On July 17, 1948, approximately 6,000 Southern Democrats from 13 states converge on Birmingham, Alabama, to form the States’ Rights Democratic Party (Dixiecrats) after walking out of the Democratic National Convention in protest of the party’s civil rights platform. The convention …
Strom ThurmondFielding L. WrightStates Rights Democratic PartyDemocratic PartyAlabama delegation+1 moreracial-politicssegregationsouthern-strategystates-rightspolitical-realignment
On January 25, 1936, former New York Governor and 1928 Democratic presidential candidate Al Smith delivers the keynote address at the American Liberty League dinner at Washington’s Mayflower Hotel, launching a scathing attack on President Roosevelt that accuses the New Deal of fomenting class …
Al SmithAmerican Liberty LeagueFranklin D. RooseveltJouett ShouseDu Pont familycorporate-resistancenew-dealpropagandared-baitingpolitical-realignment+1 more
Theodore Roosevelt accepted the Progressive Party nomination for president at a convention in Chicago, formally splitting from the Republican Party after losing the nomination to his former friend William Howard Taft despite winning nine of twelve state primaries. Roosevelt’s “Bull …
Theodore RooseveltWilliam Howard TaftWoodrow WilsonProgressive PartyRepublican National Committeeprogressive-erathird-partyrepublican-partypolitical-realignmentcorporate-power
After a dramatic 29-hour marathon session, the House of Representatives voted 191 to 156 to strip Speaker Joseph Cannon of his autocratic powers, removing him as chairman of the Committee on Rules and expanding its membership from five to 15 members. Representative George William Norris of Nebraska, …
Joseph CannonGeorge William NorrisPresident William Howard TaftProgressive Republicansprogressive-eracongressional-reformrepublican-partycorporate-powerpolitical-realignment
President William Howard Taft signed the Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act and infamously praised it as “the best tariff bill the Republican party ever passed,” betraying his 1908 campaign promises for meaningful tariff reform and triggering a permanent split within the Republican Party. Taft had …
President William Howard TaftNelson AldrichProgressive RepublicansOld Guard Republicansprogressive-eratariff-policyrepublican-partycorporate-powerpolitical-realignment
The People’s Party formally organizes in Dallas on August 18, 1891, following years of escalating frustration among Farmers’ Alliance members who conclude that traditional parties are too attached to corporate interests and political office perks to be effective agents of reform. The …
Farmers' AllianceKnights of LaborPeople's Partypopulist-movementpolitical-realignmentlabor-organizingcorporate-resistance
Reform-minded Republicans—derisively called “Mugwumps” from the Algonquian word for “important person” or “kingpin”—bolt from their party following James G. Blaine’s nomination for president at the Republican National Convention in June 1884. The Mugwumps, a …
James G. BlaineGrover ClevelandCarl SchurzMark TwainHenry Ward Beechersystematic-corruptionpolitical-realignmentreform-movementsrailroad-corruption
The 1848 presidential election takes place in the aftermath of the Mexican-American War and intense debates over the extension of slavery into the Mexican Cession. After both the Whig Party and the Democratic Party nominate presidential candidates who are unwilling to rule out the extension of …
Martin Van BurenFree Soil PartyDemocratic PartyWhig PartyLewis Cass+1 morefree-soil-partyantislaverypolitical-realignmentsectional-conflictslavery-expansion