Last week, we focused on the changes in the relationship between media entities and conventions. This week, we’ll highlight some of the things about conventions that don’t seem to change, as these details from the first 35 years of modern conventions suggest. There’s considerable hoopla at conventions, from the rousing music to the booked entertainment. Delegates make partisan fashion statements. And while the roll call is no longer done in prime time, delegates still vie to create memorable “the great state of. . .” introductions. Bars stay open later than usual, too. Many social connection apps report record engagement numbers during this time. Here are some other facts of interest surrounding the unconventional aspects of conventions.

1940: Stadium clean-up crews at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago reported 14 tons of paper on the floor after the “Roosevelt-by-acclamation” session. The Republican Convention that year averaged between eight and 10 tons of trash per day. But, the evening of Herbert Hoover’s speech, the clean-up crew collected more than 12 tons of trash. The GOP convention also featured three elephants.

1948: At the Democratic Convention in Philadelphia, Senator Alben W. Barkley of Kentucky, serving as temporary convention chairman, crowned Anna Kitz of New York as “sweetheart of the Young Democrats,” placing a wreath of flowers on her head. Having studied Political Science and Dramatics at Queens College, she aspired to be a United States Representative one day. The Young Democrats reportedly spent five months picking their sweetheart.

1952: Democratic candidate Oscar Ewing’s campaign hired two trapeze artists to perform in the lobby of the Hilton Hotel headquarters in Chicago, trying to convince delegates to “Swing to Ewing.” Ewing won only four votes on the first ballot at the Democratic Convention.

The Democratic Convention had another special guest: Elmer, the mule. The New York Times colorfully recounted his presence and his appeal to reporters:

Elmer, a handsome, intelligent, and more importantly, well-behaved mule, made an appearance at the same Conrad Hilton Hotel basement press room rostrum where more conventional partisans have held forth . . . A score of newsmen, by now inured to whatever turns up at press conferences, solemnly interviewed him, and obtained answers of exceptional lucidity and succinctness. Elmer said it would be Stevenson on the fourth ballot.

Adlai E. Stevenson won on the fourth ballot.

After Herbert Hoover’s speech at the Republican Convention, the convention hall organ kept “thundering rousing music,” which led the California delegation to start a “traditional snake dance” through the aisles. Other delegations quickly joined.

1956: Democrats spent around $30,000 to purchase 2,500 cushioned seats with armrests from a bankrupt movie theater for delegates to sit upon during the 1956 Democratic Convention in Chicago.

Donkeys were paraded through the lobby of the Conrad Hilton Hotel (the same one where Elmer the mule held his press conference in 1952), and a 12-piece band marched through the halls.

Someone managed to take a live goat onto the floor at the convention. The New York Times reported that “The goat got as far as the speaker’s rostrum but was ordered out after the ushers discovered it lacked the proper credentials.”

1960: The Republican Convention in Chicago opened with a parade organized by the Young Republican National Federation. The parade was led by a live elephant, and included a float celebrating Hawaiian statehood. The New York Times also observed “A flimsily clad group of girls from a local night club, singing and undulating on their truck bed, drew a chorus of indecorous, un-Republican whistles.”

The International Amphitheatre, where the convention was held, reported that convention-goers consumed 300,000 pounds of meat in the first three days of the convention.

1964: Lyndon B. Johnson celebrated his 56th birthday on Thursday, August 27, 1964—the same day he accepted the nomination as the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee. Following his acceptance speech, he celebrated with a birthday cake in the shape of the United States that included the 48 continental states.

1972: Republican Convention planners aimed to engage audiences with multimedia visual displays, adding three 12’ by 25’ screens above the rostrum. One “relatively uneventful session was interrupted, to the obvious delight of the delegates, for live pictures of President Nixon deplaning in Miami and, precisely after his renomination, for the president’s reception at a rock concert in a local stadium.”

1976: The political walkie-talkie network at the Republican Convention chose code names for the president and first lady, according to The New York Times: “Mr. Ford is Tarzan. Mrs. Ford is Jane. And Richard B. Cheney, the White House chief of staff, is Chimpanzee.”

During the contentious convention, Vice President Rockefeller “light-heartedly” stole a “Reagan for President” sign from a North Carolina delegate on the convention floor. In retaliation, a Reagan supporter ripped out the telephone connecting the New York delegation to the Ford control trailer. Rockefeller recovered the telephone, and returned the sign—but not before ripping it in half.

Originally posted July 22, 2016.

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