Rev. Samuel D. Burchard’s alliterative description of Democrats as the party of “rum, Romanism and rebellion” stands as one of the earliest — and perhaps most significant — example of the “October surprise.”

Time Magazine’s “Made By History” platform published my piece on the October surprise that helped derail James G. Blaine’s campaign for the presidency in 1884: https://time.com/7095847/october-surprise-history/