With the political drama long since drained out of them, what’s the point of national political party conventions?
What is a national political party convention?
That’s what I was asked on Monday. I tried to explain that it’s a formal gathering of the Democrats or Republicans. It’s when they officially nominate their presidential and vice presidential candidates, adopt the party platform and seize an opportunity for the candidates and other prominent figures to deliver televised addresses to the nation.
But really, what’s the point?
The Republicans knew they were nominating former President Donald Trump for the third straight time. Trump selected Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance as his running mate, and he dictated the platform.
The GOP delegates had no real purpose other than to cheer when told. They could attend meetings, gather for social times and drink and have a good time.
But making an impact? Having any real part in the campaign? No, not at all.
It’s the same for the Democrats. Once President Joe Biden stepped aside and Vice President Kamala Harris quickly wrapped up the nomination in July, there was no drama left in the DNC. Harris selected Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her VP choice, completing the teams for the fall campaign.
The Democratic platform still reflects Biden’s goals, positions and accomplishments, but since Harris is part of the administration and shares most of his views, there’s no problem there.
So, after an RNC that was filled with Trump being praised, almost worshiped, for four days in Milwaukee, capped by his own rambling speech deep into the night, the Democrats are in Chicago to turn the party over to Harris. Don’t expect any news.
That’s not how conventions were for decades. They used to determine who the party would choose its presidential candidate, and then decide who would run with him — and it was always a him until 1984, when Democratic candidate Walter Mondale, looking for a way to shake up his longshot campaign against President Ronald Reagan, chose Rep. Geraldine Ferraro of New York as his running mate. Vice President Harris owes her a debt of gratitude for breaking that barrier.
There were several conventions when party battles erupted, as ambitious men fought for power and glory.
In 1912, former President Theodore Roosevelt was the clear choice of most Republicans. After handing the presidency to his friend William Howard Taft in 1908, TR, who represented the progressive wing of the party — yes, some Republicans once used that word proudly — decided he wanted the job back four years later. Still enormously popular, he won 281 of the 388 delegates elected in primaries, but Taft and his conservative allies controlled the convention.
The current president was renominated, causing the former president to walk out and form the Progressive Party, aka “The Bull Moose Party,” named for Roosevelt’s description of how he usually felt.
With the Republicans divided, New Jersey Gov. Woodrow Wilson was elected despite receiving just 41.8 percent of the vote. He was the sole Democrat elected in a 40-year span.
Maybe that’s because the Democrats were too busy fighting amongst themselves. In 1924, they met in the original Madison Square Garden in New York City. The convention dragged on for 16 days, with 104 ballots before choosing former Congressman John W. Davis, a deservedly obscure figure from West Virginia.
Davis quickly landed in the footnotes of American history, losing in a landslide to President Calvin Coolidge. Silent Cal was riding a crest of economic good times, but there was a reckoning due in a few years.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt had been the Democratic VP candidate in 1920. That ticket lost, but FDR seemed to have a very bright future. But he was stricken with polio, losing the ability to walk. He slowly recovered some mobility and strength, and was elected governor of New York.
In 1932, Roosevelt sought to follow in the footsteps of his Republican cousin Theodore and become president. But an old ally from New York, former four-term Gov. Alfred E. Smith, challenged him for the nomination. Smith had been the first Catholic to claim a major party nomination in 1928, losing to Republican Herbert Hoover. He longed for another chance.
But FDR outlasted him, claiming the nomination on the fourth ballot. Smith became a leading critic of his former pal and protégé for the next decade.
The next dramatic convention moment was in 1944, when President Roosevelt, who was accepting his fourth nomination, threw open the choice of a running mate. His first VP, “Cactus Jack” Garner of Texas, had retired after two terms. The current No. 2 man, the liberal Henry Wallace of Iowa, was distrusted by party powers.
Roosevelt’s obvious declining health had party insiders wondering who should be the next VP, since there was an excellent chance he would become president. They finally selected Missouri Sen. Harry S. Truman.
When FDR died a few weeks after beginning his final term, Truman inherited the office as World War II was coming to a close. He was the right person at the right time.
The 1960 Democratic National Convention was filled with tension as Sen. John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts (seen giving his acceptance speech above in a public domain image posted on wikimedia commons), who had been denied the VP slot in 1956, claimed the nomination despite doubts from the old guard, including former President Truman.
Kennedy surprised almost everyone by selecting his main rival for the nomination, Sen. Lyndon Baines Johnson of Texas, as his running mate. JFK and LBJ spelled victory for the party.
https://www.historytoday.com/archive/months-past/assassination-robert-kennedy
In 1968, Johnson, worn down after five years in office and beleaguered by the unpopular Vietnam War, stepped aside to allow other candidates to emerge. New York Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, the former attorney general and younger brother of the slain JFK, Vice President Hubert Humphrey, a South Dakota native who had represented Minnesota in the Senate, and another Minnesota liberal, Eugene McCarthy, all battled for the nomination.
RFK was assassinated, shocking the nation once again. South Dakota Sen. George McGovern, an ally and close friend of the Kennedy family, picked up the mantle to represent that wing of the party. But it was his old pal Hubert who claimed the nomination, losing a close race to Richard Nixon after a fractious convention marred by violence in the streets of Chicago and rancor and division inside the hall. The Democrats, so triumphant in 1964, were in disarray four years earlier.
McGovern worked for years to master new rules to select a nominee, and he stunned political analysts by rising from the depths of obscurity to win the Democratic nod. But after a masterful primary run, McGovern and his team ran a miserable convention in 1972.
McGovern didn’t deliver his acceptance speech until the middle of the night. It may have been the best speech of his life — but almost no one heard it, since the convention had careened out of control.
He hoped Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts, the last of the legendary brothers, would run with him, but after losing two brothers so violently, Kennedy was in no mood to run for national office. Numerous other top Democrats turned him down, until finally Missouri Sen. Tom Eagleton agreed to run.
That quickly turned into a disaster, as Eagleton’s history of mental problems emerged. After initially standing by him, McGovern asked him to stand down, replacing him with Kennedy in-law Sergeant Shriver. They were crushed by Nixon and VP Spiro Agnew.
The 1976 Republican gathering was a spirited event, as President Gerald Ford, who assumed national office after first Agnew and then Nixon resigned, turned back a strong challenge from former California Gov. Ronald Reagan, who even named a running mate before the convention opened, choosing moderate Sen. Richard Schweiker of Pennsylvania in an attempt to force Ford to reveal his choice for VP. It didn’t work, and may even have backfired to a degree — but it was fascinating to witness.
It wasn’t until all the votes were counted that Ford’s win was apparent.
Reagan was the choice of most Republicans in 1980, but the convention had a moment of intrigue when it was revealed that Reagan was considering offering the VP slot to former President Ford. I remember being stunned by this fast-moving story, and watching it unfold with my friend and fellow SDSU student journalist Patrick Springer.
Ford was asked by CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite if he viewed it as a “co-presidency,” and he did not deny it. That stunned the Reagan team, and they turned to Reagan’s primary rival in the primaries, former Texas congressman, CIA Director and ambassador to China George H.W. Bush.
In 1988, Bush surprised almost everyone by picking an obscure senator from Indiana, Dan Quayle, to be his running mate. Quayle’s energetic first appearance with the reserved, patrician Bush was an odd contrast, and while they won a single term, the nation, and the GOP, never warmed up to Danny boy.
Since then, conventions have lost a lot of their glamour and excitement. They have become four-day commercials for the party and its nominees.
In 1996, ABC’s Ted Koppel pulled up stakes and left the Republican National Convention after a single day.
“This convention is more of an infomercial than a news event,” Koppel said. “Nothing surprising has happened. Nothing surprising is anticipated.”
That’s been an accurate assessment for the last three decades. The parties carefully script the convention, leaving almost no room for controversy, debate or actual politics. It’s just a big party for the party, with reduced TV coverage and interest from voters.
The 2024 RNC was considered a success because it was a Trumpfest. All the speakers bowed down to him, and he ended the show with a long, rambling speech that went on and on and on for almost two hours.
The Democrats had to revise their plans after President Joe Biden dropped out and Vice President Kamala Harris quickly wrapped up the nomination. But the opening day went well, with a parade of up-and-coming Democrats getting their moment in the sun, and Biden delivering a powerful address.
If he had looked and sounded that good earlier this summer, he would be nominated for a second term. But he is stepping to the side now, and Harris will seize the spotlight. There will be no stunning developments, no dramatic moments, no real news.
So, what is the point to these quadrennial party huddles? That’s a question I can’t answer.
Fourth-generation South Dakotan Tom Lawrence has written for several newspapers and websites in South Dakota and other states and contributed to The New York Times, NPR, The London Telegraph, The Daily Beast and other media outlets. Republish with permission.
