Radio became an increasingly important campaign medium in elections throughout the 1920s. By the 1920s, radio broadcasting was a viable and effective tool to reach voters beyond campaign tours and rallies. However, the rise of radio technology produced fears among governments that it could be used to radicalise public opinion and so political content was sometimes restricted. [1]
The use of radio in elections in Germany was restricted to prevent certain parties gaining airtime. Throughout the 1920s, the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and, to a less extreme extent, the National Socialists were banned from radio stations because they advocated the overthrow of the Weimar Republic. [2]
Right wing parties in Germany sought to make radio a conservative broadcasting medium under the guise of media neutrality. In the run up to the 1928 German federal election, Interior Minister Walter von Keudell (a DNVP member) banned all political speeches over radio, saying that political broadcasts were "not compatible with the precept that radio should not serve any party". [2]
During the campaign of the 1929 German referendum (a vote forced by nationalists in opposition to the Young Plan), Keudell's successor as Minister of the Interior, Social Democrat Carl Severing, used radio to attack the nationalists and promote the benefits of the Young Plan. The referendum failed but Severing's mobilisation of the media led to nationalists dubbing him a 'radio dictator'. [2]
The BBC was formed in 1922 as a private company. It was prohibited from producing its own news (having to rely on news from press agencies) and could only release bulletins in the evening. After the BBC's transformation into a public body in 1927, government views that the politicisation of radio could radicalise the population meant that political content was limited. [1] So as to secure the continuation of the license fee (which was approved by Parliament), the BBC tried to avoid political matters entirely. [3] As such, throughout the 1920s there was little political or campaign content on British radio.
Election results, however, were covered. The BBC periodically reported the results of the 1923 and 1924 elections. [4] [5] For the 1929 election, each of the three main party leaders were given slots to give addresses (as a precursor to party political broadcasts) and the BBC ran a programme from 9:50pm to 4:00am reporting the results. [6]
Historically, presidential candidates had either had to campaign in person or through record albums - an 'election by phonograph'. [7] The 1920 election was the first to be broadcast over radio, [8] with the results of the election being covered over 18 hours on the first broadcast of KDKA, a Pittsburgh-based radio station which had gained its license just days earlier. [9] [10] The radio station teamed up with the Pittsburgh Post, broadcasting results as they were telephoned in to the paper; as such, listeners knew the election result (a landslide for Republican Warren G. Harding) before they were printed in the next morning's papers. [11]
The broadcast of the 1924 Democratic National Convention was seen as a "public relations nightmare" after it took over 100 ballots to choose a nominee. The eventual winner, John W. Davis, though an accomplished speaker, [12] did not come across well on the radio. By the election, Davis conceded that radio had made the long speech "impossible or inadvisable" and that "the short speech will be in vogue". [10]
The Progressive candidate, Robert M. La Follette, made "frequent use" of the radio as a campaign tool, and his Labor Day speech is credited as being the first made exclusively for radio. [10]
Calvin Coolidge, the Republican candidate, used radio campaigning most effectively by broadcasting his speeches over several stations simultaneously rather than emulating the previous tours that candidates would do around the country. His final campaign speech was broadcast over a record 26 different stations. The Republicans understood better that radio was an entirely different medium; an internal memo noted that radio demanded "a new type of sentience" and that speeches should be kept short. Republican influence was also greater - the party spent three times more on radio campaigning than Democrats (including setting up their own radio station), and so the Republican message was heard three to four times more than that of the Democrats. [10]
Coolidge won a decisive victory with 382 electoral votes to Davis' 136 and Follette's 13. [13]
Neither Herbert Hoover (the Republican candidate) nor Al Smith (the Democratic candidate) were impressive radio speakers, but both parties still spent considerable funds on radio (radio stations had started charging parties for their airtime). The methods of radio campaigning diversified during the 1928 election, with the Republicans using well-known local citizens to read a single campaign speech over 174 community radio stations and Democrats both employing vaudeville stars and creating a radio play on Smith's life to try to persuade voters. The League of Women Voters, a non-partisan organization, also sponsored a number of radio programs informing voters on the electoral process and creating the first national radio candidate forum. The programs reached around 20 million voters after being broadcast over 22 stations, and were seen as important in increasing political engagement among women in rural and remote areas. [10] [14] [15]
Although Democrats outspent Republicans on radio campaigning, Hoover won a landslide victory with 444 electoral votes. [10] [16]
The 1872 United States presidential election was the 22nd quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 5, 1872. Despite a split in the Republican Party, incumbent President Ulysses S. Grant defeated Democratic-endorsed Liberal Republican nominee Horace Greeley.
The 1896 United States presidential election was the 28th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 3, 1896. Former Governor William McKinley, the Republican candidate, defeated former Representative William Jennings Bryan, the Democratic candidate. The 1896 campaign, which took place during an economic depression known as the Panic of 1893, was a political realignment that ended the old Third Party System and began the Fourth Party System.
The 1920 United States presidential election was the 34th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 2, 1920. In the first election held after the end of World War I and the first election after the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment, Republican Senator Warren G. Harding of Ohio defeated Democratic Governor James M. Cox of Ohio. The vice presidential nominees Calvin Coolidge and Franklin D. Roosevelt would be the separate successors of Harding and 1928 Republican nominee Herbert Hoover.
The 1932 United States presidential election was the 37th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 8, 1932. The election took place against the backdrop of the Great Depression. The incumbent Republican President Herbert Hoover was defeated in a landslide by Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Governor of New York and the vice presidential nominee of the 1920 presidential election. Roosevelt was the first Democrat in 80 years to simultaneously win an outright majority of the electoral college and popular vote, a feat last accomplished by Franklin Pierce in 1852, as well as the first Democrat in 50 years to win a majority of the popular vote, which was last done by Samuel J. Tilden in 1876. Hoover was the last incumbent president to lose an election to another term until Gerald Ford lost 44 years later. The election marked the effective end of the Fourth Party System, which had been dominated by Republicans. It was the first time since 1916 that a Democrat was elected president.
The 1936 United States presidential election was the 38th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 3, 1936. In the midst of the Great Depression, incumbent Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt defeated Republican Governor Alf Landon of Kansas. Roosevelt won the highest share of the popular and electoral vote since the largely uncontested 1820 election. The sweeping victory consolidated the New Deal Coalition in control of the Fifth Party System.
The 1960 United States presidential election was the 44th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 8, 1960. In a closely contested election, Democratic United States Senator John F. Kennedy defeated the incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon, the Republican Party nominee. This was the first election in which fifty states participated, and the last in which the District of Columbia did not, marking the first participation of Alaska and Hawaii. This made it the only presidential election where the threshold for victory was 269 electoral votes. It was also the first election in which an incumbent president was ineligible to run for a third term because of the term limits established by the 22nd Amendment. This is the most recent election in which three of the four major party nominees for President and Vice-President were eventually elected President of the United States. Kennedy won the election, but was assassinated in 1963 and succeeded by Johnson, who won re-election in 1964. Then, Nixon won the 1968 election to succeed Johnson who decided not to run for re-election that year. Of the four candidates, only Vice Presidential nominee Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. failed to succeed to the presidency. The election saw the first time that a candidate won the presidency while carrying fewer states than the other candidate, something that would not occur again until 1976. After Kennedy was elected, he was and currently the youngest president at age 43. He was 46 when he was assassinated 2 years later.
The 1964 United States presidential election was the 45th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 3, 1964. Incumbent Democratic United States President Lyndon B. Johnson defeated Barry Goldwater, the Republican nominee, in a landslide. With 61.1% of the popular vote, Johnson won the largest share of the popular vote of any candidate since the largely uncontested 1820 election, in which no candidate of either party has been able to match or surpass.
During presidential election campaigns in the United States, it has become customary for the candidates to engage in a debate. The topics discussed in the debate are often the most controversial issues of the time, and arguably elections have been nearly decided by these debates. Candidate debates are not constitutionally mandated, but they are now considered an intrinsic part of the election process. The debates are targeted mainly at undecided voters; those who tend not to be partial to any political ideology or party.
Third party is a term used in the United States for American political parties other than the two dominant parties, currently the Republican and Democratic Parties. Sometimes the phrase "minor party" is used instead of third party.
The 2008 United States presidential election was the 56th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 4, 2008. The Democratic ticket of Barack Obama, the junior senator from Illinois, and Joe Biden, the senior senator from Delaware, defeated the Republican ticket of John McCain, the senior senator from Arizona, and Sarah Palin, the governor of Alaska. Obama became the first African American to be elected to the presidency, as well as being only the third sitting United States senator elected president, joining Warren G. Harding and John F. Kennedy. Meanwhile, Biden became the first senator running mate of a senator elected president since Lyndon B. Johnson in the 1960 election.
The following is a timeline of events during the 2004 U.S. presidential election:
The 2004 United States presidential election was the 55th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 2, 2004. The Republican ticket of incumbent President George W. Bush and his running mate incumbent Vice President Dick Cheney were elected to a second term, defeating the Democratic ticket of John Kerry, a United States senator from Massachusetts and his running mate John Edwards, a United States senator from North Carolina. At the time Bush's popular vote total was the most votes ever received by a presidential candidate, a total that has since been surpassed; additionally, Kerry's total was the second most. Bush also became the only incumbent president to win re-election after losing the popular vote in the previous election. As of the 2020 election, this is the last time the Republican Party won the popular vote for president.
In politics, campaign advertising is the use of an advertising campaign through the media to influence a political debate, and ultimately, voters. These ads are designed by political consultants and political campaign staff. Many countries restrict the use of broadcast media to broadcast political messaging. In the European Union, many countries do not permit paid-for TV or radio advertising for fear that wealthy groups will gain control of airtime, making fair play impossible and distorting the political debate in the process.
In politics, a concession is the act of a losing candidate publicly yielding to a winning candidate after an election after the overall result of the vote has become clear. Concession is not a legal mandate. A concession speech is usually made after an election.
KDKA is a Class A, clear channel, AM radio station, owned and operated by Audacy, Inc. and licensed to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Its radio studios are located at the combined Audacy Pittsburgh facility in the Foster Plaza on Holiday Drive in Green Tree, and its transmitter site is at Allison Park. The station's programming is also carried over 93.7 KDKA-FM's HD2 digital subchannel, and is simulcast on FM translator W261AX at 100.1 MHz.
The 2008 United States presidential election in New Jersey took place on November 4, 2008, and was part of the 2008 United States presidential election. Voters chose 15 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
The 2008 United States presidential election in Illinois took place on November 4, 2008, and was part of the 2008 United States presidential election. Voters chose 21 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
The 2008 United States presidential election in New Hampshire took place on November 4, 2008, as part of the 2008 United States presidential election throughout all 50 states and D.C. Voters chose four representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
The 1924 United States Senate election in Iowa took place on November 4, 1924. Incumbent Republican Senator Smith W. Brookhart ran for re-election to a full term in office against Democrat Daniel F. Steck.
Al Smith, Governor of New York, was a candidate for President of the United States in the 1928 election. His run was notable in that he was the first Catholic nominee of a major party, he opposed Prohibition, and he enjoyed broad appeal among women, who had won the right of suffrage in 1920.
