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The United States Democratic Party is the
oldest continuously existing political party in the world
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Every time a U.S. presidential candidate received
the most votes but still lost the presidency, it was a Democrat ---
Samuel Tilden in 1872, Grover Cleveland in 1888, and Al Gore in 2000
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The Democratic party traces its origins to the
Democratic-Republican party of Thomas Jefferson. The current Democratic
party has existed since the days of President Andrew Jackson in the
1830s.
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Since at least the time of Franklin D. Roosevelt in
the 1930s, the Democratic Party has usually been viewed as more liberal than
the Republican Party on such issues as the government playing a role in
trying to help people and supporting civil rights and civil liberties.
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From the time of the Civil War in the 1860s through
the start of the civil rights movement in the 1960s, the Democratic party
received support from the "solid South" which didn't want to support the
Republicans because of their history of opposing slavery in the days of the
Civil War. When President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964
he said the South would oppose the Democratic Party for supporting civil
rights, and he has been right. The "solid South" now usually supports the
Republican party because it is more conservative on civil rights issues.
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"Happy Days Are Here Again" has been the unofficial theme
song of the Democratic Party since the days of President Franklin D. Roosevelt
in the 1930s. Aaron Copland's "Fanfare for the Common Man" is traditional played
at the start of Democratic Party national conventions to show the Democratic
Party's identification with the common man.
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Until the time of Franklin D. Roosevelt, a Democratic
Party candidate for president had to obtain a 2/3 vote of the delegates, while
the Republicans always only required a majority vote. As a result, the Democrats
sometimes needed over 100 ballots to pick a presidential candidate.
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In the 1800s the Democratic party was sometimes called the
"Democracy."
