————— current events through a historical lens————————
I read something online the other day that said, “not to brag but I have won as many primary votes as Kamala Harris.” At first it made me chuckle, but then it made me think.
My first thought was “how many times has a candidate run for president without winning a single state in the primary?” Then I remembered that we did not even hold primaries until the 20th century, so the answer is a lot. In fact, historically speaking, we did not actually start really using primaries the way we think of them today until the 1972 election.
For the first several elections after George Washington stepped down, the Federalists and Jeffersonian Republican party leaders met in caucuses to decide who would run; the people had absolutely no say in the nomination. The first election where a party used a convention to nominate a candidate occurred in 1831 by the short lived Anti-Masonic Party. The party formed out of deep distrust and power of the Freemasons.
Wanting more transparency in government, the Anti-Masons highlighted the corruption of such a small few choosing presidential nominees and opened their convention to delegates from each state to cast a public vote. While the Anti-Masonic Party did not win any electoral votes, by calling out the other parties as elitists and undemocratic, they forced the other parties to change their nomination system from small caucuses to conventions.
Although parties had begun utilizing conventions to choose candidates, it wasn’t a mass wave of democracy. Each state chose delegates to represent them at a national convention, but those delegates were still made up of party insiders who could control the outcome as they were free to choose any candidate they saw fit.
The delegates were often chosen at closed or secret party meetings and held at random times of the year without informing rank-and-file party members.
The Progressive Era of the late 19th to early 20th centuries brought another change. In an attempt to bring more democracy to government, Progressives lobbied for the direct election of senators but also for primary elections to choose presidential nominees.
It took some time for the practice to start, but 13 states held primaries in 1912. The primaries held little importance as William Howard Taft lost to Teddy Roosevelt but still won the Republican nomination at the convention. The primary held little sway. Even with the primary’s growth, it mattered little to eventual nominees. In 1920, Republican nominee Warren G. Harding did not even enter the primary race yet won the nomination and the presidency. Republican Herbert Hoover did not win the primary in 1932 but still became the nominee only to be trounced by Franklin Delano Roosevelt — same with Alf Landon in 1936 and Wendell Willkie in 1940.
Three more elections saw the same trend as Republican Thomas Dewey in 1948 and Democrat Adlai Stevenson in 1952.
All lost their primary but still won the nomination.
Finally, the system came to a head in 1968 in the election that keeps being referenced because of its similarity with our current election. In ’68, incumbent President Lyndon B.
Johnson saw the writing on the wall and backed out of the election while Eugene McCarthy and Bobby Kennedy racked up primary wins. With Kennedy’s death and McCarthy halting his campaign, LBJ’s vice president, Hurbert Humphrey, joined the race and was able to win at the convention without winning a single primary. This was a difficult convention for the Democrats as the anger inside the convention was overshadowed by the violence outside.
Held in Chicago, mobs clashed with police in the streets. Protestors inside and out were angered that their voices did not matter, and party leaders were able to choose the next candidate with no input — a situation not unlike this year’s Democratic Convention. It was a bad look for the party.
So after Humphrey lost to Nixon in the general election, the Democratic Party decided to make some changes before the next election.
The changes came in the form of the McGovern- Fraser Commission, headed by Senator George McGovern and Representative Donald M. Fraser. The commission’s suggestions were to adopt a primary and caucus system in all states and required dele-gates to vote for the winner. All primaries and caucus elections needed to be transparent and open to normal voters. Delegates would now be proportional based on votes received, and not winner-take-all.
It put in a diversity requirement to guarantee groups like minorities, women and young people were represented. Finally, it limited the number of party leaders who could serve as delegates (most are now superdelegates today). Starting with the 1972 election, the nomination process was turned into a democratic event where ordinary people now had a say on who their party would run for president. Well, at least until this year.
A key here is that these are party rules and not laws. Parties — Republicans adopted similar rules — are private and can make whatever rules they see fit. What we saw this year was a party rule change under these circumstances. While it seems undemocratic, it’s in no way illegal.
Since the McGovern-Fraser Commission, almost all states now have primaries. There are about 10 states that hold caucuses instead.
Primaries must follow state election rules, but caucuses do not. They tend to have much lower turnout, and the vote is public so that limits some from voting for more fringe candidates.
The caucus seems to be the last holdout for more party control while still allowing for some democracy.
In the end, it’s true that Kamala Harris has not won a single primary. While it has been some time since the last candidate has done the same, historically speaking, that has been more the rule than the exception before modern times.
On a complete side note, it has been suggested to me that some readers might enjoy some type of gathering to discuss history, like a dinner or a small conference. It could be casual conversation or a formal evening with talks. If you are interested, please send an email to historicallyspeakingl776@ gmail.
com.
James Finck is a professor of American history at the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma. He can be reached at HistoricallySpeakingl 776@gmail. com.
