TRANSCRIPT
It was a shocking turn of events in American politics, broadcast on major networks like CNN.
“President Joe Biden has just announced that he is dropping out of the 2024 presidential race, in a stunning letter just released moments ago by his campaign on X, formerly known as Twitter.”
Kamala Harris is the current Vice President - and she's already gained a number of key endorsements to take over from Biden as the presumptive presidential nominee, including the full support from the Congressional Black Caucus Political Action Committee - and state leaders like Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro.
“President Biden... endorsed Vice President Harris, as did I, as did many across this country. Not only because of how honourably she has served in the past, but because of how absolutely ready she is to be President and to be the standard-bearer for our party.”
Harris' elevation to the top of the presidential ticket for the November election - is in stark contrast to the historical record.
“This is the CBS Evening News with Walter Kronkite. A new hat - or rather a bonnet - was tossed into the Democratic presidential race today, that of Mrs Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman to serve in Congress.”
Shirley Chisholm's candidacy in 1972 was greeted with enthusiasm by some supporters, like California Congresswoman Barbara Lee, who worked on Chisholm's campaign as a college student.
But the Congresswoman says not everyone was so happy.
“I can remember Shirley Chisholm being challenged by the African American community, some African American men saying she was embracing the feminist movement more so. Women - and I can remember in California during the campaign, we had some serious issues which we worked through with the National Organisation of Women, because women in the feminist community felt that the black community was embracing Shirley Chisholm in a way that may not be good for the feminist movement.”
Key powerbrokers in The Democratic party itself were also displeased to see Chisholm stepping forward.
The BBC reported that Shirley had to sue the FCC to be included in the televised presidential candidate debates for that year - and her lack of campaign finance support was obvious.
“While other Democratic candidates jet across the state, she travels in a greyhound bus, accompanied by her supporters and a small band of journalists. The atmosphere is decidedly folksy.”
Her reception within the party was perhaps a direct result of internal politics - as well as gendered and racial expectations of the time.
Prominent Democratic Senator George McGovern had led a commission to redesign the nomination process after a contentious 1968 convention - and he ultimately got the nod for the party in 1972.
Lara Brown of George Washington University has told C-Span the rule changes were designed to open party participation, especially in nominating candidates, to women, minorities and young people.
“The most important part of the reforms was that these - the delegates had to be essentially named and selected prior to the primary in those states. So what we saw was that the primaries now were being bound and linked to the delegate selection process... The Democrats also ensured in their reforms that there was a lot of diversity of delegates. So they did put affirmative action type quotas.”
The McGovern reforms led to a number of prominent Democrats refusing to support the Senator, which meant his campaign ultimately was at a significant fundraising disadvantage compared to Republican incumbent president Richard Nixon.
But they also opened the door - for women like Shirley Chisholm.
“I stand before you today as a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the presidency of the United States of America.”
But while Kamala Harris and Shirley Chisholm have both received different receptions within the party, there are some parallels in terms of the issues on voters' minds.
1972 was the year the US pulled the last of its soldiers out of Vietnam, the year mid-east relations came to the fore following the Munich Olympics' massacre of Israeli athletes - and when five men broke into the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington, D.C, a scandal that later became known as Watergate.
It also saw the shooting of a prominent presidential candidate: Alabama Governor, George Wallace.
ANNOUNCER: "At this rally in Silver Springs, Maryland, Governor Wallace's campaign is crushed by violence.... [gunshots]. Wallace survives, but his wounds leave him a paralysed man.”
Barbara Lee has told the BBC World Service that Chisholm went to visit him in the hospital.
“Well, some of us went ballistic. I could not understand why she would go visit this segregationist. And she said, he's a human being. He got shot, he's going to be paralysed. And you never know, maybe I can help him see his racist nature. But he then became an ally on some issues that Shirley Chisholm was working on in Congress.”
Professor Dr Zinga Fraser leads the Shirley Chisholm Project at Brooklyn College in New York.
She has told CBS News Chisholm never expected to win, but she did intend to be a catalyst for change - especially at a crucial time for women's rights, just a year before the 1973 Supreme Court Roe versus Wade decision that effectively legalised abortion.
“She says I am going to insert another discussion around policies that the men around the table would not acknowledge. Chisholm is talking about LGBT rights. Chisholm is talking about the environment. She's talking about a woman's right to choose.”
These are now some of the key issues for voters in the present day, especially now the Supreme Court has reversed its position on Roe v Wade, and abortion has become entrenched as a key political topic.
Kamala Harris herself has long been a key advocate.
“It is this team here that is going to help in this November to elect a majority of members of the United States Congress who agree the government should not be telling a woman what to do with her body. And when Congress passes a law to restore reproductive freedoms, as president of the United States, I will sign it into law.”
It remains to be seen how these issues will play out at the ballot box - especially considering her campaign is also leaning on Harris' time as a prosecutor in contrast to Trump's felony convictions.
There are also unanswered questions about how far the US has come on questions of gender and racism in politics.
In Shirley Chisholm's day, it was rare to see a woman in politics - and unheard of to consider a female in the highest office of the land.
The Congresswoman ultimately came fourth in the Convention vote.
“I stand here now without endorsements from many big name politicians or celebrities or any other kind of prop.”
But Kamala Harris now has enough support to formally claim this year's Democratic nomination at the August convention.
President Joe Biden himself says his campaign machine is now hers.
“The name has changed at the top of the ticket, but the mission hasn't changed at all... So I'm hoping you'll give every bit of your heart and soul that you gave to me, to Kamala.”
A new Reuters poll suggests Kamala Harris has a two point lead over Donald Trump after Biden ended his re-election campaign.
Still, even now, Dem Representative Jasmine Crockett says there is a lingering concern that voters still baulk at voting for a woman.
“For a lot of us in 2016, we absolutely thought that white women would stand with Secretary Clinton as a white woman. And we saw the numbers fell off. Now, I don't know the reason and rationale for why the numbers were where they were. But again, this is going to take a large coalition of people coming together. But that also includes, like our white sisters, like we all got to pool together because it's bigger than race, it's bigger than gender."
