History of the Democratic Party (United States)
Democratic Party | |
---|---|
Chairperson | Jaime Harrison |
Governing body | Democratic National Committee[1][2] |
Founders | Andrew Jackson Martin Van Buren |
Founded | January 8, 1828[3] |
Preceded by | |
Headquarters | 430 South Capitol St. SE, Washington, D.C., 20003 |
Membership (2023) | 45,916,356[4] |
Ideology | American liberalism[5][6][7] |
Elections |
The
Before the
Starting with 32nd President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the party dominated during the Fifth Party System, which lasted from 1932 until about the 1970s. In response to the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and the ensuing Great Depression, the party employed liberal policies and programs with the New Deal coalition to combat financial crises and emergency bank closings, with policies continuing into World War II. The Party kept the White House after Roosevelt's death in April 1945, reelecting former Vice President Harry S. Truman in 1948. During this period, the Republican Party only elected one president (Eisenhower in 1952 and 1956) and was the minority in Congress all but twice (the exceptions being 1946 and 1952). Powerful committee chairmanships were awarded automatically on the basis of seniority, which gave power especially to long-serving Southerners. Important Democratic leaders during this time included Presidents Harry S. Truman (1945–1953), John F. Kennedy (1961–1963) and Lyndon B. Johnson (1963–1969). Republican Richard Nixon won the White House in 1968 and 1972, leading to the end of the New Deal era.
Democrats have won six out of the last twelve presidential elections, winning in the presidential elections of
Foundation: 1820–1828
The modern Democratic Party emerged in the late 1820s from former factions of the Democratic-Republican Party, which had largely collapsed by 1824.[27] It was built by Martin Van Buren, who assembled a cadre of politicians in every state behind war hero Andrew Jackson of Tennessee.[28][29] The pattern and speed of formation differed from state to state.[30] By the mid-1830s almost all the state Democratic parties were uniform.[31]
Jacksonian ascendancy: 1829–1840
Presidency of Andrew Jackson (1829–1837)
The spirit of
Behind the party platforms, acceptance speeches of candidates, editorials, pamphlets and
The party was weakest in New England, but strong everywhere else and won most national elections thanks to strength in New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia (by far the most populous states at the time) and the American frontier. Democrats opposed elites and aristocrats, the Bank of the United States and the whiggish modernizing programs that would build up industry at the expense of the yeoman or independent small farmer.[35]
The party was known for its populism.[36] Historian Frank Towers has specified an important ideological divide:
Democrats stood for the 'sovereignty of the people' as expressed in popular demonstrations, constitutional conventions, and majority rule as a general principle of governing, whereas Whigs advocated the rule of law, written and unchanging constitutions, and protections for minority interests against majority tyranny.[37]
At its inception, the Democratic Party was the party of the "common man". It opposed the abolition of slavery.[38]
From 1828 to 1848, banking and tariffs were the central domestic policy issues. Democrats strongly favored—and Whigs opposed—expansion to new farm lands, as typified by their expulsion of eastern
Presidency of Martin Van Buren (1837–1841)
The Presidency of Martin Van Buren was hobbled by a long economic depression called the Panic of 1837. The presidency promoted hard money based on gold and silver, an independent federal treasury, a reduced role for the government in the economy, and a liberal policy for the sale of public lands to encourage settlement; they opposed high tariffs to encourage industry. The Jackson policies were kept, such as Indian removal and the Trail of Tears.[42] Van Buren personally disliked slavery but he kept the slaveholder's rights intact. Nevertheless, he was distrusted across the South.[43]
The 1840 Democratic convention was the first at which the party adopted a platform. Delegates reaffirmed their belief that the Constitution was the primary guide for each state's political affairs. To them, this meant that all roles of the federal government not specifically defined fell to each respective state government, including such responsibilities as debt created by local projects. Decentralized power and states' rights pervaded each and every resolution adopted at the convention, including those on slavery, taxes, and the possibility of a central bank.[44][45] Regarding slavery, the Convention adopted the following resolution:
Resolved, That congress has no power under the Constitution, to interfere with or control the domestic institutions of the several states, and that such states are the sole and proper judges of every thing appertaining to their own affairs, not prohibited by the Constitution: that all efforts of the abolitionists or others, made to induce congress to interfere with questions of slavery, or to take incipient steps in relation thereto, are calculated to lead to the most alarming and dangerous consequences, and that all such efforts have an inevitable tendency to diminish the happiness of the people, and endanger the stability and permanency of the Union, and ought not to be countenanced by any friend to our political institutions.[46]
Harrison and Tyler (1841–1845)
The Panic of 1837 led to Van Buren and the Democrats' drop in popularity. The Whigs nominated William Henry Harrison as their candidate for the 1840 presidential race. Harrison won as the first president of the Whigs. However, he died in office a month later and was succeeded by his Vice President John Tyler. Tyler had recently left the Democrats for the Whigs and thus his beliefs did not align much with the Whig Party. During his presidency, he vetoed most of the key Whig bills. The Whigs disowned him. This allowed for the Democrats to retake power in 1845.
Presidency of James K. Polk (1845–1849)
Foreign policy was a major issue in the 1840s as war threatened with Mexico over Texas and with Britain over Oregon. Democrats strongly supported
Free Soil split
In 1848 a major innovation was the creation of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) to coordinate state activities in the presidential contest. Senator Lewis Cass, who held many offices over the years, lost to General Zachary Taylor of the Whigs. A major cause of the defeat was that the new Free Soil Party, which opposed slavery expansion, split the Democratic vote.[49] The Free Soil Party attracted Democrats and some Whigs and had considerable support in the Northeast. Former Democratic President Van Buren ran as the Free Soil nominee in 1848 and finished second ahead of Cass in the anti-slavery states of Vermont and Massachusetts and in his home state of New York. Had Cass won New York as Polk had 4 years prior, he would have won the election. Free Soils warned that rich slave owners would move into new territories such as Nebraska and buy up the best lands and work them with slaves. To protect the white farmer it was essential therefore to keep the soil "free"—that is without slavery. In 1852, with a less well known nominee than Van Buren, the free soil movement was much smaller, consisting primarily of former members of the Liberty Party and some abolitionists. It hedged on the question of full equality, as the majority wanted some form of racial separation to allow space for black activism without alienating the overwhelming northern opposition to equal rights for black men.[50]
Taylor and Fillmore (1849–1853)
When Whig Vice President Millard Fillmore replaced Taylor, Democrats in Congress led by Stephen Douglas passed the Compromise of 1850 designed to avoid civil war by putting the slavery issue to rest while resolving issues involving territories gained following the War with Mexico. However, in state after state the Democrats gained small but permanent advantages over the Whig Party, which finally collapsed in 1852, fatally weakened by division on slavery and nativism. The fragmented opposition could not stop the election of Democrats Franklin Pierce in 1852 and James Buchanan in 1856.[51]
The presidencies of Franklin Pierce (1853–1857) and James Buchanan (1857–1861)
The eight years during which Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan held the presidency were disasters; historians agree that they rank as among the worst presidents. The Party increasingly split along regional lines on the issue of slavery in the territories. When the new Republican Party formed in 1854, many anti-slavery ("Free Soil") Democrats in the North switched over and joined it. In 1860 two Democrats ran for president and the United States was moving rapidly toward civil war.[52]
Young America
The 1840s and 1850s were the heyday of a new faction of young Democrats called "Young America". It was led by Stephen A. Douglas, James K. Polk, Franklin Pierce and New York financier August Belmont. This new faction broke with the agrarian and strict constructionist orthodoxies of the past and embraced commerce, technology, regulation, reform and internationalism. The movement attracted a circle of outstanding writers, including William Cullen Bryant, George Bancroft, Herman Melville and Nathaniel Hawthorne. They sought independence from European standards of high culture and wanted to demonstrate the excellence and exceptionalism of America's own literary tradition.[53]
In economic policy, Young America saw the necessity of a modern infrastructure with railroads, canals, telegraphs, turnpikes and harbors. They endorsed the "market revolution" and promoted capitalism. They called for Congressional land grants to the states, which allowed Democrats to claim that internal improvements were locally rather than federally sponsored. Young America claimed that modernization would perpetuate the agrarian vision of Jeffersonian democracy by allowing yeomen farmers to sell their products and therefore to prosper. They tied internal improvements to free trade, while accepted moderate tariffs as a necessary source of government revenue. They supported the Independent Treasury (the Jacksonian alternative to the Second Bank of the United States) not as a scheme to quash the special privilege of the Whiggish monied elite, but as a device to spread prosperity to all Americans.[54][55]
Breakdown of the Second Party System (1854–1859)
Sectional confrontations escalated during the 1850s, the Democratic Party split between
- As a national political leader Pierce was an accident. He was honest and tenacious of his views but, as he made up his mind with difficulty and often reversed himself before making a final decision, he gave a general impression of instability. Kind, courteous, generous, he attracted many individuals, but his attempts to satisfy all factions failed and made him many enemies. In carrying out his principles of strict construction he was most in accord with Southerners, who generally had the letter of the law on their side. He failed utterly to realize the depth and the sincerity of Northern feeling against the South and was bewildered at the general flouting of the law and the Constitution, as he described it, by the people of his own New England. At no time did he catch the popular imagination. His inability to cope with the difficult problems that arose early in his administration caused him to lose the respect of great numbers, especially in the North, and his few successes failed to restore public confidence. He was an inexperienced man, suddenly called to assume a tremendous responsibility, who honestly tried to do his best without adequate training or temperamental fitness.[56]
In 1854, Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois—a key Democratic leader in the Senate—pushed the
North and South pull apart
The crisis for the Democratic Party came in the late 1850s as Democrats increasingly rejected national policies demanded by the Southern Democrats. The demands were to support slavery outside the South. Southerners insisted that full equality for their region required the government to acknowledge the legitimacy of slavery outside the South. The Southern demands included a fugitive slave law to recapture runaway slaves; opening Kansas to slavery; forcing a pro-slavery constitution on Kansas; acquire Cuba (where slavery already existed); accepting the Dred Scott decision of the Supreme Court; and adopting a federal slave code to protect slavery in the territories. President Buchanan went along with these demands, but Douglas refused and proved a much better politician than Buchanan, though the bitter battle lasted for years and permanently alienated the Northern and Southern wings.[63]
When the new
In
Republican Abraham Lincoln was elected the 16th president of the United States. Douglas campaigned across the country calling for unity and came in second in the popular vote, but carried only Missouri and New Jersey. Breckinridge carried 11
Presidency of Abraham Lincoln (1861–1865)
During the
Partisanship flourished in the North and strengthened the Lincoln Administration as Republicans automatically rallied behind it. After the
Presidency of Andrew Johnson (1865–1869)
In the
President Johnson, elected on the fusion Union Party ticket, did not rejoin the Democratic party, but Democrats in Congress supported him and voted against his impeachment in 1868. After his term ended in 1869 he rejoined the Democrats.
Republican interlude 1869–1885
War hero Ulysses S. Grant led the Republicans to landslides in 1868 and 1872.[70]
When a major economic depression hit the United States with the Panic of 1873, the Democratic party made major gains across the country, took full control of the South, and took control of Congress.
The Democrats lost consecutive presidential elections from 1860 through 1880, nevertheless Democrats have won the popular vote in
The
The politicized cowboy image
Heather Cox Richardson argues for a political dimension to the cowboy image in the 1870s and 1880s,:[73]
The timing of the cattle industry's growth meant that cowboy imagery grew to have extraordinary power. Entangled in the vicious politics of the postwar years, Democrats, especially those in the old Confederacy, imagined the West as a land untouched by Republican politicians they hated. They developed an image of the cowboys as men who worked hard, played hard, lived by a code of honor, protected themselves, and asked nothing of the government. In the hands of Democratic newspaper editors, the realities of cowboy life -- the poverty, the danger, the debilitating hours -- became romantic. Cowboys embodied virtues Democrats believed Republicans were destroying by creating a behemoth government catering to lazy ex-slaves. By the 1860s, cattle drives were a feature of the plains landscape, and Democrats had made cowboys a symbol of rugged individual independence, something they insisted Republicans were destroying.
Cleveland, Harrison, Cleveland (1885–1897)
After being out of office since 1861, the Democrats won the popular vote in three consecutive elections, and the electoral vote (and thus the White House) in 1884 and 1892.
The first presidency of Grover Cleveland (1885–1889)
Although Republicans continued to control the White House until 1884, the Democrats remained competitive (especially in the
Cleveland was the leader of the
The leading Bourbons included
Republican Benjamin Harrison won a narrow victory in 1888. The party pushed through a large agenda, and raised the McKinley Tariff and federal spending so high it was used against them as Democrats scored a landslide in the 1890 elections. Harrison was easily defeated for reelection in 1892 by Cleveland.
The second presidency of Grover Cleveland (1893–1897)
The Bourbons were in power when the Panic of 1893 hit and they took the blame. The party polarized between the pro-gold pro-business Cleveland faction and the anti-business silverites in the West and South. A fierce struggle inside the party ensued, with catastrophic losses for both the Bourbon and agrarian factions in 1894, leading to the showdown in 1896.[77] Just before the 1894 election, President Cleveland was warned by an advisor:
- We are on the eve of very dark night, unless a return of commercial prosperity relieves popular discontent with what they believe Democratic incompetence to make laws, and consequently with Democratic Administrations anywhere and everywhere.[78]
Aided by the deep nationwide economic depression that lasted from 1893 to 1897, the Republicans won their biggest landslide ever, taking full control of the House. The Democrats lost nearly all their seats in the Northeast. The third party Populists also were ruined. However, Cleveland's silverite enemies gained control of the Democratic Party in state after state, including full control in Illinois and Michigan and made major gains in Ohio, Indiana, Iowa and other states. Wisconsin and Massachusetts were two of the few states that remained under the control of Cleveland's allies.[79]
The rise and fall of William Jennings Bryan
The opposition Democrats were close to controlling two-thirds of the vote at the 1896 national convention, which they needed to nominate their own candidate. However, they were not united and had no national leader, as Illinois governor John Peter Altgeld had been born in Germany and was ineligible to be nominated for president.[80]
However, a young (35 years old) upstart, Congressman William Jennings Bryan made the magnificent "cross of gold" speech, which brought the crowd at the convention to its feet and got him the nomination. He would lose the election, but remained the Democratic hero and was renominated and lost again in 1900 and a third time in 1908.
Free silver movement
Bryan, an overnight sensation because of his "
The rural folk in the South and Midwest were ecstatic, showing an enthusiasm never before seen, but ethnic Democrats (especially
Although Bryan lost the election in a landslide, he did win the hearts and minds of a majority of Democrats, as shown by his renomination in 1900 and 1908. As late as 1924, the Democrats put his brother Charles W. Bryan on their national ticket.[83] The victory of the Republican Party in the election of 1896 marked the start of the "Progressive Era", which lasted from 1896 to 1932, in which the Republican Party usually was dominant.[84]
The GOP Presidencies of McKinley (1897–1901), Theodore Roosevelt (1901–1909) and Taft (1909–1913)
The 1896 election marked a political realignment in which the Republican Party controlled the presidency for 28 of 36 years. The Republicans dominated most of the Northeast and Midwest and half the West. Bryan, with a base in the South and Plains states, was strong enough to get the nomination in 1900 (losing to William McKinley) and 1908 (losing to William Howard Taft). Theodore Roosevelt dominated the first decade of the century and to the annoyance of Democrats "stole" the trust issue by crusading against trusts.[85]
With Bryan taking a hiatus and
Religious divisions were sharply drawn.
Cultural issues, especially prohibition and foreign language schools, became matters of contention because of the sharp religious divisions in the electorate. In the North, about 50 percent of voters were pietistic Protestants (Methodists, Scandinavian Lutherans, Presbyterians, Congregationalists and Disciples of Christ) who believed the government should be used to reduce social sins, such as drinking.[86]
Liturgical churches (Roman Catholics, Episcopalians, and German Lutherans) comprised over a quarter of the vote and wanted the government to stay out of the morality business. Prohibition debates and referendums heated up politics in most states over a period of decade, as national prohibition was finally passed in 1918 (repealed in 1932), serving as a major issue between the wet Democrats and the dry Republicans.[86]
1908: "Yet another farewell tour"
With the wildly popular President Roosevelt sticking to his promise to step down after seven and a half years, and his chosen successor, War Secretary William Howard Taft somewhat popular as well, the Democratic Party gave Bryan the nomination for a third time. He was again defeated. The Democrats held together while the Republican Party bitterly split between the Roosevelt-oriented progressives and the Taft-oriented conservatives. Taft defeated Roosevelt for the 1912 nomination, but Roosevelt ran as a third-party candidate. That split the GOP vote so that the Democrats were inevitably the winners, electing their first Democratic president and fully Democratic Congress in 20 years.[88]
Meanwhile, Democrats in Congress, with their base among poor farmers and the working class, generally supported Progressive Era reforms, such as antitrust, regulation of railroads, direct election of Senators, the income tax, the restriction of child labor, and the Federal Reserve system.[89][90]
Presidency of Woodrow Wilson (1913–1921)
Taking advantage of a deep split in the Republican Party, the Democrats took control of the House in 1910 and elected the intellectual reformer
Wilson tolerated the segregation of the federal Civil Service by Southern cabinet members. Furthermore, bipartisan constitutional amendments for prohibition and women's suffrage were passed in his second term. In effect, Wilson laid to rest the issues of tariffs, money and antitrust that had dominated politics for 40 years.[92]
Wilson oversaw the U.S. role in
The Democrats lost by a landslide in 1920, doing especially poorly in the cities, where the German-Americans deserted the ticket; and the Irish Catholics, who dominated the party apparatus, were unable to garner traction for the party in this election cycle.[94]
The Roaring Twenties: Democratic defeats
The entire decade saw the Democrats as an ineffective minority in Congress and as a weak force in most Northern states.[95]
After the massive defeat in 1920, the Democrats recovered most of their lost territory in the Congressional elections of 1922. They especially recovered in the border states, as well as the industrial cities, where the Irish and German element returned to that party. In addition, there was growing support among the more recent immigrants, who had become more Americanized. Many ethnic families now had a veteran in their midst, and paid closer attention to national issues, such as the question of a bonus for veterans. There was also an expression of annoyance with the federal prohibition of beer and wine, and the closing of most saloons.[96][97]
Culture conflict and Al Smith (1924–1928)
At the
The internal battles and repeated defeats left the party discouraged and demoralized. To a considerable extent, the challenge of restoring morale was the province of historian
the myth of the Democratic Party masterfully re-created, a fresh awareness of the elemental differences between the parties, and ideology with which they might make sense of the two often senseless conflicts of the present, and a feeling for the importance of dynamic leadership. The book was a mirror for Democrats.[100]
The Great Depression and a Second World War: Democratic hegemony (1930–1953)
The Great Depression marred Hoover's term as the Democratic Party made large gains in the 1930 congressional elections and garnered a landslide win in 1932.
Presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933–1945)
The
The Democrats also swept to large majorities in both houses of Congress and among state governors. Roosevelt altered the nature of the party, away from laissez-faire capitalism and towards an ideology of economic regulation and insurance against hardship. Two old words took on new meanings: "liberal" now meant a supporter of the New Deal while "conservative" meant an opponent.[102]
Conservative Democrats were outraged and led by Al Smith they formed the American Liberty League in 1934 and counterattacked. They failed and either retired from politics or joined the Republican Party. A few of them, such as Dean Acheson, found their way back to the Democratic Party.[103]
The 1933 programs, called "the First New Deal" by historians, represented a broad consensus. Roosevelt tried to reach out to business and labor, farmers and consumers, cities and countryside. However, by 1934 he was moving toward a more confrontational policy. After making gains in state governorships and in Congress, in 1934 Roosevelt embarked on an ambitious legislative program that came to be called "The Second New Deal". It was characterized by building up labor unions, nationalizing welfare by the WPA, setting up Social Security, imposing more regulations on business (especially transportation and communications) and raising taxes on business profits.[104]
Roosevelt's New Deal programs focused on job creation through public works projects as well as on social welfare programs such as Social Security. It also included sweeping reforms to the banking system, work regulation, transportation, communications and stock markets, as well as attempts to regulate prices. His policies soon paid off by uniting a diverse coalition of Democratic voters called the New Deal coalition, which included labor unions, liberals, minorities (most significantly, Catholics and Jews) and liberal white Southerners. This united voter base allowed Democrats to be elected to Congress and the presidency for much of the next 30 years.[105]
The second term
After a triumphant re-election in 1936, he announced plans to enlarge the Supreme Court, which tended to oppose his New Deal, by five new members. A firestorm of opposition erupted, led by his own Vice President John Nance Garner. Roosevelt was defeated by an alliance of Republicans and conservative Democrats, who formed a conservative coalition that managed to block nearly all liberal legislation (only a minimum wage law got through). Annoyed by the conservative wing of his own party, Roosevelt made an attempt to rid himself of it and in 1938 he actively campaigned against five incumbent conservative Democratic senators, though all five senators won re-election.[106]
The Party
Under Roosevelt, the Democratic Party became identified more closely with modern liberalism, which included the promotion of
World War II
With a near disaster in 1937 with the so-called "recession" and the near defeat in Congress in 1938, things looked bleak for the Democrats, but FDR decided that with the upcoming crisis that would become World War II, he was irreplaceable, and he broke tradition and ran for a third, and later 4th term, taking a Democratic congress with him.
Presidency of Harry S. Truman (1945–1953)
The 1946–1948
On the right, the Republicans blasted Truman's domestic policies. "Had Enough?" was the winning slogan as Republicans recaptured Congress in 1946 for the first time since 1928.
Foreign policy
On the far-left, former Vice President Henry A. Wallace denounced Truman as a war-monger for his anti-Soviet programs, the Truman Doctrine, Marshall Plan and NATO. Wallace quit the party and ran for president as an independent in 1948. He called for détente with the Soviet Union, but much of his campaign was controlled by communists who had been expelled from the main unions. Wallace fared poorly and helped turn the anti-communist vote toward Truman.[112]
By cooperating with internationalist Republicans, Truman succeeded in defeating
In foreign policy, Europe was safe, but troubles mounted in Asia as China fell to the communists in 1949. Truman entered the Korean War without formal Congressional approval. When the war turned to a stalemate and he fired General Douglas MacArthur in 1951, Republicans blasted his policies in Asia. A series of petty scandals among friends and buddies of Truman further tarnished his image, allowing the Republicans in 1952 to crusade against "Korea, Communism and Corruption". Truman dropped out of the Presidential race early in 1952, leaving no obvious successor. The convention nominated Adlai Stevenson in 1952 and 1956, only to see him overwhelmed by two Eisenhower landslides.[114]
Presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953–1961)
The landslide of General Dwight D. Eisenhower over Adlai Stevenson brought to the White House one of the most liked and most experienced leaders of the era. It also brought brief Republican control to both houses of Congress for one term. In Congress, the powerful team of Texans House Speaker Sam Rayburn and Senate Majority leader Lyndon B. Johnson held the party together, often by compromising with Eisenhower. In 1958, the party made dramatic gains in the midterms and seemed to have a permanent lock on Congress, thanks largely to organized labor. Indeed, Democrats had majorities in the House every election from 1930 to 1992 (except 1946 and 1952).[115]
Most Southern Congressmen were
Although the Republicans gained brief control of Congress in 1952, the Democrats were back in control in 1954. House Speaker Sam Rayburn and Senate Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson worked closely with President Eisenhower, so the partisanship was at the lowest intensity in the 20th century.
Presidency of John F. Kennedy (1961–1963)
The election of John F. Kennedy in 1960 over then-Vice President Richard Nixon re-energized the party. His youth, vigor and intelligence caught the popular imagination. New programs like the Peace Corps harnessed idealism. In terms of legislation, Kennedy was stalemated by the conservative coalition.[118]
Though Kennedy's term in office lasted only about a thousand days, he tried to hold back communist gains after the failed
Kennedy also pushed for
Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson (1963–1969)
Then-vice president
The Democratic Party platform of the 1960s was largely formed by the ideals of President Johnson's "Great Society" The New Deal coalition began to fracture as more Democratic leaders voiced support for civil rights, upsetting the party's traditional base of Southern Democrats and Catholics in Northern cities. Segregationist George Wallace capitalized on Catholic unrest in Democratic primaries in 1964 and 1972.[122]
After Harry Truman's platform gave strong support to civil rights and anti-
On the other hand, African Americans, who had traditionally given strong support to the Republican Party since its inception as the "anti-slavery party", after switching the vast majority of their votes in the thirties due to the New Deal benefits, continued to shift to the Democratic Party, largely due to the advocacy of and support for civil rights by such prominent Democrats as Hubert Humphrey and Eleanor Roosevelt, and the switch of local machines to the Democrats as in Chicago. Although Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower carried half the South in 1952 and 1956 and Senator Barry Goldwater also carried five Southern states in 1964, Democrat Jimmy Carter carried all of the South except Virginia and there was no long-term realignment until Ronald Reagan's sweeping victories in the South in 1980 and 1984.[124]
The party's dramatic reversal on civil rights issues culminated when Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law the
Johnson stunned the nation on March 31 when he withdrew from the race and four weeks later his Vice President
During the
The degree to which the Southern Democrats had abandoned the party became evident in the 1968 presidential election when the electoral votes of every former Confederate state except Texas went to either Republican Richard Nixon or independent Wallace. Humphrey's electoral votes came mainly from the Northern states, marking a dramatic reversal from the 1948 election 20 years earlier, when the losing Republican electoral votes were concentrated in the same states.[129]
McGovern-Fraser Commission and George McGovern's presidential campaign (1969–1972)
Following the party's defeat in 1968, the
Numerous top names turned him down, but McGovern finally selected Sargent Shriver, a Kennedy in-law who was close to Mayor Daley. On July 14, 1972, McGovern appointed his campaign manager, Jean Westwood, as the first woman chair of the Democratic National Committee. McGovern was defeated in a landslide by incumbent Richard Nixon, winning only Massachusetts and Washington, D.C.[132]
Presidencies of Richard Nixon (1969–1974) and Gerald Ford (1974–1977)
The effects that George McGovern's defeat in the 1972 election had on the Democratic Party would be long lasting, but was interrupted by the Nixon scandal which temporarily halted the party's decline in ways that were entirely unexpected.[133] The Watergate scandal soon destroyed the Nixon Presidency. With Gerald Ford's pardon of Nixon soon after his resignation in 1974, the Democrats used the "corruption" issue to make major gains in the off-year elections. In 1976, mistrust of the administration, complicated by a combination of economic recession and inflation, sometimes called "stagflation", led to Ford's defeat by Jimmy Carter, a former Governor of Georgia. Carter won as a little-known outsider by promising honesty in Washington, a message that played well to voters as he swept the South and won narrowly.[134]
Presidency of Jimmy Carter (1977–1981)
Carter was a peanut farmer, a state senator and a one-term governor with minimal national experience. President Carter's major accomplishments consisted of the creation of a national energy policy and two new cabinet departments, the
In foreign affairs, Carter's accomplishments consisted of the
Carter's successes were overshadowed by failures. He was unable to implement a national health plan or to reform the tax system as he had promised. His popularity fell as inflation soared and unemployment remained stubbornly high, Abroad, the
Presidency of Ronald Reagan (1981–1989)
1980s: Battling Reaganism
Democrats who supported many conservative policies were instrumental in the election of Republican President Ronald Reagan in 1980. The "Reagan Democrats" were Democrats before the Reagan years and afterward, but they voted for Ronald Reagan in 1980 and 1984 and for George H. W. Bush in 1988, producing their landslide victories. Reagan Democrats were mostly white ethnics in the Northeast and Midwest who were attracted to Reagan's social conservatism on issues such as abortion and to his strong foreign policy. They did not continue to vote Republican in 1992 or 1996, so the term fell into disuse except as a reference to the 1980s. The term is not used to describe White Southerners who became permanent Republicans in presidential elections.[142]
The failure to hold the Reagan Democrats and the white South led to the final collapse of the New Deal coalition. In 1984, Reagan carried 49 states against former vice president and Minnesota senator Walter Mondale, a New Deal stalwart.[143]
In response to these landslide defeats, the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) was created in 1985. It worked to move the party rightwards to the ideological center in order to recover some of the fundraising that had been lost to the Republicans due to corporate donors supporting Reagan. The goal was to retain left-of-center voters as well as moderates and conservatives on social issues to become a catch all party with widespread appeal to most opponents of the Republicans. Despite this, Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis, running not as a New Dealer but as an efficiency expert in public administration, lost by a landslide in 1988 to Vice President George H. W. Bush.[144]
South becomes Republican
For nearly a century after Reconstruction, the white South identified with the Democratic Party. The Democrats' lock on power was so strong the region was called the Solid South, although the Republicans controlled parts of the Appalachian Mountains and they competed for statewide office in the border states. Before 1948, Southern Democrats believed that their party, with its respect for states' rights and appreciation of traditional southern values, was the defender of the Southern way of life. Southern Democrats warned against aggressive designs on the part of Northern liberals and Republicans and civil rights activists whom they denounced as "outside agitators".[145]
The adoption of the strong civil rights plank by the 1948 convention and the integration of the armed forces by President Harry S. Truman's Executive Order 9981, which provided for equal treatment and opportunity for African-American servicemen, drove a wedge between the Northern and Southern branches of the party. The party was sharply divided in the following election, as Southern Democrats Strom Thurmond ran as "States' Rights Democratic Party".
With the presidency of John F. Kennedy the Democratic Party began to embrace the
Modernization had brought factories, national businesses and larger, more cosmopolitan cities such as Atlanta, Dallas, Charlotte, and Houston to the South, as well as millions of migrants from the North and more opportunities for higher education. Meanwhile, the cotton and tobacco economy of the traditional rural South faded away, as former farmers commuted to factory jobs. As the South became more like the rest of the nation, it could not stand apart in terms of racial segregation. Integration and the Civil Rights Movement caused enormous controversy in the white South, with many attacking it as a violation of states' rights. When segregation was outlawed by court order and by the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1965, a die-hard element resisted integration, led by Democratic governors Orval Faubus of Arkansas, Lester Maddox of Georgia and especially George Wallace of Alabama. These populist governors appealed to a less-educated, blue-collar electorate that on economic grounds favored the Democratic Party and opposed desegregation. After 1965, most Southerners accepted integration (with the exception of public schools).[148]
Believing themselves betrayed by the Democratic Party, traditional White Southerners joined the new middle-class and the Northern transplants in moving toward the Republican Party. Meanwhile, newly enfranchised black voters began supporting Democratic candidates at the 80–90 percent levels, producing Democratic leaders such as Julian Bond and John Lewis of Georgia and Barbara Jordan of Texas. Just as Martin Luther King Jr. had promised, integration had brought about a new day in Southern politics.[149]
In addition to its white middle-class base, Republicans attracted strong majorities among evangelical Christians, who prior to the 1980s were largely apolitical. Exit polls in the 2004 presidential election showed that George W. Bush led John Kerry by 70–30% among White Southerners, who were 71% of the voters. Kerry had a 90–9 lead among the 18% of Southern voters who were black. One-third of the Southern voters said they were white Evangelicals and they voted for Bush by 80–20.[150]
Presidency of George H. W. Bush (1989–1993)
Opposition to Gulf War
The Democrats included a strong element that came of age in opposition to the Vietnam War and remained hostile toward American military interventions. On August 1, 1990,
Presidency of Bill Clinton (1993–2001)
In the 1990s, the Democratic Party revived itself, in part by moving to the right on economic policy.[152] In 1992, for the first time in 12 years the United States had a Democrat in the White House. During President Bill Clinton's term, the Congress balanced the federal budget for the first time since the Kennedy Presidency and presided over a robust American economy that saw incomes grow across the board. The Democratic Leadership Council advocated a realignment and triangulation, moving to the center on economic issues, under the re-branded "New Democrat" label to adapt to the post-Reagan era.[153][154]
In 1994, the economy had the lowest combination of unemployment and inflation in 25 years. President Clinton also signed into law several gun control bills, including the Brady Bill, which imposed a five-day waiting period on handgun purchases; and he also signed into legislation a ban on many types of semi-automatic firearms (which expired in 2004). His Family and Medical Leave Act, covering some 40 million Americans, offered workers up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-guaranteed leave for childbirth or a personal or family illness. He deployed the U.S. military to Haiti to reinstate deposed president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, took a strong hand in Palestinian–Israeli peace negotiations, brokered a historic cease-fire in Northern Ireland and negotiated the Dayton accords. In 1996, Clinton became the first Democratic president to be re-elected since Franklin D. Roosevelt.
However, the Democrats lost their majority in both Houses of Congress in 1994. Clinton vetoed two Republican-backed
Free markets
In the 1990s the Clinton administration continued the free market, or neoliberal, reforms which began under the Reagan administration.[156][157] Historian Gary Gerstle states that Reagan was the ideological architect of the neoliberal order which was formulated in the 1970s and 1980s, but it was Clinton who was its key facilitator, and as such this order achieved dominance following the end of the Cold War.[158] However, economist Sebastian Mallaby argues that the party increasingly adopted pro-business, pro free market principles after 1976:
- Free-market ideas were embraced by Democrats almost as much as by Republicans. Jimmy Carter initiated the big push toward deregulation, generally with the support of his party in Congress. Bill Clinton presided over the growth of the loosely supervised shadow financial system and the repeal of Depression-era restrictions on commercial banks.[159]
Historian Walter Scheidel also posits that both parties shifted to free markets in the 1970s:
- In the United States, both of the dominant parties have shifted toward free-market capitalism. Even though analysis of roll call votes show that since the 1970s, Republicans have drifted farther to the right than Democrats have moved to the left, the latter were instrumental in implementing financial deregulation in the 1990s and focused increasingly on cultural issues such as gender, race, and sexual identity rather than traditional social welfare policies.[160]
Both Carter and Clinton quietly abandoned the New Deal style of aggressive support for welfare for the poor and support for the working-class and labor unions. They downplayed traditional Democratic hostility toward business, and aggressive regulation of the economy. Carter and Clinton agreed on a greater reliance on the market economy—As conservatives have long demanded. They gave control of inflation priority over reduction in unemployment. They both sought balanced budgets—and Clinton actually succeeded in generating a federal budget surplus. They both used monetary policy more than fiscal/spending policy to micromanage the economy, and they accepted the conservative emphasis on supply-side programs to encourage private investment, and the expectation it would produce long-term economic growth.[161]
Election of 2000
During the
Gore won a popular plurality of over 540,000 votes over Bush, but lost in the Electoral College by four votes. Many Democrats blamed Nader's third-party spoiler role for Gore's defeat. They pointed to the states of New Hampshire (4 electoral votes) and Florida (25 electoral votes), where Nader's total votes exceeded Bush's margin of victory. In Florida, Nader received 97,000 votes and Bush defeated Gore by a mere 537. Controversy plagued the election and Gore largely dropped from elective politics.
Despite Gore's close defeat, the Democrats gained five seats in the Senate (including the election of Hillary Clinton in New York) to turn a 55–45 Republican edge into a 50–50 split (with a Republican vice president breaking a tie). However, when Republican Senator Jim Jeffords of Vermont decided in 2001 to become an independent and vote with the Democratic caucus, the majority status shifted along with the seat, including control of the floor (by the Majority Leader) and control of all committee chairmanships. However, the Republicans regained their Senate majority with gains in 2002 and 2004, leaving the Democrats with only 44 seats, the fewest since the 1920s.[162]
Presidency of George W. Bush (2001–2009)
In the aftermath of the
In the wake of the financial fraud scandal of the
Election of 2004
The 2004 campaign started as early as December 2002, when Gore announced he would not run again in the 2004 election. Howard Dean, a former Governor of Vermont and opponent of the Iraq War, was the front-runner at first. An unusual gaffe known as the "Dean Scream" and subsequent negative media coverage doomed his candidacy. The nomination went to Massachusetts Senator John Kerry, a centrist with heavy support from the Democratic Leadership Council. Democrats pulled together in attacking Bush's war in Iraq. Kerry lost by a 3 million vote margin out of 120 million votes and lost four Senate seats. The Democrats had only 44 Senators, their fewest since the 1920s. A bright spot came with the win by Barack Obama in Illinois.[165]
After the 2004 election, prominent Democrats began to rethink the party's direction. Some Democrats proposed moving towards the right to regain seats in the House and Senate and possibly win the Presidency in 2008, while others demanded that the party move more to the left and become a stronger opposition party. One topic of deep debate was the party's policies surrounding reproductive rights.[166] In What's the Matter with Kansas?, commentator Thomas Frank wrote that the Democrats needed to return to campaigning on economic populism.
Howard Dean and the fifty-state strategy (2005–2007)
These debates were reflected in the 2005 campaign for Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, which Howard Dean won over the objections of many party insiders. Dean sought to move the Democratic strategy away from the establishment and bolster support for the party's state organizations, even in red states (the fifty-state strategy).[167]
When the
With scandals involving lobbyist
As a result of gains in the
2008 presidential election
The
Throughout most of the
On November 4, Obama defeated McCain by a significant margin in the Electoral College and the party also made further gains in the Senate and House, adding to its 2006 gains.
Presidency of Barack Obama (2009–2017)
On January 20, 2009, Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States in a ceremony attended by nearly 2 million people, the largest congregation of spectators ever to witness the inauguration of a new president.[175] That same day in Washington, D.C., Republican House of Representative leaders met in an "invitation only" meeting for four hours to discuss the future of the Republican Party under the Obama administration.
One of the first acts by the Obama administration after assuming control was an order signed by
President Obama signed into law the following significant legislation during his first 100 days in the
Obama also announced stricter guidelines regarding
During the beginning of Obama Presidency emerged the
Obama signed two
On May 26, 2009, President Obama
On October 28, 2009, Obama signed the
On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed into law his signature legislation of his presidency, the
On 19 August 2010, the
On November 2, 2010, during
On December 1, 2010, Obama announced at the
During the lame-duck session of the 111th United States Congress, President Obama signed into law the following significant legislation:
On February 23, 2011,
On April 5, 2011, Vice President Joe Biden announced that Debbie Wasserman Schultz was President Obama's choice to succeed Tim Kaine as the 52nd Chair of the Democratic National Committee. On May 26, 2011, President Obama signed the PATRIOT Sunsets Extension Act of 2011, which was strongly criticized by some in the Democratic Party as violation of civil liberties and a continuation of the George W. Bush administration. House Democrats largely opposed the PATRIOT Sunsets Extension Act of 2011, while Senate Democrats were slightly in favor of it.
On October 21, 2011, President Obama signed into law three of the following
When asked by David Gregory about his views on same-sex marriage on Meet the Press on May 5, 2012, Biden stated he supported same-sex marriage.[198] On May 9, 2012, a day after North Carolina voters approved Amendment 1, President Obama became the first sitting United States president to come out in favor of same-sex marriage.
The 2012 Democratic Party platform for Obama's reelection ran over 26,000 words and included his position on numerous national issues. On security issues, it pledges "unshakable commitment to
Intense budget negotiations in the divided
Conservatives criticized the president for "passive" responses to crises such as the
The
2016 United States elections
2016 Democratic Party presidential primaries
National polling from 2013 to the summer of 2015 showed Hillary Clinton with an overwhelming lead over all of her potential primary opponents. Her main challenger was independent Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, whose rallies grew larger and larger as he attracted strong support among Democrats under age 40. The sharp divide between the two candidates was cast as a conflict between the political establishment and an outsider, with Clinton considered the establishment candidate and Sanders the outsider. Clinton received the endorsements from an overwhelming majority of office holders. Clinton's core base voters during the primaries were women, African Americans, Latino Americans, sexual minorities, moderates and older voters, while Sanders' core base included younger voters under the age of 40 and progressives.[202][203]
Ideological differences
The ideological differences between the two candidates represented the ideological divide within the Democratic Party as a whole. Clinton aligned herself with the
During the primaries, Sanders attacked Clinton for her ties to
Presidency of Donald Trump (2017–2021)
Initiatives
On January 12, 2017, the
On January 17, 2017, Third Way, a public policy think tank, launched New Blue, a $20 million campaign to study Democratic shortcomings in the 2016 elections and offer a new economic agenda to help Democrats reconnect with the voters who have abandoned the party. The money will be spent to conduct extensive research, reporting and polling in Rust Belt states that once formed a Blue Wall, but which voted for President Donald Trump in 2016.[212] Many progressives have criticized this as a desperate measure for the so-called establishment wing of the party to retain leadership.
On May 15, 2017,
Response to the Donald Trump Administration
Protests
At the inauguration of Donald Trump, 67 Democratic members of the United States House of Representatives boycotted the inauguration.[214] This was the largest boycott by members of the United States Congress since the second inauguration of Richard Nixon, where it was estimated that between 80 and 200 Democratic members of United States Congress boycotted.[215]
The 2017 Women's March was a large-scale nationwide protest in favor of women's rights and against the policies of the Trump administration. The march found much support within the Democratic Party including participation from sitting Senators Booker, Duckworth, Harris, Sanders, and Warren.[216][217][218]
The George Floyd Protests and other protests against police brutality received backlash from the Trump administration but found support from many Democratic congresspeople.[219]
Impeachments of Donald Trump
In 2019, the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives initiated
In 2021, the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives voted again to impeach Trump over his involvement in the January 6th attack on the United States Capitol, with all Democrats voting to impeach.[225][226] Trump was again acquitted by the Republican-controlled Senate, will all Democratic Senators voting guilty.[227]
115th United States Congress
As of September 13, 2017, 16 Senate Democrats cosponsored the Medicare for All Act of 2017.[228] As of September 26, 2017, 120 House Democrats cosponsored the Expanded & Improved Medicare For All Act.[229] This was all for naught, as the Republican majority made sure that the Democratic minority remained impotent.
116th United States Congress
In the
2020 United States elections
The 2020 primaries saw an unprecedentedly competitive field of 29 major candidates vie for the party's nomination, with the contest ultimately narrowing down to a binary race between Senator Sanders and former Vice President Biden after Super Tuesday, a similar dynamic to the entirety of the 2016 primary.[231] However, the two-person period of this contest was never extended as long as in 2016, as the consolidation of the moderates in the party, a series of wins in key swing states by Biden, and the COVID-19 global pandemic, allowed Biden to finally defeat his last rival, Senator Sanders. Representing the more centrist side of the party, former Vice President Biden positioned himself as an elder statesman ready to lead in moments of crisis that demanded strong executive experience. Biden promised electability and the defeat of Trump.[232]
In terms of voter support, Biden dominated with African Americans, suburban whites, voters over the age of 50, and newly minted conservative Democrats who had joined the party after leaving the GOP in response to Trump and the stigma attached to his policies.[233] Senator Sanders led a similarly diverse coalition of Latinos, staunch progressives, and voters of all races under the age of 50.[234] Other major candidates were Elizabeth Warren, Michael Bloomberg, Pete Buttigieg, and Amy Klobuchar. Throughout all of the general election campaign, Biden was shown to have a significant advantage in public opinion polling.[235]
On November 3, 2020, Joe Biden defeated incumbent President Donald Trump by an Electoral College result of 306–232.[236] His victory is the first time a challenger beat a president running for re-election since George H. W. Bush's loss in 1992. Biden's running mate, Kamala Harris, would be the first female and person of African and South Asian descent to become vice president in history. In Congress, Democrats retained their majority in the House and claimed the majority in the US Senate with a 50–50 split.[237] This brought the House, Senate, and Presidency under simultaneous Democratic control for the first time since 2011.
Presidency of Joe Biden (2021–present)
On January 20, 2021, Biden was inaugurated as the 46th president of the United States. He came into office with a full government trifecta, holding the House and Senate, with Democrats winning both regular and special Senate elections in Georgia.[238] The Electoral College confirmation of Biden's election was disrupted by unrest including the January 6 United States Capitol attack and attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election.[239]
President Biden signed into law the
Biden signed the $1.2 trillion bipartisan
After
See also
- Democratic National Convention
- List of Democratic National Conventions
- Political positions of the Democratic Party
United States politics
Notes
- ^ "About the Democratic Party". Democratic Party. Archived from the original on April 6, 2022. Retrieved April 15, 2022.
For 171 years, [the Democratic National Committee] has been responsible for governing the Democratic Party
- ^ Democratic Party (March 12, 2022). "The Charter & The Bylaws of the Democratic Party of the United States" (PDF). p. 3. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 27, 2022. Retrieved April 15, 2022.
The Democratic National Committee shall have general responsibility for the affairs of the Democratic Party between National Conventions
- ^ Despite this date, the party claims an earlier formation date as noted in S.2047 which passed in the Democratic-controlled United States Senate in 1991.102nd Congress (1991), S.2047 – A bill to establish a commission to commemorate the bicentennial of the establishment of the Democratic Party of the United States.
{{citation}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) "[I]n 1992, the Democratic Party of the United States will celebrate the 200th anniversary of its establishment on May 13, 1792." - ^ Winger, Richard (December 29, 2023). "December 2023 Ballot Access News Print Edition". Ballot Access News. Archived from the original on December 28, 2022. Retrieved January 9, 2024.
- ^ Center, Pew Research (November 9, 2021). "Beyond Red vs. Blue: The Political Typology". Pew Research Center - U.S. Politics & Policy. Retrieved March 8, 2024.
- ^ Inc, Gallup (January 12, 2023). "Democrats' Identification as Liberal Now 54%, a New High". Gallup.com. Retrieved March 8, 2024.
{{cite web}}
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has generic name (help) - ^ "Have Democrats become a party of the left?". Brookings. Retrieved March 8, 2024.
- ISBN 9780495501121. Archived from the originalon October 2, 2020. Retrieved April 28, 2020.
Modern liberalism occupies the left-of-center in the traditional political spectrum and is represented by the Democratic Party in the United States.
- ^ "President Obama, the Democratic Party, and Socialism: A Political Science Perspective". The Huffington Post. June 29, 2012. Archived from the original on March 24, 2019. Retrieved January 9, 2015.
- ^ Hale, John (1995). The Making of the New Democrats. New York: Political Science Quarterly. p. 229.
- ^ Dewan, Shaila; Kornblut, Anne E. (October 30, 2006). "In Key House Races, Democrats Run to the Right". The New York Times. Archived from the original on July 27, 2019. Retrieved January 28, 2017.
- ^ Irwin, Lauren (October 13, 2023). "Democratic centrists offer to back McHenry as temporary House leader".
- ^ "Centrist Democrats target Lauren Boebert and Derrick Van Orden in 2024".
- ^ Stein, Letita; Cornwell, Susan; Tanfani, Joseph (August 23, 2018). "Inside the progressive movement roiling the Democratic Party". Reuters. Archived from the original on June 13, 2022. Retrieved June 13, 2022.
- ^ Trudo, Hanna (August 26, 2023). "Progressives see promise in more diverse candidates, voters ahead of 2024".
- ^ "Progressives focus on local-level wins to reshape Democratic Party from the bottom up". PBS NewsHour. April 17, 2023.
- ^ Greve, Joan E. (November 9, 2022). "Progressive candidates score crucial wins in midterm elections". The Guardian.
- ^ Ball, Molly. "The Battle Within the Democratic Party". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on June 12, 2018. Retrieved January 28, 2017.
- ^ Chotiner, Isaac (March 2, 2020). "How Socialist Is Bernie Sanders?". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on January 12, 2021. Retrieved February 14, 2021.
- ^ Bacon, Perry Jr. (March 11, 2019). "The Six Wings Of The Democratic Party". FiveThirtyEight. Archived from the original on August 15, 2021. Retrieved October 21, 2021.
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- ^ Richard E. Welch, Jr., The Presidencies of Grover Cleveland (1988), covers both his terms.
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- ^ Stanley L. Jones, The Presidential Election of 1896 (1964)
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- ^ "Obama outlines Iraq pullout plan". BBC News. February 27, 2009. Retrieved January 4, 2010.
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- ^ Londoño, Ernesto (August 19, 2010). "Operation Iraqi Freedom ends as last combat soldiers leave Baghdad". The Washington Post.
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- ^ Al Jazeera and agencies (August 19, 2010). "Last US combat brigade leaves Iraq". Al Jazeera and agencies. Retrieved August 19, 2010.
The 4th SBCT, 2ID left Baghdad and drove the entire distance to the Kuwaiti border in the same footprints that 3rd ID made during the invasion known as the "Race for Baghdad". I was one of those people driving out. We faced intense heat, the very real threat of the "final strike" against us and the possibility of breaking down in unsecured areas with very little support and the only combat power was what we brought with us. I crossed the border at 0548 in the morning and doing such, helped bring this war to an end, officially.
- ^ Baker, Peter (December 5, 2009). "How Obama Came to Plan for 'Surge' in Afghanistan". The New York Times. Retrieved March 16, 2015.
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Further reading
Secondary sources
- American National Biography (20 volumes, 1999) covers all politicians no longer alive; online and paper copies at many academic libraries. Older Dictionary of American Biography.
- Dinkin, Robert J. Voting and Vote-Getting in American History (2016), expanded edition of Dinkin, Campaigning in America: A History of Election Practices. (Greenwood 1989)
- Kazin, Michael. What It Took to Win: A History of the Democratic Party (2022) excerpt
- Kurian, George Thomas ed. The Encyclopedia of the Democratic Party (4 vol. 2002) online.
- Remini, Robert V. The House: The History of the House of Representatives (2006), extensive coverage of the party; online
- Sabato, Larry, ed. Encyclopedia of American political parties and elections (2006) online
- Schlesinger Jr., Arthur Meiered. History of American Presidential Elections, 1789–2000 (various multivolume editions, latest is 2001). For each election includes history and selection of primary documents. Essays on some elections are reprinted in Schlesinger, The Coming to Power: Critical presidential elections in American history (1972)
- Schlesinger, Arthur Meier Jr. ed. History of U.S. Political Parties (1973) multivolume
- Shafer, Byron E. and Anthony J. Badger, eds. Contesting Democracy: Substance and Structure in American Political History, 1775–2000 (2001), most recent collection of new essays by specialists on each time period:
- Includes: "State Development in the Early Republic: 1775–1840" by Ronald P. Formisano; "The Nationalization and Racialization of American Politics: 1790–1840" by David Waldstreicher; "'To One or Another of These Parties Every Man Belongs;": 1820–1865 by Joel H. Silbey; "Change and Continuity in the Party Period: 1835–1885" by Michael F. Holt; "The Transformation of American Politics: 1865–1910" by Peter H. Argersinger; "Democracy, Republicanism, and Efficiency: 1885–1930" by Richard Jensen; "The Limits of Federal Power and Social Policy: 1910–1955" by Anthony J. Badger; "The Rise of Rights and Rights Consciousness: 1930–1980" by James T. Patterson, Brown University; and "Economic Growth, Issue Evolution, and Divided Government: 1955–2000" by Byron E. Shafer
Before 1932
- Allen, Oliver E. The Tiger: The Rise and Fall of Tammany Hall (1993)
- Baker, Jean. Affairs of Party: The Political Culture of Northern Democrats in the Mid-Nineteenth Century (1983) online
- Cole, Donald B. Martin Van Buren and the American Political System (1984) online
- Bass, Herbert J. "I Am a Democrat": The Political Career of David B. Hill 1961.
- Craig, Douglas B. After Wilson: The Struggle for the Democratic Party, 1920–1934 (1992)
- Earle, Jonathan H. Jacksonian Antislavery and the Politics of Free Soil, 1824–1854 (2004)
- Eyal, Yonatan. The Young America Movement and the Transformation of the Democratic Party, 1828–1861 (2007) 252 pp.
- Flick, Alexander C. Samuel Jones Tilden: A Study in Political Sagacity 1939.
- Formisano, Ronald P. The Transformation of Political Culture: Massachusetts Parties, 1790s–1840s (1983)
- Furniss, Jack. "To Save the Union 'in Behalf of Conservative Men': Horatio Seymour and the Democratic Vision for War," in New Perspectives on the Union War edited by Gary W. Gallagher and Elizabeth R. Varon (Fordham UP, 2019) pp. 63-90; online
- Gammon, Samuel Rhea. The Presidential Campaign of 1832 (1922) online
- Hammond, Bray. Banks and Politics in America from the Revolution to the Civil War (1960), Pulitzer prize. Pro-Bank
- Hettle, Wallace, The Peculiar Democracy: Southern Democrats in Peace and Civil War (UP of Georgia, 2001)., 240pp.
- Howe, Daniel Walker. What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815–1848 (2009); Pulitzer Prize; 026pp
- Jensen, Richard. Grass Roots Politics: Parties, Issues, and Voters, 1854–1983 (1983)
- Jensen, Richard. The Winning of the Midwest: Social and Political Conflict, 1888–1896 (1971). online
- Keller, Morton. Affairs of State: Public Life in Late Nineteenth Century America (1977) online
- Kleppner, Paul et al. The Evolution of American Electoral Systems (1983), scholarly surveys 1790s to 1980s. online
- Kleppner, Paul. The Third Electoral System 1853–1892: Parties, Voters, and Political Cultures (1979), analysis of voting behavior, with emphasis on region, ethnicity, religion and class. online
- Kurtz, William B. "The Union as It Was: Northern Catholics’ Conservative Unionism," in New Perspectives on the Union War edited by Gary W. Gallagher and Elizabeth R. Varon (Fordham UP, 2019) pp. 91-113 online
- McCormick, Richard P. The Second American Party System: Party Formation in the Jacksonian Era (1966) online.
- Merrill, Horace Samuel. Bourbon Democracy of the Middle West, 1865–1896 (1953).
- Nevins, Allan. Grover Cleveland: A Study in Courage 1934. Pulitzer Prize online
- Neely, Mark E. Jr. Lincoln and the Democrats: The Politics of Opposition in the Civil War (2017)
- Remini, Robert V. Martin Van Buren and the Making of the Democratic Party (1959)
- Rhodes, James Ford. The History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850 9 vol (1919), detailed political coverage to 1909. online
- Sanders, Elizabeth. Roots of Reform: Farmers, Workers, and the American State, 1877–1917 (1999). argues the Democrats were the true progressives and GOP was mostly conservative
- Sarasohn, David. The Party of Reform: Democrats in the Progressive Era (1989), covers 1910–1930.
- Sharp, James Roger. The Jacksonians Versus the Banks: Politics in the States after the Panic of 1837 (1970)
- Silbey, Joel H. A Respectable Minority: The Democratic Party in the Civil War Era, 1860–1868 (1977)
- Silbey, Joel H. The American Political Nation, 1838–1893 (1991)
- Stampp, Kenneth M. Indiana Politics during the Civil War (1949) online
- Trainor, Sean. Gale Researcher Guide for: The Second Party System (Gale, Cengage Learning, 2018), 16 pp.
- Welch, Richard E. The Presidencies of Grover Cleveland (1988).
- Whicher, George F. William Jennings Bryan and the Campaign of 1896 (1953), primary and secondary sources.
- Wilentz, Sean. The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln (2005), highly detailed synthesis.
- Williams, R. Hal. Realigning America: McKinley, Bryan, and the Remarkable Election of 1896 (2010)
- Woodward, C. Vann. Origins of the New South, 1877–1913 1951. online
Since 1932
- The Almanac of American Politics 2022 (2022) details on members of Congress, and the governors: their records and election results; also state and district politics; revised every two years since 1975. details; see The Almanac of American Politics
- American National Biography (20 volumes, 1999) covers all politicians no longer alive; online at many academic libraries and at Wikipedia Library.
- Allswang, John M. New Deal and American Politics (1970)
- Andelic, Patrick. Donkey Work: Congressional Democrats in Conservative America, 1974–1994 (UP Kansas, 2019) online review
- Andersen, Kristi. The Creation of a Democratic Majority, 1928–1936 (1979)
- Bell, Jonathan. "Social Democracy and the Rise of the Democratic Party in California, 1950–1964." Historical Journal 49.2 (2006): 497–524. online
- Brodkin, Kimberly, "'We are neither male nor female Democrats' Gender Difference and Women's Integration within the Democratic Party," Journal of Women's History, 19 (Summer 2007), 111–37. online
- Burns, James MacGregor. Roosevelt: The Lion and the Fox (1956), to 1940 online
- Cantril, Hadley and Mildred Strunk, eds. Public Opinion, 1935–1946 (1951), compilation of public opinion polls from US and elsewhere. online
- Crotty, William J. Winning the presidency 2008 (Routledge, 2015).
- Dallek, Robert. Lyndon B. Johnson: Portrait of a President (2004)
- Fraser, Steve, and Gary Gerstle, eds. The Rise and Fall of the New Deal Order, 1930–1980 (1990), essays.
- Grant, Keneshia Nicole. The Great Migration and the Democratic Party: Black Voters and the Realignment of American Politics in the 20th Century (Temple University Press, 2020).
- Hamby, Alonzo. Liberalism and Its Challengers: From F.D.R. to Bush (1992).
- Hilton, Adam. True Blues: The Contentious Transformation of the Democratic Party (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2021), since 1972.
- Jensen, Richard. Grass Roots Politics: Parties, Issues, and Voters, 1854–1983 (1983)
- Jensen, Richard. "The Last Party System, 1932–1980," in Paul Kleppner, ed. Evolution of American Electoral Systems (1981)
- Judis, John B. and Ruy Teixeira. The Emerging Democratic Majority (2004) demography is destiny
- "Movement Interruptus: September 11 Slowed the Democratic Trend That We Predicted, but the Coalition We Foresaw Is Still Taking Shape" The American Prospect Vol 16. Issue: 1. January 2005.
- Kennedy, David M. Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929–1945 (2001), synthesis
- Kleppner, Paul et al. The Evolution of American Electoral Systems (1983), essays, 1790s to 1980s.
- Ladd Jr., Everett Carll with Charles D. Hadley. Transformations of the American Party System: Political Coalitions from the New Deal to the 1970s 2nd ed. (1978).
- Lamis, Alexander P. ed. Southern Politics in the 1990s (1999)
- Martin, John Bartlow. Adlai Stevenson of Illinois: The Life of Adlai E. Stevenson (1976),
- Moscow, Warren. The Last of the Big-Time Bosses: The Life and Times of Carmine de Sapio and the Rise and Fall of Tammany Hall (1971)
- Panagopoulos, Costas, ed. Strategy, Money and Technology in the 2008 Presidential Election (Routledge, 2014).
- Patrick Andelic. Donkey Work: Congressional Democrats in Conservative America, 1974–1994 (UP of Kansas, 2019). xxvi, 274 pp.
- Patterson, James T. Grand Expectations: The United States, 1945–1974 (1997) synthesis.
- Patterson, James T. Restless Giant: The United States from Watergate to Bush vs. Gore (2005) synthesis.
- Patterson, James. Congressional Conservatism and the New Deal: The Growth of the Conservative Coalition in Congress, 1933–39 (1967)
- Plotke, David. Building a Democratic Political Order: Reshaping American Liberalism in the 1930s and 1940s (1996).
- Rae, Nicol C. Southern Democrats Oxford University Press. 1994
- Reiter, Howard L. "The Building of a Bifactional Structure: The Democrats in the 1940s," Political Science Quarterly, 116 (Spring 2001), 107–29. online
- Riccards, Michael P., and Cheryl A. Flagg eds. Party Politics in the Age of Roosevelt: The Making of Modern America (2022) excerpt emphasis on FDR and his Democratic party
- Sabato, Larry J.Divided States of America: The Slash and Burn Politics of the 2004 Presidential Election (2005), analytic.
- Saldin, Robert P., "Foreign Affairs and Party Ideology in America The Case of Democrats and World War II," Journal of Policy History, 22 #4 (2010), 387–422.
- Shafer, Byron E. Quiet Revolution: The Struggle for the Democratic Party and the Shaping of Post-Reform Politics (1983)
- Shelley II, Mack C. The Permanent Majority: The Conservative Coalition in the United States Congress (1983)
- Sundquist, James L. Dynamics of the Party System: Alignment and Realignment of Political Parties in the United States (1983) online
Popular histories
- Ling, Peter J. The Democratic Party: A Photographic History (2003).
- Rutland, Robert Allen. The Democrats: From Jefferson to Clinton (1995).
- Schlisinger, Galbraith. Of the People: The 200 Year History of the Democratic Party (1992)
- Taylor, Jeff. Where Did the Party Go?: William Jennings Bryan, Hubert Humphrey, and the Jeffersonian Legacy (2006), for history and ideology of the party.
- Witcover, Jules. Party of the People: A History of the Democrats (2003)
Primary sources
- Schlesinger, Arthur Meier Jr. ed. History of American Presidential Elections, 1789–2000 (various multivolume editions, latest is 2001). For each election includes history and selection of primary documents.
- The Digital Book Index includes some newspapers for the main events of the 1850s, proceedings of state conventions (1850–1900), and proceedings of the Democratic National Conventions. Other references of the proceedings can be found in the linked article years on the List of Democratic National Conventions.
Further reading
- ISBN 978-0-230-60062-1. Retrieved August 4, 2015.
- Graff, Henry F., ed. The Presidents: A Reference History (3rd ed. 2002) online, short scholarly biographies from George Washington to William Clinton.
External links
- Campaign text books
The national committees of major parties published a "campaign textbook" every presidential election from about 1856 to about 1932. They were designed for speakers and contain statistics, speeches, summaries of legislation, and documents, with plenty of argumentation. Only large academic libraries have them, but some are online:
- Address to the Democratic Republican Electors of the State of New York (1840). Published before the formation of party national committees.
- The Campaign Text Book: Why the People Want a Change. The Republican Party Reviewed... (1876)
- The Campaign Book of the Democratic Party (1882) I HDFHKKL
- The Political Reformation of 1884: A Democratic Campaign Book
- The Campaign Text Book of the Democratic Party of the United States, for the Presidential Election of 1888
- The Campaign Text Book of the Democratic Party for the Presidential Election of 1892
- Democratic Campaign Book. Presidential Election of 1896