State Historical Society of Iowa
For a hundred years after the Civil War, Iowa was a reliably Republican state. Only during the crisis of the Great Depression in the 1930s did Iowa show up in the Democratic column on election night. However, beginning the 1950s, the Democratic Party took on new life in the face of rural/urban divisions, the growing strength of labor unions, and attention to national issues like civil rights and the Vietnam War. Cities pushed for more equitable representation in the legislature against rural resistance.
Despite its smaller size and population, Iowa became very important in the election of a U.S. President. Each state has its own process for selecting delegates to national political conventions where the parties nominate their candidates. Iowa uses a caucus system. Members of each party meet together in local meetings called caucuses to select delegates to a county convention that chooses delegates to the district and state conventions. The state conventions are held in June and choose delegates to the national convention. Because the process takes many months, the local caucus has to meet in January or early February to get all the steps done. Because of that timing, the Iowa caucus becomes the first official step anywhere in the nation in selecting a president, and news reporters flock to the state to find out which candidates are ahead.
In 1972, Senator George McGovern gained national attention when he came out on top of the Iowa caucuses. In 1976, Jimmy Carter made a major effort to score well in Iowa. He did and went on to become the Democratic Party's nominee, and eventually, the president of the United States. After that, the Iowa caucus attracted national attention as candidates from both parties flocked to the state to make their case to Iowa voters in local cafes, church basements, and similar venues. The winner of the Iowa caucus doesn't always become the party's candidate, but a poor showing in Iowa often leads candidates to withdraw.
From its early years when Republicans almost always won most elections, Iowa now has two competitive parties. Nevertheless, Iowa voters tend to keep incumbents in office. Harold Hughes, a Democrat, and Robert Ray, a Republican, both won re-election to the governorship several times, and Terry Branstad became the longest serving governor in U.S. history. Charles Grassley and Tom Harkin represented different parties but both hung on to their U.S. Senate seats through multiple elections. The majority in the legislature, however, has shifted numerous times, sometimes even split between the state senate and the state house.
The caricature is of Andrew Jackson as a despotic monarch, probably issued during the fall of 1833 in response to the president's September order to remove federal deposits from the Bank of the United States. The print is dated a year earlier by Weite...
This political cartoon depicts a candidate in military uniform, with epaulets and a plumed hat, holding a sword and seated on a pile of skulls. The cartoon serves as a scathing attack on Whig principles, as embodied in the party's selection of a presi...
This 1920 speech was given by Nicholas Murray Butler, president of Columbia University in support of the Republican Party. Given during a post-World War I era that historians would later label The First Red Scare, Butler paints the 1920 election as a choi...
Arguably the most famous television campaign advertisement in history, "Peace, Little Girl (a.k.a. Daisy)" depicts a young girl peacefully picking flower petals only to be interrupted by a countdown and nuclear explosion, followed by a request f...
James A. Garfield, Republican candidate for president in 1880, is depicted as a farmer in his wheat field using a scythe to clear his wheat field of both weeds and dangerous snakes. His "scythe" holds the words honesty, ability and patriotism, a...
"The Song of Armageddon" emphasizes the Progressive Party's call for honesty in government and the major political parties in 1912. The song was composed by Clinton D. French.
"Stonewall Wilson" is a song supporting the 1916 re-election campaign of President Woodrow Wilson. It depicts Wilson as a strong, dependable leader. The title of the song and characterization of Wilson draw on the legendary Confederate general T...
The speech was made by Corinne Roosevelt Robinson, the sister of President Theodore Roosevelt. She was supporting the Republican ticket of Senator William Harding and Governor Calvin Coolidge in the 1920 general election as "100 percent American, tru...
This speech was given by Corinne Roosevelt Robinson, the sister of President Theodore Roosevelt, in support of the Republican ticket of Senator William Harding and Governor Calvin Coolidge, men she considered to be, "100 percent American, of true pat...
This print shows a campaign banner for Whig presidential candidate Zachary Taylor. Although Taylor was not formally nominated by the Whigs until June 1848, he had already begun to attract a following in 1846. Here is a half-length portrait of Taylor, in c...
In his letter to the newly-nominated Republican candidate for president, Thomas T. Swann requests an explanation of Abraham Lincoln's positions on five important issues. Swann served as a politician in Maryland. He was most known for opposing the abol...
This campaign poster depicts the 1872 Republican presidential nominee Ulysses S. Grant as a tanner working alongside his running mate Henry Wilson, who is drawn as a shoemaker. The print shows a Republican campaign banner designed to appeal to the Labor v...
This 1920 campaign leaflet listed 11 reasons as to why Iowa should re-elect Senator Albert B. Cummins. He was the 18th governor of Iowa and served as the U.S. Senator for Iowa for 18 years. Cummins was a member of the Republican Party.
The 1948 Progressive Party presidential candidate, Henry A. Wallace, right of center and in front of tree, is seen visiting with William Penn College president, Cecil Hinshaw, far left, and students on campus grounds in Oskaloosa, Iowa. Wallace, who was b...
"The Living Room Candidate" website contains more than 300 commercials from every presidential election since 1952.
This website from the Library of Congress contains primary sources related to each presidential campaign between the years 1836 and 1908.
This website is a companion to the Library of Congress' book, Presidential Campaign Posters From the Library of Congress: Two Hundred Years of Election Art.
One of the most well-known "coffin hand bills" distributed during the election of 1828.
| No. | Standard Description |
| SS-Gov.9-12.18. | Critique the influence of intermediary institutions on government and policy such as, interest groups, political parties, the mass media, campaigns, caucuses, elections, PACs, and local, state, tribal, and international organizations. (21st century skills) |
| SS-Gov.9-12.20. | Explain the significance of civic values to a well-functioning democracy including concepts such as conviction vs. compromise, majority rule vs. minority rights, state interests vs. individual interests, rights vs. responsibilities, and other related topics. (21st century skills) |
| SS-Gov.9-12.26. | Gov.9-12.26. Analyze the historical, contemporary, and emerging patterns of political action and activism including voter demographics, party trends over time, polling data, campaign strategies and trends, and alternative means of participating. (21st century skills) |
| SS-US.9-12.13 | Analyze how diverse ideologies impacted political and social institutions during eras such as Reconstruction, the Progressive Era, and the Civil Rights movement. |
| SS-US.9-12.22. | Evaluate the impact of inventions and technological innovations on the American society and culture. |
| SS-US.9-12.24. | Critique primary and secondary sources of information with attention to the source of the document, its context, accuracy, and usefulness such as the Reconstruction amendments, Emancipation Proclamation, Treaty of Fort Laramie, Chinese Exclusion Act, Roosevelt's Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, Wilson's Fourteen Points, New Deal Program Acts, Roosevelt's Declaration of War, Executive Order 9066, Truman Doctrine, Eisenhower's Farewell Speech, Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, Test Ban Treaty of 1963, Brown vs. Board of Education decision, Letter from a Birmingham Jail, and the Voting Act of 1965. |
| SS-US.9-12.27. | Evaluate Iowans or groups of Iowans who have influenced U.S. History. |
