Why party conventions still matter: An interview with historian Julian Zelizer

...Julian Zelizer, a presidential historian at Princeton University, [says] party conventions are still extremely important — and they can often change the course of political history in unexpected ways. We talked by phone recently about the long history of conventions, why they still matter in this age, and what the future might hold.

Brad Plumer: We’re no longer at the point where presidential nominees are actually selected at the party conventions. So could it be fair to say that these things no longer matter?

Julian Zelizer: Yeah, for a long time before the 1960s they were actually the places where the candidates were selected, where party bosses still mattered, where there was an opportunity to question and challenge the different candidates. That changed in the late 1960s and early ’70s, with the whole idea being that primaries and caucuses would allow non-party bosses to decide who the nominee was. So now they mainly just serve the function of showcasing the presidential and vice presidential nominees and the party. These are tightly scripted commercials. But that’s still valuable. It’s a moment when more people are watching, when the parties can explain what their candidate is about for more than 30-second spots....