New York?s Grover Cleveland, who was president from 1885 to 1889 and
from 1893 to 1897. Strong in their memories of Jackson and the Civil War,
they still espoused the conventional policies of limited government
activities. A second group consisted of the urban political machines, which
won the support of immigrants by helping them to adjust to conditions in a
new country. A third faction was made up of restive groups in the South
and West, reacting against the new industrial and centralized economy.
Angry farmers and small-town entrepreneurs, feeling badly squeezed by the
new economic forces, wanted a shift of Democratic policies toward more
vigorous government intervention in their behalf. They were strongly
resisted by the traditionalists who ignored, were complacent about, or
sometimes cooperated with the new forces the agrarians detested. The
urban political machines remained at arm?s length from both, feeling
estranged from their values and outlook. In the 1890s the storm broke. The
cautious and traditional reaction of Cleveland?s second administration to the
depression after 1893, its hostility to unions and strikes, and its harsh
attitudes toward the machines on behalf of civil service reform provoked a
revolt by Democratic voters in the South and West. They found in William
Jennings Bryan a presidential candidate who overthrew the Cleveland wing
in 1896 and dominated the party for a decade afterward. It did them little
good, however. Bryan, although supported by the dissident People?s Party,
was abandoned by many traditional and urban Democrats, who opposed his
program and stance, and he was defeated by the Republican William
McKinley.
VI THE WILSONIAN ERA AND THE 1920S At
the beginning of the 20th century the Democrats? minority position among
voters remained central to their existence. The Progressive split in
Republican ranks helped elect Woodrow Wilson twice, but the entry of the
United States into World War I ended that. The war, popular at first,
backfired against the Wilson administration when large numbers of
German-Americans and Irish-Americans protested with their votes against
U.S. involvement on England?s side. The result was another Republican
landslide in 1920, and for the rest of the decade the Democrats remained
beset by a new outburst of factionalism. The national convention in 1924
was raucously stalemated between the urban-ethnic wing and the older
Bryanite-southern groups. The 1928 nomination of the Irish Catholic Al
Smith broke the solid South, part of which went Republican for the first
time ever in reaction to the social and cultural values that Smith
represented in the eyes of the defecting group.
VII THE NEW DEAL
In the mid-20th century the basic character of the Democratic appeal began
to change, first slowly and then rapidly. In the 1930s and ?40s the
Democrats became a party of vigorous government intervention in the
economy and in the social realm, willing to regulate and redistribute wealth
and to protect those least able to help themselves in an increasingly
complex society. The urban political machines had brought to the party a
commitment to social welfare legislation in order to help their immigrant
constitutents. At first resisted by southern Democrats and the other
limited-government advocates of the party?s traditional wing, the new look
began to win out in the late 1920s. The depression after 1929 and the
coming to power of Franklin D. Roosevelt, with his New Deal, solidified and
expanded this new commitment.
Increasingly, under Democratic leadership, the government expanded its
role in social welfare and economic regulation. Given the economic
situation, this proved to be electorally attractive. Traditional Democrats
surged to the polls, new voters joined, and the party won over groups, such
as the blacks, who had been Republicans for generations?at first haltingly,
then enthusiastically and overwhelmingly. The result was the New Deal
coalition that dominated the country for more than 30 years. More people
than ever before identified themselves as Democrats. Roosevelt became an
even more powerful symbol than Jackson had been, winning four
successive terms. In addition, Roosevelt?s New Deal coalition of southern
populists and northern liberals laid the base for the Democrats to control
Congress in all but four of the 48 years between 1933 and 1981. Despite
defections on the left and right, President Harry Truman won reelection in
1948 running on the New Deal record. Although the war hero Dwight D.
Eisenhower easily won the presidency in 1952 and 1956, the Democrats ran
Congress for six of his eight years in office.
VIII THE PARTY SINCE JOHNSON
The Democrats regained the White House with the election of John F.
Kennedy in 1960 and passed much vigorous legislation, culminating in the
Great Society policies of President Lyndon Johnson. These continued and
expanded New Deal social commitments, this time to encompass civil rights
and to aid minorities and the unorganized. As the party solidified its support
among blacks, however, it lost southern whites and northern labor and
ethnic voters. The country prospered, but conflicts over social and military
policy intensified.
The Vietnam War (1959-1975) provoked many within the party to challenge
it on its anti-Communist foreign policy, which had directly led to
involvement in Vietnam. At the same time, the revolt of the young against
the draft and on matters of personal behavior and discipline contributed to
a strong challenge to party norms and regular patterns of doing business.
The clumsy reactions of party leaders and the Chicago police culminated in
street battles between groups of protesters and police units during the
Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 1968. People within the party
who tried to come to terms with the new forces of peace and individual
liberty lost in 1968 but were able to seize control of the party in 1972. New
nominating rules, inspired by the restlessness within the party, and the
weakening power of its leaders after 1968 led to the nomination of George
McGovern. His campaign ended in overwhelming defeat, but the party
bounced back after the excesses of Watergate and the tapering off of the
fervor induced by the war.
The nomination of a southerner, Jimmy Carter, in 1976 brought the solid
South back into the Democratic camp for the first time since 1944, but only
temporarily. The clash of social values, on one hand, and changing
economic issues, on the other, shifted the center of gravity within the party
and continued to drive many away. Issues such as inflation divided the
party badly. Political parties in general were in decline, as fewer voters
remained loyal to them or accepted their dictates.
Landslide victories by Republican presidential nominee Ronald Reagan over
Carter in 1980 and Walter Mondale in 1984 further wounded the
Democrats, but the party rebounded in 1986 to take control of the U.S.
Senate, which had been in Republican hands for six years. The Democrats
entered the fall 1988 presidential campaign more unified than at any time
since 1976 but were unable to overcome the portrayal of their nominee,
Michael Dukakis, as “out of the mainstream” on social, economic, and
defense issues; Republican George Bush won the election. However, the
Democrats did increase their Senate, House, gubernatorial, and state
legislative majorities in the 1988 elections.
In 1992 the Democratic Party recaptured the presidency after 12 years
when Bill Clinton won the election. Clinton and his vice president, Al Gore,
pledged to improve the economy, which had been depressed during much
of Bush?s presidency. Although Clinton was successful in revitalizing the
economy, the Democrats lost their majority in Congress in the 1994
elections.
Republicans gained control of both houses of Congress for the first time in
over 40 years after the 1994 elections. The Democratic president and the
Republican Congress often had trouble agreeing on legislation. The
Republican Congress passed bills for welfare reform and tax cuts which
were both vetoed by President Clinton. In addition, the federal government
had two partial shutdowns when the Republicans and Democrats could not
agree on a federal budget for the 1996 fiscal year.
In 1996 President Clinton and Vice President Gore were reelected. However,
Republicans retained their control of Congress. In the spring of 1997 Clinton
and Congress announced that they had agreed on a federal budget plan to
eliminate the deficit in five years. However, disagreements about the details
of the plan arose between Congress and the president, raising questions
about whether it would be passed.
In 1997 the Democratic Party came under scrutiny for illegal campaign
contributions and fundraising practices. At issue were allegations that the
Democratic Party had collected contributions from foreign companies and
individuals, who under campaign finance rules are not allowed to contribute
money to political campaigns. There were also questions about whether
Clinton tried to raise funds by holding coffee groups and allowing donors to
spend the night in the White House. Committees formed by both houses of
Congress began to investigate if the Democratic Party had accepted illegal
campaign contributions and whether these contributions were used as a
way for people to gain access to the president. In addition, the Department
of Justice began an investigation but refused to appoint an independent
council, claiming no conflict of interest.