Politics in Missouri and Elections at the University of Missouri
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| Come see our prints of George Caleb Bingham and Missouri politics on the ground floor of the MU Student Center |
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| Come see our exhibit about politics at MU in the Traditions Lounge on the second floor of the MU Student Center. |
GEORGE CALEB BINGHAM AND MISSOURI POLITICS
Renowned nineteenth-century Missouri artist George Caleb Bingham composed a triad of paintings relating to politics right here in Missouri, two of which are currently on display on the ground floor of the Missouri Student Center. Bingham himself was active in the Missouri political scene, being a member of the Whig party, only leaving it over the divisive slavery issue. Then he joined Abraham Lincoln and the Republican party, but by 1872 he was associated with the Democratic party instead. Bingham was also an active participant in the politics of the state of Missouri, having himself served in the state legislature.
The print of The County Election on display represents a local event for Bingham that took place in Saline County, Missouri. This election day in 1850 was when the Bingham himself was running for a seat in the state legislature, which he ultimately lost to E.D. Sappington. Bingham's painting, which features Sappington, is a commentary on the political processes of the day and its corrupt nature. For example, alcohol was often used to buy votes and this is represented by a man sitting at a table drinking and another man who has already drunk too much and is being held up in line by a friend. This representation of voting is a very different picture than what we might see today. First of all, the voters are all male and do not include African Americans or women. Secondly, casting a vote was conducted very differently, because men had to speak the name of their selected candidate aloud to a clerk who would then record the vote. This, naturally, led to some amount of corruption.
STUDENT GOVERNMENT AT MU
Elections at the University of Missouri are represented in several different ways. Of course, student body elections were well represented in the tradition of the university. As early as the 1910s, the students of Missouri met and formed governing bodies, but it was not until 1923 that the Student Government Association (SGA) was formed. For the first half of the twentieth century, women at the university had a different governing association, the Women's Student Government Association (WSGA). | ||
| Members of the SGA in 1936 (Savitar 1936) |
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| Members of the WSGA in 1943 (Savitar 1943) |
Corruption was rampant in
student government politics at MU and was often credited to the fact that it was
very much tied to Greek life. In 1917
the Savitar documented the political situation at the university: “Don’t
think you have to be honest about this politics business. It isn’t being done, this year. It never was
done…the records show that there has only been one honest politician here for
the last twelve years.” A 1941 investigation into the Student Government Association was
conducted by the university because “evils of a sort commonly recognized to be
contrary to public morality, offensive to good citizenship, destructive to good
government, and which have had a tendency to bring the University into
disrepute.” However, the university ultimately did not suspend student government at this moment.
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| The last class of elected officers in 1941 before student government was disbanded for the war (Savitar 1941) |
Instead, student government was suspended in 1942 because of the war. Arising in its place was the
Student War Board, whose mission was to promote and coordinate all activities
concerned with the war effort. For
example, it sponsored registration for service, physical fitness, first, aid,
home nursing classes, a milk campaign, war savings stamps benefit concert,
and student war speakers.
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| Members of the Student War Board (Savitar 1942) |
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| Members of the MSA Senate (Savitar 1964) |
In 1975 Carrie Francke was elected the first woman president of MSA.
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Carrie Francke (AB
'75, BJ '76, JD '81)
Francke had an active
political career that began at Mizzou where she was elected the first woman as
President of the Student body. She served as Assistant Attorney General in
Missouri from 1982-1985.
Savitar 1975
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In 1997, MSA introduced electronic voting with the option to cast ballots by e-mail, which increased voter turnout.
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| Students voting the old fashioned way, in person (Savitar 1997) |
MU AND STATE AND NATIONAL POLITICS
The University of Missouri also played host to state and national politics by bringing politicians and political speakers to campus and through student activism.Important national political figures visited the campus. Such visitors included Harry S. Truman and Eleanor Roosevelt.
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| Harry S. Truman on his 1954 visit (Savitar 1954) |
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| Eleanor Roosevelt was invited to MU by the Student Unions Board and she gave a lecture entitled "You and the United Nations" (Savitar 1957) |
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Republican Senatorial
candidate John C. Dansworth came to Missouri’s campus for a debate against
Democratic candidate Stuart Symington. Dansworth attacked Missouri’s seniority
system and Symington spoke against Nixon and the Vietnam War. Symington won his re-election. (Savitar 1971)
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Republican
Vice-President George H.W. Bush speaking at University of Missouri during his
1988 Presidential Campaign, which he would go on to secure. (Savitar 1988)
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ALUMNI IN POLITICS
The University of Missouri has also produced many illustrious graduates who would go on to have political careers on state and national levels. |
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Democrat Jay Nixon
(BA ’78, JD ‘81). Nixon was elected as Governor of Missouri in 2009 and was
re-elected for a second term in 2012. He has also served as the Attorney
General of Missouri and as a representative in the Missouri Senate (MIZZOU Spring 2004)
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Republican Sam Graves
(BS ‘86)
Graves was elected in
1992 to serve on the Missouri House of Representatives. In 1994 he was elected to the Missouri
Senate. Graves is currently a
representative in the U.S. House of Representatives of Missouri’s 6th
congressional district. He has served in
this position since 2001. (Savitar 1983)
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Democrat Claire
McCaskill (BA ’76, JD ‘77).
McCaskill was the
first woman elected to the U.S. Senate from Missouri in 2006. She was re-elected in 2012. She has also
served as State Auditor and as a member of the Missouri House of
Representatives (Savitar 1975).
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Republican Forrest C.
Donnell (BA ’04, JD ‘07). Donnell was
elected Governor of Missouri in 1940. He also served as a U.S. Senator from
1945-1951. Here Governor Donnell
oversees the first graduating class of the Naval Training School in 1943 (Savitar 1943)
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Democrat Tim Kaine
(BA ‘79). After moving from Missouri following graduation, Kaine was very
active in Virginia politics. He served as a mayor in Richmond, a Lt. Governor
of the state, and then was elected Governor of the state in 2006. Kaine is currently a U.S. Senator and is
running as the vice-presidential nominee of Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential
election (MIZZOU Spring 2004)
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