The Convention City: why Chicago has hosted more presidential conventions than any other city
CHICAGO — The legacy of Lincoln still echoes at the intersection of Wacker Drive and Lake Street, perhaps the most consequential corner in Chicago history.
“It’s probably the most important place in Chicago,” said Craig Sautter, a DePaul University professor.
On the corner, there is a plaque commemorating the spot where the Republican Party nominated Abraham Lincoln for president.
“All these major buildings all over the place,” Sautter said. “And here it is, where if Lincoln hadn’t been nominated, we might be two different nations.”
Sautter is the co-author, with former Chicago alderman Ed Burke, of “Inside the Wigwam: Chicago Presidential Conventions 1860 to 1996,” a book about the city’s role as the host of 25 (soon to be 26) presidential nominating conventions – far more than any other city.
“I think originally just because of our geography,” Sautter said. “It’s where the trains came together, people from the east, the north, the south could get here. Even with airplanes, we’re centrally located.”
Though Illinois – and its 20 electoral votes (down from a height of 29 electoral votes) – have been a reliably Democratic for several recent elections, over the last 100 years, the state was up for grabs. Illinois voted for the democratic candidate 15 times, and the republican candidate ten times.
“It was really until the 1980s, a swing state,” Sautter said. “Could’ve gone either way.”
In 1860, the city’s first political convention, held in a Wigwam (a temporary structure) – gave us Lincoln, the Republican Party’s national platform, and Chicago’s reputation anything-goes political warfare.
“That night, judge David Davis, who was Lincoln’s campaign manager, he authorized people to forge fake credentials to get into the convention hall, the wigwam, so all night they were printing fake credentials and forging signatures,” said Sautter.
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The hall was packed with Lincoln supporters and carried him to victory on the third ballot – a surprising victory for a one term congressman from Illinois to defeat the leader of the U.S. senate from New York, William Seward.
In 1864, the Democratic National Convention was held at the Amphitheatre on Michigan Avenue and 11th street. That convention took place during the Civil War and was the setting for the “Copperhead Conspiracy” (“Copperheads” were Northerners who sympathized with the South). “There was a conspiracy to break the confederate prisoners of war out of Camp Douglass, burn Chicago to the ground, march down to Indianapolis and burn Indianapolis to the ground,” he said. It was discovered and squelched.
In 1868, delegates arrived at the RNC in top hats to nominate Ulysses S. Grant.
In 1880, the RNC returned to the city, and James Garfield was nominated at the Interstate Exposition Building in Chicago.
In 1884, the Democrats came back and nominated Grover Cleveland.
In 1888, the Republicans nominated Benjamin Harrison.
In 1892, Chicago welcomed the democrats back to the city with a marching band, where they re-nominated President Cleveland.
By 1896, the country was in the throes of depression. Wealthy bankers backed the “gold standard,” while “free silver” advocates were arguing for easier access to money and credit, to end the depression. At the coliseum on 63rd Street, William Jennings Bryan delivered a rousing speech known as the cross of gold address. Bryan said: “You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns. You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold.”
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And in 1904, back at the Chicago Coliseum, republicans nominated a man who would become one of the faces on Mount Rushmore: Teddy Roosevelt.
In 1912, the RNC returned and nominated William Howard Taft. A photo shows police officers lined up outside of the Coliseum. That same year the Progressive National Convention (the party eventually became known as the “Bull Moose Party” convened and re-nominated Teddy Roosevelt.
In 1916, Republicans returned to Chicago and nominated Charles Evans Hughes, who lost to democratic candidate Woodrow Wilson.
During the roaring ‘20s Chicagoans were diving into a new decade and taking a bigger swing at national influence.
The 1920, RNC gave birth to one of the most evocative phrases in political history – the “smoke filled backroom” – an actual room in the Blackstone Hotel. After a long stalemate, cigar chomping, poker playing senators settled on a man: “The senators said, ‘what about Harding? If we can’t solve this stalemate tomorrow morning, let’s throw our ballots to Harding and see what happens.”
On the tenth ballot, Harding won.
In 1932, the republicans and democrats both held their conventions at Chicago Stadium.
“They had two conventions,” Sautter said. “The republicans were there about two weeks before the Democrats.”
The Republicans nominated Herbert Hoover.
The Democrats nominated Franklin D. Roosevelt, who became the first candidate to accept the nomination in person and deliver a speech to the delegates, telling them “I offer you a new deal.”
“He flew on an airplane from New York to the municipal airport,” Sautter said. “Which is today’s Midway Airport.”
FDR was re-nominated in Chicago in 1940 and in 1944.
In 1952, at the International Amphitheatre, democrats nominated Illinois governor Adlai Stevenson. That same year, at the same location, republicans nominated general Dwight D. Eisenhower, who went on to win.
In 1956, Democrats again went to the International Amphitheatre on the South Side and again nominated Stevenson who again lost to Eisenhower. The Democrats didn’t get the presidency, but they got the chairman of the board – Frank Sinatra to sing the Star-Spangled Banner. Future president John F. Kennedy addressed the convention as did former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt. Outside of the convention former President Harry S. Truman was followed by a gaggle of reporters on Michigan Avenue.
In 1960, Richard Nixon arrived at Chicago’s International Amphitheatre in a convertible to accept the nomination. He would lose the election to Kennedy.
Eight years later, the infamous Democratic National Convention of 1968 brought protests, riots and shame to the city.
In 1968 the country was already in turmoil. Lyndon Johnson announced he would not run for re-election, believing he’d lost the support of the country over the Vietnam War.
In April, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, leading to riots on the west side.
In June, Robert F. Kennedy, the leading democratic candidate for president, was also assassinated.
The Democratic Party was deeply divided over the Vietnam War, but nominated Johnson’s loyal vice president Hubert Humphrey, a move seen by protesters as a continuation Johnson’s Vietnam policies.
“Clearly the party (rank-and-file) was for ending the war in Vietnam, but Humphrey got the nomination, so rage broke out among the protesters because they had been working for this for 6 months and the party had taken an undemocratic point of view,” Sautter said.
Scenes of Chicago police officers and Illinois National guardsmen violently clashing with college students shocked the nation, as did Mayor Richard J. Daley’s “shoot to kill” order.
The 1968 convention bruised the city’s reputation. It would be more than a quarter century before the city would see another DNC.
“Nationally we didn’t have another convention here until 1996 when Clinton was re-nominated,” Sauter said.
In 1996, Mayor Richard M. Daley sought to restore Chicago’s lost luster with a large-scale beautification effort that filled downtown with European-style wrought iron fences, and lush flower boxes.
“Chicago looked beautiful at its very best in the summer, Madison Avenue was retooled with iron gates, the Macarena was the dance, so it was a great feel-good convention,” Sautter said.
Bill Clinton was nominated an won re-election.
In all, 10 future presidents were nominated in Chicago.
“That’s a pretty impressive record, no other state or city comes close to us,” Sautter said.
Philadelphia and Baltimore have each hosted 13 conventions – each logging only half the number Chicago has hosted.
In the 164 years from the Wigwam to the United Center, a lot has changed, but one thing remains an enduring constant: Chicago’s place at the center of American politics. “
We’re a great convention city,” Sautter said. “We know how to put on a convention.”
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