It's About Coalitions Not Purity, Part Four

Additional note relating to "Part Three": With Catholic Al Smith as the Democratic candidate, Republican Herbert Hoover won some states of the "old Confederacy" (Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, Tennessee, Texas) and some so called "border states" (West Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri). This is something I should have mentioned.

The Great Depression brought big change to America and to American politics. From the Civil War era to the election in 1932 (the Great Depression), the country was essentially Republican-leaning. That doesn't mean Democrats didn't win elections between the Civil War and the Great Depression, as Grover Cleveland won two non-consecutive terms* and Woodrow Wilson served two terms, and the make up of Congress switched hands several times.** Likewise, while the country was Democratic-leaning from Franklin Roosevelt's election in 1932 until about 1980, that doesn't mean Republicans could not win, especially the presidency, where Dwight Eisenhower served two terms and Richard Nixon and his successor, Gerald Ford, served two terms (combined). The difference between the Democratic-leaning era and the former Republican-leaning era was in the control of Congress, as Republicans had great difficulty beginning with the 1932 election.***

The thing to remember is, while Democrats controlled Congress much of the time, the two parties each still had a large left wing and a large right wing, forcing compromise within their own ranks, not to mention in Congress, or with the President. That doesn't mean there weren't some hot battles between Republicans and Democrats, or perhaps more especially within each party. I'll cover these soon.

There are a good many facts and figures in this article, so I'll leave it here until "Part Five."

* Grover Cleveland was the only president to win two non consecutive terms.

** Democrats controlled the House of Representatives from 1875-1881, again from 1883-1889, again from 1891-1895 and 1911-1917. The 1930 midterm election actually had the Republicans keep control of the House by a narrow margin, but in those days, Congress did not meet as regularly as today, and by the time the House convened, Democrats had won enough special elections to fill vacancies caused by the death of several House members to take control. Just to keep things in perspective, remember, congressional elections took place in the fall of a year, but the new Congress did not convene until the next year. As to the Senate, Democrats controlled the Senate from 1879-1881, 1893-1895, and 1913-1919. Note that from the beginning of the republic until 1913, senators were chosen by state legislatures, not by a direct vote of the people. The 17th Amendment made popular election of senators the law.

*** Republicans only controlled the House in 1947-1949 and 1953-1955, it was not until the House convened in 1995 that Republicans again had a majority. The situation in the Senate was similar, as Republicans controlled the upper house in 1947-1949 and at times during 1953-1955. During that last, the 1952 election gave the Republicans a majority, but deaths and resignations of some members caused the majority to wobble back and forth between the two parties.

WORD HISTORY:
House- It may surprise you to learn that the ultimate origins of this common and important word are uncertain. Some have made a pretty good case that it is related to "hide;" that is, "skin," in English now usually "skin of an animal," although I'm sure all of us heard from one parent or another, "I'm going to tan your hide!" It was the main general English word for "skin" long ago, before "skin" replaced it, and it remains such in some other Germanic languages to this day. Animal hides were commonly used to provide clothing and to cover dwellings long ago, and that might just be the source of "house," but I'm not totally sold, so I'll take up with its Old Germanic form "husan," which meant "house, dwelling," which then gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "hus," with the same meaning. This later became "hous," before the modern version. The verb was derived from the noun. Forms are common throughout the other Germanic languages: German has "Haus," Low German Saxon has "Huus," West Frisian has "hús," Dutch has "huis," Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish have "hus," and Icelandic has "hús."