United States presidential election, 1892

United States presidential election, 1892

1888 ← November 8, 1892 → 1896

Nominee Grover Cleveland Benjamin Harrison James B. Weaver Party Democratic Republican Populist Home state New York Indiana Iowa Running mate Adlai E. Stevenson Whitelaw Reid James Gaven Field Electoral vote 277 145 22 States carried 23 16 4 Popular vote 5,556,918 5,176,108 1,041,028 Percentage 46.0% 43.0% 8.5%

Presidential election results map. Red denotes states won by Harrison/Reid, Blue denotes those won by Cleveland/Stevenson Light green denotes those won by Weaver/Field. Numbers indicate the number of electoral votes allotted to each state.

President before election Benjamin Harrison Republican Elected President Grover Cleveland Democratic

In the United States presidential election of 1892, former President Grover Cleveland ran for re-election against the incumbent President Benjamin Harrison, who was also running for re-election. Cleveland defeated Harrison, thus becoming the only person in American history to be elected to a second, non-consecutive presidential term. Cleveland, who had won the popular vote against Harrison in 1888, lost the electoral vote (and thus the election) in that year. He won both the popular and electoral vote in the re-match election.

The campaign centered mainly on the issue of a sound currency. The new Populist Party, formed by groups from the Grange, the Farmers' Alliances, and the Knights of Labor, polled more than a million votes, but Cleveland won easily.

Cleveland also became the first Democrat to be nominated by his party three consecutive times, a distinction that would be equaled only by Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1940 and then exceeded by him in 1944. Although William Jennings Bryan was nominated for a third time in 1908, it was not consecutive with his two other nominations in 1896 and 1900.

Nominations

Republican Party nomination

Main article: 1892 Republican National Convention

Republican candidates:

• Benjamin Harrison, President of the United States from Indiana
• James G. Blaine, former U.S. Secretary of State from Maine
• William McKinley, governor of Ohio

Candidates gallery

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  President Benjamin Harrison of Indiana

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  Former Secretary of State James G. Blaine of Maine

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  Governor William McKinley of Ohio

Harrison/Reid campaign poster

Although Thomas C. Platt and other disaffected party leaders mounted a dump-Harrison movement coalescing around veteran candidate James G. Blaine of Maine, the president's forces had the nomination locked up by the time delegates met in Minneapolis on June 7-10, 1892. Richard Thomas of Indiana delivered Harrison's nominating speech. Harrison was nominated on the first ballot with 535.17 votes to 182.83 for Blaine, 182 for William McKinley of Ohio, and the rest scattered. The strength of McKinley, nominally a favorite-son candidate, surprised many observers. Whitelaw Reid of New York, editor of the New York Tribune and recent U.S. Ambassador to France, was nominated for vice-president.

The Republican platform supported high tariffs, bimetallism, stiffer immigration laws, free rural mail delivery, and a canal across Central America. It also expressed sympathy for Ireland's struggle for home rule and the plight of Jews under persecution in czarist Russia.

Presidential Ballot
Ballot	1st
Benjamin Harrison	535.17
James G. Blaine	182.83
William McKinley	182
Thomas B. Reed	4
Robert Todd Lincoln	1

Source: US President - R Convention. Our Campaigns. (January 08, 2010).

Vice Presidential Ballot
Ballot	1st
Whitelaw Reid	906

Source: US Vice President - R Convention. Our Campaigns. (September 7, 2009).

Democratic Party nomination

Main article: 1892 Democratic National Convention

Democratic candidates:

• Grover Cleveland, Former President of the United States from New York
• David B. Hill, U.S. senator from New York
• Horace Boies, governor of Iowa
• Arthur Pue Gorman, U.S. senator from Maryland

Candidates gallery

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  Former President Grover Cleveland of New York

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  Senator David B. Hill of New York

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  Governor Horace Boies of Iowa

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  Senator Arthur Pue Gorman of Maryland

Cleveland/Stevenson campaign poster

By the end of Harrison's term, many Americans were ready to return to Cleveland's harder policies. As Democrats convened in Chicago, Illinois on June 8-11, 1892, Cleveland was the frontrunner for the nomination, but faced formidable opposition. He had come out against the free coinage of silver, thereby earning the enmity of Western and Southern Democrats. Most damaging of all was the opposition of his home state; the New York delegation, packed with Tammany men, frequently demonstrated their hostility to Cleveland's candidacy on the convention floor.

In a narrow first-ballot victory, Cleveland received 617.33 votes, barely 10 more than needed, to 114 for Senator David B. Hill of New York, the candidate of Tammany Hall, 103 for Governor Horace Boies of Iowa, a populist and former Republican, and the rest scattered. Although the Cleveland forces preferred Isaac P. Gray of Indiana for vice-president, they accepted the convention favorite, Adlai E. Stevenson of Illinois. As a supporter of using greenbacks and free silver to inflate the currency and alleviate economic distress in rural districts, Stevenson balanced the ticket headed by Cleveland, the hard-money, gold-standard supporter.

Presidential Ballot
Ballot	1st
Grover Cleveland	617.33
David B. Hill	114
Horace Boies	103
Arthur Pue Gorman	36.5
Adlai E. Stevenson	16.67
John G. Carlisle	14
William Ralls Morrison	3
James E. Campbell	2
Robert E. Pattison	1
William Russell	1
William Collins Whitney	1
Abstaining	0.5

Source: US President - D Convention. Our Campaigns. (September 7, 2009).

Vice Presidential Ballot
Ballot	1st Before Shifts	1st After Shifts
Adlai E. Stevenson	402	652
Isaac P. Gray	343	185
Allen B. Morse	86	62
John L. Mitchell	45	10
Henry Watterson	26	0
William Bourke Cockran	5	0
Horace Boies	1	0
Lambert Tree	1	0
Abstaining	1	1

Source: US Vice President - D Convention. Our Campaigns. (September 7, 2009).

People's Party nomination

Main article: 1892 People's Party National Convention

Populist candidates:

• James B. Weaver, former U.S. representative from Iowa
• James H. Kyle, U.S. senator from South Dakota

Candidates gallery

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  Former Representative James B. Weaver of Iowa

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  Senator James H. Kyle of South Dakota

Weaver/Field campaign poster

In 1891, the farmers' alliances met with delegates from labor and reform groups in Cincinnati, Ohio, and discussed forming a new political party. They formed the People's Party, usually called the People's Party, a year later in St. Louis, Missouri.

At the first Populist national convention in Omaha, Nebraska in July 1892, James B. Weaver of Iowa was nominated for president on the first ballot. James G. Field of Virginia was nominated for vice-president. The Populist platform called for nationalization of the telegraph, telephone, and railroads, free coinage of silver, a graduated income tax, and creation of postal savings banks.

Presidential Ballot
Ballot	1st
James B. Weaver	995
James H. Kyle	265
Others	3

Source: US President - P Convention. Our Campaigns. (September 7, 2009).

Vice Presidential Ballot
Ballot	1st
James G. Field	733
Ben Stockton Terrell	554

Source: US Vice President - P Convention. Our Campaigns. (September 7, 2009).

Prohibition Party nomination

Main article: 1892 Prohibition National Convention

Prohibition candidates:

• John Bidwell, former U.S. representative from California
• Gideon T. Stewart, Prohibition Party Chairman from Ohio
• William Jennings Demorest, magazine publisher from New York

Candidates gallery

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  Former Representative John Bidwell of California

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  Prohibition Party Chairman Gideon T. Stewart of Ohio

National Prohibition Convention, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1892.

The 6th Prohibition Party National Convention assembled in Music Hall in Cincinnati. There were 972 delegates present from all states except Louisiana and South Carolina.

Two major stories about the convention loomed before it assembled. In the first place, some members of the national committee sought to merge the Prohibition and Populist Parties. While there appeared a likelihood that the merger would materialize, by convention time it was clear that it was not going to happen. Secondly, the southern states sent a number of black delegates. Cincinnati hotels refused to serve meals to blacks and whites at the same time, and several hotels refused all service to the black delegates.

The convention nominated John Bidwell of California for president on the first ballot. Prior to the convention, the race was thought to be close between Bidwell and William Jennings Demorest, but the New York delegation became irritated with Demorest and voted for Bidwell 73-7. James B. Cranfill of Texas was nominated for vice-president on the first ballot with 417 votes to 351 for Joshua Levering of Maryland and 45 for others.

Presidential Ballot
Ballot	1st
John Bidwell	590
Gideon T. Stewart	179
William Jennings Demorest	139
H. Clay Bascom	3

Source: US President - P Convention. Our Campaigns. (May 09, 2010).

Socialist Labor Party Nomination

The 1st Socialist Labor Party National Convention assembled in New York City.

The Socialist Labor Party nominated Simon Wing of Massachusetts for President and Charles Matchett of New York for Vice President.

General election

Campaign

Cleveland/Stevenson poster.

The tariff issue dominated this rather lackluster campaign. Harrison defended the protectionist McKinley Tariff passed during his term: Cleveland, assuring voters that he opposed absolute free trade, continued his campaign for a reduction in the tariff. William McKinley campaigned extensively for Harrison, setting the stage for his own run four years later.

The campaign took a somber turn when, in October, First Lady Caroline Harrison died. Despite the ill health that had plagued Mrs. Harrison since her youth and had worsened in the last decade, she often accompanied Mr. Harrison on official travels. On one such trip, to California in the spring of 1891, she caught a cold. It quickly deepened into her chest, and she was eventually diagnosed with tuberculosis. A summer in the Adirondack Mountains failed to restore her to health. An invalid the last six months of her life, she died in the White House on October 25, 1892, just two weeks before the national election. As a result, all of the candidates ceased campaigning.

Results

Results by county explicitly indicating the percentage of the winning candidate in each county. Shades of blue are for Cleveland (Democratic), shades of red are for Harrison (Republican), and shades of green are for Weaver (Populist).

The margin in the popular vote for Cleveland was 400,000, the largest since Grant's re-election in 1872. The Democrats won the presidency and both houses of Congress for the first time since the Civil War. President Harrison's reelection bid was a total loss across the board, as had been President Cleveland's reelection bid four years earlier, in 1888.

At the county level, the Republicans' vote was not nearly as widespread as the Democrats. In 1892, it was still a sectionally based party mainly situated in the East, Midwest, and West and was barely visible south of the Mason-Dixon Line. In only a few counties in the South was the party holding on. In East Tennessee and tidewater Virginia, the vote at the county level showed some strength, but it barely existed in Alabama, Mississippi, and Texas.

Populist James B. Weaver, calling for free coinage of silver and an inflationary monetary policy, received such strong support in the West that he become the only third-party nominee between 1860 and 1912 to carry a single state. Weaver also performed well in the South as he won counties in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, and Texas. Populists did best in Alabama, where electoral chicanery probably carried the day for Democrats.

The Prohibition ticket received 270,879, or 2.2% nationwide. It was the largest total vote and highest percentage of the vote received by any Prohibition Party national ticket.

Wyoming, having attained statehood two years earlier, became the first state to allow women to vote in a presidential election since 1804. (Women in New Jersey had the right to vote under the state's original constitution, but this right was rescinded in 1807.)

Wyoming was also one of six states (along with North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Washington, and Idaho) participating in their first presidential election—other than the first election, the most in American history.

This was the first election in which an incumbent president was defeated for a second time in a row. This would not happen again until 1980.

Presidential candidate	Party	Home state	Popular vote		Electoral vote	Running mate
			Count	Pct		Vice-presidential candidate	Home state	Elect. vote
Grover Cleveland	Democratic	New York	5,553,898	46.0%	277	Adlai E. Stevenson	Illinois	277
Benjamin Harrison	Republican	Indiana	5,190,819	43.0%	145	Whitelaw Reid	New York	145
James B. Weaver	Populist	Iowa	1,026,595	8.5%	22	James G. Field	Virginia	22
John Bidwell	Prohibition	California	270,879	2.2%	0	James Cranfill	Texas	0
Simon Wing	Socialist Labor	Massachusetts	21,173	0.2%	0	Charles Matchett	New York	0
Other			4,673	0.0%	—	Other		—
Total			12,068,037	100%	444			444
Needed to win					223			223

Source (Popular Vote): Leip, David. 1892 Presidential Election Results. Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections (July 27, 2005).

Source (Electoral Vote): Electoral College Box Scores 1789–1996. Official website of the National Archives. (July 31, 2005).

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  Results by county explicitly indicating the percentage of the Democratic candidate in each county.

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  Results by county explicitly indicating the percentage of the Republican candidate in each county.

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  Results by county explicitly indicating the percentage of the Populist candidate in each county.

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  Results by county explicitly indicating the percentage of the other candidate(s) in each county.

See also

• American election campaigns in the 19th century
• History of the United States (1865-1918)
• History of the United States Democratic Party
• History of the United States Republican Party

References

• Faulkner, Harold U. (1959). Politics, Reform and Expansion, 1890–1900. New York: Harper. 
• Jensen, Richard (1971). The Winning of the Midwest: Social and Political Conflict, 1888–1896. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0226398250. 
• Josephson, Matthew (1938). The Politicos: 1865–1896. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co.. 
• Keller, Morton (1977). Affairs of State: Public Life in Late Nineteenth Century America. Cambridge: Belknap Press. ISBN 0674007212. 
• Kleppner, Paul (1979). The Third Electoral System 1853–1892: Parties, Voters, and Political Cultures. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 0807813281. 
• Knoles, George H. (1942). The Presidential Campaign and Election of 1892. Stanford: Stanford University Press. 
• Loewen, James (1995). Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong. New York: New Press. p. 158. ISBN 156584100X. 
• Morgan, H. Wayne (1969). From Hayes to McKinley: National Party Politics, 1877–1896. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press. 
• Oberholtzer, Ellis P. (1917–37). A History of the United States since the Civil War. 5. New York: Macmillan. 
• Rhodes, James Ford (1920). History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850 to the Mckinley-Bryan Campaign of 1896. 8. New York: Macmillan. 

External links

• 1892 popular vote by counties
• 1892 State-by-state Popular vote
• Overview of 1892 Democratic National Convention
• How close was the 1892 election? — Michael Sheppard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology