One of the two national political parties between 1900 and 1930, the Democratic Party frequently found itself the minority party. It won the presidency only twice in the first three decades of the 20th century. The party had even less success in Congress, controlling the House of Representatives from 1911 to 1919 and the Senate only from 1913 to 1919. The primary reason that the Democratic Party failed to achieve greater political success was that for much of this period the party was deeply divided and lacked an effective national agenda. In the decades after the American Civil War, the Democratic Party had most of its support located in the rural Midwest, South, and West. It opposed strong central government and state intervention in the economy and local matters, like education. It distrusted the eastern financial and business elites. As the nation became increasingly urban and ethnically diverse, the Democratic Party made important inroads with urban immigrants and Catholics. In the 1890s, the Democratic Party achieved political success by attracting the support of struggling farmers and radical reformers, who had given rise to the Populists, and by addressing the concerns of urban immigrants. These agendas were not, however, compatible.
The Panic of 1893 and the ensuing depression marked an important turning point in the party’s fortunes. As more and more rural farmers found themselves facing bankruptcy, radical agrarian organizations gained strength. The Democratic Party responded to the challenge from the Populists by reiterating its opposition to the business elite, resisting protective trade tariffs, and supporting cheap money policies. These themes culminated in the presidential election of 1896 and helped ensure that the party remained out of national power until 1912. In that election, William Jennings Bryan won the Democratic presidential nomination with his moving “cross of gold” speech, in which he blamed the depression of 1893 and the economic difficulties of ordinary workers and farmers on bankers and industrialists. Wherever Bryan went on the campaign trail, he drew large and enthusiastic audiences. Under the direction of McKinley and party leader Mark Hanna, the Republican Party secured the support of business and financial leaders and raised and spent much more money than did the Democrats. The Democratic Party was also divided over Bryan’s monetary policy and his attitude toward organized labor. These divisions in the party and Bryan’s focus on agrarian issues dampened enthusiasm among urban immigrants and industrial workers and led to McKinley’s narrow victory.
At the national level, Bryan maintained his control over the party until the election of 1912. He was the party’s presidential candidate in 1900 and again in 1908, suffering decisive defeats each time. The presence of Bryan at the head of the national ticket alienated many of the party’s urban immigrants and Catholics, who were growing in numbers and influence. In many large cities in the East and Midwest, the Democratic Party had established a dominant presence. Party leaders rewarded loyal party supporters with jobs or city contracts. In return, party leaders demanded political loyalty. Long-standing political machines controlled the party and its patronage jobs in New York, Chicago, Boston, Detroit, and elsewhere.
Success at the state and local level did not translate into success at the national level until 1912. In 1911 Democrats, capitalizing on the unpopularity of Republican president William Howard Taft, took control of the House of Representatives for the first time since 1895. Taft had alienated important elements in his own party and was viewed as indecisive and ineffective. The Democratic nominee was little-known New Jersey governor Woodrow Wilson. When progressive Republicans, led by Robert La Follette and Theodore Roosevelt, broke ranks with Taft and formed the Progressive Party, the Democratic party took advantage. Wilson won the election easily.
Strong leadership and the passage of a number of progressive reforms marked Wilson’s first term in office. Progressives in both parties had been attempting to pass reform legislation for more than a decade only to have it blocked by the conservative Speaker of the House Joseph Gurney Cannon. With progressive Democrats in control of both the presidency and Congress, the Wilson administration addressed the concerns of organized labor with the Clayton Antitrust Act (1914), the Adamson Act (1915), and the child labor Keating-Owen Act (1916). Between 1912 and American entry into World War I in 1917, the Wilson administration developed a cordial relationship with the American Federation of Labor (AFL). Democrats also created a federal income tax and passed the Federal Reserve Act (1913) to oversee the nation’s banking industry and the Federal Trade Commission Act (1914) to oversee business practices.
The outbreak of World War I presented Wilson and the Democratic Party with important questions and challenges. The country had a long-standing tradition of neutrality. Wilson, who strongly supported England and France, publicly insisted that the United States would remain neutral in the conflict while he privately worked to ensure the defeat of Germany. During the election of 1916, Wilson promised to keep the country out of war and narrowly defeated Republican nominee Charles Evans Hughes. When German submarines resumed attacking American ships carrying supplies to Great Britain, however, Congress declared war on April 6, 1917.
At war’s end, Wilson hoped to use the power of the United States to ensure a lasting peace. In January 1918, he announced a “fourteen point” peace plan. He was determined to bring about a workable peace agreement that would not be excessively harsh on Germany. In order to do so, he decided to attend the Paris Peace Conference personally and spent seven months in exhausting negotiations. The British, French, and Italians all had committed and lost significant resources in the conduct of the war and insisted that Germany make financial and territorial reparations. Wilson finally relented and the final peace agreement, known as the Treaty of Versailles, was signed in June 1919. Wilson hoped that the creation of the League of Nations would counterbalance punitive measures of the treaty. Once back in the United States, the exhausted Wilson submitted the treaty to Congress for approval. Congressional Republicans, led by Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, worried that American involvement in the League of Nations would entangle the country in foreign affairs. Wilson embarked on a cross-country tour to promote the treaty, but the effort proved too exhausting; on October 2, 1919, he suffered a massive stroke. While recovering, Wilson refused to compromise with Lodge and other Republicans, and the treaty was defeated when it failed to get the necessary two-thirds support.
By 1919, the Democratic Party was losing strength. The Republicans had taken back the House and the Senate in the elections of 1918, and Wilson’s lingering disability meant a lack of leadership at the head of the party. Following the end of the war, the economy went into a tail-spin. A strike wave broke as workers, frustrated by rising inflation and liberated from wartime pledges not to strike, demanded pay increases. Wilson’s attorney general, A. Mitchell Palmer, had become convinced that labor unions and political radicals posed a serious threat and met their resistance with his own counterattack, a series of raids in which labor militants and radicals were arrested and held without bail. Later, they were either released or deported. The Red Scare alienated labor support from the Democratic Party.
The defeat of the Versailles Treaty and the Red Scare of 1919-21 enabled the Republican Party to regain the presidency in 1920 with the election of Warren Gamaliel Harding, who promised to return the nation to normalcy. In the elections of 1920 and 1924, the Democratic Party revealed that the cultural and social issues that had begun to divide it in the early 20th century had come to a head. In both elections, the issues of Prohibition, evolution, the legacy of the Wilson administration, and the Ku Klux Klan split the convention votes over platform and candidate. Unenthusiastically, the party nominated nondescript businessmen to run against similarly bland Republicans. Throughout the 1920s, the Republican Party relied upon close ties with business leaders, conservative economic policies, and a prolonged economic boom to dominate the national political scene. In 1928, the candidacy of Alfred E. Smith signaled a sea change in Democratic Party fortunes. While he lost the presidency, the party showed surprising strength among ethnic voters in northern urban strongholds. The new Democratic base, drawing on the support of labor, ethnic voters, Catholics, and the new middle class, grew as the economy worsened in the late 1920s. While it retained much of its southern rural constituency, a new factor was the growing number of African-American voters who began to shift their loyalties to the Democratic Party after being disaffected by Republican policies. Despite these trends, the Democratic Party controlled neither the presidency nor the Congress until its return to power when Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected in 1932.
Further reading: David Burner, The Politics of Provin-cialis-m: The Democratic Party in Transition, 1918-1932 (New York: Knopf, 1968); Douglas B. Craig, After Wilson: The Struggle for Control in the Democratic Party, 19201934 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1992); Ralph Morris Goldman, The Democratic Party in American Politics (New York: Macmillan, 1966).
—Robert Gordon
Dempsey, William Harrison "Jack" (1895-1983) heavyweight boxing champion
Jack Dempsey, one of the most dominant and charismatic boxers in American history, held the heavyweight championship between 1919 and 1926. Dempsey emerged on the boxing scene just as the sport was reaching the peak of its popularity. One of 11 children, Dempsey was born in Manassa, Colorado, in June 1895. He got involved in boxing at an early age. Absolutely ruthless in the ring, he generated great strength from his legs and packed an incredibly powerful punch. As a result, Dempsey was the most feared and successful boxer of his generation, compiling a record of 60 wins, 50 by knockout, with only six losses.
By the 1920s the United States was still convulsed with economic fluctuations, labor disputes, and the Red Scare. Many yearned for nonpolitical distractions, and sports— professional boxing in particular—fit the bill. Because boxing was still developing as a sport and few fighters had professional managers, Dempsey had a difficult time finding boxers who were willing to take him on. He bounced around from one mining community to another, fighting as often as he could. Dempsey’s professional career finally took off when he met Jack “Doc” Kearns, who became his manager. Dempsey and Kearns decided it was time to hit the big time, and the pair moved to New York, where Dempsey handily defeated all the top heavyweight title contenders.
Dempsey finally got a shot at the heavyweight title in 1919 in a bout with reigning champ Jess Willard. Willard, near the end of his career, was not in top shape. When he saw the “Manassa Mauler,” he told his wife he was afraid he would not survive the fight. Dempsey showed Willard no mercy, knocking him down seven times in the first round and fracturing his jaw. As heavyweight champ, Dempsey
Jack Dempsey in the ring, ca. 1921 (Library of Congress)
Found few opponents willing to challenge him. He had no title fights in 1924 or 1925. Dempsey finally lost his title belt in 1926 when challenger Gene Tunney defeated him. The following year, Tunney agreed to a rematch. Before a huge crowd, Tunney was again defeating the challenger on points when Dempsey knocked him to the canvas. Instead of beginning the 10-count right away, the referee waited until Dempsey had retreated to a neutral corner, giving the champ an extra four to five seconds. “The long count,” as it became known, allowed Tunney time enough to recover, and he went on to win the controversial bout on points.
Although others have had a longer reign as heavyweight champion, Dempsey’s impact is hard to exaggerate. Dempsey realized the importance of self-promotion. His boxing exploits were captured on film and shown to audiences across the country, giving him the kind of exposure no other fighter had ever enjoyed. Part of Dempsey’s popularity was due to the desire of many white boxing fans for a great white champion. Jess Willard’s victory over African-American heavyweight champion Jack Johnson had remained controversial. When the untainted, handsome, rugged, and gregarious Dempsey arrived on the scene, he was, for many white boxing fans, the right kind of champion.
As champion, Dempsey helped popularize the sport. Prior to the 1920s, professional prizefights had a small but loyal following. With his arrival, the sport’s popularity expanded to the point that a crowd of 105,000 saw Dempsey’s 1927 rematch with Gene Tunney, and the fight generated a purse of $2.6 million. Dempsey’s popularity continued well after the end of his boxing career, and he was not bashful about exploiting it for political purposes. During the 1930s, Dempsey was an ardent New Dealer and made numerous campaign appearances on behalf of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and other Democrats.
See also SPORTS.
Further reading: Roger Kahn, A Flame of Pure Fire: Jack Dempsey and the Roaring ’20s (New York: Harvest Books, 2000); Randy Roberts, Jack Dempsey, the Manassa Mauler (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1979).
—Robert Gordon
Dewey, John (1859-1952) education reformer An educator and philosopher, John Dewey was best known as America’s preeminent philosopher of education and founder of pragmatic philosophy. He placed his greatest efforts into convincing Americans that ethics could be directly applied to life in the new industrial world. Dewey argued that the survival of democracy depended on the application of philosophical ethics to everyday life. It was in his attempts to relate his philosophy to education that he made his greatest impact.
Dewey was born and raised in Burlington, Vermont. He graduated from the University of Vermont in 1879 and afterward worked as a teacher for two years. He then enrolled in graduate school at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore to study philosophy. After earning his doctorate in 1884, Dewey went to teach at the University of Michigan, where he remained until 1894. It was during his time in Michigan that he developed his interest in using philosophy to solve social problems. There he also met his wife, Alice Chipman, whom he married in 1886. In 1894, Dewey took a job at the University of Chicago. It was there that he developed his belief that philosophy should be empirically based and socially concerned. This pragmatic philosophy attempted to connect philosophy to everyday issues.
Dewey came to believe that the consequences of his philosophy would best be revealed in education. To test his theories, Dewey established a school called the Laboratory School. He also published his first book on education, The School and Society, in which he laid out his philosophy of what role education should play in a democratic society. He wrote that each school should function as a community that reflects the larger society and trains children into membership in that society. Once the schools accomplished that by instilling students with a “spirit of service and providing him with the instruments of effective self-direction, we shall have the deepest and best guarantee of a larger society that is worthy, lovely, and harmonious.”
In 1904, Dewey joined the faculty at Columbia University, where he remained for the rest of his career. During his years at Columbia, he became publicly known. He wrote several books elaborating his philosophical argument that ethics was not a separate domain from everyday life, but should be manifest in social, political, and economic issues. In 1916, he published Democracy and Education, in which he laid out his conception that democracy was not just a political system but also a form of social life that required educated citizens. His conception of education differed from other educational philosophers. Education was a social process, Dewey argued, that nurtured the social, intellectual, and aesthetic growth of individuals, which then led to the renewal of society. Because of the importance that education held for their futures, democratic societies required an education that would nurture in individuals social relationships and control, while fostering social change without disorder.
On a practical level, Dewey urged educators to create schools that taught schoolchildren how to be individual actors in a democracy. Because a democracy required that each individual make decisions, education should, argued Dewey, train students in scientific inquiry. An important component of his proposed curriculum was the education of the whole individual through instruction in both intellectual and manual subjects. The purpose of this was to give all students, regardless of their future occupation, an appreciation of the skills on which the new industrial society depended. Dewey argued that this type of education would flow naturally with children’s natural curiosity and sense of wonder. In order for students to have the opportunity to develop decision-making abilities, he argued that the schools must be reformed as democratic communities in which students are allowed to make decisions on their own and create their own knowledge. Students would do this by engaging in ongoing communication, experimentation, and self-criticism, which they would undertake in student-centered instruction through small-group work and project activities.
Dewey’s educational plans formed the basis of many of the educational reforms that emerged during the Progressive Era. Many of his reforms were not implemented as he had intended. Proponents of vocational education, for example, used his call for training in both manual and intellectual subjects to justify educating some students solely in vocational subjects. In addition, many teachers used small-group work as an addition to their regular teaching as rather than making it the core. Whether his philosophy was accepted whole-cloth, partially, or rejected all together, Dewey shaped the debate in American education that continues today.
See also EDUCATION; YOUTH.
Further reading: Robert B. Westbrook, John Dewey and American Democracy (Ithaca, N. Y.: Cornell University Press, 1991).
—Michael Hartman
World History
