NEW YORK — Republican Donald Trump’s rally on Sunday at Madison Square Garden follows a long line of political events at the storied New York City arena.
The Garden has hosted both Democratic and Republican National Conventions since the 1800s, and in 1939, thousands joined back-to-back pro-Nazi and Communist Party rallies in the lead-up to World War II. Marilyn Monroe took the stage in 1962 to sing “Happy Birthday” to President John F. Kennedy, adding to the lore surrounding what the New York Knicks announcer calls “the world’s most famous arena!”
Here are a few highlights from the political history of Madison Square Garden, which has occupied four buildings over time.
Grover Cleveland stages a comeback
Grover Cleveland is the only U.S. president to have served two nonconsecutive terms. Trump hopes to become the second.
After the 1892 Democratic National Convention met in Chicago and nominated Cleveland — then out of office after serving from 1885 to 1889 — he accepted the nomination with a speech at Madison Square Garden — the second one — in his home state of New York.
The Evening World reported that “a band stationed in one of the balconies played popular airs, the audience joining in the refrain of “Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay” and “Four years more of Grover.”
Cleveland promised to lower tariffs, whereas Trump has said imposing huge tariffs on foreign goods would boost the U.S. economy. Cleveland then defeated Republican Benjamin Harrison, becoming both the 24th and 22nd president.
A record-setting 103 ballots
The Democratic Party that met at the second Madison Square Garden in 1924 was deeply divided over immigration, Prohibition and the growing prominence of the Ku Klux Klan. The race was deadlocked between William Gibbs McAdoo of California and New York Gov. Alfred E. Smith, whom the Klan opposed because he was Roman Catholic.
From June 24 to July 9, ballot after ballot failed to secure a nomination. The Associated Press reported on July 2 that…
