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Party city: Cleveland’s historical ties to the GOP 

When the Republican National Convention comes to Cleveland next summer, it certainly won’t be the first major GOP event held in Cleveland State University’s hometown.

Here are three others, courtesy of our friends at Cleveland Historical

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1. The 1895 Republican National League Meeting

The Republican National League – aka the League of Republican Clubs – made waves when it convened in Cleveland in 1895.

The meeting would set the stage for greater moments in the near future, including the election of William McKinley (then Governor of Ohio) to the Presidency in 1896, and the consolidation of Republican leadership of the country until just before the outbreak of World War I. The National Republican League meeting placed Cleveland firmly on the map of partisan politics and ushered in a period of its growing centrality in the political arena. –Cleveland Historical


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2. The 1924 Republican National Convention

Calvin Coolidge won the nomination when the 1924 Republican National Convention was held in Cleveland’s then-new Public Auditorium.

The convention was the first to allow female delegates equal representation with men after women had received the right to vote in 1920. Special attention was paid to the comfort of female representatives. The party even created a special committee to accommodate the needs of women, including placing a hostess at every accommodating hotel in order to assist representatives. The convention was also the first to broadcast its proceedings through radio. – Cleveland Historical


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3. The 1936 Republican National Convention

When the Republican National Convention returned to Public Auditorium in Cleveland in 1936, Governor Alf Landon of Kansas secured the nomination – only to lose the election in a landslide to the incumbent, President Franklin Roosevelt.

[W]hile the Cleveland RNC in 1936 may be remembered for its failure to identify a candidate who could unseat Roosevelt, in their mishandling of black supporters and vicious rhetoric against a popular president, party leaders played into the hands of what was becoming a historic presidency, playing a role in reinforcing the New Deal. – Cleveland Historical


Cleveland Historical is a free app developed by the Center for Public History + Digital Humanities at Cleveland State University.

Through map-based, multimedia presentations, Cleveland Historical makes it easy to learn about the people, places and moments that shaped local history, with content created by a broad team of contributors that includes CSU students. Users also can experience curated historical tours of Northeast Ohio.

“Knowing that the 2016 RNC will be a historic moment when many out-of-town reporters and other visitors try to make sense of what the event means for the city, I challenged my public history students last fall to use the convention as a starting point for exploring people, places and events in Cleveland’s past,” said Cleveland Historical co-creator said Mark Souther, Ph.D., associate professor of history at CSU and an authority on Cleveland history.

“Republican history parallels or intersects the dozen stories they created, but the narratives strive for political neutrality,” Dr. Souther said.

“In fact, the class followed the stories wherever they led, so we learn about a local African-American attorney who fought racial exclusion in downtown office buildings, a congresswoman who also shaped the nursing profession and a bridge named in honor of the Republican mayor who oversaw Democrat-controlled New Deal construction funds, to name a few. The stories, like the more than 500 others on Cleveland Historical, reflect careful study but also the interpretive voices of our many student contributors.”