Michael Beschloss
Michael Beschloss
Michael Richard Beschlossis an American historian. A specialist in the United States presidency, he is the author of nine books...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionHistorian
Date of Birth30 November 1955
CountryUnited States of America
party leader half
Then you get to the last half of the 20th century, Americans are getting very skeptical about their leaders and their institutions, and another place that is affected is parties and conventions.
country party italian
The founders were very worried that if parties developed in America, you might have something like the modern Italian system, where you have 20 different parties that divide Congress and the country and can't govern.
party aggravation president
As parties began to develop around the turn of the 19th century, you had party nominees for President nominated in caucuses made up of party members in Congress.
party political firsts
First of all, there's no mention of political parties in the Constitution, so you begin American history with not only no political conventions but also no parties.
best bill civil might moments rights
...We might never have had a civil rights bill in 1964. That was one of the most important and best moments of American history,
kids remember tabloid
To kids of the 90's -- they probably remember him more of something of a tabloid celebrity,
adjusted adulthood almost bad given graceful nice reach
Given the experiences he had, for him to reach adulthood and be pretty well adjusted and be thought of almost universally as a pretty nice and graceful guy, that is not a bad accomplishment,
nominating
From the beginning of the presidential nominating conventions in the 1830's really through the 1950's, you had conventions that actually did real business.
bill bit clear clinton cut difficult invasion job middle objectives president turn
This is not as clear as saying, 'We are going to turn back the invasion of Kuwait.' The objectives here are a little bit more complex, a little bit more difficult for a president to explain, especially in the middle of a campaign. Bill Clinton really has his job cut out for him.
aware change hear life snap
This a person who can change the life of all of us, really, in the snap of a finger, by writing one word. And it's something that Americans are not as aware of because we don't hear that much about these people. We don't see them interact.
cases electoral represent result underlying united
So the result was that in many cases the conventions really did represent the underlying electoral topography of the United States.
divided final oftentimes period
Oftentimes during the period in which conventions really did business, you had situations where the delegates were divided and you would have ballot after ballot before there was a final nominee.
center events historical
He's at the center of two big historical events.
build enormous felt fighting fights-and-fighting liberal seem support
He felt that if he was able to build enormous support for fighting poverty, then that wouldn't seem something that was liberal and off on the left.