Madison Square Garden, where Donald J. Trump and running mate J.D. Vance are scheduled to hold a fundraiser and rally Sunday, has a long history of political events. Some people have become peaceful. Some people don’t.
This is where Marilyn Monroe sang “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” to 45-year-old John F. Kennedy in May 1962, where her dress shone through so much It is also where Bill Clinton gave his inaugural address. Fleetwood Mac’s “Don’t Stop” was performed at the 1992 Democratic National Convention. It was here in 1936 that President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave one of his most important speeches, signaling a shift toward a more openly combative campaign.
President Roosevelt called his opponents in the banking and military industries “enemies of peace,” in a now eerily familiar voice. “Never in our history have there been so many forces united behind a single candidate as they are today,” President Roosevelt said. crowd. “They are united in hating me, and I welcome their hatred.”
But much of the commentary this weekend focused on the more than 20,000 people (many wearing Nazi armbands) who filled the Garden for a “pro-American rally” in support of Adolf Hitler. It is expected that the focus will be on other historical precedents from 1939 onwards. At the time, the Garden was located in the third of four locations at 50th Street and Eighth Avenue.
Trump’s rally came days after the president’s longest-serving chief of staff, John F. Kelly, said the former president fits the definition of a fascist. Trump called Kelly a “total degenerate” and a “scumbag” on his platform, Truth Social.
At the 1939 rally, at least 10,000 protesters packed the streets and were led away from the arena by a record 1,700 police officers. “We have enough police here to stop a revolution,” said Police Chief Louis J. Valentine.
Inside, on a stage adorned with Nazi flags, red, white and blue bunting and a 30-foot portrait of George Washington, speakers railed against the “Jewish-controlled press.” He called the president Franklin “Rosenfeld.” One person fondly called Washington “America’s first fascist.”
As Isidore Greenbaum, a Jewish man, attempted to take to the stage, he was tackled by members of the gray-shirted German-American Bund, the pro-Hitler group that organized the rally, and handed over to police.
Participants paid between 40 cents and $1.10 for admission.
Mayor Fiorello La Guardia defended his decision to allow pro-Nazi groups to gather, citing free speech laws, and downplayed several bomb threats against the arena. “If they bomb, we will capture the bombers,” he said.
Other splinter groups followed. In 1940, the Communist Party filled the Garden for a convention, and a year later the right-wing America First Committee, led by aviator Charles Lindbergh, joined in, calling the press “sneaky” and “dishonest parasites.” denounced.
In 1943, 40,000 people attended two performances at the Garden called “We Will Never Die” by Hollywood and Broadway stars, created to draw attention to the genocide of Europe’s Jews. did.
Republican presidential campaigns often skip rallies in New York, considering the state to be firmly Democratic. (Exception: Barry Goldwater, the party’s standard bearer in 1964, addressed a crowd of 18,000 at the Garden at a Young Americans for Freedom rally and received 28 minutes of applause, but then the state (He lost by 37 percentage points.)
But Trump has made a name for himself in New York, saying he will carry the state, contrary to opinion polls. He appeared at his first rally in eight years in the South Bronx in May, where a racially diverse crowd applauded his anti-immigrant rhetoric and chanted “build the wall.”
Trump said he was worried about how the Bronx crowd would perceive him, but only about 100 demonstrators gathered. Trump declared the day a “festival of love.” He returned to the borough this month to speak at a barbershop.
But New York and the Garden were particularly hostile areas for the former president. He lost the state in 2016 and 2020 by 23 percentage points. And while there have been legal rulings in his favor in other states, a New York court has convicted him of 34 felonies and accused him of defaming author E. Jean Carroll. was sentenced to $83 million. $355 million plus interest for fraud.
In 2019, when he attended the Ultimate Fighting Championship event held at The Garden, he was met with cheers and boos.
Tensions will likely run high at political rallies nine days before the election, especially given the ferocity of campaign rhetoric and two attempts to assassinate Trump. The visit comes as New York City’s government and police departments are in turmoil over the resignation of several senior officials.
Democratic candidate Vice President Kamala Harris’ rally in Harlem in August, just before the Democratic National Convention, reflected a more divisive climate. Pro-Palestinian demonstrators outnumbered Harris’ supporters, clashed with police and repeatedly interrupted speakers supporting Harris (she and her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz, was not present). Police detained 14 protesters.
Trump’s rally on Sunday will feature a fundraiser where top donors will receive a $924,600 “Ultra MAGA Experience.”
Republican George Conway, a strong critic of Trump, called on X’s 2.3 million followers to register to attend the rally.
Police will close off the area around the gardens to pedestrians and will screen people entering the arena. The ministry said as of Thursday it had not received any credible threats of planned unrest, but was on heightened alert.
Representatives from local and federal law enforcement agencies met Friday to discuss safety measures related to the event, including additional police presence in and around the arena, at Penn Station and on the subway.
“We are bringing a variety of resources to this location in preparation for this weekend’s events,” the police department said in a statement. We are always in contact with venues regarding their specific security needs. ”
Metropolitan Transportation Authority spokesman Aaron Donovan said the transit system is used to large groups of people.
“This is New York,” he said. “There are always special events happening in this area.”
When asked how he planned to spend Sunday night, Mayor Eric Adams said, “Meditate.”
A close memory is the 2004 Republican National Convention held in this garden. Police arrested more than 1,800 demonstrators around the city, and the city ultimately paid $18 million in civil rights violations. It cost the city an additional $16 million in legal fees.
Trump’s rally comes almost exactly a century after the park’s most chaotic political event, the 1924 Democratic Convention. At the party’s convention, opinions were sharply divided on issues such as immigration, and it took 16 days and 103 votes to choose a candidate.
Fights broke out at the tournament venue and on the streets. As the convention dragged on, 20,000 Ku Klux Klan members and their relatives marched through New Jersey to support the leading candidate, California Sen. William G. McAdoo.
The party ultimately nominated Jonathan Davis, who lost in a landslide to Calvin Coolidge.
For the garden, in its various incarnations, it was the beginning of a century of politically turbulent events.
Chelsia Rose Marcius contributed reporting.
