Democratic Party (United States)
The
Democratic Party is one of two major
political parties in the
United States, the other being the
Republican Party. The party under its present name was established by
Andrew Jackson during the 1820s, but it traces its origins to
Thomas Jefferson and the
Democratic-Republican Party in 1792. It is the second oldest political party in the world, following Britain's
Conservative Party. Currently, the Democratic Party is the
minority party in the
United States Senate and the
House of Representatives. Democrats control 19
state legislatures and 22
governorships. Since 1896 the Democrats have been the more liberal major party (in the modern American sense of the word). The pro-working class, activist philosophy of
Franklin D. Roosevelt has shaped much of the party's agenda since 1933; his
New Deal coalition controlled the national government into the 1960s. The
Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, championed by the party despite opposition at the time from its conservative Southern wing, has continued to inspire the party's ideas and principles.
The Democratic Party's predominant positions since the 1930s have generally been considered
liberal. Liberalism generally has a different meaning outside the United States from its meaning in the U.S. (see
American liberalism), but in an international context, the views of the Democratic party are often considered liberal, as well. The Democratic Party's political views have roots in the United States
progressive movement and in the ideas of intellectuals such as
John Dewey.
The Party advocates most
civil liberties, social freedoms, equal rights,
equal opportunity, and a
free enterprise system tempered by government intervention. The Party believes that government should play a role in alleviating poverty and
social injustice, even if that means a larger role for government and
progressive taxation to pay for social services.
The principles and values of any political party are difficult to define and generally do not necessarily apply to all members of the party. In the Democratic Party, a
big tent party, members may disagree with one or more of the party's
political platforms. The party platform represents the views of the majority of delegates to its national convention and is usually heavily influenced by the presidential nominee of that year.
Recent issue stances
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Federal Budget DeficitsDemocrats believe that large
deficits impede economic growth, lead to market instabilities, and present the hard choice of cutting services or generating new revenues, usually through tax increases. The party is opposed to large deficit spending and is attempting to wrest the "fiscal responsibility" mantle from the opposition Republicans.
*
The USA PATRIOT ActAll Democrats in the U.S. Senate except for
Wisconsin senator
Russ Feingold voted for the original
USA PATRIOT Act legislation. After voicing concerns over the "invasion of privacy" and other
civil liberty restrictions of the Act, the Democrats split on the renewal in 2006. Most Senators voted to renew it, while most Representatives voted against renewal.
*
Same-Sex Marriage and Homosexual/Gay RightsThe Democratic Party is divided on the subject of
same-sex marriage. Some members favor
civil unions for same-sex couples, others favor legalized marriage, and others are opposed to same-sex marriage on religious grounds. Most agree, however, that discrimination against persons because of their sexual orientation is wrong.
*
Right to PrivacyThe Democratic party believes that individuals should have a
right to privacy, and generally supports laws which place restrictions on law-enforcement and intelligence agency monitoring of U.S. citizens. Some Democratic Party officeholders have championed consumer-protection laws which limit the sharing of consumer data between corporations.
Most Democrats believe that government should not regulate consensual non-commercial sexual conduct, as a matter of personal privacy.
*
Reproductive rightsThe Democratic Party believes that all women should have access to
birth control, and supports public funding of contraception for poor women. The Democratic Party, in its platform in 2000 and 2004, called for
abortion to be "safe, legal and rare"—namely, keeping it legal by rejecting laws that allow governmental interference in abortion decisions, and reducing the number of abortions by promoting both knowledge of reproduction and contraception, and incentives for adoption.
The Democratic Party opposes attempts to reverse the 1973 Supreme Court decision
Roe v. Wade which recognized abortion as a right. As a matter of the
right to privacy and of
gender equality, many Democrats believe all women should have the ability to choose without governmental interference. They believe that each woman, conferring with her conscience, has the right to choose for herself whether abortion is morally correct. Many Democrats believe that poor women should have a right to publicly funded abortions.
Some Democrats explicitly oppose the legality of abortion on moral grounds, including former Pennsylvania Governor
Robert P. Casey and Chicago Mayor
Richard M. Daley.
A substantial number of party members have been shifting to the center on this issue. Some believe in programs to make abortions less frequent as well as making sure the procedure is legal and available. Senator Clinton of New York said in early 2005 that the opposing sides should find "common ground" to prevent unwanted pregnancies and ultimately reduce abortions, which she called a "sad, even tragic choice to many, many women."[
1]
*
Crime and gun controlDemocrats often focus on methods of crime prevention, believing that preventive measures save taxpayers' money in policing and medical costs, and prevent crime and murder. They emphasize improved community policing and more on-duty police officers in order to help accomplish this goal. The Party's platform in 2000 and 2004 cited crackdowns on
gangs and
drug trafficking as preventive methods. The party's platforms have also addressed the issue of domestic violence, calling for strict penalties for offenders and protection for victims.
With a stated goal of reducing crime and homicide, the Democratic Party has introduced various
gun control measures over the last hundred years. The most notable of these were the
National Firearms Act of 1934 and 1939 Gun Control Act (signed into law by President
Franklin D. Roosevelt), the
Gun Control Act of 1968 (introduced by Senator Christopher Dodd and endorsed by Sen.
Edward Kennedy), the Brady Bill of 1993 and Crime Control Act of 1994 (signed by President
Bill Clinton). However, many Democrats, especially rural, Southern, and Western Democrats, favor fewer restrictions on firearm possession. In the national platform for 2004, the only statement explicitly favoring gun control was a plank calling for renewal of the 1994
Assault Weapons Ban.
*
DiscriminationDemocrats support
Equal Opportunity for all Americans regardless of sex, age, race, sexual orientation, religion, creed, or national origin.
The Democratic party mostly supports
affirmative action as a way to redress past discrimination and ensure equitable employment regardless of ethnicity or gender, but opposes the use of quotas in hiring. Democrats also strongly support the
Americans with Disabilities Act to prohibit discrimination against people on the basis of physical or mental disability.
*
The EnvironmentThe Democratic Party generally sides with
environmentalists and favors conservation of natural resources together with strong environmental laws against pollution.
*
Health Care and insurance coverageDemocrats call for "affordable and quality health care," and many advocate an expansion of government intervention in this area. Many Democrats favor a national health insurance system in a variety of forms to address the rising costs of modern health insurance. In 1951, President
Harry S. Truman proposed national health insurance as a part of his
Fair Deal program, although his proposal was defeated by the
American Medical Association. More recently, Senator
Edward Kennedy has called for a program of "
Medicare for All".
In his 2004 platform,
John Kerry affirmed his support of federally funded stem-cell research "under the strictest ethical guidelines." He explained, "We will not walk away from the chance to save lives and reduce human suffering."
Some Democratic governors have supported purchasing
Canadian drugs, citing lower costs and budget restrictions as a primary incentive. Recognizing that unpaid insurance bills increase costs to the service provider, who passes the cost on to health-care consumers, many Democrats advocate expansion of health insurance coverage.
The Democratic-Republican Party: 1792-1824
The Democrats trace their roots to the
Democratic-Republican Party established by Thomas Jefferson in the 1790s. This party arose from opposition to the policies of the ruling
Federalists, dominated by
Alexander Hamilton, which advocated a strong central government, a loose interpretation of the Constitution, and a republic governed by elites. Jefferson called his party the "Republican Party" after the principles of republicanism to which it was devoted, but the name was changed to "Democratic-Republican" in 1798. The Jeffersonians (before 1801) favored France over Britain in the wars of the French Revolution that broke out in 1793 and continued until the final defeat of Napoleon in 1815. They saw the independent ("yeoman") farmer as the ideal exemplar of virtue, and distrusted cities, banks, and factories. Jefferson and his close collaborator
James Madison made
States rights a keystone of the party in 1798 in order to oppose Federalist centralization. The party was strongest in the South and West, and weakest in New England.
The Democratic-Republican Party won control of the Presidency and Congress in 1800, with
Henry Clay as the powerful Speaker in the 1810s. The Federalists collapsed as serious rivals by the end of the
War of 1812. After 1816 the only national mechanism, the
Congressional nominating caucus, fell into disuse and the remnants of the Jeffersonian party split into factions. War hero General
Andrew Jackson of Tennessee, emerged as the leader of the faction that, after he was elected president in 1828, became the Democratic Party.
Jacksonian Democracy and Manifest Destiny: 1828-1854
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Andrew Jackson, the first Democratic President of the United States (1829-1837). |
The new Democratic Party of Jackson and Van Buren resembled its precursor, the Democratic-Republican Party, where geography was concerned (both were strong in
New York City and
Virginia, and weak in
New England). Both parties shared the same Jeffersonian, anti-elite opposition to "aristocracy" and faith in "the people."
The main opposition came initially from the
National Republican Party. Jackson defeated that party's leader,
Henry Clay, in the
1832 presidential election. During Jackson's second term, however, what was seen as his authoritarian style (exemplified by his frequent use of the
veto and his firm handling of the
Nullification Crisis) caused many of the Old Republicans and southern states-rights' supporters to move into opposition. Many opponents of Jackson joined with Clay's National Republicans to form the new
Whig Party.
The Democratic Party was a complex coalition that included farmers in all parts of the country and workingmen's groups in the cities. The key issues in the 1830s were patronage, the
tariff, and the
Bank of the United States. The economic issues of banking and tariffs would be the central domestic policy issue from 1828 to 1850, together with questions of land distribution and national expansion.
Van Buren won the presidency in
1836 but was defeated for reelection in
1840.
James K. Polk won in the
1844 election, directed the
Mexican-American War, lowered the tariff, set up a subtreasury system, acquired modern-day Washington, Oregon and the Southwest, and then retired. In the
1848 election, Van Buren's new
Free Soil Party split the Democratic Party in New York and allowed the Whigs to defeat
Lewis Cass. The intense Whig division over the
Compromise of 1850 led the almost unknown Democrat
Franklin Pierce to win a near landslide victory in
1852.
Civil War and Reconstruction: 1854-1877
The main Democratic leader in the Senate,
Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois, pushed through the
Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854 amidst strong protest. A major realignment took place among voters and politicians, with new issues, new parties, and new rules. The Whig Party entirely dissolved. While the Democrats survived, many northern Democrats (especially Free Soilers from 1848) joined the newly established
Republican Party. Democrat
James Buchanan was elected in
1856, as the opposition was divided between the Republicans and the anti-immigrant
American Party, but his Kansas policies so angered Douglas that the party divided bitterly in the late 1850s, with the Southern Democrats and their Northern supporters (led by Buchanan) on one side, and the main body of northern Democrats, led by Douglas, on the other.
In 1860 Douglas had defeated the Buchanan faction, but was unable to gain the two-thirds vote needed for the nomination. The party nominated Douglas in the North, and
John C. Breckinridge in the South. During the
Civil War no party politics were allowed in the
Confederacy, but partisanship flourished in the North. After the attack on Ft. Sumter, Douglas and most Democrats in the North rallied behind Lincoln. But Douglas died and the party lacked an outstanding national figure. There was a deep split between the anti-war
Copperheads and the
War Democrats. The party did well in 1862 elections but in 1864 it nominated General
George McClellan, a War Democrat, on a peace platform, and lost badly as many War Democrats bolted. In 1866 the
Radical Republicans scored two-thirds majorities in both houses of Congress and took control of national affairs by overriding the vetoes of President
Andrew Johnson, as well as impeaching and coming within one vote of convicting him in the Senate in 1868. Johnson as president was independent of both parties. The Democrats echoed the
Liberal Republican nomination of
Horace Greeley in 1872.[
2] The ticket faired poorly and due to the circumstance of Greeley's death, the votes of the electors were divided among other persons in his place.
The Democrats benefited from white Southerners' resentment of
Reconstruction and consequent hostility to the Republican Party. Once
Redeemers ended
Reconstruction, and the
disenfranchisement of African Americans took place in the 1890s, the South became the "
Solid South" for nearly a century because it reliably voted Democratic. In most of the South there was effectively only one party, and victory in the Democratic primary was tantamount to election.
The Gilded Age, 1877-1896
|
Grover Cleveland, the only Democrat elected president between 1856 and 1912 |
The national vote was very evenly balanced in the 1880s. Though Republicans continued to control the White House until 1884, the Democrats remained competitive. Dominated by conservative pro-business
Bourbon Democrats led by
Samuel J. Tilden and
Grover Cleveland, they had a solid base in the South and great strength in the rural lower
Midwestern United States, and in ethnic
German American and
Irish American enclaves in large cities, mill towns and mining camps. They controlled the House of Representatives for most of that period. In the
election of 1884,
Grover Cleveland, the reforming Democratic Governor of New York, won the Presidency. He was defeated in the
election of 1888 but was re-elected in
1892. Cleveland was the leader of the conservative
Bourbon Democrats who represented mercantile, banking and railroad interests, opposed imperialism and overseas expansion, fought for the gold standard, opposed
Bimetallism, and crusaded against corruption and high taxes and tariffs.
The Bourbons were overthrown by Bryan in 1896.
Bryan, Wilson, and the Roaring Twenties: 1896-1932
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Woodrow Wilson, the only Democrat elected president between 1892 and 1932 |
In the presidential election of
1896, widely regarded as a political
realignment, agrarian Democrats demanding
free silver defeated the Bourbons and nominated
William Jennings Bryan (as did the agrarian
Populist Party). Bryan, perhaps best known for his "
Cross of Gold" speech delivered at the
1896 convention, waged a vigorous campaign attacking Eastern moneyed interests, but he lost to Republican
William McKinley in an election which was to prove decisive.
The Republicans controlled the presidency for 28 of the following 36 years, dominating most of the
Northeastern United States and the
Midwestern United States, and half of the
Western United States. Bryan, with a base in the
Southern United States and the
Great Plains, was strong enough to get the nomination in the elections of
1900, again losing to McKinley, and
1908, losing to
William Howard Taft. Bourbon conservatives controlled the convention in
1904, but they faced a
Theodore Roosevelt landslide. Bryan dropped his free silver and anti-imperialism rhetoric and supported mainstream
progressive issues. He backed
Woodrow Wilson in
1912, was rewarded by being made Secretary of State, but resigned to protest Wilson's war policies in 1915.
Taking advantage of a growing split between conservatives and the insurgents and
Progressives in the GOP, the Democrats took control of the House in 1910 and elected intellectual reformer
Woodrow Wilson in 1912 and 1916. Wilson successfully led Congress to a series of progressive laws, including the
Underwood Tariff that reduced tariffs; the
Clayton Antitrust Act that systematized the
antitrust system, the income tax on individuals, new programs for farmers, and the 8-hour day for railroad workers. His most important innovation was the
Federal Reserve System that created a strong central bank. A law to outlaw child labor was reversed by the Supreme Court. Wilson ordered the segregation of the federal
Civil Service[
3]. The
Eighteenth Amendment establishing
Prohibition and the
Nineteenth Amendment establishing
Women's suffrage were passed in his second term, but they were bipartisan efforts. In effect, Wilson laid to rest the issues of tariffs, money and antitrust that had dominated politics for 40 years.
Wilson led the U.S. to victory in
World War I and helped write the
Versailles Treaty, which included the
League of Nations. But in 1919 Wilson's political skills faltered, as did his health; suddenly everything turned sour. The Senate rejected the Versailles Treaty and the League, and a nationwide wave of strikes and violence caused unrest. Prohibition opened deep splits between the mainly Catholic and ethnic Northern "wets" and the Southern "dries." The deeply divided party was hit by Republican landslides in the presidential elections of
1920,
1924, and
1928. However
Al Smith helped build a strong Catholic base in the big Eastern cities in 1928, and
Franklin D. Roosevelt's election as governor of New York that year brought a new leader to center stage.
The New Deal and World War II: 1933-1945
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President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1933-1945) |
The
Great Depression set the stage for a more liberal government, and
Franklin D. Roosevelt won a landslide victory in the
presidential election of 1932, campaigning on a vague platform that promised repeal of
Prohibition and criticizing
Herbert Hoover's presidential failures. Within 100 days of taking office on March 4, 1933, Roosevelt came forth with a massive array of programs, the
New Deal. These focused on Relief, Recovery, and Reform; that is, relief of unemployment and rural distress, recovery of the economy back to normal, and long-term structural reforms to prevent any repetition.
The 1932 election brought Democrats large majorities in both houses of Congress, and among state governors; the 1934 election increased those margins. The 1933 programs, called "the First New Deal" by historians, represented a broad consensus; Roosevelt tried to reach out to business and labor, farmers and consumers, cities and countryside. By 1934, however, he was moving toward a more confrontational policy. Roosevelt sought to move the party away from its business base toward a new base in farmers and workers. The New Deal was a program of economic regulation and insurance against hardship. Two old words took new meanings. "Liberal" now meant a supporter of the New Deal; "conservative" meant an opponent. Conservative Democrats were outraged; led by
Al Smith, they formed the
American Liberty League in 1934 and counterattacked, but were ineffective.
After making gains in Congress in 1934 Roosevelt embarked on an ambitious legislative program that came to be called "The Second New Deal." It was characterized by building up labor unions, nationalizing welfare by the
Works Progress Administration, setting up
Social Security, imposing more regulations on business (especially transportation and communications), and raising taxes on business profits. He built a new, diverse majority coalition called the
New Deal Coalition, which included labor unions, minorities (most significantly,
Catholics,
Jews, and for the first time,
Blacks). The New Deal coalition won all but two presidential elections (1952 and 1956) until it came apart in 1968.
After a triumphant landslide reelection in
1936, Roosevelt announced plans to enlarge the Supreme Court, which tended to oppose his New Deal. A firestorm of opposition erupted, led by his own vice president,
John Nance Garner. Roosevelt was defeated by an alliance of Republicans and conservative Democrats, who formed a new
Conservative coalition that managed to block nearly all liberal legislation and dominate Congress for the remainder of FDR's presidency. Threatened by the conservative wing of his party, Roosevelt made an attempt to purge it; in 1938, he actively campaigned against five conservative Democratic senators. They denounced national interference in state affairs, and all five senators won re-election.
New Deal liberalism meant the promotion of
social welfare,
labor unions,
civil rights, and regulation of business. The opponents, who stressed long-term growth, support for entrepreneurship and low taxes, now started calling themselves "conservatives."
Truman to Kennedy: 1945-1963
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President Harry S Truman (1945-1953) |
Roosevelt died in office on April 12, 1945, and
Harry S Truman took over. The rifts inside the party that FDR had papered over began to emerge. Former Vice President
Henry A. Wallace denounced Truman as a war-monger for his anti-Soviet programs, the
Truman Doctrine, the
Marshall Plan, and
NATO. However the Wallace supporters and far left were pushed out of the party and the
CIO in 1946-48 by young anti-Communists like
Hubert H. Humphrey,
Walter Reuther, and
Arthur Schlesinger Jr.. On the right the Republicans blasted Truman's domestic policies. "Had Enough?" and "To err is Truman" were winning slogans for Republicans, who recaptured Congress in 1946 for the first time since 1928.
Many party leaders were ready to dump Truman, but they lacked an alternative. Truman counterattacked, pushing out
Strom Thurmond and his
Dixiecrats and, as an audacious and inspired strategic move, calling the GOP-controlled Congress into special session in July, sending them legislation he knew was anathema to the congressional Republicans, and then, upon the end of the predictably deadlocked and unproductive session, blasting them as the "Do-Nothing" 80th Congress in a relentless whistle-stopping campaign across the country. In perhaps the most stunning presidential election result of the 20th century, Truman won re-election over Thomas Dewey in
1948, and the Democrats regained control of Congress. However, Truman's
Fair Deal proposals, such as universal health care, were defeated by the
conservative coalition in Congress.
In 1952,
Dwight D. Eisenhower recaptured the White House for the Republicans, defeating Illinois governor
Adlai Stevenson. Four years later, Eisenhower repeated his success against Stevenson. In Congress the powerful Texas duo of House Speaker
Sam Rayburn and Senate Majority Leader
Lyndon B. Johnson held the party together in the shadow of the war hero, often by compromising with Eisenhower. In 1958, thanks largely to organized labor, the party made dramatic gains in the off-year congressional elections.
|
President John F. Kennedy (1961-1963) |
Sen.
John F. Kennedy won the
presidential election of 1960, defeating then-
Vice President Richard Nixon. Though Kennedy's term in office lasted only about a thousand days, he tried to hold back Communist gains after the failed
Bay of Pigs invasion in Cuba and the construction of the
Berlin Wall, and sent 16,000 soldiers to Vietnam to advise the hard-pressed South Vietnamese army. He challenged America in the
Space Race to land an American man on the moon by 1969. After the
Cuban Missile Crisis he moved to de-escalate tensions with the
Soviet Union. Kennedy also pushed for
civil rights and
racial integration, one example being Kennedy assigning federal marshals to protect the
Freedom Riders in the south. President Kennedy was assassinated on
November 22,
1963 in
Dallas, Texas. Soon after then-Vice President
Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as the 36th
President of the United States. Johnson, heir to the
New Deal broke the
Conservative Coalition in Congress and passed a remarkable number of liberal laws, known as the
Great Society. Johnson succeeded in passing major
civil rights laws that started the racial integration in the south. At the same time Johnson escalated the
Vietnam War, leading to an inner conflict inside the Democratic party that shattered the party in the elections of 1968.
The Civil Rights Movement: 1963-1968
African-Americans, who had traditionally given strong support to the Republican Party since the
American Civil War, shifted to the Democratic Party in the 1930s, largely due to New Deal relief programs, patronage offers, and the advocacy of civil rights by First Lady
Eleanor Roosevelt. In many cities, such as Chicago, entire ward-based Republican apparatuses in black neighborhoods switched parties virtually overnight. However, in the late 1960s, the
New Deal Coalition began to fracture, as more Democratic leaders voiced support for
civil rights, upsetting the party's traditional base of conservative
Southern Democrats and ethnic Catholics in
Northern cities. After Harry Truman's platform showed support for civil rights and
desegregation laws during the
1948 Democratic National Convention, some Southern Democrats, called "
Dixiecrats" temporarily abandoned the national party and voted for South Carolina governor
Strom Thurmond. They voted for his electors on the regular state Democratic ticket. Although Republican
Dwight D. Eisenhower carried half the South in 1952 and 1956, and Sen.
Barry Goldwater also carried five Southern states in 1964, Democrat
Jimmy Carter carried all of the South except Virginia, and there was no long-term realignment until
Ronald Reagan's sweeping victories in the South in 1980 and 1984.
The national party's dramatic reversal on civil rights issues culminated when Johnson signed into law the
Civil Rights Act of 1964. On doing so he commented, "We have lost the South for a generation." Meanwhile, the Republicans, led again by Richard Nixon, were beginning to implement their
Southern strategy, which aimed to resist federal encroachment on the states, while appealing to residual racist feelings among conservative and moderate white Southerners in the rapidly growing cities and suburbs of the South.
The year 1968 was a trying one for the party as well as the United States. In January, even though it was a military defeat for the
Viet Cong, the
Tet Offensive began to turn American public opinion against the Vietnam War. Senator
Eugene McCarthy rallied anti-war forces on college campuses and won the
New Hampshire primary. In a stunning move, Johnson withdrew from the election on March 31, and shortly afterward, Senator
Robert Kennedy, brother of the former president, entered the race. He won the California primary on June 4 and seemed well on his way to capturing the nomination, but he was assassinated in Los Angeles. During the Democratic National Convention, while Chicago police violently confronted anti-war protesters outside the convention hall, the Democrats nominated Vice President
Hubert H. Humphrey, a stalwart New Dealer from Minnesota. Meanwhile Alabama's Democratic governor
George C. Wallace launched a third-party campaign and at one point was running second to the Republican candidate
Richard M. Nixon. Nixon barely won, with the Democrats retaining control of Congress.
The degree to which white and black Southerners had reversed their historic parties became evident in the
1968 election, when every Southern state except Texas deserted Humphrey and voted for either Republican Nixon or disenchanted former Democrat Wallace. The party's main electoral base thus shifted to the
Northeast, marking a dramatic reversal from tradition.
Transformation Years: 1969-1992
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President Jimmy Carter (1977-1981) |
In the
presidential election of 1972, the Democrats nominated South Dakota Senator
George McGovern with his anti-war slogan "Come Home, America!" McGovern's platform advocated immediate withdrawal from Vietnam and a guaranteed minimum income for all Americans. McGovern tried to crusade against the policies of Nixon, but disclosures about his running-mate
Thomas Eagleton (who had undergone secret electric shock therapy) proved disastrous to McGovern's public image.
Sargent Shriver, an ally of Daley's, finally accepted the vice presidential candidacy. The general election was a landslide for Nixon, as McGovern carried only
Massachusetts. However, Democrats retained their large majorities in Congress and most state houses.
The sordid
Watergate scandal soon destroyed the Nixon presidency, giving the Democrats a flicker of hope. With
Gerald Ford's pardon of Nixon soon after his resignation in 1974, the Democrats were given a "corruption" issue they used to make major gains in the off-year elections. In the
1976 election the surprise winner was Georgia governor
Jimmy Carter, a little-known outsider who promised honesty in Washington.
Some of President Carter's major accomplishments consisted of the creation of a national energy policy and the consolidation of governmental agencies, resulting in two new cabinet departments, the
Department of Energy and the
Department of Education. Carter led the bipartisan effort to deregulate the trucking, airline, rail, finance, communications, and oil industries, thus eliminating the
New Deal approach to regulation of the economy. He bolstered the
Social Security system, and appointed record numbers of women and minorities to significant government and judicial posts. He helped enact strong legislation on environmental protection, through the expansion of the
National Park Service in
Alaska, creating 103 million new acres of federally administered land. In foreign affairs, Carter's accomplishments consisted of the
Camp David Accords, the
Panama Canal Treaties, the creation of full diplomatic relations with the
People's Republic of China, and the negotiation of the
SALT II Treaty with the Soviet Union. In addition, he championed
human rights throughout the world and used human rights as the center of his administration's foreign policy.
Despite all of these successes, Carter failed to implement a national health plan or to reform the tax system, as he had promised in his campaign. Inflation was also on the rise. Abroad, the
Iran hostage crisis (
November 4,
1979 -
January 20,
1981) involved 52 Americans held hostage for 444 days, and Carter's diplomatic and military rescue attempts failed. The
Soviet war in Afghanistan starting in December 1979 helped weaken the perception Americans had of Carter. In the
presidential election of 1980, Carter defeated
Ted Kennedy to regain the party's nomination, but lost to Ronald Reagan in November. The Democrats lost 12 Senate seats, and for the first time since 1954, the Republicans controlled the Senate. The House, however, remained in Democratic hands. Even though he had already been defeated for re-election, Carter negotiated the release of every American hostage from Iran in the last hours of his term in office.
Instrumental in the election of Republican President
Ronald Reagan in the
1980 election were Democrats who supported many conservative policies. These "
Reagan Democrats" were Democrats before and after the Reagan years. They were mostly white ethnics in the Northeast and Midwest who were attracted to Reagan's social conservatism and his hawkish foreign policy. Reagan carried 49 states against former Vice President
Walter Mondale, a New Deal stalwart, in the
1984 election.
Massachusetts Governor
Michael Dukakis, running not as a New Dealer but as an efficiency expert in public administration, lost by a landslide in the
1988 election to Vice President
George H. W. Bush.
The Democrats remained in control of Congress, although conservative "
Blue Dog Democrats" often voted with Reagan. The Senate was in Republican hands from 1980-86, but later returned to Democratic control. The Democrats clashed frequently with Reagan on numerous issues. In foreign policy, they disagreed with the president on the
nuclear freeze and the
Boland Amendment, which tried to restrict funding of the
Contras who were challenging the left-wing government of
Nicaragua. Democrats failed to block Reagan's tax cuts and his increases in military spending, but they did keep alive numerous social programs that he tried to cut or eliminate. Congress voted for most of the spending increases and tax cuts that Reagan proposed, but not his spending cuts. Annual federal budget deficits, and the national debt, rose to record heights under Reagan.
In response to three landslide defeats in a row (1980-84-88), the
Democratic Leadership Council was created to move the party to the ideological center. With the party retaining left-of-center supporters as well as supporters holding moderate or conservative views on some issues, the Democrats, more so than ever, became a
big tent party with widespread appeal to most opponents of the Republicans.
The Clinton Era: 1992-2000
 |
It was during Bill Clinton's presidency (1993-2001), the Democratic Party's campaigning moved ideologically towards the center. |
In
1992, for the first time in 12 years, the United States elected a Democrat to the White House. President
Bill Clinton balanced the federal
budget for the first time since the Kennedy presidency and presided over a robust American economy that saw incomes grow across the board. In 1994, the economy had the lowest combination of unemployment and inflation in 25 years. President Clinton signed into law the
Brady Bill, which imposed a five-day waiting period on handgun purchases; he also signed into legislation a ban on many types of
semi-automatic firearms (which expired in 2004). His
Family and Medical Leave Act, covering some 40 million Americans, offered workers up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-guaranteed leave for childbirth or a personal or family illness. He helped temporarily restore democracy to
Haiti, took a strong (if ultimately unsuccessful) hand in Palestinian-Israeli peace negotiations, brokered a historic cease-fire in
Northern Ireland, and negotiated the
Dayton accords, which helped bring an end to nearly four years of terror and killing in the former
Yugoslavia. Clinton was re-elected in 1996, the first time since
Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1944 that a Democratic president had been elected to consecutive terms.
However, the Democrats lost their majority in both houses of Congress in 1994. Clinton vetoed two Republican-backed
welfare reform bills before signing the third, the
Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996. The
tort reform Private Securities Litigation Reform Act passed over his veto. Labor unions, which had been steadily losing membership since the 1960s, found they had also lost political clout inside the Democratic Party; Clinton enacted the
North American Free Trade Agreement with
Canada and
Mexico over the strong objection of these labor unions, much to the disappointment of those on the left of the party.
When the
Democratic Leadership Council attempted to move the Democratic agenda in favor of more
centrist positions, prominent Democrats from both the centrist and conservative factions (such as
Terry McAuliffe) assumed leadership of the party and its direction. Some liberals and progressives felt alienated by the Democratic Party, which they felt had become unconcerned with the interests of the common people and left-wing issues in general. Some Democrats challenged the validity of such critiques, citing the Democratic role in pushing for liberal reforms.
The 21st century: 2000-present
Presidential Election of 2000
During the
presidential election of 2000, the Democrats chose Vice President
Al Gore to be the party's candidate for the presidency. Gore and
George W. Bush, the Republican candidate and son of former President George H.W. Bush, disagreed on a number of issues, including
abortion,
gun politics,
environmentalism,
gay rights, tax cuts, foreign policy, public education,
global warming, judicial appointments, and
affirmative action. Nevertheless, Gore's affiliation with Clinton and the DLC caused left-wing critics â€"
Green Party presidential candidate
Ralph Nader in particular â€" to assert that Bush and Gore were too similar, especially on free trade and reductions in social welfare. "The Democrats should not be allowed to take progressive voters for granted anymore, Democratic politicians should pay for their betrayals in votes," Nader's closest advisor said. [
4]
Gore won a popular plurality of over 500,000 votes over Bush, but lost in the
Electoral College by four votes. Many Democrats blamed Nader's third-party
spoiler role for Gore's defeat. They pointed to the states of New Hampshire (4 electoral votes) and Florida (25 electoral votes), where Nader's total votes exceeded Bush's margin of victory. In Florida, Nader received 97,000 votes; Bush defeated Gore by a mere 538. Nader supporters raise Gore's failure to beat Bush by larger margins and in particular Gore's loss in his "home state" of Tennessee.
|
Vice President Al Gore lost the 2000 election in the electoral college, despite a lead of 540,000 votes nationwide. |
Despite Gore's close defeat, the Democrats gained five seats in the Senate (including the election of
Hillary Rodham Clinton in New York), to turn a 55-45 Republican edge into a 50-50 split (with a Republican Vice President breaking a tie). However, when Republican Senator
Jim Jeffords of Vermont decided in 2001 to become an independent and vote with the Democratic Caucus, the majority status shifted along with the seat, including control of the floor (by the Majority Leader) and control of all committee chairmanships. However, the Republicans regained their Senate majority with gains in 2002 and 2004, leaving the Democrats with only 44 seats, the fewest since the 1920s.
In the aftermath of the
September 11, 2001 attacks, the nation's focus was changed to issues of
national security. All but one Democrat (Representative
Barbara Lee) voted with their Republican counterparts to authorize President Bush's
2001 invasion of Afghanistan. House leader
Richard Gephardt and Senate leader
Thomas Daschle pushed Democrats to vote for the
USA PATRIOT Act and the
invasion of Iraq. The Democrats were split over entering Iraq in 2003 and increasingly expressed concerns about both the justification and progress of the
War on Terrorism and the domestic effects, including threats to
civil rights and
civil liberties, from the
USA PATRIOT Act. Senator
Russ Feingold was the only Senator to vote against the act; it received considerably more resistance when it came up for renewal.
In the wake of the financial fraud scandal of the
Enron Corporation and other corporations, Congressional Democrats were pushed for a legal overhaul of business accounting with the intention of preventing further accounting fraud. This led to the bipartisan
Sarbanes-Oxley Act in 2002. With job losses and bankruptcies across regions and industries increasing in 2001 and 2002, the Democrats generally campaigned on the issue of economic recovery.
Presidential Election of 2004
The 2004 campaign started as early as December 2002, when Gore announced he would not run again in the
2004 election.
Howard Dean, former Governor of Vermont, an opponent of the war and a critic of the Democratic establishment, was the front-runner leading into the Democratic
primaries. Dean had immense grassroots support, especially from the left wing of the party. Massachusetts Senator
John Kerry, a more centrist figure with heavy support from the
Democratic Leadership Council, was nominated because he was seen as more "
electable" than Dean [
5].
As layoffs of American workers occurred in various industries due to
outsourcing, some Democrats (including Dean and senatorial candidate
Erskine Bowles of
North Carolina) began to refine their positions on free trade, and some even questioned their past support for it. By 2004, the failure of George W. Bush's administration to find
weapons of mass destruction in
Iraq, mounting combat casualties and fatalities in that country, and the lack of any end point for the War on Terror were frequently debated issues in the election. That year, Democrats generally campaigned on surmounting the
jobless recovery, solving the Iraq crisis, and fighting terrorism more efficiently.
|
Senator John Kerry was the Democratic Party's 2004 candidate for President. |
In the end, Kerry lost both the popular vote (by 3 million out of over 120 million votes cast) and the
Electoral College. Republicans also gained four seats in the Senate and three seats in the House of Representatives. Also, for the first time since 1952, the Democratic leader of the Senate lost re-election. In the end there were 3,660 Democratic
state legislators across the nation to the Republicans' 3,557. Democrats gained governorships in Louisiana, New Hampshire and Montana. However, they lost the governorship of Missouri and a legislative majority in Georgia - which had long been a Democratic stronghold.
There were many reasons for the defeat. After the election most analysts concluded that Kerry was a poor campaigner.
[ Evan Thomas, Eleanor Clift, and Staff of Newsweek, Election 2004: How Bush Won and What You Can Expect in the Future (2005); [6] [7] ] A group of Vietnam veterans opposed to Kerry called the
Swift Boat Veterans for Truth undercut Kerry's use of his military past as a campaign strategy. Kerry was unable to reconcile his initial support of the
Iraq War with his opposition to the war in 2004, or manage the deep split in the Democratic Party between those who favored and opposed the war.
[ Evan Thomas, Eleanor Clift, and Staff of Newsweek, Election 2004: How Bush Won and What You Can Expect in the Future (2005)] Republicans ran thousands of television commercials to argue that Kerry had flip-flopped on Iraq. When Kerry's home state of Massachusetts legalized
same-sex marriage, the issue split liberal and conservative Democrats and independents (Kerry publicly stated throughout his campaign that he opposed same sex marriage, but favored civil unions). Republicans exploited the same-sex marriage issue by promoting ballot initiatives in 11 states that brought conservatives to the polls in large numbers; all 11 initiatives passed. Flaws in vote-counting systems may also have played a role in Kerry's defeat (see
2004 U.S. presidential election controversy and irregularities). Senator
Barbara Boxer of California and several Democratic U.S. Representatives (including
John Conyers of Michigan) raised the issue of voting irregularities in Ohio when the 109th Congress first convened, but they were defeated 267-31 by the House and 74-1 by the Senate. Other factors include a healthy job market, a rising stock market, strong home sales, and low unemployment.
The Party Today
After the defeats in 2000 and 2004, many Democrats voiced concerns about the future of their party. Prominent Democrats began to rethink the party's direction, and a variety of strategies for moving forward were voiced. Some suggested moving towards the right to regain seats in the House and Senate and possibly win the presidency in the
election of 2008; others suggested that the party move more to the left and become a stronger opposition party.
These debates were reflected in the 2005 campaign for Chairman of the
Democratic National Committee, which
Howard Dean won over the objections of many party insiders. Dean sought to move the Democratic strategy away from the establishment, and bolster support for the party's state and local chapters.[
8]
When the
109th Congress convened, Democratic Senators chose
Harry Reid of Nevada as their
Minority Leader and
Richard Durbin of Illinois to replace Reid as their
Assistant Minority Leader. Reid tried to convince the Democratic Senators to vote more as a bloc on important issues; he forced the Republicans to abandon their push for privatization of Social Security. In 2005, the Democrats retained their governorships in
Virginia and
New Jersey, electing
Tim Kaine and
Jon Corzine, respectively. However, the party lost the mayoral race in
New York City, a Democratic stronghold, for the fourth straight time.
The
USA PATRIOT Act was renewed by Congress in March 2006; it passed in the Senate by 89-10 (34 Democrats voted yes and 9 voted no), and in the House by 280-138 (66 Democrats voted for the renewal, and 124 voted against it.)[
9] However the act was partly rewritten to remove some of its more controversial provisions.
By spring 2006, many Democrats across the country were optimistic about their party's chances in regaining control of the House or Senate in the fall elections. The main hurdle was the districting system in the House that made over 90 percent of the seats "safe" for one party or the other. To regain a majority the Democrats needed to take nearly all the rest.
In 2006 polls showed prospects have brightened for the Democrats, largely because of Republican missteps and scandals. Scandals involving lobbyist
Jack Abramoff, former House Majority Leader
Tom DeLay, and Ohio governor
Bob Taft gave the Democrats the opportunity of using the corruption issue. Bush's slow response to the
Hurricane Katrina disaster seemed to be a campaign issue that would highlight incompetence without antagonizing anyone. Public opinion on the war in Iraq has continued its steady negative trend, and this, along with widespread sentiment among conservatives that the GOP-controlled government has been incapable of controlling government spending, has continued to drag President Bush's approval ratings down to the lowest levels of his presidency.
In April and May 2006, large-scale peaceful demonstrations by immigrant rights advocates in many cities across the country indicated some of the emotion at the heart of the debate on illegal immigration. Going into the election season, polls show that Democrats have an advantage on the highly volatile issue. [
10] [
11] [
12]
2008 outlook
|
U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton touted by media as leading in race for 2008 Presidential nomination |
|
Former U.S. Senator John Edwards ranked 2nd in early polls in race for 2008 Presidential nomination |
As of 2006, Democratic Party presidential hopefuls have begun preparing to run in the presidential election in 2008. Many pollsters and pundits have suggested that Senator
Hillary Clinton holds the lead for the 2008 nomination, but the Senator has faced considerable criticism from the growing number of anti-war Democrats for her lack of opposition to the Iraq war and a large field of other possible candidates has developed.
They include former national nominees
John Edwards,
Al Gore, and
John Kerry, as well as former Virginia Governor
Mark Warner, retired General
Wesley Clark, Indiana Senator
Evan Bayh, New Mexico Governor
Bill Richardson (who could become the first Hispanic on a major party ticket), Illinois Senator
Barack Obama (who could become the first African-American on a major party ticket), and Wisconsin Senator
Russell Feingold. In addition, former Senator
Mike Gravel of
Alaska and current Senator
Joe Biden of
Delaware declared their candidacy in April of 2006.
[1] Resigned.
[2] Died in office.
[3] The Greeley/Brown ticket was first nominated by the
Liberal Republican Party. Greeley died before the electoral votes were cast.
[4] Thomas Eagleton was the original vice presidential nominee, but was forced to withdraw his nomination.
New Democrats, Centrists and the DLC
Though centrist Democrats differ on a variety of issues, they typically foster a mix of political views and ideas. Compared to other Democratic factions, they're mostly more supportive of the use of military force, including the war in Iraq, and are more willing to reduce government welfare, as indicated by their support for
welfare reform and
tax cuts. Centrists argue that their ideas are more in line with the majority of Americans. Progressive Democrats such as Governor
Howard Dean classify "new democrats" as "Republican Lite" due to their willingness to promote and vote for a Republican agenda and their willingness to accept corporate fundraising.
One of the most influential factions is the
Democratic Leadership Council (DLC), an influential non-profit organization that advocates
centrist positions for the party. Members often self-identify under the title "
New Democrat". Selected former party leaders of the 1980s founded the DLC in response to the landslide victory of Ronald Reagan over
Walter Mondale in 1984, believing the Democratic Party needed to reform its political philosophy if it was to ever retake the White House. The DLC hails President
Bill Clinton as proof of the viability of third way politicians and a DLC success story. The DLC has no official allegiance with or control over the Democratic National Committee. Many Progressive Democrats believe the DLC to be partially responsible for the Republican takeover of Congress in 1994 and their taking back of the Senate in 2002. Since the start of involvement of the DLC in 1992, the Democratic Party has not won control of either house of congress in an election. Chairman Howard Dean is the first DNC Chair since 1992 to not be aligned or involved with the DLC. However, critics contend that the DLC is effectively a powerful, corporate-financed influence within the Democratic Party that acts to keep Democratic Party candidates and platforms sympathetic to corporate interests.
Prominent centrists include President
Bill Clinton; Senator
Hillary Clinton; Vice President
Al Gore up to 2000, but not since; Connecticut Senator
Joseph Lieberman; Iowa Governor
Tom Vilsack, and former Virginia Governor
Mark Warner. This faction of Democrats are sometimes affiliated with the
Democratic Leadership Council and were referred to as
New Democrats in the 1990s. The DLC was founded and continues to be led by
Al From. Governor Tom Vilsack of
Iowa is the current chairman.
Libertarian Democrats
Civil libertarians also often support the Democratic Party because its positions on such issues as
civil rights and
separation of church and state are more closely aligned to their own than the positions of the
Republican Party, and because the Democrats' economic agenda may be more appealing to them than that of the
Libertarian Party. They oppose gun control, the "
War on Drugs",
protectionism,
corporate welfare, governmental borrowing, and an
interventionist foreign policy. The
Democratic Freedom Caucus is an organized group of this faction.
Progressive Democrats
Many Progressive Democrats are descendants of the
New Left of Democratic Presidential candidate/Senator
George McGovern of South Dakota; others were involved in the presidential candidacies of
Vermont Governor
Howard Dean and U.S. Rep.
Dennis Kucinich of
Ohio; and still others are disaffected former members of the
Green Party. Progressive Democratic candidates for public office have had popular support as candidates in metropolitan areas outside the South, and among
African-Americans nationwide. Unifying issues among progressive Democrats have been opposition to the
War in Iraq, opposition to economic and social conservatism, opposition to heavy corporate influence in government, support for
universal health care and steering the Democratic Party in the direction of being a more forceful opposition party. Compared to other factions of the party, they've been most critical of the Republican Party, and most supportive of social and economic equality.The
21st Century Democrats is a political organization active since 2000 in assisting candidates it describes as "
progressive" or "
populist" in winning elections. Its strategy puts emphasis on training large numbers of organizers to work at the grassroots level and targeting specific campaigns it sees as important. It has strong ties to veterans of campaigns for the late Minnesota Senator
Paul Wellstone.
The
Congressional Progressive Caucus or CPC is a caucus of progressive Democrats, along with one independent, in the
U.S. Congress. It is the single largest Democratic caucus in the House of Representatives, although it currently has no members from the Senate. Well-known members include Rep.
Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), Rep.
John Lewis (D-GA), Rep.
Barbara Lee (D-CA), and Rep.
Bernie Sanders (I-VT). The CPC advocates universal health care,
fair trade agreements,
living wage laws, the right of all workers to organize into trade unions and engage in strikes and collective bargaining, the repeal of significant portions of the
USA PATRIOT Act, the formation of a
Department of Peace, the legalization of
gay marriage, strict
campaign finance reform laws, a complete pullout from Iraq, a crackdown on corporate crime and corporate welfare, an increase in income tax on whom they consider "wealthy",
tax cuts for those they consider "poor", and an increase in
welfare spending by the federal government. [
13] [
14]
Progressive Democrats have included Congressmen Kucinich, Congressman
John Conyers (Michigan),
Jim McDermott (Washington),
John Lewis (Georgia), the late Senator
Paul Wellstone (Minnesota). The
Democracy for America (DFA) political action committee generally supports fiscally responsible and socially
progressive candidates at all levels of government. It was founded by ex-Vermont Governor and current Democratic Party Chairman
Howard Dean during his presidential campaign; its current Chairman is
James H. Dean, Howard Dean's brother. DFA fights against the influence of the far-right on American politics and works to rebuild the Democratic Party "from the bottom up".The
Progressive Democrats of America lends itself to the progressive ideology within the party. Founded by members of
Dennis Kucinich's 2004 presidential campaign, it does not hold much sway in the Democratic Party, being considered more radically liberal than other factions.
Labor Democrats
One of the most important parts of the Democratic Party coalition is the labor vote. Labor supplies a great deal of the money, grass roots political organization and base of support for the party. While Union membership has fallen over the last four decades, the labor union component of the party is still very important. The Union vote tends to be more protectionist than centrists in the party. The labor wing is concerned with issues such as the minimum wage, as well as protection of pensions, collective bargaining and access to
health insurance. Prominent members of this wing include
Andy Stern of
SEIU. Other important union organizations in the Democratic coalition include
AFSCME,
UAW, and the
AFL-CIO. Prominent politicians associated with the labor wing include
Ohio congressman
Sherrod Brown and
Byron Dorgan, the populist senator from
North Dakota. Most of the members in this faction tend to identify more with the progressive faction of the party.
Liberal Democrats
Liberal Democrats are to the left of centrist Democrats. The liberal faction was dominant in the party for several decades, although they have been hurt by the rise of centrist forces such as President
Bill Clinton. Compared to conservatives and moderates, liberal Democrats generally have advocated
fair trade and other less conservative economic policies, and a less militaristic foreign policy, and have a reputation of being more forceful in pushing for
civil liberties. Liberals are increasingly identified as being part of the larger progressive wing of the party.
Prominent liberal Democrats include U.S. Senators
Barbara Boxer (California),
Russ Feingold (Wisconsin),
Ted Kennedy (Massachusetts),
Tom Harkin (Iowa), and House Minority leader
Nancy Pelosi (California).
Conservative Democrats
The Democratic Party had a conservative element, mostly from the South and Border regions, into the 1980s. Their numbers declined sharply as the GOP built up its Southern base. They were sometimes humorously called "
Yellow dog Democrats", or "
boll weevils", "
Dixiecrats". In the House, they form the
Blue Dog Democrats caucus of fiscal and social conservatives and moderates, primarily southerners, willing to broker compromises with the Republican leadership. They have acted as a unified voting bloc in the past, giving its thirty members some ability to change legislation.
There remains, however, a small
conservative wing of the Democratic Party, one which is mostly rural or southern. Prominent conservative Democrats of recent time include Senators
Ben Nelson (Nebraska),
Ken Salazar (Colorado) and
Mary Landrieu (Louisiana); as well as Congressmen
Ike Skelton (Missouri),
Gene Taylor (Mississippi),
Henry Cuellar (Texas),
Collin Peterson (Minnesota), and
Jim Marshall (Georgia). Moderate Blue Dogs include
Harold Ford, Jr. (Tennessee).
Joe Lieberman (Connecticut) has sided with conservatives on some foreign policy issues (especially his support for the Iraq war), but is considered liberal on social and economic issues.
A newly emerging trend is the return of active pro-life Democratic groups and candidates. Some of these candidates have won office or are being backed by the party establishment in their state. While some of these pro-life Democrats are more conservative than most Democrats in general, most are centrists or liberals in keeping with the majority of the Democratic Party on other issues. The largest national pro-life group within the party is the
Democrats for Life. The issue is controversial in 2006 in Pennsylvania, where pro-choice Democrats are debating[
15] whether to support pro-life candidate Bob Casey Jr. [
16] for the Senate seat held by a prominent conservative Republican.
The
Democratic National Committee (DNC) is responsible for promoting presidential goals (when the party controls the White House) or articulating Democratic policies (when the Republicans have the White House). In presidential elections it supervises the national convention and, under the direction of the presidential candidate, it raises funds, commissions polls, and coordinates campaign strategy. There are similar state committees in every state and most large cities, counties, and legislative districts, but they have far less money and influence than the national body. The chairman of the DNC (currently
Howard Dean) is chosen by the President when the Democrats have the White House. Otherwise the chairman is chosen by vote of the state committeemen; Dean ran against numerous candidates to win his position in early 2005. Rather than focusing just on close "swing states," Dean proposed the "50 State Strategy". His goal is for the Democratic Party to be committed to winning elections at every level in every region of the country, with Democrats organized in every single voting precinct in the country.
The Democratic Party in the House and Senate have powerful fundraising and strategy committees. The
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (or
DCCC) assists party candidates in House races, and the
Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in Senate races. They typically raise over $100 million per election cycle, and play important roles in recruiting strong candidates. The
Democratic Governors Association is a discussion group that seldom funds state races. In each instance the Republicans have similar organizations. There is also a group focused on state legislative races, the
Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee. The DNC sponsors two youth-oriented organizations: the
Young Democrats of America (YDA) and the
College Democrats.
|
"A Live Jackass Kicking a Dead Lion" by Thomas Nast |
In the 1790s the Federalists deliberately used the term "Democratic Party" as an insult to bait Jeffersonians. For example, in 1798 George Washington said, "You could as soon scrub the blackamore white as change the principle of a profest Democrat."
[[17]] By the 1830s, however, the term that had once been considered an insult became the party's name, and the party called itself "The Democratic Party of the United States of America." In the late 19th century the term "The Democracy" was in common use for the party.
The most common symbol for the party is the
donkey. In its original form, the jackass was born in the intense mudslinging that occurred during the
presidential race of 1828 as a play on the name of President Andrew Jackson, the Democratic candidate. Jackson had been called "Andrew Jackass," and the defiant Jackson adopted the nickname.
On
January 19,
1870, a
political cartoon by
Thomas Nast in
Harper's Weekly titled "A Live Jackass Kicking a Dead Lion" revived the donkey as a symbol for the Democratic Party (the symbol had also been used in the 1830s). Cartoonists followed Nast and used the donkey to represent the Democrats, and the elephant to represent the GOP. The DNC's official logo, pictured above, depicts a stylized kicking donkey.
Both major political parties (and many minor ones) use the traditional red, white, and blue colors in their marketing and representations. The media often uses the colors red or blue to indicate how a state voted. Since the 2000 election, states that voted Democratic states have been marked blue and states that voted Republican have been marked red by several notable media outlets.
*
History of the United States Democratic Party*
Democratic National Convention*
List of Democratic Party Presidential nominees*
Democratic organizations*
List of notable Democrats*
List of state Democratic Parties in the U.S.*
Progressivism*
Democrat In Name Only*
Use of the term "Democrat Party" by Republicans*
Democracy for America*
List of political parties in the United States*
Republican Party (United States)# The other is the British
Conservative Party, which is older if you consider its origins in the older
Tory Party founded in about 1680. #
Michael Moore,
Stupid White Men (And Other Sorry Excuses for the State of the Nation), Chapter Ten, Regan Books. ISBN 0-06-039245-2#
Ari Melber,
Seattle Post-Intelligencer,
26 March 2005,
"Where's the Party At?".
The Nation,
2 August 2004,
"A People's Democratic Platform."#
Al Franken and
Tom Wolffe,
Rolling Stone,
17 November 2004,
"The Aftermath". Thomas Frank,
New York Review of Books vol. 52 #8,
May 12 2005,
"What's the Matter with Liberals?"#
Jann S. Wenner,
Rolling Stone,
17 November2004,
"Why Bush Won."#
Sasha Abramsky,
The Nation 18 April 2005,
"Democrat Killer?".#
This Week with George Stephanopoulos,
Interview with Howard Dean,
23 January 2005, ABC-TV.
* Barone, Michael, and Grant Ujifusa,
The Almanac of American Politics 2006: The Senators, the Representatives and the Governors: Their Records and Election Results, Their States and Districts (2005) covers all the live politicians with amazing detail.
* Blum, John Morton.
The Progressive Presidents: Roosevelt, Wilson, Roosevelt, Johnson (1980)
* Jensen, Richard.
Grass Roots Politics: Parties, Issues, and Voters, 1854-1983 (1983)
* Judis, John B. and Ruy Teixeira.
The Emerging Democratic Majority (2004) demography is destiny
* Kleppner, Paul et al.
The Evolution of American Electoral Systems (1983), advanced scholarly essays.
* Kleppner, Paul.
The Third Electoral System 1853-1892: Parties, Voters, and Political Cultures (1979), major study of voting patterns in every state
* Lawrence, David G.
The Collapse of the Democratic Presidential Majority: Realignment, Dealignment, and Electoral Change from Franklin Roosevelt to Bill Clinton (1996)
* Nichols, Roy Franklin.
The Democratic Machine, 1850-1854 (1923)
* Patterson, James T.
Grand Expectations: The United States, 1945-1974 (1997) well balanced scholarly synthesis.
* Patterson, James T. Restless Giant: The United States from Watergate to Bush vs. Gore
(2005) well balanced scholarly synthesis.
* Nicol C. Rae; Southern Democrats
Oxford University Press. 1994. focus on 1964 to 1992.
* Remini, Robert V. Martin Van Buren and the Making of the Democratic Party
(1959)
* Rutland, Robert Allen. The Democrats: From Jefferson to Clinton
(1995). short popular history
* Sabato, Larry J. Divided States of America: The Slash and Burn Politics of the 2004 Presidential Election
(2005), scholarly.
* Sabato, Larry J. and Bruce Larson. The Party's Just Begun: Shaping Political Parties for America's Future
(2001) scholarly textbook.
* Schlesinger, Arthur Meier, Jr. ed. History of American Presidential Elections, 1789-2000
(various multivolume editions, latest is 2001). For each election includes good scholarly history and selection of primary document. Essays on the most important election are reprinted in Schlesinger, The Coming to Power: Critical presidential elections in American history
(1972)
* Schlisinger, Galbraith. Of the People: The 200 Year History of the Democratic Party
(1992) popular essays by scholars.
* Silbey, Joel H. The American Political Nation, 1838-1893
(1991)
* Witcover, Jules. Party of the People: A History of the Democrats'' (2003), 900 page popular history
Official
*
Democratic National Committee*
Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee*
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee*
Democratic Governors Association*
Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee*
Kicking Ass: The Party's Official Blog*
Democrats Abroad*
Young Democrats of America*
Democratic Leadership Council*
College Democrats of America*
Woman's National Democratic Club*
Democratic Think Tank Democrats.US*
2020 Democrats*
Democrats For Life of America*
Music Row Democrats*
2004 Platform (HTML format)
*
2004 Platform (PDF format)
