Democratic party, American political party; the oldest continuous political party in the United States.
Origins in Jeffersonian Democracy
When political alignments first emerged in George Washington's administration, opposing factions were led by Alexander Hamilton Hamilton, Alexander, 1755–1804, American statesman, b. Nevis, in the West Indies.
Early Career
He was the illegitimate son of James Hamilton (of a prominent Scottish family) and Rachel Faucett Lavien (daughter of a doctor-planter on Nevis and
..... Click the link for more information. and Thomas Jefferson Jefferson, Thomas, 1743–1826, 3d President of the United States (1801–9), author of the Declaration of Independence, and apostle of agrarian democracy.
Early Life
Jefferson was born on Apr.
..... Click the link for more information. . In the basic disagreement over the nature and functions of government and of society, the Jeffersonians advocated a society based on the small farmer; they opposed strong centralized government and were suspicious of urban commercial interests. Their ideals—opposed to those of the Federalist party Federalist party, in U.S. history, the political faction that favored a strong federal government.
Origins and Members
In the later years of the Articles of Confederation there was much agitation for a stronger federal union, which was crowned with
..... Click the link for more information. —came to be known as Jeffersonian democracy, based in large part on faith in the virtue and ability of the common man and the limitation of the powers of the federal government. This group of Anti-Federalists, who called themselves Republicans or Democratic Republicans (the name was not fixed as Democratic until 1828), supported many of the ideals of the French Revolution and opposed close relations with Great Britain.
Led by Jefferson and his ally James Madison Madison, James, 1751–1836, 4th President of the United States (1809–17), b. Port Conway, Va.
Early Career
A member of the Virginia planter class, he attended the College of New Jersey (now Princeton Univ.), graduating in 1771.
..... Click the link for more information. , the group had become a nationwide party by 1800, winning the support of Aaron Burr Burr, Aaron, 1756–1836, American political leader, b. Newark, N.J., grad. College of New Jersey (now Princeton).
Political Career
A brilliant law student, Burr interrupted his study to serve in the American Revolution and proved himself a
..... Click the link for more information. and George Clinton Clinton, George, 1739–1812, American statesman, vice president of the United States (1805–1812), b. Little Britain, N.Y. Before he was 20 he served on a privateer and, in the French and Indian War, accompanied the regiment of his father, Charles Clinton,
..... Click the link for more information. in New York, of Benjamin Rush Rush, Benjamin, 1745?–1813, American physician, signer of the Declaration of Independence, b. Byberry (now part of Philadelphia), Pa., grad. College of New Jersey (now Princeton), 1760, M.D. Univ. of Edinburgh, 1768.
..... Click the link for more information. and Albert Gallatin Gallatin, Albert , 1761–1849, American financier and public official, b. Geneva, Switzerland. Left an orphan at nine, Gallatin was reared by his patrician relatives and had an excellent education.
..... Click the link for more information. in Pennsylvania, and of most influential politicians in the South. Jefferson became President in 1800 in an election that has often been called a turning point in American history. With this election emerged an alliance between Southern agrarians and Northern city dwellers, an alliance that grew to be the dominating coalition of the party. With Madison and James Monroe Monroe, James, 1758–1831, 5th President of the United States (1817–25), b. Westmoreland co., Va.
Early Life
Leaving the College of William and Mary in 1776 to fight in the American Revolution, he served in several campaigns and was
..... Click the link for more information. succeeding Jefferson, the party's "Virginia dynasty" held the presidency until 1824.
The Dominant Party
As the Federalist party waned, politics came to consist mainly of feuds within the Democratic Republican organization, such as the opposition of the Quids Quids, in U.S. political history, an extreme states' rights group of Jeffersonian Republicans led by John Randolph of Virginia. Feeling that Thomas Jefferson and James Madison had retreated from the states' rights position they had taken in the Kentucky and Virginia
..... Click the link for more information. to Madison's election (1808) and the peace ticket led by De Witt Clinton Clinton, De Witt , 1769–1828, American statesman, b. New Windsor, N.Y.; son of James Clinton. He was admitted (1790) to the New York bar but soon became secretary to his uncle, George Clinton, first governor of the state, and in that position (1790–95)
..... Click the link for more information. (1812). By 1820 the party dominated the nation so completely that Monroe was reelected without opposition. But the foundations for political regrouping were being laid.
In 1824 the electoral vote was split between Andrew Jackson Jackson, Andrew, 1767–1845, 7th President of the United States (1829–37), b. Waxhaw settlement on the border of South Carolina and North Carolina (both states claim him).
..... Click the link for more information. , John Quincy Adams Adams, John Quincy, 1767–1848, 6th President of the United States (1825–29), b. Quincy (then in Braintree), Mass.; son of John Adams and Abigail Adams and father of Charles Francis Adams (1807–86).
..... Click the link for more information. , William H. Crawford Crawford, William Harris, 1772–1834, American statesman, b. Amherst co., Va. (his birthplace is now in Nelson co.). He moved with his parents to South Carolina and later to Georgia. After studying law he practiced at Lexington, Va.
..... Click the link for more information. , and Henry Clay Clay, Henry, 1777–1852, American statesman, b. Hanover co., Va.
Early Career
His father died when he was four years old, and Clay's formal schooling was limited to three years.
..... Click the link for more information. ; when the election went into the House of Representatives, Clay threw his support to Adams, who won. Jackson was elected in 1828 and in 1832 (when his followers held the first national convention convention, in U.S. politics, a gathering of delegates to nominate candidates for elective office and to formulate party policy. They are held at the national, state, and local levels.
..... Click the link for more information. of the Democratic party). In the debates of his administrations, especially over his dissolution of the Bank of the United States and the nullification nullification, in U.S. history, a doctrine expounded by the advocates of extreme states' rights. It held that states have the right to declare null and void any federal law that they deem unconstitutional.
..... Click the link for more information. controversy, opposition ultimately coalesced in the Whig party Whig party, one of the two major political parties of the United States in the second quarter of the 19th cent.
Origins
As a party it did not exist before 1834, but its nucleus was formed in 1824 when the adherents of John Quincy Adams and Henry
..... Click the link for more information. .
Until 1860 the Democrats won all the presidential elections except those of 1840 and 1848, electing Martin Van Buren Van Buren, Martin, 1782–1862, 8th President of the United States (1837–41), b. Kinderhook, Columbia co., N.Y.
Early Career
He was reared on his father's farm, was educated at local schools, and after reading law was admitted (1803) to
..... Click the link for more information. , James K. Polk Polk, James Knox , 1795–1849, 11th President of the United States (1845–49), b. Mecklenburg co., N.C.
Early Career
His family moved (1806) to the Duck River valley in Tennessee and there, after graduating from the Univ.
..... Click the link for more information. , Franklin Pierce Pierce, Franklin, 1804–69, 14th President of the United States (1853–57), b. Hillsboro, N.H., grad. Bowdoin College, 1824. Admitted to the bar in 1827, he entered politics as a Jacksonian Democrat, like his father, Benjamin Pierce, who was twice elected
..... Click the link for more information. , and James Buchanan Buchanan, James, 1791–1868, 15th President of the United States (1857–61), b. near Mercersburg, Pa., grad. Dickinson College, 1809.
Early Career
Buchanan studied law at Lancaster, Pa.
..... Click the link for more information. . During this period political debate centered more and more on the bitter question of slavery that was dividing North and South. With the demise of the Whig party in the election of 1852 and the emergence of the sectional, antislavery Republican party Republican party, American political party.
Origins and Early Years
The name was first used by Thomas Jefferson's party, later called the Democratic Republican party or, simply, the Democratic party.
..... Click the link for more information. in 1854 (succeeding the Free-Soil party Free-Soil party, in U.S. history, political party that came into existence in 1847–48 chiefly because of rising opposition to the extension of slavery into any of the territories newly acquired from Mexico.
..... Click the link for more information. ), the Democrats remained the sole national party.
The vital question of the decade between 1850 and 1860 concerned slavery in the territories, and on this issue the Democratic party divided sharply. One group, mainly Northern, led by Stephen A. Douglas Douglas, Stephen Arnold, 1813–61, American statesman, b. Brandon, Vt.
Senatorial Career
He was admitted to the bar at Jacksonville, Ill., in 1834. After holding various state and local offices he became a U.S.
..... Click the link for more information. , championed the doctrine of popular sovereignty popular sovereignty, in U.S. history, doctrine under which the status of slavery in the territories was to be determined by the settlers themselves. Although the doctrine won wide support as a means of avoiding sectional conflict over the slavery issue, its meaning
..... Click the link for more information. , which held that the inhabitants of the territory should decide whether it would be slave or free. Other Northern Democrats (mostly the old Barnburners Barnburners, radical element of the Democratic party in New York state from 1842 to 1848, opposed to the conservative Hunkers. The name derives from the fabled Dutchman who burned his barn to rid it of rats; by implication, the Barnburners would destroy corporations
..... Click the link for more information. ) swung over to the new antislavery parties. Southern Democrats, led by Robert Toombs Toombs, Robert, 1810–85, American statesman, Confederate leader, b. Wilkes co., Ga. A successful lawyer in Georgia, he entered politics as a Whig, serving in the state legislature and in Congress (1845–53).
..... Click the link for more information. and Jefferson Davis Davis, Jefferson, 1808–89, American statesman, President of the Southern Confederacy, b. Fairview, near Elkton, Ky. His birthday was June 3.
Early Life
Davis's parents moved to Mississippi when he was a boy.
..... Click the link for more information. among others, and buttressed by the Supreme Court's decision in the Dred Scott Case Dred Scott Case, argued before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1856–57. It involved the then bitterly contested issue of the status of slavery in the federal territories. In 1834, Dred Scott, a black slave, personal servant to Dr. John Emerson, a U.S.
..... Click the link for more information. , held that slavery must be protected in the territories. At the Democratic Convention of 1860 the party split, Northern Democrats nominating Douglas, and the Southern Democrats choosing John C. Breckinridge Breckinridge, John Cabell, 1821–75, Vice President of the United States (1857–61) and Confederate general, b. Lexington, Ky. A lawyer, Breckinridge served in the Kentucky legislature (1849–51) and in the House of Representatives (1851–55).
..... Click the link for more information. , thus facilitating the victory of Abraham Lincoln.
From the Civil War to Bryan
During the Civil War some members of the party were openly sympathetic toward the South (see Copperheads Copperheads, in the American Civil War, a reproachful term for those Northerners sympathetic to the South, mostly Democrats outspoken in their opposition to the Lincoln administration. They were especially strong in Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio, where Clement L.
..... Click the link for more information. ), and Republicans in postwar years attempted with some success to depict the Democrats as the party of rebellion. Southern leaders associated the defeat of the South and Reconstruction Reconstruction, 1865–77, in U.S. history, the period of readjustment following the Civil War. At the end of the Civil War, the defeated South was a ruined land.
..... Click the link for more information. with the Republican party, and the eleven states of the old Confederacy, with few exceptions, voted Democratic until the 1960s, giving rise to the "solid South."
The years from 1860 to 1912 were lean ones for the party on the national level. In 1876 the Democratic candidate, Samuel J. Tilden Tilden, Samuel Jones, 1814–86, American political figure, Democratic presidential candidate in 1876, b. New Lebanon, N.Y. Admitted to the bar in 1841, Tilden was an eminently successful lawyer, with many railroad companies as clients.
..... Click the link for more information. , won a plurality of the popular vote, but the disputed electoral votes of Florida, South Carolina, and Louisiana (states still under Republican control) were awarded to the Republican Rutherford B. Hayes Hayes, Rutherford Birchard, 1822–93, 19th President of the United States (1877–81), b. Delaware, Ohio, grad. Kenyon College, 1843, and Harvard law school, 1845. He became a moderately successful lawyer in Cincinnati and was made (1858) city solicitor.
..... Click the link for more information. , who became President. Thus only the victories of Grover Cleveland Cleveland, Grover (Stephen Grover Cleveland), 1837–1908, 22d (1885–89) and 24th (1893–97) President of the United States, b. Caldwell, N.J.; son of a Presbyterian clergyman.
..... Click the link for more information. (1884 and 1892) broke the Republican control of the presidency during this period. Yet the Democrats often controlled one or both houses of Congress in this era and had wide success in the states.
In general policy the two parties differed little from the end of Reconstruction in 1877 until 1896. Traditionally the Democrats were more the party of agrarianism and cheap money and the opponents of protective tariffs, and even the most conservative Democrats were opposed to the control of industry and trade by the trusts and big business. However, radical economic and agrarian schemes were as distasteful to many Democrats as they were to the Republicans.
The problem of how to deal with the agrarian appeal of the Populist party Populist party, in U.S. history, political party formed primarily to express the agrarian protest of the late 19th cent. In some states the party was known as the People's party.
..... Click the link for more information. and with the question of free silver free silver, in U.S. history, term designating the political movement for the unlimited coinage of silver.
Origins of the Movement
Free silver became a popular issue soon after the Panic of 1873, and it was a major issue in the next quarter century.
..... Click the link for more information. split the Democrats in Cleveland's second administration. In the convention of 1896 a radical group succeeded in nominating William Jennings Bryan Bryan, William Jennings , 1860–1925, American political leader, b. Salem, Ill. Although the nation consistently rejected him for the presidency, it eventually adopted many of the reforms he urged—the graduated federal income tax, popular election of
..... Click the link for more information. for President on a platform calling for free silver and supporting other Populist demands. In the election the party suffered its worst popular defeat since 1872, and it appeared doomed by the impossibility of reconciling its diverse elements—Southern farmers, Western farmers, urban industrial classes, and a wealthy few.
The New Freedom and New Deal
The Democrats regained the presidency in 1912 under Woodrow Wilson Wilson, Woodrow (Thomas Woodrow Wilson), 1856–1924, 28th President of the United States (1913–21), b. Staunton, Va.
Educator
He graduated from Princeton in 1879 and studied law at the Univ. of Virginia.
..... Click the link for more information. , but only because the candidacy of Theodore Roosevelt on the Progressive party Progressive party, in U.S. history, the name of three political organizations, active, respectively, in the presidential elections of 1912, 1924, and 1948.
Election of 1912
..... Click the link for more information. ticket diminished the Republican vote. Under Wilson's progressive policy, known as the New Freedom, some fruitful reform was enacted, but the idealism he had inspired waned after World War I. Democratic presidential candidates were defeated in the next three elections, but in 1928 urban Democrats made key inroads into important urban voting blocs.
The economic depression that began in 1929 helped to sweep the Democrats and Franklin Delano Roosevelt Roosevelt, Franklin Delano , 1882–1945, 32d President of the United States (1933–45), b. Hyde Park, N.Y.
Early Life
Through both his father, James Roosevelt, and his mother, Sara Delano Roosevelt, he came of old, wealthy families.
..... Click the link for more information. into office in 1932, and with his New Deal the Democrats were again identified as the party of reform. Roosevelt was reelected in 1936 with the largest plurality in the nation's history, and in 1940 he became the first U.S. President to be elected to a third term. After leading the country for three years in World War II, he was reelected for a fourth term in 1944.
Upon his death (Apr., 1945) he was succeeded by Harry S. Truman Truman, Harry S., 1884–1972, 33d President of the United States, b. Lamar, Mo.
Early Life and Political Career
He grew up on a farm near Independence, Mo., worked at various jobs, and tended the family farm.
..... Click the link for more information. . In 1948, despite the withdrawal from the Democratic convention of many Southern Democrats (whose subsequent nominee was J. Strom Thurmond Thurmond, Strom(James Strom Thurmond) , 1902–2003, U.S. senator from South Carolina (1954–2003), b. Edgefield, S.C. He read law while teaching (1923–29) in South Carolina schools and was admitted to the bar in 1930.
..... Click the link for more information. ) and despite the candidacy of Henry A. Wallace Wallace, Henry Agard, 1888–1965, vice president of the United States (1941–45), b. Adair co., Iowa. He was (1910–24) associate editor of Wallaces' Farmer,
..... Click the link for more information. , Truman narrowly defeated the Republican candidate, Thomas E. Dewey. Adlai E. Stevenson Stevenson, Adlai Ewing, 1900–1965, American statesman, b. Los Angeles; grandson of Adlai Ewing Stevenson (1835–1914). A graduate (1922) of Princeton, he received his law degree from Northwestern Univ.
..... Click the link for more information. , the Democratic nominee in 1952 and 1956 was easily defeated by Dwight D. Eisenhower.
The 1960s to the Present
In 1960, John F. Kennedy Kennedy, John Fitzgerald, 1917–63, 35th President of the United States (1961–63), b. Brookline, Mass.; son of Joseph P. Kennedy.
Early Life
..... Click the link for more information. narrowly defeated the Republican candidate, Richard M. Nixon, in the presidential race. Upon Kennedy's assassination (1963), Lyndon B. Johnson Johnson, Lyndon Baines, 1908–73, 36th President of the United States (1963–69), b. near Stonewall, Tex.
Early Life
Born into a farm family, he graduated (1930) from Southwest Texas State Teachers College (now Southwest Texas State Univ.
..... Click the link for more information. became president and won a landslide victory in 1964 against the conservative Republican Barry Goldwater. His administration was marked by much social welfare and civil-rights legislation but the conduct of the Vietnam War split the party, and when combined with the strong third-party showing of the conservative Southern Democrat George C. Wallace Wallace, George Corley, 1919–98, governor of Alabama (1963–67, 1971–79, 1983–87), b. Clio, Ala. Admitted to the bar in 1942, he was active in the Alabama Democratic party, serving in the state assembly (1947–53) and as a district court
..... Click the link for more information. , led to the defeat of Hubert H. Humphrey Humphrey, Hubert Horatio, 1911–78, U.S. Vice President (1965–69), b. Wallace, S.Dak. After practicing pharmacy for several years, Humphrey taught political science and became involved in state politics.
..... Click the link for more information. by Richard Nixon in 1968.
The Democratic party of the 1970s and 80s was an uneasy alliance among labor, urban, and ethnic minority groups, intellectuals and middle-class reformers, and increasingly disaffected Southern Democrats. In 1972 the balance in the party was further upset with the nomination of George McGovern McGovern, George Stanley , 1922–, U.S. senator from South Dakota (1963–81), b. Avon, S.Dak. He was (1942–45) a decorated B-24 bomber pilot during World War II and later taught (1949–53) American history.
..... Click the link for more information. , whose defense and social welfare views proved unacceptable to many labor unions and other groups, while the South continued to swing its support to national Republican candidates. Although the Democrats retained their solid majorities in Congress (except for the Senate in 1980, 1982, and 1984), the victorious national coalition built by Nixon was sustained by Ronald Reagan Reagan, Ronald Wilson , 1911–2004, 40th president of the United States (1981–89), b. Tampico, Ill. In 1932, after graduation from Eureka College, he became a radio announcer and sportscaster.
..... Click the link for more information. in 1980 and 1984 and by George H. W. Bush Bush, George Herbert Walker, 1924–, 41st President of the United States (1989–93), b. Milton, Mass., B.A., Yale Univ., 1948.
Career in Business and Government
..... Click the link for more information. in 1988. Jimmy Carter Carter, Jimmy (James Earl Carter, Jr.), 1924–, 39th President of the United States (1977–81), b. Plains, Ga, grad. Annapolis, 1946.
Carter served in the navy, where he worked with Admiral Hyman G.
..... Click the link for more information. , a Democrat from Georgia, may have won in 1976 because of the political scandals that emerged during the second Nixon administration and by temporarily recalling Southern Democratic voters to the fold.
The Democratic victory of Bill Clinton Clinton, Bill (William Jefferson Clinton), 1946–, 42d President of the United States (1993–2001), b. Hope, Ark. His father died before he was born, and he was originally named William Jefferson Blythe 4th, but after his mother remarried, he assumed the
..... Click the link for more information. in 1992 was thought by some to have marked the emergence of a new Democratic coalition of labor, women, minorities, moderates, "Reagan Democrats," and the South. In 1994, however, voters expressed their anti-Washington and anti-incumbent sentiments by delivering Republican victories nationwide, with a particularly strong showing in the South, resulting in the loss for the Democrats of their majorities in both houses of Congress as well as the loss of a number of governorships. Clinton's conflicts with the Republican House helped restore much of the stature he had lost in 1994, and with a generally healthy national economy in 1996 he handily defeated Republican Bob Dole Dole, Bob (Robert Joseph Dole), 1923–, American political leader, b. Russell, Kan.; husband of Elizabeth Hanford Dole. While serving in World War II, he was seriously wounded and required several years of convalescence.
..... Click the link for more information. and Reform party candidate Ross Perot Perot, H. Ross (Henry Ross Perot), 1930–, American business executive and political leader, b. Texarkana, Tex., grad. Annapolis, 1953. In 1957 he resigned his commission and became a salesman for IBM.
..... Click the link for more information. . Other incumbents, however, also benefited from the voters' general contentment, and Republicans retained control of the House of Representatives and the Senate. This situation was largely unchanged by the 1998 congressional elections despite the Lewinsky scandal Lewinsky scandal , sensation that enveloped the presidency of Bill Clinton in 1998–99, leading to his impeachment by the U.S. House of Representatives and acquittal by the Senate.
..... Click the link for more information. , which Democrats feared would benefit Republicans.
In the 2000 elections, the party's presidential nominee, Al Gore Gore, Albert Arnold, Jr., 1948–, vice president of the United States (1993–2001), b. Washington, D.C., grad. Harvard, 1969. After serving in the army in Vietnam and working as a reporter, he was elected (1976) to the U.S.
..... Click the link for more information. , lost to Republican George W. Bush Bush, George Walker, 1946–, 43d president of the United States (2001–), b. New Haven, Conn. The eldest son of President George H. W. Bush, he was was raised in Texas and, like his father, attended Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass.
..... Click the link for more information. despite having won a plurality of the popular vote. Gore's candidacy was hurt by the campaign of Green party candidate Ralph Nader Nader, Ralph , 1934–, U.S. consumer advocate and political reformer, b. Winsted, Conn. Admitted to the bar in 1958, he practiced law in Connecticut and was a lecturer (1961–63) in history and government at the Univ. of Hartford.
..... Click the link for more information. , and the extremely narrow loss of Florida's electoral votes, which Gore unsuccessfully challenged in the courts. Despite Gore's electoral-college loss, the party's fortunes clearly seemed to have improved since the Reagan years, and the Democrats made gains in Congress, subsequently (June, 2001) controlling the Senate due to a Republican member's defection. The Nov., 2002, elections, however, returned control of both houses of Congress to the Republicans. Senator John Kerry Kerry, John Forbes, 1943–, U.S. politician, b. Denver, grad. Yale, 1966, Boston College law school, 1976. A decorated navy veteran who served two tours in Vietnam after graduating from Yale, Kerry won national notice as an outspoken opponent of the war when he
..... Click the link for more information. easily won the party's 2004 presidential nomination, but he was soundly defeated in the general election by President Bush. The party also saw the Republicans further solidify their majorities in Congress.
The party's national fortunes reversed with the 2006 congressional elections, in which voter discontent with political scandals, the war in Iraq, and other issues resulted in significant Democratic gains, giving the party control of both houses of Congress. Democrats also made gains in the states, winning control of additional governorships and state legislatures. Some of the gains, however, particularly in the U.S. Senate, were due to narrow victories.
Bibliography
See C. A. Beard, Economic Origins of Jeffersonian Democracy (1915); A. M. Schlesinger, Jr., The Age of Jackson (1945); H. J. Clancy, The Democratic Party (1962); R. M. Goldman, Search for Consensus (1979) and Dilemma and Destiny (1986); S. E. Frantzich, Political Parties in the Technological Age (1989); D. Sarasohn, Party of Reform: Democrats in the Progressive Era (1989); S. L. Maisel, The Parties Respond: Changes in the American Party System (1990).
Democratic Party
One of the two major political parties in the U.S., historically the party of labour, minorities, and progressive reformers. In the 1790s a group of Thomas Jefferson's supporters called themselves “Democratic Republicans” or “Jeffersonian Republicans” to demonstrate their belief in the principle of popular government and their opposition to monarchism. The party adopted its present name in the 1830s, during the presidency of Andrew Jackson. Democrats won nearly every presidential election in the years 1836–60, but the issue of slavery split the party. The Southern Democrats called for the protection of slavery in the new territories, whereas the Northern Democrats, led by Stephen A. Douglas, advocated allowing each territory to decide by popular sovereignty whether to accept slavery within its borders. As a result, in 1860 the new antislavery Republican Party won its first national victory under Abraham Lincoln. From 1861 to 1913 the only Democratic president was Grover Cleveland; in these years the party was basically conservative and agrarian-oriented, and its members were opposed to protective tariffs. It returned to power under Woodrow Wilson, instituting greater federal regulation of banking and industry, but the Republicans' frank embrace of big business drew voters amid the prosperity of the 1920s. Democrats became dominant again in 1932, electing Franklin D. Roosevelt. A coalition of urban workers, small farmers, liberals, and others sustained Democrats in office until 1953, and the party regained the presidency with the election of John F. Kennedy in 1960. In the 1970s and '80s the Democrats held the presidency only during the single term of Jimmy Carter (1976–81) but retained majority control of the House of Representatives. They regained the presidency in 1992 with the election of Bill Clinton but lost control of both the House and the Senate in 1994. In the presidential election of 2000, Clinton's vice president, Al Gore, was defeated by Republican George W. Bush. In 2004 the party's presidential nominee, John Kerry, was defeated by Bush, and the Democrats lost seats in both houses of Congress. Aided by growing opposition to the Iraq War, Democrats regained control of both the House and the Senate following the 2006 midterm elections. The modern Democratic Party generally supports a strong federal government with powers to regulate business and industry in the public interest; federally financed social services and benefits for the poor, the unemployed, the aged, and other groups; and the protection of civil rights.
Democratic Party
donkey; symbol of Democratic Party in U.S. politics. [Am. Culture: Misc.]