Stephen L. Carter, Columnist

The Republicans' 100-Year Shift

On trade and immigration, 1916 Republicans wouldn't recognize the party today.

August 3, 2016 at 1:32 PM UTC

Stephen L. Carter is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist, a professor of law at Yale University and author of “Invisible: The Story of the Black Woman Lawyer Who Took Down America’s Most Powerful Mobster.”

The candidate of 1916: Charles Evans Hughes.
Source: Bettman

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I wrote Tuesday about continuities between the Democratic platform of this year and of a century ago. What about the Republicans? Again, the 2016 and 1916 platforms have some striking parallels. But on two major issues, the GOP of 100 years back was very different from the party today.

Again, a recap of 1916 politics: Woodrow Wilson was the Democratic incumbent. The Republicans, in a stab at unifying a fractured party, nominated Charles Evans Hughes, chief justice of the Supreme Court, a political moderate. The voters were worried about the economy. They wanted to avoid involvement in the spreading war in Europe, and bring an end to the brushfire war along the Mexican border.