Time and again, LIFE photographers like Alfred Eisenstaedt, Bill Ray, Thomas McAvoy, Ed Clark, Gjon Mili and others found ways to capture — and to bring home to LIFE’s millions of readers — the drama, tension and, occasionally, the humor inherent in big-time politics. And with the possible exception of election night, there’s simply no more dramatic, tense or humorous time (sometimes intentionally, sometimes not) to watch the strange, imperfect mechanism of representative democracy at work than during a national convention.
In recent years, much of the drama around conventions has been leached out of the proceedings altogether. The “presumptive” nominee has already left any and all rivals behind in the primaries, and by the time the convention rolls around it’s usually all over except for the shouting. (And judging by some of the pictures here, nowadays even the shouting is less exciting than it used to be.) Nevertheless, we tune in every two years for whatever drama might be in store.
Here, LIFE.com presents a selection of LIFE’s best pictures from the GOP’s national conventions across several decades. More than a few famous GOP stalwarts are here — Ike, Nixon, Goldwater, Thomas Dewey — as are other long-forgotten pols who were players in their day, and the delegates who, in the end, provide both parties’ conventions with their real energy.
Scene at the 1968 Republican National Convention, Miami Beach, Florida.Ralph Crane—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesScene at the 1968 Republican National Convention, Miami Beach, Florida.Lynn Pelham—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesGo-go girl and delegates during the 1968 Republican National Convention, Miami Beach, Florida.Lynn Pelham—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesArizona politician and future U.S. Attorney General Richard Kleindienst (left) confers with Nebraska's Richard Herman during the 1964 GOP National Convention in San Francisco.Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesRonald Reagan at the 1964 Republican National Convention in San Francisco.Ralph Crane—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesScene during the 1960 Republican National Convention in Chicago.Michael Rougier—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesNot originally published in LIFE. Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. (center) During the 1960 Republican National Convention in Chicago, Martin Luther King Jr. leads a demonstration calling for a strong Civil Rights plank in the GOP campaign platform.leading Negro demonstration for strong Civil Rights plank in COP campaign platformFrancis Miller—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesScene during the 1960 Republican National Convention in Chicago.Michael Rougier—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesScene during the 1960 Republican National Convention in Chicago.Michael Rougier—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesScene at the 1956 Republican National Convention, San Francisco, California.Ed Clark—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesLeft to right: President Dwight D. Eisenhower, his wife Mamie, Richard M. Nixon and his wife, Pat, at the 1956 GOP National Convention, San Francisco, California.Hank Walker—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesScene at the 1956 Republican National Convention, San Francisco.Leonard McCombe—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesChairman of the Republican National Committee Arthur E. Summerfield on the telephone during the 1952 GOP National Convention in Chicago.George Skadding—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesControl booth, 1952 GOP National Convention in Chicago.Cornell Capa—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesBertha Baur, a prominent figure at conventions for decades and a long-time member of the Republican National Committee, in an elephant hat at the 1952 GOP National Convention in Chicago.Francis Miller—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesPennsylvania Governor John Fine (left) and Arthur Summerfield chat in private during the 1952 Republican National Convention in Chicago.Ralph Morse—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesRepublicans hold an informal conference in a kitchen during the 1952 GOP National Convention in Chicago.Cornell Capa—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesVice-presidential nominee Richard Nixon and his wife Pat talk with photographers during the 1952 GOP National Convention in Chicago.Ralph Morse—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesScene at the 1952 GOP National Convention in Chicago.Alfred Eisenstaedt—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesScene at the 1948 GOP National Convention in Philadelphia.Gjon Mili—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesScene at the 1948 GOP National Convention in Philadelphia.Gjon Mili—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesPennsylvania delegates to the 1944 Republican National Convention in Chicago pull cold beers from a tub of ice after a caucus meeting.Thomas McAvoy—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesDelegates listen to Herbert Hoover during the 1944 Republican National Convention in Chicago.Gordon Coster—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesA model wears a bathing suit in a fashion show at Ohio senator Robert Taft's headquarters during the 1940 GOP National Convention in Philadelphia.William C. Shrout—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesA young Republican rests on a sofa in the Hotel Adelphi during the 1940 GOP National Convention in Philadelphia. ("Van" is Sen. Arthur Vandenberg of Michigan, long considered a front-runner for the GOP nomination; instead, the Republicans nominated Indiana's Wendell Willkie, who lost the election to the Democratic incumbent, FDR.)David E. Scherman—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
