Center for Archival Collections
Archival Chronicle Gallery
August 2004: Volume 23, Number 2
Politics in NW Ohio | Archival Chronicle Index | CAC Homepage
Ohio on the Campaign Trail
"You campaign in poetry, you govern in prose"
--Mario Cuomo, Governor of New York
Presidential campaigns of the nineteenth century were far different from those Americans were familiar with by the close of the twentieth century. Revolutions in transportation and communication made it possible for the first time for candidates to go directly to the voters to appeal for their support. Indeed, after World War II, voters expected presidential hopefuls to make extended campaign trips all over the country. Men considering running for office began to make exploratory trips to court potential supporters. Contemporary campaigns have continued this trend, and in "battleground" states, candidates' paths often cross. The photographs in this essay are a taste of campaigns past.
1912: The Primary Battle
The Progressive movement of the turn of the 20th Century brought great changes to American politics. Briefly, Progressivism aimed to make government more accountable directly to the people and was closely allied with social and economic reform movements. Anti-trust legislation, regulation of banking, tax reform, and women's suffrage were all Progressives' issues. Some of the most important issues, however, had to do with our political process: they pushed for citizens to be able to initiate and vote on legislation directly, and to nominate candidates in open primary elections, hoping to free politics from the influence of corrupt business interests.
Theodore Roosevelt had boldly led the way to enact many of these reforms during his presidency. Dissatisfied with the record of his successor William Howard Taft, Roosevelt sought the nomination of the Republican Party again, stumping for votes in primary states. Roosevelt won the Ohio primary, but Taft ultimately won the nomination. Still not satisfied, Roosevelt ran as the Progressive (or "Bull Moose") candidate for president, neatly splitting the Republican vote in half and handing a landslide victory to Democrat Woodrow Wilson.
Theodore Roosevelt Speaking on the Steps of the Defiance County Courthouse "Colonel Theodore Roosevelt has come and gone. Tomorrow morning at 9.30 o'clock President William Howard Taft will spend a few minutes in Defiance. Thus Defiance people get an opportunity to actually witness this novelty of a former president of the United States and a president of the nation, both on the stump, both seeking to again occupy, the highest and most dignified office in the land. |  |
"'If we are given a chance,' said the Colonel, 'we will put into effect the proposals that I am making on the stump. We will see that while the rights of the employer and the capitalist are safeguarded, the rights of the employees, the wage earners, the farmer, the retail dealer and the small professional man are safeguarded--that all of them have a fair show.'" | |
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"President William Howard Taft was very emphatic in his statements concerning Colonel Theodore Roosevelt in his short speech upon his visit to Defiance Saturday morning. He spoke much longer than was expected, discussing at some length certain issues of the campaign. |
"He said that he was not stumping the country because he liked it but because it had been forced upon him by the statements of Col. Roosevelt...Paying his respects to Col. Roosevelt he said that when he took office, he found that under the colonel's administration the nation was exceeding its income and there was a deficit of about fifty million dollars. This he claims to have cleaned up, leaving a small surplus... He especially resents the statement made by Roosevelt that he is not a progressive.... | |
Governor Harris Arrives by Train A convention of the United Spanish War Veterans (USWV) was the occasion that called Governor Andrew L. Harris to Defiance in 1907. | |
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William H. Taft Speaking at the Defiance County Courthouse
1920: The Front Porch Campaign
A national political campaign is better than the best circus ever heard of,
with a mass baptism and a couple of hangings thrown in.--H. L. Mencken
Republican National Convention, 1920 America was in a much different situation by 1920. In the years since the 1912 campaign, the United States had gone to war in Europe and women had won the right to vote. Warren G. Harding, an Ohio newspaper publisher-turned-politician, was considered by Republican leaders to have the right qualities to carry the party banner in the election. He won the nomination on the tenth ballot. |  |
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Conducting the major portion of his 1920 Presidential campaign from the wide front porch of his home in Marion Ohio, Senator Warren G. Harding welcomed and spoke to thousands of people from its cozy shade. To accommodate the crowds, the lawn was covered with gravel. |
The 1960s
There is no excitement anywhere in the world, short of war, to match the excitement of an American presidential campaign.--Theodore H. White
Senator John F. Kennedy Autographs His Book While BGSU President Ralph McDonald looks on, Dr. John Davidson, professor in Business Administration asks Senator Kennedy to sign his book, Profiles in Courage. Kennedy was a rising star in the U. S. Senate with clearly presidential aspirations when he visited campus to speak. His appearance packed the auditorium. |  |
"Senator Kennedy closed his speech with an appeal to the student body. 'I am confident that you will take the knowledge you have gained at Bowling Green State University with the assistance of the tax-paying citizens, and make some contribution, either great or small, to the political endeavors of this fine state,' he said...[the United States] must shoulder our responsibilities if we expect the rest of the world to look to us for leadership in the future.'"--BG News, September 22, 1959. | |
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Nixon had lost the race for the presidency to Kennedy in 1960 and the race for the governorship of California in 1962, and it seemed that his political career was over. However, by 1967, he had begun making the rounds on the national lecture circuit, keeping himself in the public eye. Nominated for president by the Republican Party in 1968, he defeated Democratic Vice President Hubert Humphrey. |
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The 1970s and 1980s
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In 1976, President Gerald Ford had a hard fight for the nomination of his party against California Governor Ronald Reagan. |
President Ford Greets Supporters "During his campaign trip which found him in eight large and medium-sized cities, including Bowling Green, Ford spoke to an estimated 100,000 people. Many came to see the President as supporters, while an equally large number seemed to come undecided and leave as supporters. |  |
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"It was called the Presidential Forum on World Affairs. |
"The stakes are too high for you to stay at home."--Lyndon Johnson, 1964
Bibliography
- MS 454 Bronson Collection
- BG News
- University Archives Photograph Collection
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