Rum Romanism and Rebellion

The presidential election of 1884 in which Grover Cleveland ended the Democrats' twenty-four-year presidential drought by defeating Republican challenger James G. Blaine was one of the gaudiest in American history remembered today less for its political significance than for the mudslinging and slander that characterized the campaign. But a closer look at the infamous election reveals far more complexity than previous stereotypes allowed argues Mark Summers. Behind all the mud and malarkey he says lay a world of issues and consequences. <br/><br/>Summers suggests that both Democrats and Republicans sensed a political system breaking apart or perhaps a new political order forming as voters began to drift away from voting by party affiliation toward voting according to a candidate's stand on specific issues. Mudslinging then was done not for public entertainment but to tear away or confirm votes that seemed in doubt. Uncovering the issues that really powered the election and stripping away the myths that still surround it Summers uses the election of 1884 to challenge many of our preconceptions about Gilded Age politics.