral votes cast. The election was thrown to the House of Representatives, and John Quincy Adams was elected to the presidency. In this case as well, a deep rivalry was fermented, this time between Andrew Jackson and House Speaker Henry Clay, who had also been a candidate in the election.

Constitutionally, the manner for choosing electors is determined within each state by its legislature. During the first presidential election in 1789, only 6 of the 13 original states chose electors by any form of popular vote.^[4] Gradually throughout the years, the states began conducting popular elections to help choose their slate of electors, resulting in the overall, nationwide indirect election system that it is today.

Although the nationwide popular vote does not directly determine the winner of a presidential election, it does strongly correlate with who is the victor. In 52 of the 56 total elections held so far (about 93 percent), the winner of the Electoral College vote has also carried the national popular vote.

However, candidates can fail to get the most votes in the nationwide popular vote in a Presidential election and still win that election. In the 1824 election mentioned above, Jackson won both the popular vote and the electoral vote, but it was eventually decided by the House. Then in 1876, 1888 and 2000, the winner of electoral vote actually lost the popular vote outright. Numerous constitutional amendments have been submitted seeking to replace the Electoral College with a direct popular vote, but none has ever successfully passed both Houses of Congress. Another alternate proposal is the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, an interstate compact whereby individual participating states agree to allocate their electors based on the winner of the national popular vote instead of just their respective statewide results.

Nominating process

Main articles: United States presidential primary and United States presidential nominating convention

The modern nominating process of U.S. presidential elections currently consists of two major parts: a series of presidential primary elections and caucuses held in each state, and the presidential nominating conventions held by each political party. This process was never included in the United States Constitution, and thus evolved over time by the political parties to clear the field of candidates.

The primary elections and caucuses are run by state and local governments. Some states only hold primary elections, some only hold caucuses, and others use a combination of both. These primaries and caucuses are staggered between January and June before the federal election, with Iowa and New Hampshire traditionally holding the first presidential state caucus and primary, respectively.

Like the general election, presidential caucuses or primaries are indirect elections. The major political parties officially vote for their presidential candidate at their respective nominating conventions, usually all held in the summer before the federal election. Depending on each state's law and state's political party rules, when voters cast ballots for a candidate in a presidential caucus or primary, they may actually be voting to award delegates "bound" to vote for a candidate at the presidential nominating conventions, or they may simply be expressing an opinion that the state party is not bound to follow in selecting delegates to their respective national convention.

Unlike the general election, voters in the U.S. territories can also elect delegates to the national conventions.

In addition to delegates chosen during primaries and caucuses, state delegations to both the Democratic and Republican conventions also include "unpledged" delegates who can vote for whomever they want. For Republicans, these include top party officials. Democrats have a more expansive group of unpledged delegates called "superdelegates", who are party leaders and elected officials.

Each party's presidential candidate also chooses a vice presidential nominee to run with him on the same ticket, and this choice is basically rubber-stamped by the convention.

The popular vote on Election Day

Under the constitution, the manner for choosing electors for the Electoral College is determined by each state's legislature. Today, the states and the District of Columbia each conduct their own popular elections on Election Day to help determine their respective slate of electors. Thus, the presidential election is really an amalgamation of separate and simultaneous state elections instead of a single national election run by the federal government.

Like any other election in the United States, the eligibility of an individual for voting is set out in the Constitution and also regulated at state level. The Constitution states that suffrage cannot be denied on grounds of race or color, sex or age for citizens eighteen years or older. Beyond these basic qualifications, it is the responsibility of state legislatures to regulate voter eligibility.

Generally, voters are required to vote on a ballot where they select the candidate of their choice. The presidential ballot is actually voting "for the electors of a candidate" meaning that the voter is not actually voting for the candidate, but endorsing a slate of electors pledged to vote for a specific Presidential and Vice Presidential candidate.

Many voting ballots allow a voter to “blanket vote” for all candidates in a particular political party or to select individual candidates on a line by line voting system. Which candidates appear on the voting ticket is determined through a legal process known as ballot access. Usually, the size of the candidate's political party and the results of the major nomination conventions determine who is pre-listed on the presidential ballot. Thus, the presidential election ticket will not list every single candidate running for President, but only those who have secured a major party nomination or whose size of their political party warrants having been formally listed. Laws are in effect to have other candidates pre-listed on a ticket, provided that a sufficient number of voters have endorsed the candidate, usually through a signature list.

The final way to be elected for president is to have one's name written in at the time of election as a write-in candidate. This is used for candidates who did not fulfill the legal requirements to be pre-listed on the voting ticket. It is also used by voters to express a distaste for the listed candidates, by writing in an alternative candidate for president such as Mickey Mouse or comedian Stephen Colbert (whose application was voted down by the South Carolina Democratic Party). In any event, a write-in candidate has never won an election for President of the United States.

Because U.S. territories are not represented in the Electoral College, U.S. citizens in those areas do not vote in the general election for President. Guam has held straw polls for president since the 1980 election in order to draw attention to this fact.^[5]

Electoral college

Main article: Electoral College (United States)

Most state laws establish a winner-take-all system, wherein the ticket that wins a plurality of votes wins all of that state's allocated electoral votes, and thus has their slate of electors chosen to vote in the Electoral College. Maine and Nebraska do not use this method, opting instead to give two electoral votes to the statewide winner and one electoral vote to the winner of each Congressional district.

Each state's winning slate of electors then meets at their respective state's capital on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December to cast their electoral votes on separate ballots for President and Vice President. Although Electoral College members can technically vote for anyone under the U.S. Constitution, 24 states have laws to punish faithless electors, ^[6] those who do not cast their electoral votes for the person whom they have pledged to elect.

In early January, the total Electoral College vote count is opened by the sitting Vice President, acting in his capacity as President of the Senate, and read aloud to a joint session of the incoming Congress, which was elected at the same time as the President. In the event that no candidate receives a majority of the electoral vote (currently at least 270), the President is determined by the rules outlined by the 12th Amendment.

Unless there are faithless electors, disputes, or other controversies, the events in December and January mentioned above are largely a formality in the public eye since the winner can be determined based on the state-by-state popular vote results.

Trends

A number of trends in the political experience of presidents have been observed over the years. In recent decades, the presidential nominees of the Democratic and Republican parties have been either incumbent presidents, sitting or former vice presidents, sitting or former U.S. Senators, or sitting or former state Governors. The last major nominee from either party who had not previously served in such an office was General Dwight D. Eisenhower, who won the Republican nomination and ultimately the presidency in the 1952 election. Chester A. Arthur had held no federal or statewide office, prior to becoming Vice President and then President.

The U.S. Secretary of State used to be a stepping-stone to the White House, with five of the six Presidents who served between 1801 and 1841 previously holding that office. However, since 1841, only one Secretary of State has gone on to be President (James Buchanan).

Fourteen Presidents have previously served as Vice President. However only John Adams (1796), Thomas Jefferson (1800), Martin Van Buren (1836), Richard Nixon (1968) and George H. W. Bush (1988) began their first term after actually winning an election. Among the remaining nine who began their first term as President as per the presidential line of succession after their respective predecessor died or resigned from office, Theodore Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge, Harry S. Truman, and Lyndon B. Johnson were reelected. John Tyler, Millard Fillmore, Andrew Johnson, Chester A. Arthur, and Gerald Ford served as President but never won any presidential election.

In the most recent 2008 election, the nominees of both major parties, Barack Obama and John McCain, were sitting U.S. Senators. Before 2008, fifteen presidents previously served in the Senate, including four of the five Presidents who served between 1945 and 1974. However, only two out of those fifteen were sitting U.S. Senators at the time they were elected president (Warren G. Harding in 1920 and John F. Kennedy in 1960). Major-party candidate Senators Andrew Jackson (1824), Lewis Cass (1848), Stephen Douglas (1860), Barry Goldwater (1964), George McGovern (1972), and John Kerry (2004) all lost their elections. Only one sitting member of the House of Representatives has been elected president (James A. Garfield), although eighteen presidents have been former members of the House.

Despite the 2008 election, contemporary electoral success has clearly favored state governors. Of the last six presidents, four (Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush) have been governors of a state. Geographically, these presidents were from either very large states (California, Texas) or from a state south of the Mason-Dixon Line and east of Texas (Georgia, Arkansas). In all, sixteen presidents have been former governors, including seven who were in office as governor at the time of their election to the presidency.

After leaving office, one President, William Howard Taft, served as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Only two Presidents, John Quincy Adams (serving in the House) and Andrew Johnson (serving in the Senate), have served in Congress after being President. John Quincy Adams however is the only former President to be elected to federal office; when Andrew Johnson served as a Senator state legislatures appointed the Senators.

Electoral college results

See also: List of United States presidential elections by Electoral College margin

The following is a table of electoral college results:

Political party of each candidate is indicated in parentheses

* Winner received less than an absolute majority of the popular vote.

† Losing candidate received a plurality of the popular vote.

‡ Losing candidate received an absolute majority of the popular vote.

** As the second place winner, was elected Vice President as per the rules in place prior to the Twelfth Amendment.

Order	Election year	Winner	Other major candidates[7]
1st	1789	George Washington (no party) – 69 electoral votes	John Adams** (no party) – 34 electoral votes John Jay (no party) – 9 Robert H. Harrison (no party) – 6 John Rutledge (no party) – 6
2nd	1792	George Washington (no party) – 132	John Adams** (Federalist) – 77 George Clinton (Democratic-Republican) – 50
3rd	1796	John Adams (Federalist) – 71	Thomas Jefferson** (Democratic-Republican) – 68 Thomas Pinckney (Federalist) – 59 Aaron Burr (Democratic-Republican) – 30 Samuel Adams (Democratic-Republican) – 15 Oliver Ellsworth (Federalist) – 11 George Clinton (Democratic-Republican) – 7
4th	1800	Thomas Jefferson (Democratic-Republican) – 73[8]	Aaron Burr** (Democratic-Republican) – 73[8] John Adams (Federalist) – 65 Charles Cotesworth Pinckney (Federalist) – 64
5th	1804	Thomas Jefferson (Democratic-Republican) – 162	Charles Cotesworth Pinckney (Federalist) – 14
6th	1808	James Madison (Democratic-Republican) – 122	Charles Cotesworth Pinckney (Federalist) – 47 George Clinton (Democratic-Republican) – 6 James Monroe (Democratic-Republican) – 0
7th	1812	James Madison (Democratic-Republican) – 128	DeWitt Clinton (Federalist) – 89
8th	1816	James Monroe (Democratic-Republican) – 183	Rufus King (Federalist) – 34
9th	1820	James Monroe (Democratic-Republican) – 215/218[9]	(not opposed)
10th	1824*†	John Quincy Adams* (Democratic-Republican) – 84[10]	Andrew Jackson† (Democratic-Republican) – 99[10] William H. Crawford (Democratic-Republican) – 41 Henry Clay (Democratic-Republican) – 37
11th	1828	Andrew Jackson (Democratic) – 178	John Quincy Adams (National Republican) – 83
12th	1832	Andrew Jackson (Democratic) – 219	Henry Clay (National Republican) – 49 John Floyd (Nullifier) – 11 William Wirt (Anti-Masonic) – 7
13th	1836	Martin Van Buren (Democratic) – 170	William Henry Harrison (Whig) – 73 Hugh Lawson White (Whig) – 26 Daniel Webster (Whig) – 14 Willie Person Mangum (Whig) – 11
14th	1840	William Henry Harrison (Whig) – 234	Martin Van Buren (Democratic) – 60
15th	1844*	James K. Polk* (Democratic) – 170	Henry Clay (Whig) – 105 James G. Birney (Liberty) – 0
16th	1848	Zachary Taylor (Whig) – 163	Lewis Cass (Democratic) – 127 Martin Van Buren (Free Soil) – 0
17th	1852	Franklin Pierce (Democratic) – 254	Winfield Scott (Whig) – 42 John P. Hale (Free Soil) – 0
18th	1856*	James Buchanan* (Democratic) – 174	John C. Frémont (Republican) – 114 Millard Fillmore (American Party/Whig) – 8
19th	1860*	Abraham Lincoln* (Republican) – 180	John C. Breckinridge (Southern Democratic) – 72 John Bell (Constitutional Union) – 39 Stephen A. Douglas (Northern Democratic) – 12
20th	1864[11]	Abraham Lincoln (National Union) – 212	George B. McClellan (Democratic) – 11
21st	1868	Ulysses S. Grant (Republican) – 214	Horatio Seymour (Democratic) – 80
22nd	1872	Ulysses S. Grant (Republican) – 286	Horace Greeley (Democratic/Liberal Republican) – 0[12] Thomas A. Hendricks (Democratic) – 42 B. Gratz Brown (Democratic/Liberal Republican) – 18 Charles J. Jenkins (Democratic) – 2
23rd	1876*‡	Rutherford B. Hayes* (Republican) – 185	Samuel J. Tilden‡ (Democratic) – 184
24th	1880*	James A. Garfield* (Republican) – 214	Winfield Scott Hancock (Democratic) – 155 James Weaver (Greenback) – 0
25th	1884*	Grover Cleveland* (Democratic) – 219	James G. Blaine (Republican) – 182 John St. John (Prohibition) – 0 Benjamin Franklin Butler (Greenback) – 0
26th	1888*†	Benjamin Harrison* (Republican) – 233	Grover Cleveland† (Democratic) – 168 Clinton B. Fisk (Prohibition) – 0 Alson Streeter (Union Labor) – 0
27th	1892*	Grover Cleveland* (Democratic) – 277	Benjamin Harrison (Republican) – 145 James Weaver (Populist) – 22 John Bidwell (Prohibition) – 0
28th	1896	William McKinley (Republican) – 271	William Jennings Bryan (Democratic/Populist) – 176
29th	1900	William McKinley (Republican) – 292	William Jennings Bryan (Democratic) – 155 John Woolley (Prohibition) – 0
30th	1904	Theodore Roosevelt (Republican) – 336	Alton B. Parker (Democratic) – 140 Eugene V. Debs (Socialist) – 0 Silas C. Swallow (Prohibition) – 0
31st	1908	William Howard Taft (Republican) – 321	William Jennings Bryan (Democratic) – 162 Eugene V. Debs (Socialist) – 0 Eugene W. Chafin (Prohibition) – 0
32nd	1912*	Woodrow Wilson* (Democratic) – 435	Theodore Roosevelt (Progressive) – 88 William Howard Taft (Republican) – 8 Eugene V. Debs (Socialist) – 0 Eugene W. Chafin (Prohibition) – 0
33rd	1916*	Woodrow Wilson* (Democratic) – 277	Charles Evans Hughes (Republican) – 254 Allan L. Benson (Socialist) – 0 James Hanly (Prohibition) – 0
34th	1920	Warren G. Harding (Republican) – 404	James M. Cox (Democratic) – 127 Eugene V. Debs (Socialist) – 0
35th	1924	Calvin Coolidge (Republican) – 382	John W. Davis (Democratic) – 136 Robert M. La Follette, Sr. (Progressive) – 13
36th	1928	Herbert Hoover (Republican) – 444	Al Smith (Democratic) – 87
37th	1932	Franklin D. Roosevelt (Democratic) – 472	Herbert Hoover (Republican) – 59 Norman Thomas (Socialist) – 0
38th	1936	Franklin D. Roosevelt (Democratic) – 523	Alf Landon (Republican) – 8 William Lemke (Union) – 0
39th	1940	Franklin D. Roosevelt (Democratic) – 449	Wendell Willkie (Republican) – 82
40th	1944	Franklin D. Roosevelt (Democratic) – 432	Thomas E. Dewey (Republican) – 99
41st	1948*	Harry S. Truman* (Democratic) – 303	Thomas E. Dewey (Republican) – 189 Strom Thurmond (States' Rights Democratic) – 39 Henry A. Wallace (Progressive/Labor) – 0
42nd	1952	Dwight D. Eisenhower (Republican) – 442	Adlai Stevenson (Democratic) – 89
43rd	1956	Dwight D. Eisenhower (Republican) – 457	Adlai Stevenson (Democratic) – 73
44th	1960*	John F. Kennedy* (Democratic) – 303	Richard Nixon (Republican) – 219 Harry F. Byrd (Democratic) – 15[13]
45th	1964	Lyndon B. Johnson (Democratic) – 486	Barry Goldwater (Republican) – 52
46th	1968*	Richard Nixon* (Republican) – 301	Hubert Humphrey (Democratic) – 191 George Wallace (American Independent) – 46
47th	1972	Richard Nixon (Republican) – 520	George McGovern (Democratic) – 17 John G. Schmitz (American) – 0
48th	1976	Jimmy Carter (Democratic) – 297	Gerald Ford (Republican) – 240
49th	1980	Ronald Reagan (Republican) – 489	Jimmy Carter (Democratic) – 49 John B. Anderson (no party) – 0 Ed Clark (Libertarian) – 0
50th	1984	Ronald Reagan (Republican) – 525	Walter Mondale (Democratic) – 13
51st	1988	George H. W. Bush (Republican) – 426	Michael Dukakis (Democratic) – 111
52nd	1992*	Bill Clinton* (Democratic) – 370	George H. W. Bush (Republican) – 168 Ross Perot (no party) – 0
53rd	1996*	Bill Clinton* (Democratic) – 379	Bob Dole (Republican) – 159 Ross Perot (Reform) – 0
54th	2000*†	George W. Bush* (Republican) – 271	Al Gore† (Democratic) – 266 Ralph Nader (Green) – 0
55th	2004	George W. Bush (Republican) – 286	John Kerry (Democratic) – 252
56th	2008	Barack Obama (Democratic) – 365	John McCain (Republican) – 173

Voter turnout

See also: Voter turnout in the United States presidential elections

Voter turnout in the 2004 and 2008 elections showed a noticeable increase over the turnout in 1996 and 2000. While voter turnout has been decreasing, voter registration has been increasing. Registration rates varied from 65% to 70% of the voting age population from the 1960s to the 1980s, and due in part to greater government outreach programs, registration swelled to 75% in 1996 and 2000. Despite greater registration, however, turnout in general has not greatly improved.^[14][15][16] After having hovered between 50 and 60% since 1968 and even dipping under 50% in 1996, in 2008 the turnout came above 60% for the first time in 40 years, with 61%.

Statistical forecasts

• PollyVote
• FiveThirtyEight
• Electoral Vote
• Election Projection
• Princeton Election Consortium

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: United States presidential election

• United States presidential primary
• United States presidential nominating convention
• United States presidential election debates
• List of United States presidential elections by Electoral College margin
• American election campaigns in the 19th century
• Elections in the United States
• Most royal candidate theory

Notes

1. ^ 3 U.S.C. § 1
2. ^ ^{a b} Article II, Section 1, Clause 2 of the U.S. Constitution
3. ^ Twenty-third Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
4. ^ Out of the 13 original states during the 1789 election, 6 states chose electors by any form of popular vote, 4 states chose electors by another method, North Carolina and Rhode Island were ineligible to participate since they had not yet ratified the U.S. Constitution, and New York failed to appoint their allotment of electors in time because of a deadlock in their state legislature.
5. ^ "Guam Legislature Moves General Election Presidential Vote to the September Primary". Ballot-Access.org. 2008-07-10. http://www.ballot-access.org/2008/07/10/guam-legislature-moves-general-election-presidential-vote-to-the-september-primary/. Retrieved on 2008-09-17. 
6. ^ http://www.fairvote.org/e_college/faithless.htm
7. ^ Here a “major candidate” is defined as a candidate receiving at least 1% of the total popular vote or more than one electoral vote for elections including and after 1824, or greater than 5 electoral votes for elections including and before 1820.
8. ^ ^{a b} Both Burr and Jefferson received the same number of electoral votes. The tie was broken by the House of Representatives, sparking a series of events that led to the passing of the Twelfth Amendment
9. ^ There was a dispute as to whether Missouri's electoral votes in 1820 were valid, due to the timing of its assumption of statehood. The first figure excludes Missouri's votes and the second figure includes them.
10. ^ ^{a b} None of the four presidential candidates in 1824 received a majority of the electoral vote, so the presidential election was decided by the House of Representatives
11. ^ Due to the American Civil War, all of the states in rebellion did not participate
12. ^ Greeley came in second in the popular vote but died before electoral votes were cast. Most of his electors cast votes for Hendricks, Brown, and Jenkins; while another three electoral votes to Greeley were disqualified.
13. ^ Byrd was not directly on the 1960 ballot. Instead, his electoral votes came from several unpledged electors and a faithless elector
14. ^ "National Voter Turnout in Federal Elections: 1960-1996". Federal Election Commission. 2003-07-29. http://www.fec.gov/pages/htmlto5.htm. Retrieved on 2007-12-09. 
15. ^ "Election Information: Election Statistics". Office of the Clerk. http://clerk.house.gov/member_info/electionInfo/index.html. Retrieved on 2007-12-09. 
16. ^ "Voting and Registration Date". U.S. Census Bureau. http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/voting.html. Retrieved on 2007-12-09. 

• Presidents John Tyler, Franklin Pierce, Millard Fillmore, Andrew Johnson, Chester Arthur, Harry Truman and Lyndon Johnson all lost their party's nomination for a second or third term while in office.
• Fillmore was a major candidate, but not as an incumbent.

External links

• The American Presidency Project (UC Santa Barbara: 52,000+ Presidential Documents)
• Electoral College Box Scores
• Teaching about Presidential Elections
• All the maps since 1840 by counties (French language site)
• Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections
• History of U.S. Presidential Elections: 1789-2004
• Graphic election results from 1952 to 2008 broken down by state (Java Applet)
• A history of the presidency from the point of view of Vermont Discusses history of American presidential elections with two states as opposite "poles", Vermont, and Alabama
• The Living Room Candidate: A Compilation of Presidential Television Ads
• A New Nation Votes: American Election Returns 1787-1825
• How close were Presidential Elections? - Michael Sheppard, Michigan State University
• Better World Links on the U.S. Presidential Election

v • d • e United States presidential elections 1789 · 1792 · 1796 · 1800 · 1804 · 1808 · 1812 · 1816 · 1820 · 1824 · 1828 · 1832 · 1836 · 1840 · 1844 · 1848 · 1852 · 1856 · 1860 · 1864 · 1868 · 1872 · 1876 · 1880 · 1884 · 1888 · 1892 · 1896 · 1900 · 1904 · 1908 · 1912 · 1916 · 1920 · 1924 · 1928 · 1932 · 1936 · 1940 · 1944 · 1948 · 1952 · 1956 · 1960 · 1964 · 1968 · 1972 · 1976 · 1980 · 1984 · 1988 · 1992 · 1996 · 2000 · 2004 · 2008 · 2012 Electoral College · Electoral vote changes · Electoral votes by state · Results by Electoral College margin · Results by popular vote margin · Results by state · Voter turnout · Presidential primaries See also: House elections · Senate elections · Gubernatorial elections

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)