1831—The first national convention to nominate a presidential candidate was held in September 1831 by the Anti-Masonic Party, a third party. The National Republican Party held its first national nominating convention in December 1831; and the Democratic Party followed with its own national convention in May 1832.

1860—The Democratic Party split over the issue of slavery at their national convention in Charleston, SC. The Democrats nominated Sen. Stephen Douglas of Illinois. The Southern Democratic faction, which became the National Democratic Party, nominated Sen. John Breckinridge of Kentucky who supported a federal protection of slavery in the territories.

1912—Theodore Roosevelt, who had pledged not to seek a third term as president, challenged his party’s incumbent President William Howard Taft for the Republican nomination. When Mr. Roosevelt lost the Republican nomination, he and his supporters abandoned the Republican convention. Mr. Roosevelt then ran for the Progressive Party (known at the time as the "Bull Moose" Party).

1920—The Democratic National Convention, held in San Francisco, was the first national convention to be held west of the Rocky Mountains.

1924—The Republican National Convention was the first national party convention to be broadcast over the radio. The Democratic National Convention this year made a name for itself as the longest in convention history. Here, delegates divided over a Ku Klux Klan plank in the platform and debated for 17 days over which candidate to support. It took over 100 ballots to choose the Democratic nominee.

1948—Delegates fought over the Democratic Party platform with the issue of civil rights at the forefront. 35 Southern delegates—from Mississippi and half the Alabama delegation—walked out of the Democratic National Convention.

1968—While the Democratic National Convention went on in Chicago’s Convention Hall, violence and protests over the war in Vietnam rose in the city’s streets. During the convention, 11,900 Chicago police, 7,500 Army troops, 7,500 Illinois National Guardsmen and 1,000 Secret Service agents were deployed to quell the protesters.

1984—Rep. Geraldine Ferraro (D-NY) was nominated as the Democratic Party’s vice-presidential candidate. She was the first woman to be placed on a major party’s ticket.