When Conventions Mattered

Do you remember the last time that a national political convention had real drama and impact? Nowadays the networks don't even bother covering most convention events; the main speeches are scheduled for prime-time live broadcast and the rest is largely ignored. As if to deprive the conventions of even the slightest suspense, the nominees for vice president are nowadays announced before the conventions open, following the example set by Ronald Reagan in 1976. (1)

But older readers will recall televised conventions that offered suspense, drama, conflict and real surprises. Here are some unforgettable moments that Americans saw in their living rooms:

1952: Republicans: A floor fight over seating the Georgia delegation was won by Eisenhower forces, a victory that clinched the nomination for Ike. Who can forget the moment when Illinois Senator Everett Dirksen pointed his finger at former NY Governor Tom Dewey (the GOP nominee for president in 1944 and 1948) and bellowed " We followed you before, and you lead us down the path to defeat!"

1952: Democrats: Tennessee Senator Estes Kefauver led on the first ballot, but did not secure a majority. He picked up only a few votes on the second ballot; a sure sign (that I did not recognize at the time) that his candidacy was doomed. Meanwhile President Harry Truman, who had lost the New Hampshire primary to Kefauver, flew in from Washington and was allowed to address the convention before the third ballot. He strongly endorsed Governor Adlai Stevenson of Illinois, and soon all the other candidates (Harriman, Kerr, Russell) except Kefauver withdrew in favor of Stevenson.
Stevenson swamped Kefauver on the third ballot, then chose arch-segregationist Senator John Sparkman of Alabama as his running-mate, perhaps to forestall another southern walk-out, like that which had occurred in 1948. The ticket carried the Deep South, West Virginia and no other states.

1956: Democrats: Stevenson was nominated again, this time easily. He declined to name a candidate for vice president, leaving the choice to the convention. Estes Kefauver edged-out Massachusetts Senator John F Kennedy in a nail-biting cliff-hanger roll-call vote. For Kefauver, the epitome of the Fifties Democrat, it was to be the "Last Hurrah" on the national stage. For Kennedy, it was the first national exposure of the handsome young man who would lead the party into the Sixties.

1964: Republicans: NY Governor Nelson Rockefeller was nearly drowned-out by boos when he attempted to address the convention. "This is still a free country!" Rocky interjected. "Some of you may not like it that way, but it still is!" Later reporter Dan Rather of CBS was briefly taken into custody by security guards while on camera.
Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater accepted the nomination with the dictum: "Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice!"

1968: Democrats: President Lyndon Johnson had declined to seek re-election, and Senator Robert F Kennedy had been murdered; the names placed in nomination were Vice President Hubert Humphrey and Minnesota Senator Eugene McCarthy. Meanwhile anti-war demonstrators clashed with Chicago police on Michigan Avenue, as millions watched on live TV.
Senator Abraham Ribicoff of Connecticut rose to nominate Senator George McGovern of South Dakota. To the raucous and fractious convention he declared, " When George McGovern is President of the United States, we won't have Gestapo tactics in the streets of Chicago!" Livid with rage, Mayor Richard J Daley shouted epithets (2) at Ribicoff, as other delegates cheered and booed.

1972: Democrats: McGovern won the nomination this time, and offered the vice presidency to Abe Ribicoff, perhaps out of gratitude for the 1968 oration in his behalf. When Ribicoff declined the honor, McGovern picked Missouri Senator Tom Eagleton. Several other candidates were nominated from the floor of the convention, including Alaska Senator Mike Gravel, who nominated himself. (3) By time the balloting was over, and the nominee was called upon to give his acceptance speech, it was after midnight in most of the country.
Eagleton was subsequently replaced by Sargent Shriver, and the ticket carried only Massachusetts and the DC, the worst showing of any Democratic ticket up to that time.

1976: Democrats: Nominee Jimmy Carter referred to former Vice President "Hubert Horatio Hornblower", possibly a Freudian slip alluding to the man's over-the-top style of oratory.

1984: Democrats: Nominee Walter Mondale promised to raise taxes if elected. He wasn't.

1988: Republicans: Nominee George Bush dared Democrats in Congress to "Read my lips---No new taxes!" Videotape of this line was used effectively by Bill Clinton four years later, after Bush had signed into law the biggest tax increase in US history.

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(1) Reagan selected Pennsylvania Senator Richard Schweiker for vice-president, and urged that the convention rules be changed to require all presidential candidates to disclose their VP choices in advance. President Gerald Ford beat-back Reagan's challenge, and slated Senator Bob Dole as his running-mate.
In 1980, Reagan waited until he had been nominated to pick George Bush as his running-mate.

(2) Daley later said that he called Ribicoff a "faker". Some observers thought he used a stronger insult. This question is still unsettled, and always will be.

(3) Thirty-six years later, in 2008, Gravel was again a candidate for the Democratic nomination, this time for president. Perhaps he derives some satisfaction from the nomination of fellow Alaskan Sarah Palin for vice president, even if it is by the Republican party.