Donald Trump’s strong frontrunner status and the desperate efforts of many traditional Republicans to derail his candidacy have raised the possibility of a contested convention in July, when Republican delegates gather in Cleveland to choose their candidate for president. Don’t rely on the memories of too many living people for guidance about how such a convention would work. Here’s why: If you were a 40-year-old delegate at the last Democratic or Republican national convention that involved a serious contest over anything—including rules, credentials, the platform or the vice presidential nomination—you’re now 76 years old. If you were 40 and a delegate at the last convention that needed more than one ballot to choose its presidential nominee, Happy 104th.
That’s how long it’s been: since 1980, when a rules battle occurred at the Democratic convention, and since 1952, when the Democrats needed three calls of the roll of state delegations to choose their nominee for president.
It was not always thus. National conventions have gone through three eras since their invention in the early 1830s. From 1832 to 1952 conventions
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