Think this election season has been the craziest of all time? Suppose once more. American elections have lengthy been highlighted by drama, scandal and intrigue — and the stunning twists and turns of presidential campaigns have a behavior of repeating themselves.
A number of facets of the 2020 election cycle have undoubtedly been distinctive, with a world pandemic, protests for racial justice and extremist teams threatening violence. However from the civil rights motion to the Nice Recession, People have beforehand headed to the polls by warfare, financial downturn and social instability. Because the mud settles after this election, it is price wanting again to the previous for a little bit of historic context.
“On this loopy 12 months, one of the best ways to determine what is going to occur to the nation after all the pieces settles down once more is to know our historical past,” says Carlos Watson, Emmy-winning journalist, entrepreneur, political commentator, CEO of OZY and host of The Campaigns That Made Historical past, a two-hour documentary that just lately aired on HISTORY, masking essentially the most stunning and stunning political contests of the previous. For followers who’ve been following the burgeoning partnership between OZY, which appears to be the definition of media’s omni-channel future, and A+E Networks, which owns networks together with HISTORY and Lifetime, the documentary was a uncommon deal with that meets the second, permitting viewers to leap a number of steps forward of the curve this election cycle.
“This is not the primary loopy election we have had — there have been 5 of those whoppers simply over the previous 60 years,” mentioned Watson, who has turn into one of many preeminent new media figures serving to the general public make sense of this second in historical past — maybe the subsequent Doris Kearns Goodwin. Listed here are a number of classes from simply three of these “whoppers” that can assist you contextualize the newest election.
1. Anti-establishment candidates aren’t only a twenty first century drawback
When Ronald Reagan, a former soccer participant and charismatic actor, challenged President Gerald Ford in 1976, he wasn’t afraid of abandoning boring political-speak. “Balancing the price range,” as he quipped to Johnny Carson on The Tonight Present, “is like defending your advantage: You need to discover ways to say ‘no.'” The California governor got here tantalizingly near defeating the sitting president. And whereas Reagan misplaced, Ford urged him to deal with the Republican Nationwide Conference anyway, assuming he would embarrass himself with out a teleprompter. That was a mistake: Reagan delivered a stirring speech, placing him on the trail to the presidency 4 years later.
2. How a contested election may play out
“Florida, Florida, Florida.” NBC’s Tim Russert’s election night time mantra in 2000 would play out over weeks because the election final result hung within the steadiness, and legal professionals and activists descended on Florida for a disputed recount. In the long run, the U.S. Supreme Court docket’s 5-4 resolution in Bush v. Gore overruled the state of Florida, halting a recount and giving Bush the win greater than a month after Election Day.
3. The Proud Boys of 1968
A tumultuous 12 months marked by racial unrest and assassinations of leaders Martin Luther King Jr. and presidential front-runner Robert F. Kennedy ended up with Republican Richard Nixon topping Democrat Hubert Humphrey. However segregationist George Wallace’s third-party marketing campaign, representing Southerners who had ditched the pro-civil-rights Democratic Occasion, was a shock to the system and an indication of issues to return. “In 1968, the equal of the Proud Boys wasn’t just a few loopy group on the sting — they have been on the poll, bought 10 million votes and gained 5 states,” says Watson.
After extra nice insights from historical past? Atone for The Campaigns That Made Historical past, from OZY and HISTORY, on history.com.
