
Democratic Party (United States) facts for kids
(Redirected from Democratic Party of the United States)Democratic Party | |
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Chairperson | Donna Brazile |
Founder | Andrew Jackson |
Secretary | Stephanie Rawlings-Blake (MD) |
President of the United States | Barack Obama (IL) |
Vice President of the United States | Joe Biden (DE) |
Senate leader | Minority Leader Harry Reid (NV) |
House leader | Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (CA) |
Founded | 1801 |
Ideology | Liberalism Progressivism |
Website | |
www |
The U.S. Democratic Party is one of the two biggest political parties in the United States. The other is the Republican Party. The U.S. also has several smaller political parties known as "third parties." Supporters of this party are known as Democrats.
Every four years the party holds a National Convention where they agree on their candidate for President. The Democratic National Committee coordinates most of the activities of the Democratic Party in all 51 United States. There have been 15 Democratic presidents, the most recent being Barack Obama, who became President in 2009.
Contents
History
See History of the United States Democratic Party.
Philosophy and role in government
Some Modern Democrats are called "the left", "liberals" or "progressives", even though not all Democrats are left-wing or liberal. In the United States, each of the political parties are large coalitions that cover many different kinds of ideology. A mostly Democratic state is sometimes called a "blue state", this original color scheme was based on Great Britain's political system, which used red to denote the more liberal party and was first used in the 1976 presidential election campaign.
Democratic beliefs
Generally Democrats support:
- Progressive income tax, increasing overall tax income
- Higher corporate taxes and recapturing income from overseas profits
- Expanding spending on government programs
- Spending on business, education, infrastructure, clean-energy
- Limited rights to Abortion
- Restrictions of weapons use through government oversight
- Universal healthcare
- Regulating business and the economy
- Same-sex marriage
Most support for Democrats comes from states in the Northeast, Northwest and Pacific Coast areas of the USA, but there are Democrats elected to office in all other states too.
Symbols
The symbol of the Democratic Party is the Donkey. Since the election of 2000, the color blue has become a symbol for Democrats.
Democratic Presidents
- Presidents during the 19th century
- Thomas Jefferson (1801- 1809)
- James Madison
- James Monroe
- John Quincy Adams
- Andrew Jackson (1829 – 1837)
- Martin Van Buren (1837 – 1841)
- James K. Polk (1845 – 1849)
- Franklin Pierce (1853 – 1857)
- James Buchanan (1857 – 1861)
- Andrew Johnson (1865 – 1869)
- Grover Cleveland ( 1885 – 1889)
- Presidents during the 20th century
- Woodrow Wilson ( 1913 – 1921)
- Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933 – 1945)
- Harry S. Truman (1945 – 1953)
- John F. Kennedy (1961 – 1963)
- Lyndon B. Johnson (1963 – 1969)
- Jimmy Carter (1977 – 1981)
- Bill Clinton (1993 – 2001)
- Presidents during the 21st century
- Barack Obama (2009 - present)
Other famous Democratic Politicians
- Joe Biden (Delaware), Vice President
- John Kerry (Massachusetts), Secretary of State, former Senator, former Presidential candidate
- Patrick Leahy (Vermont), President Pro-Tempor, Senator, and Dean of the Senate
- Hillary Clinton (New York), former Secretary of State, former Senator and former First Lady
- Jim Clyburn (South Carolina), Representative and Assistant Democratic Leader
- Howard Dean (Vermont), former Governor and former head of the Democratic National Committee
- Christopher Dodd (Connecticut), former Senator
- Mario Cuomo (New York), former Governor
- Dick Durbin (Illinois), Senate Whip
- George Moscone (California), former Mayor of San Francisco
- Chuck Schumer (New York), Senator.
- Harvey Milk (California), Member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors
- William M. Daley (Illinois), candidate for Governor of Illinois, former White House Chief of Staff
- Frank Lautenberg (New Jersey), former Senator
- Pat Quinn, Governor of Illinois
- Paul Simon (Illinois), former Senator
- Arlen Specter (Pennsylvania), former Senator
- Bob Menendez (New Jersey), Senator
- Richard M. Daley (Illinois), former Mayor of Chicago
- John Edwards (North Carolina), former Senator and Vice-Presidential candidate
- Richard J. Daley (Illinois), former Mayor of Chicago
- Al Gore (Tennessee), former Presidential candidate and Vice-President
- Robert F. Kennedy, former Senator, former Presidential candidate, and brother of John F. Kennedy
- Daniel Inouye (Hawaii), former President Pro-Tempor, former Senator, and former Dean of the Senate
- Steny Hoyer (Maryland), House Minority Whip
- Robert Byrd (West Virginia), former President Pro-Tempor, former Senator, and former Dean of the Senate
- Tim Kaine (Virginia), Governor and former head of the Democratic National Committee
- Dennis Kucinich (Ohio), Representative
- Janet Napolitano (Arizona), Secretary of Homeland Security
- Nancy Pelosi (California), former Speaker of the House
- Brian Schweitzer (Montana), former Governor
- Harry Reid (Nevada), Senate Majority Leader
- Rahm Emanuel (Illinois), Mayor of Chicago, former White House Chief of Staff
- Harry F. Byrd, Jr. (Virginia), former Senator
- Bill Richardson (New Mexico), Governor
- Debbie Wasserman Schultz (Florida), Representative and head of the Democratic National Committee
- Eliot Spitzer (New York), former Governor
- Mark Warner (Virginia), Senator and former Governor
- George Wallace (Alabama), 45th Governor of Alabama
- Elizabeth Warren, Senator from Massachusetts
Former Democrats

- Ronald Reagan (California), 40th President of the United States (1981-1989).
- Condoleezza Rice (Alabama), 66th United States Secretary of State (2005-2009).
- Rudy Giuliani (New York), 107th Mayor of New York City (1994-2001).
- Rick Perry (Texas), 47th Governor of Texas (2000-present)
- Jesse Helms (North Carolina), United States Senator (1973-2003).
- Donald J. Trump, Registered Democrat (2001-2009)
Related pages
Images for kids
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Andrew Jackson was the first Democratic President of the United States.
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The three leaders of the Democratic party during the first half of the 20th century: President Woodrow Wilson (nominated in 1912 and '16) Sec. of State William J. Bryan (nominated in 1896, 1900 and 1908), Josephus Daniels, Breckinridge Long, William Phillips, and Franklin D. Roosevelt (nominated for VP in 1920 and for president in 1932, '36, '40 and '44). Photo taken June 14, 1913
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Franklin D. Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States (1933–1945).
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John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the United States (1961–1963)
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Lyndon B. Johnson, 36th President of the United States (1963–1969)
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Eleanor Roosevelt at the 1956 Democratic National Convention in Chicago
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President Barack Obama signing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act into law at the White House on March 23, 2010.
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Shirley Chisholm was the first major party African-American candidate to run nationwide primary campaigns.
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President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Immigration Act of 1965 as Sen. Edward Kennedy, Sen. Robert Kennedy, and others look on.
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Jerry Brown at a campaign rally in Sacramento two days before the election
