Remember this one from history class? It is the late 1700s and the secret monarchist President John Adams is scheming to arrange a marriage between one of his sons and one of King George III of England’s daughters. His maniacal plan is only stopped by the great George Washington, who comes out of retirement to ride to the White House and end Adams’ conniving at the point of a sword.
You do not remember it? Well this tale did not actually occur. However, it was a feature of the brutal Election of 1800 between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. With the 2012 presidential election in full swing and accusations of campaign ugliness unparalleled in US history being thrown about, a look back at previous presidential elections helps to put things in perspective.
The election of 1800, John Adams verses Thomas Jefferson, was a particularly unpleasant election. The formation of parties had only just occurred during the previous election and candidates still thought it was undignified to campaign. However, this did not prevent electioneering from going on behind the scenes which allowed for more outrageous charges since it was anonymous. Jefferson was labeled an atheist and Adams a monarchist. There was concern that Jefferson’s perceived lack of faith would result in a move away from “the Christian system.” From the other side there was concern that Adams “had expressed himself in favor of an hereditary President of the United States.” Whichever side you were on there was genuine concern that the results of the election would destroy the fledgling republic. Adams wrote that the result of “both the extreme parties which divide us, will be a dissolution of the union and civil war.”
The election of 1828, Andrew Jackson verses John Quincy Adams, featured accusations both true and false that made it one of the most sordid elections in US history. The false accusations included that General Jackson had ordered soldiers put to death over a simple misunderstanding about terms of enlistment, the accusation that President Adams had provided the czar of Russia female companionship, and the accusation that President Adams had bought ‘gambling apparatus’ (a billiards table) on the public dime. The true accusations included the revelation that Rachel Jackson cohabitated with Andrew Jackson while still married to her first husband and a rehashing of Jackson’s dueling history and hot temper. Additionally, there was a nose pulling incident (considered a great insult at the time) by a Jackson supporter perpetrated on John Adams II, who worked for the president. The tumult continued at the inauguration when President Jackson opened up the White House to his supporters and they trashed the place. Stewards finally had to put drums of punch outside to get the throngs to leave the White House and then locked the doors behind them.
During the election of 1884, Grover Cleveland verses James G. Blaine, Blaine was accused, most likely accurately, of taking railroad bribes while a Congressman. Cleveland was also accused, accurately, of fathering a child out of wedlock in 1874. He admitted it and still won the election. Republicans for Blaine taunted the Cleveland camp singing, “Ma ma, where’s my pa?” during the campaign. The victorious Cleveland supporters eventually started chanting back, “Gone to the White House, ha ha ha.!”
The election of 1912, William Howard Taft verses Woodrow Wilson verses Teddy Roosevelt, got very complicated. Roosevelt did not like the way his hand-picked successor governed and decided to run against him with the Progressive party (nicknamed the Bull Moose party because Roosevelt often said he was as “strong as a bull moose”). This created a three way race and an avenue for the unlikely candidate, Wilson, to get to the White House. Other than the nastiness of former friends running against each other, the largest drama came when Roosevelt was shot in the chest during a speech in Milwaukee, Wisconsin by John Schrank, who was later found to be insane. Amazingly enough, Roosevelt finished the speech and then went to the hospital. The bullet had been slowed by a 50 page speech and Roosevelt’s glasses case which were in his breast pocket. Roosevelt said of the incident, “It takes more than that to kill a bull moose!”
In the election of 1928, Alfred E. Smith verses Herbert Hoover, Smith was the first Roman Catholic to be nominated by a major political party. Flyers were sent out that declared if Smith were elected the United States would be ruled by the Pope in Rome. This tactic worked and was tried again, unsuccessfully, when John F. Kennedy ran for President in 1960.
In the election of 1964, Lyndon Johnson verses Barry Goldwater, Johnson had a spy, who was possibly a CIA agent, working on the Goldwater campaign. This person would feed the Johnson campaign information about scheduling and send advance copies of speeches so the Johnson campaign could out maneuver Goldwater. The FBI was used, illegally, to perform security checks on members of Goldwater’s staff. It is also alleged that President Johnson directed FBI head J. Edgar Hoover to bug the Goldwater campaign plane.
In the election of 1972, Richard Nixon verses George McGovern, Nixon’s campaign operatives famously broke into Democrat National Committee offices in the Watergate complex. They were trying to get information on the opposition and bug their phones. They were caught and while Nixon won the election in a landslide, the cover-up of the burglary eventually led to his resignation.
So is 2012 the nastiest presidential election ever? I will let the reader be the judge. What do you think the ugliest presidential election in US history was?