Liberty (Union) Party National Convention 1860

This is new information that I recently found while searching for something else. This national convention has not appeared in earlier lists.

The Liberty Party in the Buchanan Administration

The Liberty Party was moribund throughout the Buchanan administration. Gerrit Smith spent heavily to influence the 1858 midterm election in New York State and was greatly displeased with the lack of public support for the party.

The 1860 Convention

A convention of 100 delegates was held in Convention Hall, Syracuse NY, on 8/29/1860. Delegates were in attendance from NY, PA, NJ, MI, IL, OH, KY, and MA. Several of the delegates were women.

Chairman: T.E. McCormick OH

Gerrit Smith had sent a letter in which he stated that his health had been so poor that he had not been able to be away from home since 1858, but he remained popular in the party because he was named as an abolitionist who helped inspire some of John Brown's supporters at Harper's Ferry. In the letter, Smith donated $50 to pay for the printing of ballots in the various states.

Gerrit Smith of New York

The New York Times reported "there was quite a spirited contest between the friends of [Gerrit] Smith and William Goodell in regard to the nomination for the presidency." Gerrit Smith was nominated for President and Samuel McFarland PA for Vice President.

The New York delegation nominated Goodell for Governor at the convention; Frederick Douglass and Charles A. Hammond were nominated for Elector at Large.

In Ohio, a slate of Presidential Electors pledged to Smith ran with the name of the Union Party.

Liberty Party National Convention of 1852

Popular vote of 1860

Electoral Vote of 1860

1st Democratic Primary Debate, 2004

The first Democratic primary debate of the 2004 cycle was also at the time the earliest presidential debate. Nine contenders participated: Dean, Edwards, Gephardt, Graham, Kerry, Kucinich, Lieberman, Moseley Braun, and Sharpton. This was the first of 16 debates among the Democratic contenders of the 2003-2004 season. It was also the first campaign event that Sen. Graham had attended, since he had undergone heart surgery.

Background

At the beginning of 2003, Democratic leaders did not foresee a victory in the upcoming presidential election. U.S. troops were moving across Iraq, and they occupied Baghdad on the day of the debate documented here. Democratic leaders wanted to shift the debate to domestic policy, where they felt they had a greater chance of success. The first debate was sponsored by the Children's Defense Fund during its 30th anniversary national conference.

Quick Facts

When: evening of 4/9/2003

Where: Washington DC

Moderator: Judy Woodruff (CNN); panelists: Juan Williams (NPR), Michelle Martin (ABC), Mark Shields (syndicated columnist).

Audience size: unknown

Topics: Foreign and domestic policy

Sponsor: Children's Defense Fund

Transcript: http://www.gwu.edu/~action/2004/dc040903/cdf040903tra.html

Format: 1-minute opening statements, two "lightening" rounds with 30 second answers, two rounds of questions, 1-minute closing statements

Setting: the candidates sat on a stage facing the audience. Behind them were large images of children. The candidates sat in the following order, from the audience's left to right: Sharpton, Lieberman, Kucinich, Kerry, Graham, Gephardt, Edwards, Dean, and Moseley Braun.

Photo of the candidates in the first debate

The Debate

Although the debate was supposed to focus on domestic issues, the fall of Baghdad earlier that day influenced the topics. The moderator explained the complex rules that were developed in an attempt to be fair to all contenders in the limited time available, and in the middle of the explanation, "the audience started giggling" [New York Times, 4/10/2003]. The candidates began with their opening statements, which took up the first 30 minutes. Of the nine, only Graham read an opening statement.

On the topic of the invasion of Iraq, all candidates defended their previous positions - though some who supported the war were concerned about the cost of rebuilding the country. Candidates who continued to oppose the war included Dean, who said of the fall of Hussein "I suppose that's a good thing... But there's going to be a long period when the United States is going to be maintaining Iraq, and that's going to cost this country's taxpayers a lot of money that could be spent on schools..." Dean later pointed out that the eventual cost of the war, $200 billion, was enough to "ensure every child under the age of 18."

Moseley Braun, Graham, Kucinich, and Sharpton agreed with Dean. Moseley Braun cited the initial expenditure of $80 billion for the invasion. "It is an outrage that we are going to pass along a deficit to the next generation based on a war of ... choice and not of necessity..." Graham stated his belief that the attack on Iraq would actually increase the likelihood of a future attack on the United States.

The first candidate to speak in defense of the war was John Edwards. He maintained that the war could continue along with increased domestic spending, "particularly if we get rid of the tax cut for the top 1 or 2 percent of Americans." Kerry agreed, though he did not support the way the war was executed. "This administration is laying out enormous plans for building roads, schools, hospitals, and providing books in Iraq. It's time they lay out a plan to do the same thing here in the United States." Lieberman and Gephardt defended their earlier support for the war.

The candidates used the next time block to outline some of their proposed domestic policies. Of the brief statements, the one the crowd approved of the most was Gephardt's plan to institute universal health insurance, which he said was the centerpiece of his campaign. [New York Times, 4/10/2003; Philadelphia Inquirer, 4/10/2003]

Aftermath

As has usually been the case, the audience was disappointed with the format. The large number of contenders meant that each only had a brief time to make a statement or set forth a policy perspective. Furthermore, the situation was complicated by recent events in Iraq, resulting in a shift of the debate's focus away from domestic policy.

Democratic primary debates of 2004: 2d, 3d, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th

Progressive Party National Convention 1952

The Progressive Party in the second Truman Administration

Following its rather dismal performance in the 1948 elections, the Progressive Party limped through the following three years. Henry Wallace spent much of 1949 giving speeches denouncing President Truman's policy towards the Soviet Union and the Cold War. Meanwhile, Rexford Tugwell left the party [NYT 3/28/949], followed by Glen Taylor [NYT 7/30/1949]. A national conference was held in Chicago on 2/24-26/1950 to coordinate the national campaign of 1950 [NYT 1/30/1950], but it was bitterly divided between one faction (including Wallace) that sought to remove Communists from the party and a second faction that wanted to use the organization of the US Communists to promote the Progressive Party [NYT 2/27/1950]. After the beginning of the Korean conflict, the party leadership was divided. Wallace believed that Stalin had the power to stop the conflict but chose not to do so [NYT 7/16/1950]; when the party would not back him, he resigned from the party on 8/8/1950 [NYT 8/9/1950]. Realizing the continued fracturing of the party, its California affiliate, holding a state convention in Sacramento on 8/5/1950, chose to remain silent on the issue of Korea and the military draft [NYT 8/6/1950]. The party's vote in U.S. Senate and U.S. House races fell by 55% between 1948 and 1950.

Party leaders met in Minneapolis on 8/17-18/1951 to discuss the future of the party. They decided to hold a national convention, keeping open the possibility of endorsing the candidacy of a third party candidacy if it ran on the party's key issues [NYT 8/20/1951].

Vincent Hallinan Candidacy

In early 1952, Progressive Party leaders began to coalesce behind Vincent W. Hallinan as the party's standard bearer for 1952. Hallinan was a wealthy California attorney who became famous for his defense of Harry Bridges, a labor leader, in a 1950 case in which Hallinan was sentenced to six months in jail for contempt of court. The party's search committee unanimously recommended him on 3/6 and urged state affiliates to ratify his nomination. In New York City, the American Labor Party announced on 3/23/1952 that it planned to list Hallinan and Charlotta Bass as the national candidates in the general election, though its convention was held later in the year [NYT 3/24/1952]. Hallinan and Bass accepted the nomination at a meeting of the party's national committee on 3/30 [NYT 3/31/1952].

Hallinan made his way into the news throughout the summer of 1952. On 4/1, he reported to McNeil Island Federal Prison in San Francisco to serve his six-month sentence for contempt of court. Hallinan asked President Truman to commute his sentence, since he was a presidential candidate [NYT 4/2/1952].

2d Progressive Party National Convention, 1952
Chairman	Keynote Speaker	Presidential Nominee	Vice Presidential Nominee
Former U.S. Rep. Vito Marcantonio NY	William E.B. DuBois NY	Vincent W. Hallinan CA	Charlotta A. Bass NY

The 2d Progressive Party National Convention

The second Progressive Party National Convention was held in Ashland Boulevard Auditorium, Chicago IL, on 7/4-6/1952. As the delegates gathered, the party's national secretary, C.B. Baldwin, reported that the party would be on the ballot in 35-40 states that year [NYT 6/30/1952].

The party approved a platform with three major planks: 1) ending the Korean Conflict; 2) closing of the breach between the USA and the Soviet Union; and 3) unqualified support by party members of any black candidates for office belonging to other parties [NYT 7/7/1952]. After the convention nominated Hallinan for President, his wife Vivian Hallinan gave his acceptance speech, in which he pledged to run as the only "peace" candidate in the field [NYT 7/7/1952]. No radio or television networks broadcast the party's convention, but NBC ran a special on 9/6 in which it aired 90 minutes of footage from the convention [NYT 8/11/1952].

The Campaign

Hallinan was set free from prison on 8/16 and flew to New York City to begin his campaign [NYT 8/17/1952]. The following day, he telegraphed a note to President Truman, asking to be briefed on the situation in Korea. He was "concerned to know if there are any reasons for the continuance of fighting in Korea" and restated his plan to end the war [NYT 8/19/1952]. In his speeches and radio addresses, Hallinan made the case that the Korean conflict was a bipartisan effort by the Democratic and Republican Parties and that only he would end the conflict [NYT 9/30/1952].

The US Communist Party held its national convention on 9/6/1952 and endorsed Hallinan's candidacy, though it appears that the Communists did little to assist his campaign [NYT 10/8/1952].

In the final month of the campaign, Hallinan visited 30 states [NYT 11/1/1952]. While in Schenectady NY, he called NATO a "provocative sword-rattling alliance" that was meant to taunt the Soviet Union [NYT 10/8/1952]. In New York City, he said that the Wage Stabilization Board was going to "crack down" on workers after the election [NYT 10/26/1952]. In San Francisco, Hallinan proclaimed Adlai Stevenson the next president, based upon mistakes of the Eisenhower campaign [NYT 11/2/1952].

Results

The Progressive Party did not fare too well on election day. Hallinan garnered only 140,416 votes, one-tenth of Wallace's total in 1948. He was not able to increase Wallace's total in any state. Furthermore, the ALP in New York State was only able to deliver 64,000 votes, a drop of 85%. The party fared somewhat better in congressional races. In California, Reuben Borough placed second in the race for U.S. Senate with 542,270 votes. Of the other seven candidates for U.S. Senate, only the ALP's Corliss Lamont received a substantial number of votes. The party had 23 candidates for the U.S. House (plus 38 ALP candidates) who won a combined 240,000 votes.

With its dismal performance, the party dissolved. A handful of candidates ran in the elections of 1953 and 1954, the latter being the year the ALP lost its ballot status in New York State.

1st Progressive Party National Convention (1948)

Popular Vote of 1952

Electoral Vote of 1952

Introduction

This is the inital blog of what I anticipate will be a series of entries documenting the presidential elections in the United States. Each post will provide an upgrade of the narrative of one of these elections at www.ourcampaigns.com. They will be posted in no particular order. I have a table set up at http://www.ourcampaigns.com/UserBlogPostDetail.html?UserBlogID=24&UserBlogPostID=337 that shows the progress of upgrading the narratives.

The posts will fall into five categories:

1) Primaries. These will only cover the Democrats and Republicans. Primaries of minor parties will be discussed in #2. The two main parties have held contested primaries for US President beginning in 1908. These entries will include a brief overview of the history of the party in the presidential administration coming to a close and will include information on the party conventions/caucuses to select national convention delegates.

2) Conventions. This category will include the major parties and minor parties, as well as the caucuses held from 1800 until 1824. These posts will include an overview of the history of the party in the previous presidential administration (if not documented in #1 above), the convention site, and (for minor parties) information on the general election campaign.

3) Debates. All presidential debates will be covered separately. The first presidential debate was held in 1948 between Thomas E. Dewey and Harold E. Stassen during the Oregon primary campaign.

4) The Popular Vote. All presidential elections 1789-2008 will be covered. A recap of the selection of nominees will be included along with information on the conduct of the campaign, key issues, and the results.

5) The Electoral Vote. These posts will discuss what happened after "election day." For elections prior to the Civil War, states with legislation selection of Presidential Electors will be discussed. The meetings of the Presidential Electors and the Joint Session of Congress to count the electoral votes will be discussed. The three contingent elections (1800, 1824, and 1836) will have separate entries.