In-person presidential campaigns

In-person presidential campaigns

Barbara Perry writes about the good, the bad, and the ugly

By Barbara Perry

Read the full story at The Hill

Presidential campaigns as we know them up to the current pandemic are primarily 20th-century phenomena. Before that, few candidates or, heaven forbid, incumbent presidents, sullied themselves by rubbing elbows with the hoi polloi. But as presidents and aspirants for the office realized that their power could be augmented by direct appeals and outreach to the electorate, they embraced in-person campaigns. Nationwide train, and then plane, travel made them possible.

The Donald Trump and Joe Biden 2020 campaigns have put their rallies on hold to avoid exacerbating the COVID-19 crisis, but both the president and the former vice president share a preference for rope lines or firing up the base with stem-winding rhetoric.

Read the full story at The Hill

Barbara Perry

Barbara Perry

Barbara A. Perry is the Gerald L. Baliles Professor and Director of Presidential Studies at the University of Virginia's Miller Center, where she co-directs the Presidential Oral History Program. She has authored or edited 14 books on presidents, First Ladies, the Kennedy family, the Supreme Court, and civil rights and civil liberties. Professor Perry has conducted more than 100 interviews for the George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama Presidential Oral History Projects and she directs the Edward Kennedy Oral History Project. She served as a U.S. Supreme Court fellow and has worked for both Republican and Democratic members of the Senate.