Accusing a political opponent of being a dictator—or even a fascist—is nothing new in American elections. The labels change with the times, but the tactic has been with us since the earliest campaigns.

In 1800, Thomas Jefferson’s allies branded President John Adams a “tyrant” and “monarchist” for the Alien and Sedition Acts, while Adams’s camp accused Jefferson of being an anarchist who would destroy the Republic. In 1864, Democrats called Abraham Lincoln a “despot” for suspending habeas corpus during the Civil War.

By the 1930s and 1940s, Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal was described as “a march toward fascism,” and his court-packing plan condemned as dictatorial. In 1964, Lyndon Johnson’s campaign painted Barry Goldwater as an extremist, with opponents warning he was a threat to democrac

See Full Page