Trump refers to Hillary Clinton as the devil and crooked. Clinton says half of Trump’s supporters are a basket of deplorables. They should both be ashamed of themselves. One can hope that the spitefulness will transform into campaigning where the candidates, instead of telling us what the other one is doing wrong, will instead focus on their own issues, concerns and strengths, although I doubt it.
Anyhow, my column from six months ago is reprinted below. It tells of some of the antics that took place in United States presidential campaigns of long ago. Considering some of the entries I’ve listed, maybe we have come a long way! or have we?
During this Presidential election cycle, I don’t know whether to be shocked and appalled at the actions of the various candidates, or to see it all as nonsensical, finger-pointing posturing that will eventually be seen for what it is— schoolyard shenanigans.
I have heard it said, by some of my friends and colleagues, that this election is surely the nastiest one ever to have occurred in this country. Wondering if that were true, I did a little research. Reading through a bit of political campaign history, I found some fabulously controversial and humorous examples of what our political forefathers promoted and endured back in the horse-and-buggy days. Maybe these illustrations will help us keep our current state of affairs in perspective.
As my mother Marjorie would say, “Everything old is new again!”
According to author Joseph Cummins’s book Anything for a Vote: Dirty Tricks, Cheap Shots, and October Surprises in U.S. Presidential Campaigns, slander and libel have been the norm since our country’s political beginnings. Early mud-slinging started as far back as the early 1800s when Thomas Jefferson was characterized as a hedonist and atheist by John Adams, who was called a “hideous hermaphrodite” by those in Jefferson’s camp.
Cummins offers the following as further examples of historical examples of candidate supporters behaving badly during election seasons:
Congressman Davy Crockett’s camp told all that Martin Van Buren wore corsets.
Lincoln was called a “nutmeg dealer!” Since nutmeg was considered an aphrodisiac at the time, this was scandalous.
Buchanan had a head tilt caused by a congenital condition, but opponents said it was the result of a failed attempt at trying to hang himself. Would you vote for someone for president who couldn’t even hang himself?
Looking further into the historical aspect of our country’s negative campaigning, I ran across an article posted on MotherJones.com. In this Oct. 31, 2008 writing, author Mac McClelland offers a list of “how far we have (or haven’t) come in a couple hundred years of presidential contests.” Here is part of that list:
1832 National Republicans say incumbent Andrew Jackson took for himself“ a power no monarch in Europe dared attempt,” “the most absolute despot now at the head of any representative government on earth” who exercised “indiscriminate removal of public officers, for the mere difference of political opinion.”
In the 1828 race, John Quincy Adams supporters call Andrew Jackson a slave-trading, gambling, brawling murderer. (Though these slurs are pretty serious, they occupy a low place on the list because they were–being about a man who was shot several times in duels and bar fights–true.)
Whigs senselessly call 1848 presidential hopeful Lewis Cass a “pot-bellied, mutton-headed cucumber” in response to Democrats’ accusations that opposing candidate Zachary Taylor is, among other things, a crappy dresser.
Whigs “prove” that James K. Polk was a slave trader in 1844— by quoting extensively a completely fake excerpt from a book.
1844 Democrats backing James K. Polk claim that Henry Clay had sex with whores and, furthermore, broke all 10 of the commandments; in lieu of evidence, they declare simply that the details are “too disgusting to appear in public print.”
1828, again: Jackson supporters accuse Adams of having premarital sex with his wife and being a pimp, claiming he arranged an American hooker for Czar Alexander I.
1800 Federalists claim Republican candidate Thomas Jefferson is dead.
Whigs portray incumbent (and son of a farmer) Martin Van Buren as an effete snob with a penchant for really nice perfume and strutting in front of $2,400 mirrors like a peacock. He is, in fact, the lowest-spending president yet, as far as White House purchases are concerned; his opponent, rich kid William Henry Harrison, wins the 1840 race on a platform of loving log cabins and hard cider.
And the 1828 race, Adams supporters attack Jackson’s family, calling his dead mother “a common prostitute, brought to this country by the British soldiers,” after whose service she “married a mulatto man, with whom she had several children of which number General Jackson is one!!!” Jackson’s wife, who was previously married and (accidentally) not completely divorced prior to her second marriage, they call a “convicted adulteress.” When she dies within days of Jackson’s victory, he blames Adams’ vicious campaign practices, exclaiming at her funeral, “May God Almighty forgive her murderers as I know she forgave them. I never can.”
