History: Presidential campaigning

Zachary B. Wolf, CNN - It’s hard to believe that early American presidents did no personal campaigning whatsoever. They thought it was beneath them and the office they held. 

I talked to Brendan Doherty, a professor of political science at the United States Naval Academy and author of the books, “The Rise of the President’s Permanent Campaign” and “Fundraiser in Chief: Presidents and the Politics of Campaign Cash,” about why early presidents stayed off the trail and how this became the permanent campaign. Our conversation, conducted by email:

 

WOLF: Why didn’t early presidents personally campaign?

 

DOHERTY: In the early decades of the republic, presidential candidates adhered to the norm that they should not actively campaign for office. It was seen as unseemly to seek the office to which they hoped to be elected. But that didn’t stop them from finding other ways of communicating with voters.

 

WOLF: How did these early non-campaigning presidents get their message out?

 

DOHERTY: While early presidential candidates didn’t actively campaign, their supporters got the word out on their behalf.

 

Newspapers were openly partisan in the early republic, and many of their articles openly praised or criticized various candidates. While candidates did not attend political conventions in the 1800s, supporters made the case for their preferred candidates in ways that drove news coverage.

 

In the late 1800s, some presidential candidates mounted what were called “front porch campaigns.” They would speak to supporters at or near their homes, and newspapers would cover these speeches and spread their messages across the country.

 

WOLF: What are some key moments in the rise of the current model of campaigning?

 

DOHERTY: In 1866, President Andrew Johnson broke from precedent and actively campaigned in the midterm elections. His travel to give a series of speeches was called the Swing around the Circle, and he was criticized both for actively campaigning and for using inflammatory rhetoric while doing so.

 

Two years later, the House of Representatives impeached Johnson for, among other things, giving these campaign speeches that brought Congress into “disgrace, ridicule, hatred, contempt, and reproach.”

 

In 1896, Democratic nominee William Jennings Bryan actively campaigned across the country, while the eventual winner, Republican William McKinley, conducted a front porch campaign.

In 1932, Franklin Roosevelt became the first presidential candidate to appear at a convention to accept his nomination in person.

 

And in 1948, Harry Truman actively campaigned across the country, giving speeches from the back of a train in what became known as his whistle-stop campaign.