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Trivia answer

How long was the shortest presidential nominating convention in U.S. history?
a. One day
b. Two days
c. Three days
d. Four days

Since the 1832 presidential election, major party presidential candidates have been selected at nominating conventions. There have been six major party conventions that took place over the span of just two days, all of which were held during the 19th century.

All but two of the two-day conventions involved the renomination of an incumbent president; Andrew Jackson (D) in 1832, Martin Van Buren (D) in 1840, Abraham Lincoln (R) in 1864, and Ulysses S. Grant (R) in 1872. The others were the 1868 Republican National Convention in which Grant was first nominated and the 1872 Democratic National Convention in which the party voted to endorse Liberal Republican nominee Horace Greeley rather than nominate their own candidate.

In recent years, most presidential nominating conventions have lasted for four days. Since the end of World War II, there have been three three-day conventions, each involving the renomination of an incumbent president—Harry Truman (D) in 1948, Richard Nixon (R) in 1972, and Barack Obama (D) in 2012. Both the 2008 and 2012 Republican National Conventions were scheduled for four days but mostly took place over a three-day span. In both cases, a hurricane prevented the first day of the convention from occurring as scheduled.

Including the three postwar conventions, there have been 21 three-day conventions, including 11 Democratic and 10 Republican conventions. The longest nominating convention in U.S. history was the 17-day Democratic National Convention of 1924.