Democrats Return to Denver to Celebrate Centennial of Presidential Convention | Voice of America - English
It's been 100 years since the Democratic Party met in Denver to nominate their candidate for the U.S.
Denver's history can betraced back to the Gold Rush days of 1858, when the discovery of the preciousore drew an avalanche of prospectors to the confluence of Cherry Creek and theSouth Platte River, in what is today downtown Denver.Few of the gold rush prospectors ever struck it rich.Many of those who stayed became farmers orprovisioned the boom-and-bust mining camps. In1908 ? a little more than 30 years after Colorado had officially become astate ? Denver was chosen to host the . That's the quadrennial event at which theparty formally names its candidate for the U.S. presidential election, heldlater in the year.University of Coloradohistory professor says the city was picked because Denver mayor had the vision to make it happen."He hoped to transform Denver into what he called, 'Paris on thePlatte' or 'The City Beautiful' using Washington D.C. as a prototype." Speerinitiated a public works plan with new parks and buildings including themunicipal auditorium, which was the second largest in the country next toMadison Square Garden in New York when it opened.Noel says the effort"helped attract the democrats in 1908." Outsidethe municipal auditorium ? in the burning summer heat ? delegates were welcomedwith wagons piled with snow from the nearby Rocky Mountains. Noelsays Denver celebrated its frontier heritage by bringing in 40 Apache Indians"to do a war dance and war whoops."The Rocky Mountains News reported: "It was very difficult to tellthe wild Indians from the Democrats, except that the Democrats yelled all thetime and wore more badges." Securitycosts, which today can run to about $50 million for each convention, didn'tcost that much in 1908.The event, saysNoel, was covered with six Pinkerton detectives and a few off-duty Denverpolicemen. "They said that their only real problem was pickpockets, althoughthere was one snowball fight where they arrested 40 people." headed the Democratic Party's presidential ticket in 1908. Like presumptivecandidate Barack Obama, he was a charismatic public speaker.Noel says other parallels spanning thecentury between conventions include a troubled national economy, opposition toan unpopular foreign war, and the clamor for women's rights. "In Colorado,women had been given the right to vote in 1893, ahead of the rest of thecountry, so that there were actually voting women delegates at both theDemocratic and Republican conventions." Conventiondelegates did not endorse national women's suffrage, which didn't happen until1919, Noel says. In2008, city leaders are hopeful that the $40.6 million they are spending on thispolitical convention will help boost economic growth and increase tourism inthe region.Noel says organizers hadthe same idea a century ago when Denver's mining industry was in the throes ofcollapse."And they werebeginning to promote tourism and conventions. was actually founded that same year to try to keep more conventions comingafter doing such a great job with the Democrats." While there are no plans to cart snow down from themountains to cool off delegates this August, the 50,000 visitors to the in Denverwill discover a vibrant, thriving urban community ? one that celebrates itswise choice a century ago to become a convention-friendly town.