This is Democracy: Through Conventions Past and Present
In this conversation with author and journalist Jonathan Alter, the Chicago native shares memories of political conventions past, and his predictions on how this week’s Democratic convention is likely to unfold. Alter, a former columnist for Newsweek magazine and filmmaker, is the author of numerous books. Those include a biography of Jimmy Carter, His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, a Life, and the soon-to-be-released American Reckoning, an eyewitness account of the fraud trial of Donald Trump.
Alter shares with Jeremi and Zachary the insight that conventions are no longer where candidates are selected or important decisions made. Rather, he explains, “the aim of these conventions now is to create an elaborate ad for the nominee and the party.” But that “ad” is often all-important, he explains.
He journeys back in time to explain why conventions are still symbolically important, sharing vivid anecdotes of his attendance as a 10-year-old at the Democrats’ last convention in Chicago in 1968. The divisions and violence that rocked that convention were to burden the nominee, Minnesota Senator Hubert Humphrey, throughout his campaign against Republican Richard Nixon. “If it hadn’t been for the disturbances at that convention, some of which I witnessed, the world would be a very different place. We wouldn’t have had Nixon. Humphrey would have been a very different president.”
Alter also shares interesting anecdotes about his later interactions with some of the actors in that controversial assembly, including activist Tom Hayden and Black Panthers co-founder Bobby Seale, both tried for crimes including incitement to rioting as part of the infamous “Trial of the Chicago Seven,” which many know about today because of the Netflix film on the subject. Their convictions were ultimately overturned.
This year, however, Alter finds the comparisons being made facile and irrelevant. The divisions within the Democratic Party have largely evaporated in the wake of President Joe Biden’s withdrawal and deference to Vice President Kamala Harris. Other than a possible, and probably modest floor fight over any plank on the Middle East in the drafting of the party platform, this week’s convention will be a display of unity, he predicts.
These are just a few of the insights recounted in this fascinating and often highly personal account of the conventions Alter has witnessed as a child in a political family, and later as a journalist. Yes, as many say, conventions have become largely coronations. But they are coronations with important implications for our democracy, Alter argues, in this vivid and informative exchange.
Please take a listen, or read the transcript.
This is Democracy – Episode 274: Political Conventions