1936 Republican National Convention Alternate Badge WIth Box - Alf Landon

One trivia item from the 1936 Republican National Convention that nominated Alf Landon for President is that it was the first political convention to be televised, albeit with limited coverage. The convention was held in Cleveland, Ohio from June 9 to June 12, 1936, and it marked the beginning of the television era in American politics. NBC and CBS provided gavel-to-gavel radio coverage of the convention, and a small number of experimental television stations also broadcast portions of the convention. While the television coverage was limited to a few thousand viewers due to the low number of TV sets in households at the time, it was a groundbreaking moment in the history of political conventions and set the stage for the role of television in shaping future political events.