Date(s) June 5–7, 1888 Venue Exposition Building | City St. Louis, Missouri | |
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Presidential nominee Grover Cleveland of New York Vice Presidential nominee Allen G. Thurman of Ohio | ||
The 1888 Democratic National Convention was a nominating convention held June 5 to 7, 1888, in the St. Louis Exposition and Music Hall in St. Louis, Missouri.
Contents
St. Louis won the convention after a presentation in February 1888.
The Convention
Stephen M. White served as temporary chairman and Patrick A. Collins served as the convention's permanent president.
Presidential Candidates
President Cleveland was renominated by acclamation. An event few could directly remember, as the last time such a thing happened was forty years previous. Presidents Franklin Pierce and Andrew Johnson lost the nomination in 1852 and 1868 respectively, and Presidents James K. Polk and James Buchanan refused to run for a second term.
Vice presidential nomination
After Cleveland was renominated, Democrats had to choose a replacement for Thomas A. Hendricks. Hendricks ran unsuccessfully as the Democratic nominee for vice-president in 1876, but won the office when he ran again with Cleveland in 1884. Hendricks served as vice-president for only eight months before he died in office on November 25, 1885.
Candidates for Vice President:
Former Senator Allen G. Thurman of Ohio was nominated for vice-president over Isaac P. Gray, his nearest rival, and John C. Black, who trailed behind. Gray lost the nomination to Thurman primarily because his enemies brought up his actions while a Republican.
The Democratic platform largely confined itself to a defense of the Cleveland administration, supporting reduction in the tariff and taxes generally as well as statehood for the western territories.