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‘If somebody’s dumb enough to ask me …’

David Sterritt

in The Cinema of Clint Eastwood: Chronicles of America

This chapter recounts Clint Eastwood's speech at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida in 2012, where he opted for an impromptu performance in which he addressed an empty chair, ... More

This chapter recounts Clint Eastwood's speech at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida in 2012, where he opted for an impromptu performance in which he addressed an empty chair, pretending that President Obama was in it. His performance was inspired by the song ‘I Am … I Said’ by Neil Diamond, which he heard on the radio before giving his speech. In an analysis of the event, a Huffington Post political editor noted that while Eastwood is ‘consistently a Republican’,‘he is also 'pro-gay marriage, pro-choice and pro-environment', which means that he would not have been an ideal speaker for the event’. Of the speech itself, the Huffington Post analyst remarked that the ‘prolific actor and director … appeared to be showing his age’.Less

“Pick Nick for a Picnic in November”

Michael Rosenthal

in Nicholas Miraculous: The Amazing Career of the Redoubtable Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler

This chapter focuses on Nicholas Murray Butler's campaign to win the Republican Party nomination for president in 1920. It is impossible to locate the specific moment when Butler first began to think ... More

This chapter focuses on Nicholas Murray Butler's campaign to win the Republican Party nomination for president in 1920. It is impossible to locate the specific moment when Butler first began to think about the possibility that he might someday be the Republican presidential candidate, but the 1912 election could only have stimulated whatever dormant presidential impulses were already twitching within him. Butler's place on the ticket to receive the Republican electoral votes for vice president after the death of candidate James S. Sherman (and after the election was decided), although purely ceremonial, surely had an impact. By the time Butler officially announced his candidacy, in late December 1919, he had effectively been running a campaign for more than a year anchored on the exhortation to “Pick Nick for a Picnic in November.” At the Republican National Convention in Chicago, there were three initial front-runners: General Leonard Wood, Illinois governor Frank Lowden, and California senator Hiram Johnson. In the end, however, the Republicans nominated Ohio Senator Warren Harding.Less

The Taft-Roosevelt Split, 1905–1912

Lewis L. Gould

in The Republicans: A History of the Grand Old Party

This chapter details events leading up to the Republican National Convention in June 1912 when the party broke into competing factions supporting Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft. Taft and ... More

This chapter details events leading up to the Republican National Convention in June 1912 when the party broke into competing factions supporting Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft. Taft and Roosevelt represented the reforming energies of the Republicans during this period of change, which has been dubbed by historians as the Progressive Era. However, Roosevelt's efforts forced the party to deal with an issue that was a source of increasing concern: to what extent should the national government regulate the increasingly complex industrial society that the United States had become? The response to this question tested the resilience and cohesion of the Republican Party as it had not been tried since its beginnings in the 1850s. In the end, the GOP decided that it would not embrace government regulation of business and would seek to limit and control such a policy.Less

Favorite Son

Aram Goudsouzian

in The Men and the Moment: The Election of 1968 and the Rise of Partisan Politics in America

Chapter Six covers the Republican National Convention in Miami, concentrating on the behind-the-scenes campaign of Ronald Reagan. The new governor of California communicated the principles of the New ... More

Chapter Six covers the Republican National Convention in Miami, concentrating on the behind-the-scenes campaign of Ronald Reagan. The new governor of California communicated the principles of the New Right in a more genial, telegenic way than the disastrous 1964 nominee, Barry Goldwater. Conservative delegates at the convention adored Reagan. But thanks to a deal with South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond, Nixon held off a last-minute defection of southern delegates, ensuring his nomination. His vice-presidential selection of Spiro Agnew further signaled the Republican’s emerging base in the suburbs and New South.Less

Controversial Convention Procedures

John Roy Lynch

John Hope Franklin (ed.)

in Reminiscences of an Active Life: The Autobiography of John Roy Lynch

This chapter discusses how, as a Mississippi delegate to the National Republican Convention of 1900, John Roy Lynch was honored by his delegation with being selected to represent the state on the ... More

This chapter discusses how, as a Mississippi delegate to the National Republican Convention of 1900, John Roy Lynch was honored by his delegation with being selected to represent the state on the Committee on Platform and Resolutions. By the chairman of said committee, Senator Charles W. Fairbanks, Lynch was made a member of the subcommittee that drafted the platform. At the first meeting of the subcommittee, the Ohio member thereof, Senator J. B. Foraker, submitted the draft of a platform that had been prepared at Washington, which was made the basis of quite a lengthy and interesting discussion. This discussion developed the fact that the Washington draft was not at all satisfactory to a majority of the subcommittee. The only amendment Lynch suggested was one which was to express more clearly the attitude of the party with reference to the enforcement of the war amendments to the national Constitution.Less

The Presidential Debate: On the crafting of another grand proposal, resulting in a bid, a rejection, and a rejoinder

Emmanuel David

in Women of the Storm: Civic Activism after Hurricane Katrina

This chapter discusses new initiatives by Women of the Storm, including a bid to host one of the presidential debates in New Orleans. The chapter discusses this new undertaking, which was done in ... More

This chapter discusses new initiatives by Women of the Storm, including a bid to host one of the presidential debates in New Orleans. The chapter discusses this new undertaking, which was done in partnership with four universities in New Orleans: Dillard, Loyola, Tulane, and Xavier. The chapter traces the entire process from the submission of the application materials, to the site visits by the selection committee, to the final rejection of the bid to host the debate. Commentary by Anne Milling as well as local and national media sources is also provided. The chapter ends with an examination of Women of the Storm’s activities at each of the national party conventions leading up to the 2008 presidential elections.Less

1875: Democratic Victory

John Roy Lynch

John Hope Franklin (ed.)

in Reminiscences of an Active Life: The Autobiography of John Roy Lynch

This chapter looks at the Democratic victory in 1875. Although as a result of the sanguinary revolution in 1875 there was no hope or prospect of future Republican success in Mississippi, the ... More

This chapter looks at the Democratic victory in 1875. Although as a result of the sanguinary revolution in 1875 there was no hope or prospect of future Republican success in Mississippi, the Republican leaders in that state did not abandon their efforts to bring about and reestablish friendly relations between Senator Alcorn and Governor Ames. With that end in view, both were made delegates to the National Republican Convention of 1876 from the state at large. But this failed to accomplish the purpose desired. When the newly elected legislature met the first Monday in January of 1876, the fact was developed that the Lamar faction was slightly in the ascendancy in the Democratic party. This, of course, resulted in the election of Mr. L. Q. C. Lamar to the United States Senate to succeed Senator Alcorn whose term would expire on March 4, 1877.Less

Words, Images, Meanings

R. B. Bernstein

in The Founding Fathers Reconsidered

This chapter discusses that on June 7, 1916, Senator Warren G. Harding of Ohio delivered the keynote address at the Republican National Convention in Chicago. This 1916 speech is the first recorded ... More

This chapter discusses that on June 7, 1916, Senator Warren G. Harding of Ohio delivered the keynote address at the Republican National Convention in Chicago. This 1916 speech is the first recorded appearance of the phrase “founding fathers”. This chapter further relates that over the next years, Harding occasionally revived the phrase “founding fathers”, such as his speech on the commemoration of George Washington's birthday on February 22, 1918. He mentioned that it is good to meet and drink at the fountain of wisdom inherited from the “founding fathers of the Republic”. In 1920, after the party leaders at the deadlocked Republican convention in Chicago fixed on the Ohio senator as their presidential nominee, Harding twice quoted the “founding fathers” in his acceptance speech.Less

NYPD Blues

in Walter Benjamin's Grave

When George W. Bush came to town for the Republican National Convention in 2004, the New York City Police Department had to manage thousands of protesters day after day in giant dragnets using ... More

When George W. Bush came to town for the Republican National Convention in 2004, the New York City Police Department had to manage thousands of protesters day after day in giant dragnets using plastic netting, even though the vast majority of the protesters were doing nothing illegal. The protesters were “processed” in chemically polluted “holding cells” hastily set up on Pier 57 by the Hudson River, known now as Guantánamo-on-the-Hudson—a procedure that normally should take at the most a few hours. Many developed alarming skin rashes from the chemical waste on the floors on which they had to sleep. Others acquired systemic bodily disturbances. But the streets of New York City were maintained free of protest for the duration of the convention.Less