Political Campaign, Particularly a Presidential

¶ … political campaign, particularly a Presidential campaign, is an important part of the American political process. It is an organized, and sometimes lengthy, effort to influence both the decision making process and overall political and social goals of the country for at least a four-year period. Modern political campaigns bear very little resemblance to those in America's history, partially due to social networking, technology, media influences, and a general style of journalism and techniques. (Dinkin, 1989). However, campaigns were not always such. Campaigns prior to the 1930s, without the benefit of the mass media, were more populace oriented. Advertising and corporate sponsorship and funding were less important, and the messages seemed clearly, more precise, and in a time in which political divisions seemed cleaner and the issues more black and white. Two examples of these types of campaigns were those of Presidents Ulysses S. Grand and Woodrow Wilson. While the Grant campaign is not mentioned in this history books as one of the seminal elections in American history, during his initial run for office, he was extremely popular (particularly in the north), based on his service and accomplishments in the Civil War. . His accomplishments included expansion of Republicanism into the south which yielded the first elections of black Congressmen. However, his administration was marred by corruption and he has gone down in history as one of the least effective presidents politically (Wilentz 2010). Like Grant, Wilson was a very popular man upon his election. Although not a war hero, Wilson was a former President of Princeton University. In that position he had shown himself to be concerned with the plight of underfunded students and to limit the amount of finance-based selectivity throughout the college. Wilson's campaign promised a "New Freedom" which would limit government power and curtail the business monopolies heretofore unchecked power (Link 1945). In fact, the election of 1912 is considered by many to be one of the most important in Presidential history and Wilson's win the result of Theodore Roosevelt breaking with the Republicans, splitting the vote, and allowing Wilson on the less popular Democratic ticket to garner enough votes to win, and possibly change 20th century American Foreign policy to an extreme (Chace, 2004).

In general, when Ulysses Grant came into office, he preferred to try his best to avoid the political infighting that resulted after Lincoln's assassination. Rather than form public policy based on party lines, he sought to surround himself with people who would give him accurate advice and a continuation of the reconciliation with the South rather than retribution or appeasement. Add to this, though, his need to ensure that the Federal government protected the newly freed slaves and prevented former Confederate separatists from regaining power in the South (Grant: A Reference Resource, 2011).