Background of news –
Renominating Presidents
By Bertram Benedict
An adage of American politics has it that an incumbent President can always get himself renominated. The adage has held true during this century; it did not always stand up in the previous century.
It held true in 1940, yet Mr. Roosevelt’s nomination for a third term was contested. Senator Carter Glass of Virginia placed James A. Farley in nomination. Others put in the running were Vice President Garner and Senator Tydings of Maryland. The roll call gave Mr. Roosevelt 946-plus of the 1,100 votes, Mr. Farley 72-plus, Mr. Garner 61, Mr. Tydings 9-plus, Secretary Hull 5-plus.
The delegations from 22 states, including Pennsylvania, many operating under the unit rule, went unanimously for Mr. Roosevelt. Of Mr. Farley’s 72-plus votes, 25 came from New York, 12½ from Massachusetts. Of Mr. Garner’s 61 votes, 46 came from Texas. Of the Tydings votes, 8½ came from Maryland; of the Hull votes, 4⅔ came from Virginia.
After the vote was announced, Texas shifted its 46 votes to Mr. Roosevelt, Mr. Tydings announced that Maryland’s 16 were shifted to Mr. Roosevelt, Massachusetts’ 34 went over to the President, and Mr. Farley, obtaining the floor, moved to suspend the rules and make Mr. Roosevelt’s nomination unanimous.
No roll call in 1936
In 1936, a motion was adopted to suspend the rules, abandon the roll call, and make Mr. Roosevelt’s nomination unanimous.
In 1932, at the Republican Convention, the only name in nomination besides Mr. Hoover’s was that of ex-Senator France of Maryland. The roll call showed:
| Hoover | 1126½ |
| Senator Blaine | 13 |
| Calvin Coolidge | 4½ |
| Mr. France | 4 |
| Charles G. Dawes | 1 |
| Senator Wadsworth | 1 |
A motion to make the Hoover nomination unanimous was adopted with some scattering “nays.”
In 1924, President Coolidge was nominated by vote of 1065–34 for the late Senator Robert M. La Follette of Wisconsin and 10 for Senator Hiram Johnson of California. In 1916, President Wilson was renominated by acclamation, but in 1912 President Taft got renomination only by a narrow margin, in a contest with former President Roosevelt. The latter charged that the nomination was withheld from him by fraud in seating delegates whose seats were contested.
In 1904, Mr. Roosevelt, then President, had been nominated unanimously, like William McKinley in 1900.
Record of previous conventions
In the 19th century, the following six Presidents were renominated under the convention system – Benjamin Harrison in 1892 (he had much opposition, receiving only 535 of the 905 votes on the first ballot), Cleveland in 1888 (unanimously), Grant in 1872 (unanimously), Lincoln in 1864 (the votes of Missouri were cast for Grant), Van Buren in 1840 (unanimously), Jackson in 1832 (unanimously).
But the following five Presidents failed in attempts at nomination:
1844: Tyler, a Democrat elected Vice President on the Whig ticket with W. H. Harrison, wasn’t mentioned at the Democratic Convention. He was nominated by a rump Democratic Convention, but withdrew.
1852: Fillmore, who, like Tyler, had gone to the White House on the death of a President (W. H. Harrison), led Winfield Scott on the first ballot at the Democratic Convention, but Scott was nominated on the 53rd.
1856: Pierce at the Democratic Convention on the first ballot ran second to Buchanan, who was nominated on the 17th.
1876: Grant had clearly implied that he was willing to be drafted for a third term, but the House of Representatives passed a resolution deploring third terms, and the President got no votes at the convention.
1884: Arthur, another President by reason of death (Garfield’s), on the first ballot ran second to Blaine, who was nominated on the 4th.