After Wilson: The Struggle for the Democratic Party, 1920-1934

by Douglas B. Craig

Craig examines the bitter disputes that shook the Democratic Party in the 1920s and early 1930s and stressed ideological conflicts between conservative and progressive Democrats over economic and social policy. He provides insights into the nature of Democratic dissension during the years after Woodrow Wilson's progressive tenure and thus places the later revolt of conservative Democrats against the New Deal in an ideological and political context.

Genres: Politics

416 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1993

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

While American political party labels today generally denote common ideologies, this was not the case in the early 20th century. Back then, political parties were coalitions of regional groups, and conflicting ideologies would often coexist under the same label. In this book Douglas B. Craig examines the ideological conflict that took place in the Democratic Party during the 1920s and early 1930s, one that he contends played a major role in the party's failure to unite around a set of principles and challenge the Republican Party for national political power.

Craig begins by examining the Democratic realignment in the 1920 elections, when conservatives succeeded in taking over the direction of the party, abandoning Wilsonian progressivism and his successful electoral strategy of linking the American South with the West in favor of a more traditional East-South alliance that opposed government intervention in the economy and in society, particularly in terms of Prohibition. Craig sees all three of the presidential candidates during this decade - James Cox, John W. Davis, and Al Smith - as supporting this agenda, symbolizing the dominance of this conservative approach over the progressive agenda pursued by William Gibbs McAdoo and his followers. It was not until Franklin Roosevelt overcame conservative opposition to win the nomination in 1932 that the liberal wing succeeded in wresting control of the party away from the conservatives, many of whom went on to form the core of American Liberty League that opposed the New Deal.

Craig's book is an interesting examination of the ideological struggles of the Democratic Party leadership during the past-World War I period. Based on considerable research in the archives of the party's leaders, he makes convincing arguments for the centrality of this struggle to the party's conflicts in the 1920s. Yet Craig's focus tends to exaggerate ideological differences between many of these figures (such as those between Smith and Roosevelt), and he never connects this struggle to any sort of analysis of what was happening with the party at the grassroots level. These deficiencies ultimately limit the value of the book, which reveals much about the transformation taking place within the leadership of the Democratic Party but is wanting as an overall examination of the party on the eve of its political dominance over the nation.