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Starting with the 1796 election, congressional party or a state legislature party caucus selected the party's presidential candidates. [3] That system collapsed in 1824, and since 1832 the preferred mechanism for nomination has been a national convention. [4]
- Replacing The Caucus with The Convention
- A Rough Start For Presidential Primaries
- The Convention as Testing Ground For Candidates
- 1968 Democratic National Convention Protests Lead to Change
Once Washington said he wouldn’t run for a third term, congressmen began choosing their parties’ nominee in private caucuses. Critics derided the system as “King Caucus,” and in September 1831, the Anti-Masonic Partyheld the first national presidential-nominating convention as an alternative to the caucus. Later that year, the National Republican P...
Early 20th-century politicians advocated for primaries by saying they’d make the nominating process more democratic, even if that wasn’t always politicians’ main reason for supporting them. In 1912, former president Theodore Roosevelt—who’d previously opposed primaries—publicly supported them when he realized it might be the only way to wrest the R...
Even as more states began to hold primary races over the next few decades, the convention remained the main way of selecting a candidate for president. Adlai Stevenson didn’t run in any of the 1952 Democratic presidential primaries, but still won the convention’s nomination that year. His Republican opponent, Dwight Eisenhower, wasn’t a clear winne...
The 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago is one of the most significant party conventions in U.S. history. Outside, police and military forces attacked and arrested hundreds of anti-war protestors (this would become the “riot” at the center of the Chicago Eight trial). Inside, party leaders ignored primary results supporting anti-war cand...
- Becky Little
- 2 min
The two right-hand columns show nominations by notable conventions not shown elsewhere. Some of the nominees (e.g. the Whigs before 1860 and Theodore Roosevelt in 1912) received very large votes, while others who received less than 1% of the total national popular vote are listed to show historical continuity or transition.
Mar 1, 2024 · In 1960, Democratic Sen. John F. Kennedy won his party’s nomination at a Los Angeles convention by leveraging the system of primary elections as a new factor in presidential campaigning. Kennedy had to heavily lobby political bosses to get a first-ballot nomination.
Jul 15, 2024 · Here’s how the presidential nominating conventions work. When were the first conventions? In the early 19th century, presidential candidates were largely decided by party-based...
Aug 17, 2020 · An answer came out of left field in 1831, when the nation’s first third party, the Anti-Masons, held the first ever nominating convention in an attempt to do away with caucus secrecy.
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Jan 13, 2020 · Every four years, presidential candidates compete in a series of state contests during the winter and spring before the general election to gain their party’s nomination.
