The growing patriotism of the Catholic population, the Church's vigorous support of the “Social Gospel,” and the accommodation of Catholics to American democratic institutions -- all of these factors helped to make the Church of Rome more acceptable to the majority of Americans. Nonetheless, there was still a considerable amount of latent anti-Catholic feeling in the country, especially in the South. Therefore, when Alfred E. Smith, a Catholic, became the Democratic presidential candidate in 1928, animosity towards the Catholic Church, which hitherto had been submerged, came to the surface during the campaign. Some people, especially Catholics, went so far as to maintain that it was religious prejudice that cost Smith the election. The purpose of this essay will be to determine the veracity or falsity of this interpretation of the cause of Smith’s defeat in the election of 1928, in the hope that a careful representation of the past will enable us to understand the living present and to predict the uncertain future.

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M.S.

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This study analyzed the coverage of Time, TT.S. News and World Report, and Newsweek's coverage of the 1992 presidential campaign. The four research questions posed concerned the newsmagazines' overall direction of coverage concerning the campaign; the individual and collective direction of newsmagazine coverage concerning the candidates and the election, the percentage of attribution given to the newsmagazines, or other sources; and the issues that were covered.The time period of this study spanned the traditional Labor Day kick off of the campaign to Election Day. A total of 29 lead presidential campaign stories were used for this investigation. The sentence was the unit of analysis; the method employed was a directional content analysis. A coder judged each sentence for source, subject, content, and evaluation. In addition, the coder evaluated each sentence as either positive, negative, or neutral.After the raw scores were converted into percentages, the researcher used a chi square to test the level of significance.Findings showed overall the newsmagazines were neutral in their coverage of the 1992 presidential campaign. Time, Newsweek, and U.S. News all contained more negative than positive sentences about the candidates, issues, campaigns, and party.In respect to candidate coverage, George Bush received more than 70% negative coverage in all three magazines. Bill Clinton received more negative coverage in U.S. News than positive or neutral. Time, printed more positive than negative sentences about Clinton, and Newsweek printed more neutral statements about Clinton than either U.S. News, orTime.Consistent with past research, the bulk of statements contained in the lead articles were judged to come from the writers. Finally, coverage during the 1992 campaign overwhelmingly centered around the "horserace" aspects of the campaign instead of the substantive issues. / Department of Journalism

The Internet is rapidly becoming an important part of a presidential candidate's media strategy. Specifically, a candidate's website has distinct implications and uses in the early stages of a presidential campaign. Using an eclectic approach, this research examines the campaign websites of the candidates for the U.S. Presidency in 2008. By examining the websites using content analysis, analog criticism, media criticism, and scenario analysis emerging trends become apparent and conclusions on their further implications can be drawn. This research presents two major conclusions on the affects of campaign websites on the early stages of a presidential campaign. First, the design structure and features available on the Internet could be used to give the user a feeling of direct connection with the campaign, which in turn could motivate political involvement. Second, a candidate's new media strategy and usage must match with the overarching rhetorical style of the rest of the campaign. These two major concepts serve as starting points for further academic research and a greater understanding of our changing democratic system. / Department of Telecommunications

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The Electoral College and Jacksonian Democracy are two subjects that have been studied extensively. Taken together, however, little has been written on how the method of choosing presidential electors during the Age of Jackson changed. Although many historians have written on the development of political parties and the increase in voter participation during this time, none have focused on how politicians sought to use the method of selecting electors to further party development in the country. Between 1824 and 1832 twelve states changed their methods of choosing electors. In almost every case, the reason for changing methods was largely political but was promoted in terms of advancing democracy. A careful study of the movement toward selecting electors on a general ticket shows that political considerations in terms of party and/or state power were much more important than promoting democratic ideals. Despite the presence of a few true reformers who consistently pushed for a constitutional amendment guaranteeing that all states used the same method, the conclusion must be that politics and party demanded a change. This study relies heavily on legislative records at both the state and national level and newspapers throughout t the country from the period. Beginning with a brief history of the office of the president and an overview of the presidential elections prior to 1824, the author then carefully analyzes the elections of 1824, 1828, and 1832, as well as the various efforts to amend the constitutional provisions dealing with the Electoral College. Particular emphasis is placed on political factions at the state level, the development of the Democratic and National Republican parties nationally, and how each party used and at time manipulated the electoral process to secure a favorable outcome for their candidates.

This thesis examines the factors affecting the outcome of the 1948 presidential election. The factors which will be take up are not a complete list of all those influences on the election but will be those which appeared most frequently in writings on the subject and those which, in the writer's opinion, exerted the strongest influence. By combining specific studies of the tree large pivotal states, with the investigation of general factors affecting the election, it is believed that certain rather definite conclusions can be drawn concerning what happened in the country as a whole.

This study seeks to determine, through content analysis, whether there was evidence in news magazines during the 1980 presidential campaign to support the claim that Anderson was a "media-created candidate." Studying weekly issues of Time, Newsweek, and U. S. News & World Report from April 28, 1980 through November 3, 1980, it was found that (a) Anderson received 17 per cent of the total campaign coverage, compared to Reagan's 42 per cent and Carter's 37 per cent, and (b) overall, Anderson's coverage was mildly negative in all magazines. The study concludes that rather than "creating" Anderson, news magazines may have undercut his viability by restricting the length and number of stories about him.