Evening star., 1940-07-15


through the
ill., "A years.
N ~ 1t shows all
the nominations
Charles G. Ross. made by the
party for President and Vice Pres
ident from the time of its first ma
tional convention at Baltimore in
1882. From the Andrew Jackson
Martin Van Buren ticket of that
year to the Garner
ticket of 1885, 27 sets of nominees
have been put forward under the
Democratic label. OF the q NOM
nations for President, 13 have been
of New Workers.
First among these came Van
Buren,, with two nominations u835
and 1840. Other States then sup
piled the candidates till 1868. when
Horatio Seymour was chosen. Save
for one break there followed an
uninterrupted succession of New
York selections down to the begin
ming of the Bryan era-that of
Horace Greeley in 1872, Samuel j.
Tilden in 1876, Grover Cleveland
in 1884, 1888 and 1892 The next
two conventions put Bryan in the
saddle, but in 1904 the party turned
back to New York and chose Alton
B. Parker. After Parker-and no
wonder-there were four conven.
tions that yielded New York Moth
ing except the nomination Of
Franklin D. Roosevelt for Vice
President in 1920.
Returned in 1924.
In 1924 New York again became
dominant with the choice of John
w. Davis as the head of the ticket.
Davis was accredited to West Vir-
ginia, but in fact was a New Yorker.
And ever since the party has gone
to New York for its nominee-Al-
fred E. Smith in 1928, Franklin D.
Roosevelt in 1882 and again in 1896.
If Roosevelt is chosen again this
year-exactly one-half of the party's
% nominations for the presidency
will have been made from the one
State. So far as the Democrats are
concerned, New York is indeed the
Empire State
When you consider only the post
Civil War nominations, beginning
with that of Seymour in 1868, the
disparity in favor of New York is
even more striking There have
been l8 in this period, of which IL
have gone to the one State. Barring,
as 1t now appears, miracle, these
figures will be changed this week
to IL out of 10. In the whole period
1868-1940, the party has turned to
only four other States Of the Union
for its presidential nominee-Penn-
sylvania once, Nebraska three times,
New Jersey twice, Ohio once.
The figures illuminate the inherent
weakness that kept the Democratic
party out of power through the long
stretch from Cleveland to Wilson
elected the first time only through
split in the Republican party) and
again from Wilson to Roosevelt:
The weakness, namely. of the party's
dependence on the unnatural ALI.
ance of the Solid South and the city
machines of the industrial North.
Sure OF the South, it has played
through its nominations to the
North; but only when this obvious
strategy has been reinforced by a
strong. captivating personality CWil-
son, Roosevelt) has it succeeded.
And it has succeeded in these in
stances, when the candidate was
seeking first term, only with the
aid OF special circumstances: The
Republican split in 1912, the depres-
sion that ruined Hoover and elected
Roosevelt in 1892.
Why Bosses Joined On.
The historian will find In this
background of the Democratic
party-oversimplified here-the rea-
son why the Hagues and the Kellys
and the Democratic bosses gener~
ally have Joined with the New
Dealers in the demand for a third
nomination of Roosevelt. For
Roosevelt, through his policies and
his personality, changed the char
acter OF the Democratic party in
TWO presidential elections-brought
In great new blocks of voters, even
the Negroes, and made 1t q ma
tional party and a winner.
Roosevelt performed, or, as Will
kie might say, was out ahead of,
miracle. The bosses doubt that
any other Democratic leader, even
with the full blessing of Roosevelt,
could hold together the heterogene-
GUS elements that formed the great
majorities of 1892 and 1896. They
fear that without the personality
OF Roosevelt at the head of the
campaign the policies of Roosevelt
would be insufficient, and this fear
has been heightened by the Repub-
licans' nomination of the magnetic
Willkie.
The reasoning of the politicians
may be all wrong. Perhaps the
new elements of Democratic voting
strength could be depended upon,
in any case, to show up the weak
traditional structure of the party.
But when you look at the history
OF the party. as it is graphically
revealed In the table of wining and
losing candidates, you can see why
the bosses are apprehensive-why
the drafting" Of Roosevelt is un-
der way.