Party Switches Made By Famous Political Figures (SLIDESHOW)

Senator Arlen Specter's announcement Tuesday that he would switch from the Republican to the Democratic party came as a surprise to many.

But party changes are nothing new in our democracy. Even Arlen Specter began his career as a registered Democrat while running on the Republican ticket for Pennsylvania District Attorney in 1965. Politicians have played musical chairs with party registration since the formation of the U.S. government. One of the biggest switches happened in the early nineteenth century, when United States Federalist Party members joined the United States Democratic-Republican Party. The Democratic-Republican Party clearly doesn't exist any more, and many other re-affiliations occurred after its dissolution.

As you'll see in the slideshow below, many well-known politicians have switched parties while serving in the public arena. And there are some famous public servants, like Hillary Clinton and CIA Director Leon Panetta, who changed their affiliations early in life. (Both Clinton and Panetta were Republicans. Clinton even worked for conservative Barry Goldwater during his 1964 presidential campaign.) Scroll through to learn more:

• • • • • • • • • Former Vermont Senator Jim Jeffords was as a Republican until May 24, 2001. He left the party to become an independent. Jeffords' switch changed the Senate composition from 50-50 (Dick Cheney was tie-breaker as President of the Senate) to 49 Republicans, 50 Democrats, and one independent.

Comments

[FakeBertha]

11:06 AM on 04/29/2009

Michael Jackson?

[Bashley]

11:04 AM on 04/29/2009

I believe party changes are a natural part of life for many people. I'm a somewhat conservative Democrat who's constantly being told I should be a Republican. I don't agree the Republican party has my best interests as an African American and as a woman in their agenda, so I'm with the party I agree with. Maybe when I'm older, I'll change my mind, but for now, I'm fine where I am. I just became a Democrat last year, was an independent since 18.

[brandnewstuff]

09:55 AM on 04/29/2009

Why Not Charles Barkley?
I am sick of the same of crap as Public Officlas-
We need more people like Barkley-
Diversity- Real People- Change-

[RobertHenryEller]

08:47 AM on 04/29/2009

These days, the biggest part is no party. That's my party.

Compromise requires people to get together at some point.

But I prefer people who think for themselves, consider their best interests, and choose leaders based on competence, what they might actually do if elected, based on their own records, rather than because of party loyalties.

The Republicans and the Bush Administration have been examples enough of the "value" of party and leader loyalty to our personal and national well-being to suit me for a long time.

[joceeco]

06:48 AM on 04/29/2009

I think Arnold will change his party affiliation soon too!

[joeyfoto]

03:49 AM on 04/29/2009

After Churchill left the Conservative side and moved to the Liberal bench then years later moved back, didn't he say something line: "It's one thing to rat, it's quit another thing to have the talent to re-rat."

"Times they are a'changin'" some people will change with them. The sad fact is there is so little of Republican Party principles remaining for someone to leave.

I actually prefer the words of my former congressman, Pete McCloskey, expressed in an eloquent letter he wrote explaining his long litany of reasons for leaving the GOP after 59 years. In summation, Pete said: "I say a pox on them and their values."

[trucap]

03:17 AM on 04/29/2009

you forgot to mention the senator from alabama sen. shelby . he started his senate career as democrat and then changed to republican. he is still in the senate as we speak.i think his change during the reagan administration was the most dramatic change ever and had more consequencies more than the one of mr spector.

[TheDarkAngel]

07:28 AM on 04/29/2009

Giuliani too made the change from Democrat to Republican.

[Elabacki]

09:37 AM on 04/29/2009

Reagan did also

[nreitman]

01:49 AM on 04/29/2009

Dear Editor,

The Teddy Roosevelt caption is incorrect. Roosevelt selected Taft, his former Secretary of War, as a successor not wanting to violate the two-term tradition set as precedent by George Washington. Roosevelt didn't even run in 1908. The Taft administration went in a different direction than Roosevelt would have liked, so he ran again in 1912.

Furthermore, please cover your stories with a little more maturity. Though it is fun to view our political system in such an entertaining light, the sensationalism of many articles obscures the actual implications of the subject material. This story is a rather loose chain of different party hoppers. To put Roosevelt against Charles Barkley is OUTRAGEOUS. Here we have the president who, among several lasting accomplishments, founded the National Forest System, if only to preserve wilderness for hunting expeditions. And to compare him with a Basketball Star? Whose record will really stand the test of time? Why feed into our cultural obsession with celebrities, such as Barkley? Ah, because even though this blog is extremely left leaning, it understands the marketability of pulp like this, and not unlike Fox News and the other hate-mongers of our great nation, maintains and proliferates an ignorance that is far reaching in our culture.

It is my sincere hope that Huffington Post grows up and starts checking its facts like any other purveyor of information. I don't want the Huffington Post to become in 2009 what Fox News was in 2003.

Sincerely,
Noah Reitman

[jemiltd]

11:18 PM on 04/28/2009

Let's not forget Republican party head Michael Steele pretending to be a Democrat at the polls, in a desperate effort to win in Maryland.

[ywcachieve]

12:31 AM on 04/29/2009

That was just plain old fraud, and deception, on the part of Steele.

[ladydragon]

08:37 AM on 04/29/2009

don't worry, everybody in Maryland knows exactly who and what Michael Steele is. he would sell his soul to the devil to be elected to some kind of office; he is delusional if he thinks that Marylanders are going to elect him to anything, it just ain't gonna happen.

[StephenJK]

11:02 PM on 04/28/2009

Mary Carey?

[MIKEEEEE]

10:33 PM on 04/28/2009

phil gramm?

[Deparis]

10:08 PM on 04/28/2009

I expect a Governor like Florida's Charlie Crist to jump ship too by 2012. I'm not too sure about Timmy Pawlenty of Minesota, but I am willing to lose money on him too somewhere down the road. The 2010 mid-term elections will be a moment of reckoning for many ambitious GOP pols.

[jeg]

11:19 PM on 04/28/2009

Terrifyingly, I think Charlie Crist is one of the few people who could perhaps save the Republican Party. He's respected within the party, but he's moderate enough that he can attract moderates / independents.

The problem is that anyone moderate enough to win a national election may not be able to win a GOP primary-- one of Specter's primary (ha!) reasons for switching.

[MNJim]

11:42 PM on 04/28/2009

"Polenta" is a right-wing nut job who just looks normal. He will never convert-------he has an uncanny ability to sound moderate and articulate, but when one really picks apart his words-----his message is very scary. He won re-election to a 2nd term by less than 1% of the vote, so folks here in MN caught on to his ineffective policies. If we would not have had a 3rd party candidate siphoning off votes, he probably would not have gotten re-elected at all.

[ssfahrer]

10:06 PM on 04/28/2009

What about Ronald Reagan, "the Great Communicator" himself? He was a Democrat way back when until the Party lurched to the Left in the 1950s by sticking up for Communists being outed by Sen. Joesph P. McCarthy! By 1962, he officially became a Republican, and by 1980 he was President of the USA! Shouldn't he be in this video montage??????

[gatogato]

11:27 PM on 04/28/2009

My thoughts exactly

[deepintheheartoftejas]

12:30 AM on 04/29/2009

Eh, there were a lot of other figures I could think of... Rick Perry's significance in things is not nearly as big as John Connally's famous switch to the Republicans, but maybe no one outside of Texas remembers that. There was Ben Nighthorse Campbell's opportunistic switch in the 90s, which got huge amounts of press, comparable to Jeffords'.

I must admit, I didn't know Ray Nagin was a former Republican and Bush supporter. Thank goodness, something finally to explain his utter wackiness.

[MacManLB]

09:37 PM on 04/28/2009

Huffington

[Caspt]

12:00 AM on 04/29/2009

Yeah, weird how she's left out of the series - she made quite a switch.

[tierone]

09:31 PM on 04/28/2009

Charles Barkley?

Really?

You really feel comfortable throwing his name in the list here?

Wow.

[sansego2000]

12:36 AM on 04/29/2009

Of course, he is liked by many. He was or is thinking of running for a political appointment. He is very much into politics. A little on the wild side, but pretty tame to a lot of our senators ( some have been involved with the death of people ). Charles is very tame compared to some that are already in politics.