How did presidents effectively campaign in the USA prior to mass media?Seems like even holding big rallies would be difficult given no microphones even
>>16886288Newspapers were still a thing so they could still campaign and word would spread across the country via the written word, for the most part. Candidates would also have local politicians speak on their behalf when unable to visit specific cities over the course of their campaign, which is still the case today.
>>16886288>holding big rallies would be difficult given no microphones evenThat is why speech classes still teach you to project your voice in a clear way without shouting.
>>16886288>mass mediaback then that was pamplets and newspapers
>>16886288Prior to William Henning Bryan, most candidates didnt campaign in person at all, as that was seen as undignified, instead letting that job to their supporters and surrogates, who would write and speak in their favour
>>16886288Surrogates in newspapers would write articles in favor of you. You make alliances with local politicians to endorse you (hence why endorsements are still a thing today). Voters might not know who you are, but they trust their local politician's judgement. Planned campaign routes, usually via rail, to visit numerous cities/towns in short order with rally/speech/parade stops. Speechs would be published in pamphlets or newspapers so the voter could at least read your words. Also free buttons and other merchandise.Also machine politics were stronger. Each region/city would have a dominant political party that effectively ran the area. If you were a loyal follower of that party, and if your candidate won, then you'd hope for a cushy job appointment. Tammany Hall in NYC was probably the most famous in organizing the democrats to work in lockstep. In that sense, you didn't really need to campaign, the local party bosses would "campaign" for you by forcing their followers to vote and encourage their neighborhoods to vote for you.The major reason for Garfield's assassination, aside from the assassin being a narcissistic psycho, was that he believed Garfield owed him a cushy consulship for "helping" Garfield's election since the guy plagiarized a stump speech for him and spread out some pamphlets.
