Site selection
editBoth parties held their convention
However, Republicans had initially planned to hold their convention in San Diego, California until a scandal involving tarring the San Diego host committee motivated the party to change locations.
Democratic selection of Miami Beach, Florida
editMiami Beach had hosted the 1968 RNC. Louisville had bid for both parties conventions, and both parties sent their site selection committees to visit the city. Both parties regarded Louisville as a strong prospect. Democrats narrowed their choices down to Louisville and Miami Beach before selecting Miami Beach as its convention location on June 29, citing the city's greater supply of hotel accommodations.
https://www.newspapers.com/image/110023817/ and https://www.newspapers.com/image/110023951
| City | Previous major party conventions hosted by city | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Miami Beach, Florida | Republican: 1968 | Successful bid |
| Louisville, Kentucky | — | Unsuccessful finalist bid |
Republican site-selection
editOriginal selection of San Diego, California
editThe Republican National Committee site selection subcommittee recommended San Diego as the location for the party’s 1972 convention. https://www.newspapers.com/image/682499673
On July 23, 1971 in Denver, Colorado, the Republican National Committee voted to hold the party's presidential convention in San Diego. Some concerns were noted that San Diego might lack the necessary hotel capacity to host the convention. Nixon preferred San Diego as a host city due to its location 75 miles from his "Western White House" in San Clemente, California.
Other cities bidding had included Miami Beach.
San Diego City Council pledged to utilize $600,000 of revenue from the city's motel-hotel tax to help stage the convention.
Florida's RNC committee member L. E. Thomas (a supporter of Miami Beach's efforts) lambasted the lack of hotel rooms in San Diego. He forced a roll call vote to be taken on the site selection, which the choice of San Diego won 119–12.
Fearing that the city lacked the hotel rooms, San Diego County Republican committeewoman threatened to seek an injunction to prevent Republicans from holding their convention based upon issues with the use of city motel-hotel tax revenue being utilized to assist the staging of the convention.
https://www.newspapers.com/image/95203012
Nixon gave no official statement of preference in the convention site. But it was widely believed among those voting that Nixon preferred San Diego. https://www.newspapers.com/image/787393511
https://www.newspapers.com/image/108027222
Bob Dole, RNC chairman, said that the site selection committee recommendation was unanimous. Others alleged there had been a close vote.
Miami Beach had hosted the 1968 RNC. Louisville had bid for both parties conventions, and both parties sent their site selection committees to visit the city. Both parties regarded Louisville as a strong prospect. However, the Republican Party ultimately narrowed its choices down to San Diego and Miami Beach.
Miami Beach bid proponents touted its greater supply of first-class hotel accommodations and better geography for blockading the convention site from demonstrators.
https://www.newspapers.com/image/110023817/ and https://www.newspapers.com/image/110023951
Reasons speculated for city selection https://www.newspapers.com/image/787561249
Selected dates were August 21–24. https://www.newspapers.com/image/787393511
After its selection, initial preparations for a San Diego convention were overseen on President Nixon's behalf by ____ https://www.newspapers.com/image/377246130
In San Diego, the convention planned to take place at the San Diego Sports Arena.[1]
| City | Previous major party conventions hosted by city | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| San Diego, California | — | Successful bid |
| Miami Beach, Florida | Republican: 1968 | Unsuccessful finalist bid |
| Louisville, Kentucky | — | Eliminated before final selection |
Scandal
edithttps://www.newspapers.com/image/108027222
https://www.newspapers.com/image/62575135 https://www.newspapers.com/image/743121072 https://www.newspapers.com/image/829691414 https://www.newspapers.com/image/281771215
Revocation of San Diego's hosting rights, selection of Miami Beach
editMiami Beach effort to lure convention https://www.newspapers.com/image/225310806
Columnist Jack Anderson discovered a memo written by Dita Beard, a lobbyist for the International Telephone and Telegraph Corp., suggesting that the company could pledge $400,000 for the San Diego bid if the Department of Justice would settle its antitrust case against ITT.[1][2] Fearing scandal, and citing labor and cost concerns, the GOP transferred the event—scarcely three months before it was to begin—to Miami Beach, also the host city of the Democratic National Convention. This marked the sixth and last time that both national party conventions were held in the same city; Chicago had hosted double conventions in 1884, 1932, 1944 and 1952, and Philadelphia in 1948.[3]
San Diego would later go on to host the 1996 Republican National Convention.
Security and handling of protests
edit
1968 background, etc. https://www.newspapers.com/image/3005048
Miami Beach's geographic advantage at controlling demonstrators https://www.newspapers.com/image/3005048
Law Enforcement Assistance Administration grant to fund security https://www.newspapers.com/image/3005048
San Diego restrictions on demonstrations. Local attitude supporting these restrictions and disliking protesters. https://www.newspapers.com/image/3005048
Protest plans state before conventions https://www.newspapers.com/image/973151916
The Republican convention was targeted for widespread protests, particularly against the Vietnam War,[4] and the Nixon administration made efforts to suppress it. This tension was captured by Top Value Television in the independent documentary Four More Years, which juxtaposes shots of the protests outside the convention with the internal politics of the convention. A day after the convention, The New York Times reported that 900 demonstrators had been arrested, and the police reported that 52 people, including 12 policemen, had been injured.[5]
In 2005, files released under a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit revealed that the Federal Bureau of Investigation monitored former Beatle John Lennon after he was invited to play for Yippie protests. The surveillance of Lennon later concluded that he was not a dangerous revolutionary, as he was "constantly under the influence of narcotics."[citation needed] The Justice Department indicted Scott Camil, John Kniffen, Alton Foss, Donald Perdue, William Patterson, Stan Michelsen, Peter Mahoney and John Briggs—collectively known as the Gainesville Eight—on charges of conspiracy to disrupt the convention, but all were exonerated.
Oliver Stone's film Born on the Fourth of July, based on Ron Kovic's autobiography of the same name, depicts Kovic and fellow Vietnam Veterans Against the War activists Bobby Muller, Bill Wieman and Mark Clevinger being spat upon at the convention.[6]
Preparations of Miami Beach Convention Center
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Hotels
editTransportation
editReferences
edit- ^ a b Ancona, Vincent S. (Fall 1992). "When the Elephants Marched Out of San Diego". The Journal of San Diego History. Vol. 38, no. 4. San Diego Historical Society. Retrieved July 19, 2016.
- ^ "The Nation: The ITT Controversy Revisited". Time Magazine. 13 August 1973. Retrieved August 25, 2023.
- ^ Sautter, R. Craig. "Political Conventions". Encyclopedia of Chicago.
- ^ Kifner, John (August 23, 1972). "WAR FOES HARASS G.O.P. DELEGATES". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved September 15, 2022.
- ^ Kifner, John (August 24, 1972). "Police Seize 900 In Miami Beach". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved September 15, 2022.
- ^ JustOneMinute: Who Spat On Whom?