Political Party Conventions

Paper Summary:

This paper states that, although some people feel that contemporary, image-laden U.S. political party conventions are no longer important, for every dull convention, there are those where vital issues were decided such as the divisive split between the Democrats and the 'Dixiecrats' in 1940. The paper relates the debate on the effects, created by televising the national convention, on the nature of the conventions themselves. The paper also reviews several Democratic and Republican conventions from the 19th to the 21st century. The paper concludes, that, no matter how carefully scripted the convention and how certain the nominee, that politics is a volatile mixture, which cannot be micromanaged by any political party.

From the Paper:

"This is why, in the 21st century, the current Democratic race is causing such anxiety within the party. It is feared that if the convention is called to play an important role in determining the candidate, as conventions were traditionally 'supposed to' in the 19th century it will simply present a negative image of the party to the public, and suggest that the Democrats are not really a party, but two opposing camps of contentious ideologies at war."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Crawford, Darlisa. "Memorable Moments in Political Convention History: The Evolution of National Party Conventions." Election Focus 2004. U.S. Department of State. Jul 14, 2008. 1.14. http://usinfo.state.gov/dhr/img/assets/5796/elections07_15_04.pdf
• Cresswell, Stephen." The Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party." Buttons and Ballots. Issue 26. 2001. May 12, 2008. http://www.cresswellslist.com/ballots2/mfdp.htm
• Johnson, Donald B. "Dixiecrats." The American Presidency. May 12, 2008. http://ap.grolier.com/article?assetid=0129280-00&templatename=/article/article.html
• Rowen, Beth. "History of Party Conventions." InfoPlease. May 12, 2008. http://www.infoplease.com/spot/conventions1.html
• Wald, Jonathan. "264 arrested in NYC bicycle protest." CNN.com. Aug 28, 2004. May 12, 2008. http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/08/28/rnc.bike.protest/

More papers on Political Party Conventions:

• Term Paper # 129199 : "The Tea Party Movement"
• Essay # 12975 : "U.S. Campaign Politics of 1996"
• Essay # 56636 : "Post-Civil War Politics"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: