The pig was released, handed a uniform and a club, and sent back out into the street.
Mostly, the great unwashed sat around until summer and waited to see whom the parties would nominate. When you elected a big-city mayor or governor, you understood that one of their powers would be exercising an influence over your state’s vote at the national convention.
Of course, a responsible party bigwig wouldn’t get too far out of step with his constituents. That’s what ward committeemen and precinct captains were for–they kept their ears to the ground. So if you wanted to influence the bigwigs, the safest route was a word to your precinct captain.
In 1960, for example, Daley’s field workers reported that Chicago Catholics were wildly excited about a JFK candidacy, and African Americans were at least mildly supportive. All sides were apathetic about a third run by Illinoisan Adlai Stevenson. As a result, at the 1960 convention, Daley spurned a direct plea from Stevenson for support and threw almost the entire Illinois delegation to Kennedy.
And yes, the candidates schmoozed the party leaders to campaign for the nomination. Or, they had underlings do it for them. (Too much personal campaigning was considered undignified.) James A. Farley spent two years writing, phoning, and travelling by railroad to all 48 states to lobby state conventions (usually dominated by state party leaders) to send Roosevelt delegates to the national convention. He was rewarded with the Postmaster Generalship.
What happened? It got Nixon elected. Today’s “demonstrators” would do well to remember that fact and all of its ramifications.
The chaos in the Democratic Party got him elected twice, if you want to get technical. And in 1972, the Democrats could only manage to win one state.
Since the CREEP ‘Dirty Tricks’ squad actively sabotaged the Muskie campaign, ‘chaos in the Democratic Party’ hardly seems like it should get all the credit for Nixon’s second term. If you want to get technical, of course.