Bob Riel - Quest for the Presidency: The Storied and Surprising History of Presidential Campaigns in America

Every presidential campaign is a story. This book tells each of the fifty-nine stories with superb narrative skill. It captures the passion and excitement of each campaign and weaves them together into one big story: the regular testing of the viability of American democracy.

Bill Schneider, former CNN senior political analyst and professor emeritus at the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University

How did we get into the (disputed by some) 2020 election mess? Bob Riel reveals its toxic roots by guiding us through past presidential contests, pointing out messes, mischief, malfeasance, and near-missesand the remarkable resilience of democracy in the United States.

Mark Stein, author of The Presidential Fringe and How the States Got Their Shapes

In this striking book, Bob Riel surveys the whole panorama of American history through the lens of its presidential campaigns. These quadrennial contests have been called the only times the nation really comes together to talk to itself, and Riel shows us just how colorful, dysfunctional, jangling, and entertaining those conversations have always been. Even the experts will learn something they didnt know from the well-chosen details withinmemorable and revealing snippets from our grand national heart-to-heart with each other.

Tom Zoellner, author of Island on Fire, winner of the 2020 National Book Critics Circle Award for nonfiction

As Bob Riel so masterfully illustrates in his book, Americans have been at each others throats for more than two hundred years now. Weve witnessed moments of great presidential grandeur and ludicrous folly. Occasionally, our passions have drawn blood. Through it all, presidential elections have reinvigorated the body politic or bored us into staying home on election day.... You dont need to be a presidential historian to get drawn into this well-crafted yarn of uniquely American stories, traditions, triumphs, and disappointments. Riel brings the reader along for a journey, dipping into critical moments of history with fascinating anecdotes, twists and turns in our collective story that we might not know as well as we thought.

Tom Costello, Washington correspondent for NBC News

Bob Riel

Potomac Books

An imprint of the University of Nebraska Press

2022 by Bob Riel

Cover designed by University of Nebraska Press; cover image iStockphoto / johan10.

Author photo courtesy of the author.

All rights reserved. Potomac Books is an imprint of the University of Nebraska Press.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Riel, Bob, author.

Title: Quest for the presidency: the storied and surprising history of presidential campaigns in America / Bob Riel.

Description: Lincoln: Potomac Books, an imprint of the University of Nebraska Press, [2022] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2021037005

ISBN 9781640122307 (hardback)

ISBN 9781640125285 (epub)

ISBN 9781640125292 (pdf)

Subjects: LCSH : PresidentsUnited StatesElectionHistory. | United StatesPolitics and government. | BISAC : POLITICAL SCIENCE / History & Theory | HISTORY / United States / General

Classification: LCC JK 524 . R 54 2022 | DDC 324.973dc23/eng/20211122

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021037005

The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

For Brady and Jake

While I was writing about the past,

you kept me focused on the present and the future.

There is no ceremony more splendid than the inauguration of an American president. Yet inauguration is a ceremony of state.... Even more spectacular and novel in the sight of history is the method of transfer of those powersthe free choice by a free people, one by one, in secrecy, of a single national leader.

Theodore H. White, The Making of the President 1960

The past is never dead. Its not even past.

William Faulkner, Requiem for a Nun

This book was both an enormous project and a labor of love. I have been captivated by presidential elections for decades and so was thrilled to be able to write the book Id always wanted to read. It would never have been possible, however, without the generations of scholars, historians, and journalists who chronicled previous presidential elections in the United States, whether by digging into old primary sources or writing about events as they were happening. I am beholden to all of them.

I am particularly indebted to my agent, Michael Palgon, who not only saw potential in this topic and encouraged me along the way but also pushed me to make this a much better book than it ever would have been without his suggestions. Likewise Tom Swanson, my editor at Potomac Books/University of Nebraska Press, who gave me the opportunity to turn my ideas into a published book. Im thankful to everyone at University of Nebraska Press who worked on getting this manuscript out into the world: Tish Fobben, Tayler Lord, Taylor Rothgeb, Rosemary Sekora, Annie Shahan, Sara Springsteen, and many others behind the scenes with whom I never had the chance to communicate. Additionally, Judith Hoover made numerous invaluable copyediting suggestions, and Jessica Freeman did a superb job on the indexing.

I appreciate those who graciously agreed to read advance copies of this book for one reason or another: Bill Schneider, Tom Zoellner, Tom Costello, Mark Stein, Barbara ORourke, and Liz Callahan. Many thanks to all of you.

Neither of my parents, Bob and Ellen, lived to see this book published. But Id like to think they still exist in some form and somehow know about it. My mom always believed her children could accomplish anything, and my dad was an inveterate reader and the first person who sparked my interest in history and politics.

Last, but certainly not least, my wife and sons. This project involved many nights and weekends of research and writing, and it was further complicated by the need to manage remote learning for two children for more than a year during a global pandemic. Lisa, Im ever grateful for your love and support. Brady and Jake, Im thrilled to be your dad, and you know I love you more than anything in the whole wide world.

Americans are enthralled by presidential elections. Every four years, the nation is held spellbound by the latest campaign, from the opening bell of the nomination contest in the snows of Iowa and New Hampshire through the counting of the last ballot in the fall. Impassioned voters are gripped by emotion, convinced the future of the country hinges on the outcome, while the media treats the contenders like gladiators on a debate stage and breathlessly covers every twist and turn of the contest. As one observer noted, A presidential election in the United States may be looked upon as a time of national crisis.... A fever grips the entire nation.

It was Alexis de Tocqueville who wrote that line about presidential contests, in 1835, nearly two centuries ago. Which goes to show that Americans have been riveted and riled up by these campaigns for as long as there have been elections. Thats why the 1800 battle between Thomas Jefferson and John Adams is still known as one of the most bitter in history, why Americans almost went to war over the 1876 election, and why protesters fought police on the streets of Chicago during the 1968 Democratic convention. Its also why the enthusiasm that swept Andrew Jackson into office in 1828 is not dissimilar from the excitement that fueled Ronald Reagans victory in 1980 or Barack Obamas historic win in 2008.