GOP

MUNKO-1970 · #1 (**permalink**) 08-02-2004, 11:26 AM

I would like to know the "history and reason" behind the name "GRAND OLE' PARTY"..(GOP)

Seriously, I don't know the origins and I am curious. Maybe the "staunch Republicans" on this forum can educate me on that issue.

BTW..Is there a "nickname" for the Democrats?

Beagle66 · #2 (**permalink**) 08-02-2004, 11:30 AM

I know what kind of name-calling posts this topic is going to lead to.

MUNKO-1970 · #3 (**permalink**) 08-02-2004, 11:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beagle66";p=&quot

I know what kind of name-calling posts this topic is going to lead to.

I hope it does not invoke any name calling because I truly want to know what GOP stands for. I see the term and hear it used all the time and just realized that, though I know what it stands for, I don't know the origins.

So I really would like to know.. I see its been moved as well..

Rebellion · #4 (**permalink**) 08-02-2004, 01:17 PM

I know he used the term when he won the White House. He also got it from the southern democrats who used that term to refer to themselves. He said it in mocking.

MUNKO-1970 · #5 (**permalink**) 08-02-2004, 01:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rebellion";p=&quot

I know he used the term when he won the White House. He also got it from the southern democrats who used that term to refer to themselves. He said it in mocking.

Interesting..Any idea why the Southern Democrats referred to themselves that way? Do you have any sources that I could use in researching this? I would appreciate any help..

Thanks

Rebellion · #6 (**permalink**) 08-02-2004, 02:04 PM

Although I would think a google search would turn up some things. I just went to gop.com and this link gives a history

http://www.gop.com/About/default.aspx?Section=2

It mentions the term originating with democrats, but nothing on Grant. Maybe Grant just popularized the phrase for the Republicans, but I have heard that story a few times anyway FWIW.

TeenRepublican · #7 (**permalink**) 08-02-2004, 05:26 PM

I run a high school teen-age Republicans club and the sheet (and page on my website) that I give out about the name says:

Quote:

A favorite of headline writers, GOP dates back to the 1870s and '80s. The abbreviation was cited in a New York Herald story on Oct. 15, 1884; "' The G.O.P. Doomed,' shouted the Boston Post.... The Grand Old Party is in condition to inquire...."

But what GOP stands for has changed with the times. In 1875 there was a citation in the Congressional Record referring to "this gallant old party," and, according to Harper's Weekly, in the Cincinnati Commercial in 1876 to "Grand Old Party."

Perhaps the use of "the G.O.M." for Britain's Prime Minister William E. Gladstone in 1882 as " the Grand Old Man" stimulated the use of GOP in the United States soon after.

In early motorcar days, GOP took on the term "get out and push." During the 1964 presidential campaign, "Go-Party" was used briefly, and during the Nixon Administration, frequent references to the "generation of peace" had happy overtones. In line with moves in the '70s to modernize the party, Republican leaders took to referring to the "grand old party," harkening back to a 1971 speech by President Nixon at the dedication of the Eisenhower Republican Center in \Washington, D.C.

Indeed, the "grand old party" is an ironic term, since the Democrat Party was organized some 22 years earlier in 1832.

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