The pundits are all talking about the Republican Convention of 1880.
That's not the historical precedent that worries me. In 1924 the
Democrats showed up in NYC, in the middle of a heat wave (long before
AC) with the Ku Klux Klan comprising the largest block of delegates, and
all hell broke loose....
Many historic precedents of contested conventions can be cited, but the
most contested of all was without question the Democratic Convention of
1924. By the time convention delegates convened in New York City on June
24, there was ample evidence that the Democratic party was deeply
divided. As the leading quipster of that day, Finley Peter Dunne (“Mr.
Dooley”), wrote, “The Dimmycratic Party ain’t on speakin’ terms with
itself.” Former president Woodrow Wilson’s son-in-law (and Treasury
secretary), William Gibbs McAdoo, and the governor of New York, Al
Smith, had squared off over the main issues, with a generous portion of
personal animosity thrown in. Each held enough delegate votes to prevent
the other from being nominated. At that time the Democratic party
labored under the requirement of a two-thirds nominating majority, and
it was clear neither Smith nor McAdoo could achieve it.
To make
matters worse, the hot-button social issues of the day were enmeshed in
religion and evoked a white-hot fervor on all sides. Prohibition,
immigration, and the KKK were the issues, and there appeared to be no
room for compromise. The convention opened with an explosive floor fight
over the party’s platform. Record-setting temperatures outside produced
what reporters called “furnace-like air in the draped hall that kept
fans and straw hats waving vigorously.” By the third day the Washington
Post was reporting “Delegates in Fist Fights on Floor Over Klan.”
Al
Smith and his anti-prohibition forces had the whiskey flowing, while
McAdoo and his pro-prohibition delegates piously called for divine
retribution against the “big city wets.” Former secretary of the Navy
and veteran Democratic warhorse Josephus Daniels wrote from the
convention to the folks back home in North Carolina: “This convention is
chock full of religion. It eats religion, dreams it, smokes it.” He
warned the Democrats not to forsake “the denunciation of Republicans for
religious warfare among themselves.”
After endless wrangling and
grandstanding, the convention staggered to the adoption of a platform
that was noteworthy only for its failure to confront the big issues.
Nothing of substance was said about prohibition, immigration, the League
of Nations, or the KKK. It did make a gracious acknowledgement of
President Harding’s recent death; but even that was contested. The
original wording stated, “Our Party stands uncovered at the bier of
Warren G. Harding. . . . ” But the prohibitionists insisted on
substituting “grave” for “bier,” lest some of their supporters back home
take offense.
Read the rest here.
Anger Without a Cause
3 hours ago
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