The 18th Public Conference of The Filson Institute
Presidential Politics, Contested Elections, Hanging Chads and Outright Fraud
Friday - Saturday May 16-17, 2008
The Filson Historical Society
The Filson Historical Society will host its 18th Public Conference. This two-day conference on May 16-17 explores some of the defining moments in our political history, moments we might prefer to forget, but ones that remind us that our form of government is fragile. For example, in 1824 Kentucky's own Henry Clay was accused by Democrat Andrew Jackson's supporters of participating in a "corrupt bargain" that threw the election to John Quincy Adams. And in 1876 Democrat Samuel Tilden won the popular votes but the Electoral College put Republican Rutherford B. Hayes in the White House. Sound familiar? In 1960 charges of vote buying tainted the election of Democrat John F. Kennedy, while in 2000 Al Gore won the popular vote by about half a million ballots, but the Electoral College decided that George W. bush should be president. Don't miss what should be an exciting and informative series of lectures.
Friday, May 16
5:30 pm - Reception at The Filson Historical Society
6:30 pm - Keynote Lecture by Howard Fineman - The Thirteen American Arguments: Enduring Debates That Inspire and Define Our Country
Fineman is Newsweek's Senior Washington Correspondent and columnist, and NBC News Analyst, a columnist for MSNBC.com, and a former Courier-Journal reporter covering the energy industry and Kentucky politics.
The highly-respected political journalis, Fineman offers an easy-to-follow blueprint for understanding and participating in the vital aspect of American life.
American politics is comprised of 13 enduring debates that define us. The histori of these arguments, and the deals they have produced, can inspire us and give us hope as we face the challenges of the 21st century. They were our national DNA - the double-helix of ideas and traditions we can rely on to orient ourselves as we move forward - and they can be broken down into five themes: The Individual: Who is a person? The Individual in Society: Who is an American? Government: Who has the power to define law and money? The United States' Role in the World: What about trade, war and diplomacy? Living up to the American Promise: Is our system fair?
Saturday, May 17
9:00 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.
Session One:
The People's Will Denied?: Backroom Politics and the Election of 1824
Dan Feller, Professor of History, University of Tennessee
The lecture will review the notorious election of 1824, decided in the House of representatives after no candidate won an electoral majority. It will explore the complex layers of personal, regioinal and political alliances and rivalries that produced an electoral stalemate, and offer new light on Andrew Jackson's famous charge of a "corrupt bargain" between John Q. Adams and Henry Clay to swindle him out of the presidency.
This election is notable for being the only time since the passage of the 12th Amendment in which the presidential election was decided by the House of Representatives, as no candidate received a majority of the electoral vote. The presidential election was also the only one in which the candidate receiving the most electoral votes did not become president.
Feller is the Editor/Director of The Papers of Andrew Jackson. He is also the author of The Jacksonian Promise: America, 1815-1840, and The Public Lands in Jacksonian Politics. Feller was the Lead scholar on "Andrew Jackson" an NEH-funded documentary film project. He received his master's degree and his doctorate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Session 2:
Tilden or Blood?
Mark Wahlgren Summers: Professor of History, University of Kentucky
The 1876 election involved a lot of bullying and more than enough killing beforehand, a lot of cheating afterwards, and a series of double-crosses. But that was not the worst. It ushered in 20 years of increasingly ugly manipulation of the ballot box and a level of fraud that most Americans found acceptable as part of the price for peace between north and south.
The presidential election of 1876 was one of the most disputed and intense presidential elections in American history. Samuel J. Tilden of New York defeated Ohio's Rutherford B. Hayes in the popular vote, and had 184 electoral votes to Hayes' 165, with 20 votes yet uncounted. These 20 electoral votes were in dispute: in three states (Florida, Louisiana and South Carolina) each party reported its candidate had won the state, while in Oregon one elector was declared ilegal on account of being an "elected or appointed official" and replaced. The votes were ultimately awarded to Hayes after a bitter electoral dispute.
Summers joined the UK history faculty in 1984 and is the author of four books. His most recent book, The Press Gang, analyzes the connection between journalism and politics in teh Gilded Age, the last three decades of the 19th century, which were characterized by a greatly expanding economy. he holds degrees from Yale and the University of California, Berkeley.
Lunch and Learning
Box lunch on the Grounds of The Filson Historical Society
America's political campaigns have left us a wonderful visual legacy of bygone days and contests. Badges, ribbons, buttons, newspapers, cartoons and other campaign memorabilia can be informative, humorous, and even rather shocking to us today. Jim Holmberg, The Filson' Curator of Special Collections, will present an illustrated talk on some of our nation's past presidential campaigns using items from The Filson's collection.
Session Three:
Elections Are like Cement
Tracy A. Campbell: Professor of History, University of Kentucky
During the 2000 Florida recount, pundits and scholars made countless comparisons to 1960. The two contests are, in fact, eerily similar, but in ways tha are not widely acknowledged in popular memory. This lecture will not only describe the paths of the 1960 and 2000 elections, but also what they tell us in case there is another closely contested presidential race in our future.
The electoral vote in 1960 was the closest in any presidential election dating to 1916, and Kennedy's margin of victory in the popular vote is among the closest ever in American history. The 1960 leection also remains a source of debate among some historians as to whether vote theft in selected states aided Kennedy's victory. There were many important issues at play in the 2000 election, but more attention is usually paid to the election itself, which featured a controversy over who won Florida's 25 electoral votes, the recount process in that state, and the issue of the popular vote. In the American system of presidential elections, the electoral vote system determines the winner, and Bush won this count, although Gore received more popular votes.
Campbell specializes in U.S. social and political history. He also serves as Co-Director of the Wendell H. Ford Public Policy Research Center at UK. He is the author of three books: The Politics of Despair: Power and Resistance in the Tobacco Wars, Short of the Glory: The Fall and Redemption of Edward F. Prichard, Jr., and Deliver the Vote: A History of American Election Fraud, an American Political Tradition - 1742 - 2004.
To register for this event, please contact The Filson at (502) 635-5083 or print and send in a registration form here.
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The Filson Historical Society
1310 South Third Street - Louisville, KY 40208
Phone: (502) 635-5083 Fax: (502) 635-5086
Hours
The Ferguson Mansion and Office
Monday - Friday: 9 am. - 5 pm.
Saturday and Sunday closed
Library and Special Collections
Monday - Friday: 9 am. - 5 pm.
First Saturday of Every Month: 9 am - 4 pm