Evening star., 1924-07-13

81 OD1 OF the history OF tHe
~ Democratic party and of its
~ presidential nominating con-
ventions reveals that the pro-
longed deadlock just ended after 1903
ballots constitutes what might be
termed a relapse" following a spell
of quietude and unanimity induced
| during latter years when such figures
| as Grover Cleveland. William Jen-
| nings Bryan and Woodrow Wilson
dominated the party.
The record of the Democratic con-
ventions and of the number Of ballots
| required to name a choice shows that
! the party may be likened to a pa
| tient who, under the care and min
| istrations of an efficient physician,
| has responded favorably and followed
| faithfully the orders laid down, only
to revert back to the old trouble of
| discomfort and discord in aggravated
form when faith in the physician be-
gan to wane.
| Generally speaking, the Democratic
party was wont to suffer fits Of dis
| sension and its conventions to be torn
asunder by lack of cooperation and
| leadership until the early '90s, when
| the influence of great political lead
ers had its effect
Difficulties of Early Days.
An indication OF this is seen in the
| difficulties which the conventions in
the early days of the party met with
| in selecting a standard bearer. The
first general political conventions for
the nomination of candidates for the
| presidency took place in 1882. In
| that year the Democrats had no trou-
BILE selecting their candidate, Andrew
| Jackson, on the basis of his record in
| the White House during his first
| term, and he was unanimously nomi-
| mated for reelection. Dissatisfactio
| over Jackson's so-called nullification
| proclamation, his pocket veto of the
land bill and his opposition to gov
| ernment chartenng of the United
States Bank, the latter resulting in
| the resignation of Secretary of the
Treasury Duane, eventually led to
restlessness within the party. how
ever, and in 1886 Van Buren was
| nominated, fortunately without the
necessity of balloting.
Four years later the party still re-
mained united and devoid of the in
| ternal disorders that marked later
! years, and Van Buren was renomi-
mated by unanimous vote
| Early Signs Of Deadlock.
The first sign of the tendency to
deadlock cropped out in 1S4f, when
the national Democratic convention
| met at Baltimore with 325 delegates
! present The votes were split up
| among a number of men, including
| Van Buren, and former Gov. James Il
Polk of Tennessee. Ballot after bal
| lot was taken, with Van Buren lead
| ing. On the ninth ballot, with Van
Buren, leading with 146 votes, all can
| didates except Polk withdrew and the
convention swung a landslide of votes
to Polk, nominating him unanimously.
! Before that the votes had gone back
and forth to various men. Former
Secretary of War Lewis Cass on the
ballot polled 123 votes and former
Vice President Richard n. johnson
and Senator James Buchanan of
PENNSYLVANIA both had experienced
rapid rises
Four ballots were necessary in 1S4S
to nominate Senator Lewis Cass or
Michigan. He was run close race
at the Baltimore convention that year
by Justice Levi Woodbury. of the Su-
preme Court and Secretary of State
James Buchanan.
In 1852 Baltimore had the Demo-
cratic delegates as their guests dur
ing the polling of forty-nine ballots
Singularly enough, the chairman OF
the convention that campaign year
was John w. Davis, United States
commissioner to China. 1t is under
stood that the 1924 Democratic nom
inee is not related to that Davis,
however. On the forty ninth ballot
Franklin Pierce, former senator from
New Hampshire, was nominated when
the delegates suddenly ended what
had seemed to be a hopeless deadlock
with break to Pierce. Cass polled
the highest number of votes during
the first forty ballots, at one time
receiving 107 out of 2S2 votes. For
mer Secretary of War William L.
Marcy was a close second during
most of these ballots, with Stephen
A. Douglas. James Buchanan and
Pierce receiving around 80 votes each.
Seventeen Ballots in 1856.
Seventeen ballots were piled up in
1856 before a choice could be made
James Buchanan, then minister to
England, was selected by unanimous
vote on the seventeenth roll call. He
had maintained a lead from the first
ballot, starting out with 135 out of
2s6 votes. The remainder of the
votes were scattered among Presi-
dent Pierce, Stephen A. Douglas, Sen
ator Cass and others.
It was during this convention that
religious issue similar to that
raised in the meeting just closed
came to the fore 1t was the be-
ginning of know nothingism"-the
creed that urged America for Amer
leans" and that put forward princi-
pies comparable to those of the pres
ent-day Ku Klux Klan. The Demo-
cratic platform that year scored
know nothingism, condemning the
movement as a direct attack on re-
lieious freedom aimed at Catholicism.
Succeeding years had seen the
party's lack of adequate leadership
plunge it into deadlock after dead
lock and it was not surprising, there
fore, that the next campaign, in 1860,
was featured by a tug-of-war be-
tween delegates so tenacious and in
decisive that after the taking of
ffty-seven fruitless ballots the con-
xention adjourned at Charleston s. C.