You have had presidential candidates over the last 30 years who would have had a very hard time getting nominated under the old system. One example is John Kennedy.
Presidential
But presidential approval also became a surrogate measure of national unity and patriotism.
Presidential aspirants reach for the highest office to satisfy some yearning for greatness or even immortality.
In 1800, in the first interparty contest, the Federalists warned that presidential candidate Thomas Jefferson, because of his sympathy expressed at the outset of the French Revolution, was ‘the son of a half-breed Indian squaw’ who would put opponents under the guillotine.
I’m a psychologist. I was a psychology faculty member, and then I became an administrator of the department, then the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. At the time of the presidential search, I was the dean.
The lifelong health problems of John F. Kennedy constitute one of the best-kept secrets of recent U.S. history – no surprise, because if the extent of those problems had been revealed while he was alive, his presidential ambitions would likely have been dashed.
From the beginning of the presidential nominating conventions in the 1830’s really through the 1950’s, you had conventions that actually did real business.
I was extended secret service protection during my presidential run in 1984, when I received the most death threats ever made toward a candidate.
Access to presidential materials should be as wide as possible.
During my 2004 presidential campaign, I was fond of saying that it was high time for the Christian right to meet the right Christians.