Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion: The Making of a President, 1884 - Softcover

Summers, Mark Wahlgren

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0807848492 ISBN 13: 9780807848494

Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press, 2000

Synopsis

The presidential election of 1884, in which Grover Cleveland ended the Democrats' twenty-four-year presidential drought by defeating Republican challenger James G. Blaine, was one of the gaudiest in American history, remembered today less for its political significance than for the mudslinging and slander that characterized the campaign. But a closer look at the infamous election reveals far more complexity than previous stereotypes allowed, argues Mark Summers. Behind all the mud and malarkey, he says, lay a world of issues and consequences.

Summers suggests that both Democrats and Republicans sensed a political system breaking apart, or perhaps a new political order forming, as voters began to drift away from voting by party affiliation toward voting according to a candidate's stand on specific issues. Mudslinging, then, was done not for public entertainment but to tear away or confirm votes that seemed in doubt. Uncovering the issues that really powered the election and stripping away the myths that still surround it, Summers uses the election of 1884 to challenge many of our preconceptions about Gilded Age politics.

About this title

Book Description:

"Summers's special contribution to revisionism is that he demonstrates how even the election of 1884 fits into a revisionist framework. . . . Anyone wishing to understand the broader context behind those stories will find Summers's analysis of great value."-- Labor History

From the Inside Flap:

Mark Summers challenges many preconceptions about Gilded Age politics in this close look at the infamous 1884 presidential campaign between Grover Cleveland and James G. Blaine. The mudslinging and slander were not for public entertainment, he argues, but to tear away or confirm votes that were in doubt during a time when voters were drifting away from party loyalty.

About this edition

• Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0807848492
• ISBN 13: 9780807848494
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 408