Events

"The common thread of Democratic history, from Thomas Jefferson to Bill Clinton, has been an abiding faith in the judgment of hardworking American families, and a commitment to helping the excluded, the disenfranchised and the poor strengthen our nation by earning themselves a piece of the American Dream. We remember that this great land was sculpted by immigrants and slaves, their children and grandchildren," said the former Chairman of the Democratic Party, the late Ron Brown.

Thomas Jefferson founded the Democratic Party, officially known as the Democratic-Republican Party, in 1792 as a congressional caucus to fight for the BILL OF RIGHTS and against the elitist Federalist Party. In 1800 he was elected the first Democratic President of the United States with 16 states. He negotiated the Louisiana Purchase.

In 1824 John Quincy Adams was elected President. Along with Adams and Jefferson, Andrew Jackson was considered one of the founding fathers of the Democratic Party and won the Presidency in 1828 and l832 on the issue of states rights. The party's name was simplified to the Democratic Party, the national convention process was established and the party platform was created by these distinguished men.

In 1912, Woodrow Wilson became the first Democratic president of the 20th Century, led the nation through World War 1 and negotiated an armistice with Germany.

He supported the League of Nations which later became the United Nations; established the Federal Reserve Board and the passage of the first labor and child welfare laws.

In 1932, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected President and ran on the platform of the New Deal. He was president, until his death April 12, 1945, and was the only president to be elected to four terms. The growth of the power of his presidential office achieved needed reforms, united the country, and provided moral and economic leadership after the depression. He established the Social Security Administration; the Tennessee Valley Authority; reformed the National Banking System; formed the National Industrial Recovery Act; and structured the Works Progress Administration (WPA), key in pulling America out of the depression and uniting the country to enter a new era of prosperity.

Roosevelt led us through World War 11 in two hemispheres and placed the United States into the center of world politics as the leader of the Western World. Within 2 weeks after Pearl Harbor was bombed December 7, 1941, Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin and the representatives of 23 other nations at war with one or more Axis powers met to plan the long-range strategy of the two-front war. The Declaration of the United Nations was signed on New Years' Day, 1942, and Lend-Lease agreements were worked out with the alliance to pay for the costs of the war. Before Germany, Italy and Japan were defeated, Roosevelt developed a post war plan to coordinate global strategy for the reconstruction of Europe at the Teheran and Yalta Conferences.

In 1945 following Roosevelt's death, Harry S. Truman assumed the presidency the same day. Adolph Hitler committed suicide in his underground bunker April 30, 1945. Germany surrendered unconditionally to all the Allied powers on the morning of May 7, 1945. Truman was left the task of reconstructing Europe through the Marshall Plan which offered American economic aid to any European nation interested in restoring their shattered economy. He also played a major role in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) signed in April 1949, an alliance of 12 countries rimming the North Atlantic for the defense of Europe.

President Truman issued the order to use the Atomic Bomb against Japan, leading to the end of the War. On August 6, 1945 a single B-29 dropped a single atomic bomb on the industrial city of Hiroshima and on August 9 a second nuclear bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. On August 14, Japan surrendered unconditionally. With the coming of peace, the world also entered the age of nuclear power.

The Occupation of Japan, under which America had sole power, was vested in General MacArthur who imposed a constitution drawn up by his headquarters, launching Japan as a modern nation.

In 1960, John F. Kennedy was elected the first Catholic President. He called his platform "The New Frontier" and dared Americans to put a man on the moon. He created the National Aeronautics and Space Administration which sparked a new interest in education at all levels; negotiated a treaty banning atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons; organized the Peace Corps. A change took place during his presidency where the young had an identity and a self-consciousness that people of their age in America had never felt before. President Kennedy was assassinated November 22, 1963. His time and generation was known as "Camelot".

In 1963 within ninety-eight minutes of Kennedy's death, Lyndon Baines Johnson was sworn in as President of the United States. Johnson called for "a war against poverty" as the central goal of his administration. The Economic Opportunity Act was passed in 1964 recognizing that most of the poverty in the nation resulted from lack of education and training. In the Higher Education Act of 1965, it made it possible for any young American to attend college and also constituted a continuation of measures such as the G.I. Bill which offered World War 11 veterans financial aid to attend college, and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act which made government the financial dynamic of education and knowledge the leading sector in the growth of the economy.

While The Civil Rights Act of 1964 originated under the Kennedy administration, it remained for Johnson to put it through a three-month filibuster in the Senate. It was the strongest and most far-reaching civil rights act ever put into law. It not only prohibited racial discrimination, but it outlawed discrimination in employment for reasons of sex, nationality, and religion.

Johnson secured passage of the Medicare bill, which provided quality healthcare for persons over sixty-five and the disabled through the Social Security system.

The tragedy of Lyndon Johnson was his inability to end the Vietnam War. Because of unendurable pressure upon him from opponents of the War, Johnson removed himself from consideration for renomination in the next election. Five days later Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. Two months later, Senator Robert Kennedy was shot and killed. It was likely Kennedy would have become the Democratic presidential nominee in 1968 as he supported those who wanted to end the war and move toward new domestic reforms.

In 1976 Jimmy Carter was elected President, helping to restore the nation's trust in government following the Watergate scandal. President Carter negotiated the Panama Canal treaties and the Camp David peace treaties between Egypt and Israel.

In 1992, Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton was elected the 42nd President. After twelve years of Republican presidents, America faced record budget deficits, high unemployment, and increasing crime. Clinton and a Democratic Congress enacted an Economic Package that resulted in the longest period of economic expansion in peacetime history after having inherited a $290 billion deficit; President Clinton's last budget was over $200 billion in surplus in year 2000. Currently, under George W. Bush, we now have a national deficit of billions due to the War in Iraq, massive tax cuts, and unprecedented "Pork Barrel" spending by the Republican legislature.

Led by President Clinton, the Democratic Congress enacted major progressive initiatives for the people including Student Loan Reform Act increasing access to higher education for millions; National Service Act helping students get tuition assistance through community service; Family& Medical Leave Act which offers job protection & unpaid leave during a family need; jobs for welfare recipients; Violence Against Women Act to combat domestic violence; the Brady Bill requiring a five-day waiting period for buying guns; National Voter Registration Act which opened up access to voter registration; Clinton fought for women's reproductive issues and gay rights; passed environmental protection bills; reduced crime to its lowest level in a generation with the Crime Bill, and passed many environmental protection initiatives.

President Clinton used American forces to stop the murderous "ethnic cleansing" wars in Bosnia and Kosovo. He forced the government of Serbia to end its attacks on Muslims in Bosnia as well as on ethnic Albanians within Kosovo where "Human Rights" had been unable to raise its head from the bloodied ground of murderous hatred.