Evening star., 1936-06-07
By Roger Butferfen.

0RAsH! goes the chairman's
gavel-and the worlds great
est political show is on again.
The curtain is ready to go
up on the twenty-first Republican Ma
tional Convention this week in Cleve-
land. Two weeks later the hosts of
Democracy gather in Convention Hall
in Philadelphia.
In all the world there is nothing to
compare with these two great pageants
Of politics. Other nations have bitter
party battles-battles that are some
times marked by violence and blood
she'd But the national convention is
an American institutional glorious
emotional affair at which the ambi-
tions and triumphs, despair and anger
of millions march forth on stage
which is truly Nationwide.
Strange and exciting has been the
history of these great party gather
ings. They have made Presidents out
of nobodies, and they have denied the
prize to statesmen who spent life
time preparing for the honor. Heroes
have been made in an hour; national
idols crumbled in a moment in their
supercharged atmosphere. Stampedes
that come without a moments warn
ing have swept aside the shrewdest
plans of politicians; but there have
also been conventions so tame, so
lacking in issues, that the candidates
they named were picked out for them
in little smoke-f1lled ROOM"
Floods of oratory and hours OF
patient backstage wire-pulling are
generally the principal ingredients in
making a national party ticket. But
sometimes single dramatic scene, a
moment of genuine human feeling,
can sweep the delegates off their feet
and change the course of history.
At the Whig Convention in 1840,
John Tyler of Virginia broke down
and wept openly when his friend,
Henry Clay, lost the nomination for
President. Politicians anxious to keep
the Clay followers in line decided that
If Tyler was so loyal he would be a
good candidate for Vice President. He
was nominated and elected with the
first William Henry Harrison in a
campaign still recalled by the famous
slogan, "Tippecanoe and Tyler, Too!''
With a month after his Inauguration
President Harrison died and Tyler
succeeded him-a President who wept
himself into Office.
TWICE in American history virtual
"unknowns" have won the nomi-
nation for President by single speech.
delivered at party convention. Each
time tragedy clouded the result. James
A. Garfield was nominated and elected
by the Republicans in 1880 and was
aSSasSinated in Office William Jen-
nings Bryan was nominated by the
Democrats in 1896 and for decades re-
mained the greatest figure in his
party, but he never became President
The convention that nominated
Garfield was the scene of an oratorical
duel which was never equaled, before
or since. There was strong move
ment that year to nominate ex-Presi-
dent Grant a third time, though he
44dO oC1tC0 OWO 4uA 4OOO
70 1877. The opposition had two
candidates-James G. Blaine and Gen.
william T. Sherman of Marching
Through Georgia" fame. Senator
Roscoe Conkling, then the greatest
orator in Washington, headed che
Grant forces. When the New York
delegation was reached in the roll call
for nominations, Conklin, an athletic,
bearded giant, leaped onto table used
by reporters and began his wonderful
nominating speech with quaint little
verse which has never been forgotten
If asked whence comes our candi-
date,
Our sole reply shall be
He comes from AppomattoX
And its famous apple tree.
The convention, packed with Civil
War veterans, went wild. Conkling
followed up with an grafton that
whipped the delegates to new heights
of enthusiasm. With sharp and
stinging sarcasm for his foes. he
eulogized his candidate with an elo-
quence which held his huge audience
tense with emotion. a