From August 16 to August 19, 1976, the Republican Party held its national convention at Kemper Arena in the West Bottoms, nominating incumbent President Gerald Ford over former California governor Ronald Reagan on a first-ballot floor fight, then naming Kansas Senator Bob Dole for vice president.123 It was Kansas City’s third major-party national convention — after the 1900 Democratic meeting and the 1928 Republican National Convention at Convention Hall — and, as of 2024, still the last.425

Background — why Kansas City

Kansas City had not hosted a major-party nominating convention since 1928. The 1976 meeting was not a rerun of that earlier week: the 1928 Republicans had met at rebuilt Convention Hall downtown (1928-republican-national-convention); this one met in a two-year-old sports arena in the stockyards district, a different building in a different era.41

The city had just opened Kemper Arena (September 30, 1974) and was finishing H. Roe Bartle Hall, which opened July 8, 1976 — five weeks before the gavel. Bartle was the new downtown convention hall; it was not the nominating venue. Sessions met at Kemper.67 Mayor Charles B. Wheeler Jr. (1971–1979) oversaw financing and construction of both buildings; the mayors page records that those projects were what made a 1976 national convention possible.8

KCUR, writing later from local files, says the decision to put the convention in Kemper drew mixed reactions because the West Bottoms were then nearly vacant, and that transportation for delegates, alternates, guests, and press was an untested worry going in. The same piece quotes a Harper’s line calling the week “Prime-time bacchanalia.” The full Harper’s essay (Richard Rhodes, May 1976) was not opened end-to-end for this page.4

Municipal Auditorium — opened December 1, 1935, successor to Convention Hall — was not the 1976 venue, any more than it had been the 1928 venue.9

The arena

The convention met at Kemper Arena (later Hy-Vee Arena), 1800 Genessee Street, in the West Bottoms on the former Kansas City Stockyards site — Helmut Jahn’s first major building, a windowless hall hung from exterior steel trusses, built in about eighteen months as a replacement for the much smaller Municipal Auditorium for the city’s NBA and NHL teams.6 Infobox and contemporary roundings put construction cost near $23 million; the same Wikipedia article’s construction section also states $22 million. A single figure is not restated here.6

Kemper was new and architecturally conspicuous, but it was a basketball-hockey box, not a purpose-built convention hall. Seating figures for the 1976 setup are not pinned: later Kemper capacities in the same Wikipedia article begin at 17,513 for 1988–1997, after subsequent renovations.

The arena’s famous roof failure is a later event. On June 4, 1979 — almost three years after this convention — a storm dropped a large section of the roof. No one was hurt; the building was empty. That story belongs on 1979-kemper-arena-roof-collapse. It is not part of the 1976 meeting.6

The convention (August 16–19, 1976)

The convention opened August 16. Temporary chairman was Kansas Senator Bob Dole; permanent chairman was Arizona Representative John J. Rhodes; the keynote was Tennessee Senator Howard Baker.2110 Ford and Reagan both arrived in Kansas City short of the 1,130 votes needed to nominate out of 2,258 delegates (Wikipedia’s infobox total; 1,187 + 1,070 + 1 = 2,258).1

Reagan had already named Pennsylvania Senator Richard Schweiker as his prospective running mate, a bid for Northeastern moderates that Wikipedia records as having angered some conservatives (including North Carolina Senator Jesse Helms) without peeling many Ford delegates.1 The decisive pre-nomination test was a Reagan-backed rules change — often called Rule 16C — that would have forced Ford to name his vice-presidential choice before the presidential roll call. The change lost 1,180 to 1,069.1

Ford and Reagan, per UPI, watched the nominating session from their hotel suites rather than from the floor. Reagan’s suite was at the Alameda Plaza; Ford used Crown Center.311 Reagan delegates packed horns, kazoos, and whistles; UPI described a 22-minute demonstration that held up Ford’s nominating speech and drowned out three attempts by the band to play “God Bless America.” Michigan Governor William Milliken placed Ford’s name in nomination; Nevada Senator Paul Laxalt placed Reagan’s.3

Nominations

The presidential roll call of the Wednesday-night session ran past midnight. UPI reported that West Virginia put Ford over 1,130 at 1:29 a.m. Eastern (12:29 a.m. Central) on August 19. The unofficial final was Ford 1,187, Reagan 1,070.3 Wikipedia’s table adds one vote for Massachusetts’s Elliot Richardson, for the same Ford and Reagan totals (52.57% / 47.39% / 0.04%).1

On August 19 at 12:05 p.m. CDT, Ford introduced Dole as his running mate at the Crown Center Hotel. The White House transcript has Ford saying he had told Reagan of the choice and that Reagan had endorsed it; Dole, speaking next, joked that he had not expected the morning phone call. Sitting Vice President Nelson Rockefeller — who had already taken himself out of a 1976 race — spoke in support. The announcement was in Kansas City, not in Washington.111

On the vice-presidential ballot Wikipedia records Dole 1,921 (85.04%), Jesse Helms 103, 103 abstentions, and a scatter of remaining votes among dozens of names (Reagan 27, Illinois Representative Phil Crane 23, and others). Wikipedia’s prose says 103 Reagan delegates walked out after the presidential loss and that the rest scattered their vice-presidential votes.1

That night Ford accepted at Kemper Arena at 10:45 p.m. The Ford Library text is delivered from that podium: he accepted, named Dole, and said that after the “scrimmages of the past few months, it really feels good to have Ron Reagan on the same side of the line.” Wikipedia records that Ford then brought Reagan to the podium for unscheduled remarks that some delegates later said overshadowed the acceptance itself. Those remarks are not quoted here from a transcript opened for this page.121

Kansas City color

KCUR’s local file on the week is thin on street-level color compared with the 1928 account, but it preserves the vacant-West-Bottoms reaction, the Harper’s “bacchanalia” tag, and Henry Clay Gold in the Kansas City Times on pre-convention smoothness versus untested delegate transportation.4 The Kansas City Public Library / Dole Institute exhibit “Republican Showdown in Kansas City” later called the meeting “three hot, muggy days” of a delegate scramble — a three-day shorthand for a four-day calendar (August 16–19).10

UPI’s floor dispatch is the contemporaneous noise: horns “like a million bumblebees,” cowbells from Ford rows, a woman with a Ford decal on her forehead, Indiana’s plastic elephant and a “Hoosier peanut eater” sign aimed at Democrat Jimmy Carter.3

National outcome

On November 2, 1976, Democrats Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale defeated Ford and Dole: 40,831,881 popular votes (50.1 percent) and 297 electoral votes to Ford–Dole’s 39,148,634 (48.0 percent) and 240 (Wikipedia’s Ford electoral total carries a faithless-elector footnote; the map also records one Washington electoral vote reported as Reagan/Dole).13 Reagan won the Republican nomination in 1980 and the presidency that year; Dole became the 1996 Republican presidential nominee. Those later careers are not this page’s subject.113

Significance to Kansas City

This was Kansas City’s third major-party national convention, and its second Republican one. The first Republican meeting was June 12–15, 1928, at Convention Hall. The 1976 meeting was the first, and so far the only, national convention at Kemper. It remains, through the 2024 Republican convention at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, the last time Kansas City hosted either major party’s nominating convention.425 Kansas City later bid for the 2024 RNC and withdrew before the finalist round; that bid is a 2020s footnote, not a 1976 fact.5

Wikipedia’s 1976 convention article calls the Kansas City meeting the last national convention of either major party “to feature a seriously contested nomination between candidates.” KCUR, in 2014, used the broader line that it was “the last time a presidential nominee was decided at a convention.” Both are judgments about later, more settled conventions; the sourced Kansas City fact is the floor fight itself: Ford 1,187, Reagan 1,070, on one ballot, in Kemper Arena.143

Dole’s Kansas seat made the vice-presidential choice a bi-state ticket in all but name: the convention was in Missouri, the running mate next door.

Sites in KC associated with the event

Sources

Footnotes

  1. Wikipedia — “1976 Republican National Convention.” — asserts: August 16–19, 1976, Kemper Arena, Kansas City, Missouri; Ford vs. Reagan; 2,258 delegates, 1,130 needed; presidential ballot Ford 1,187 / Reagan 1,070 / Elliot Richardson 1; Rule 16C defeated 1,180 to 1,069; Schweiker announced as Reagan’s running mate before the convention; Dole named over Rockefeller, who did not seek a full term; VP ballot Dole 1,921, Helms 103, 103 abstentions, scatter including Reagan 27; temporary/permanent chairs and Baker keynote in infobox and prose; Ford then asked Reagan to the podium after the acceptance; “last national convention by either of the two major parties to feature a seriously contested nomination between candidates”; Kansas City had not hosted a major-party convention since 1928. The History section carries a “needs more citations” banner; claims taken from it that rest only on the paywalled Rhodes Harper’s essay are not used as independent facts here. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12

  2. Wikipedia — “List of Republican National Conventions.” — asserts: August 16–19, 1976, Kemper Arena, Kansas City, Missouri; temporary chair Bob Dole of Kansas; permanent chair John J. Rhodes of Arizona; one ballot; Gerald Ford of Michigan and Bob Dole of Kansas nominated; 1928 RNC at Convention Hall, Kansas City; 2024 RNC July 15–18 at Fiserv Forum, Milwaukee; 1976 keynote Howard Baker of Tennessee. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  3. UPI — Steve Gerstel, “Ford gets nod as GOP standard-bearer,” Kansas City, August 18, 1976 — asserts: Ford nominated early Thursday morning; West Virginia put him past 1,130 at 1:29 a.m. EDT; unofficial roll call Ford 1,187, Reagan 1,070; Ford and Reagan watched from hotel suites; Reagan at the Alameda Plaza with Schweiker; 22-minute Reagan horn demonstration; Milliken nominated Ford, Laxalt nominated Reagan; Ford to consult Reagan on a running mate the next day. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  4. KCUR — Cody Newill, “A Look Back At The 3 Times Kansas City Hosted National Political Conventions,” 2014-06-11 — asserts: Kansas City’s three major-party national conventions are the 1900 DNC, 1928 RNC, and 1976 RNC; 1976 dates August 16–19 at Kemper Arena; mixed reactions because the West Bottoms were nearly vacant; Harper’s quoted as “Prime-time bacchanalia”; Henry Clay Gold in the Kansas City Times on smooth pre-convention work and untested transportation; “last time a presidential nominee was decided at a convention”; Ford won with Dole “by just more than 100 votes” (this page uses the 1,187–1,070 roll call rather than that round number) and lost the November election to Carter. The same article’s 1928 line that Hoover and Curtis “won the election during the Great Depression” is wrong and is not used (see 1928-republican-national-convention). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  5. Wikipedia — “2024 Republican National Convention.” — asserts: July 15–18, 2024, Fiserv Forum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Kansas City, Missouri, made a formal bid for that convention and withdrew in late December 2021 before finalist cities were named. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  6. Wikipedia — “Hy-Vee Arena” (formerly Kemper Arena) — asserts: 1800 Genessee Street, West Bottoms, Kansas City, Missouri; coordinates 39°5′31″N 94°36′21″W (39.09194, −94.60583); opened September 30, 1974; Helmut Jahn / C.F. Murphy; built 1973–74 on the former stockyards site to replace 8,000-seat Municipal Auditorium; infobox cost $23 million, construction-section cost $22 million; hosted the 1976 Republican National Convention (Ford defeated Reagan for the nomination); later capacity figures 17,513 (1988–1997); roof collapse June 4, 1979, 6:45 p.m., arena empty, no injuries; reopened February 20, 1980. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  7. Bartle Hall (KS.City Wiki) and its cited sources — asserts: original H. Roe Bartle Hall opened July 8, 1976. That opening is five weeks before this convention; Bartle is not attested as the nominating venue. ↩

  8. kc-mayors and its cited Wikipedia page for Charles B. Wheeler Jr. — asserts: Wheeler was mayor April 10, 1971–April 10, 1979 and oversaw financing and construction of Kemper Arena and Bartle Hall, which enabled Kansas City to host the 1976 Republican National Convention. ↩

  9. Municipal Auditorium (KS.City Wiki) and its cited sources — asserts: opened December 1, 1935; Convention Hall demolished 1936; 1900 DNC and 1928 RNC belong to Convention Hall; 1976 RNC belongs to Kemper Arena. ↩

  10. Kansas City Public Library — exhibit page, “Republican Showdown in Kansas City” (with the Dole Institute of Politics) — asserts: Ford vs. Reagan floor fight at Kemper Arena; “last time our country saw a presidential nomination decided at the convention, itself”; Ford narrowly won; Dole, temporary chairman and a platform-committee member, became the running mate; “three hot, muggy days in August 1976” (the official calendar is four days, August 16–19). ↩ ↩2

  11. Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library — White House Press Release, August 19, 1976, “Exchange of Remarks” introducing Robert Dole, Crown Center Hotel, Kansas City, 12:05 p.m. CDT — asserts: Dole announced as running mate in Kansas City that midday; Ford said he had told Reagan and that Reagan had endorsed Dole; Dole’s reply; Rockefeller present and speaking; ended 12:17 p.m. CDT. ↩ ↩2

  12. Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library (via Wayback Machine) — “Remarks in Kansas City Upon Accepting the 1976 Republican Presidential Nomination,” August 19, 1976 — asserts: text of the acceptance; Dole named as the vice-presidential nominee; “Ron Reagan on the same side of the line”; note that the President spoke at 10:45 p.m. in Kemper Arena, broadcast live. ↩

  13. Wikipedia — “1976 United States presidential election.” — asserts: election day November 2, 1976; Carter/Mondale 40,831,881 popular votes (50.1%) and 297 electoral votes vs. Ford/Dole 39,148,634 (48.0%) and 240; Ford the incumbent, challenged in the Republican primaries by Reagan; Dole the Republican vice-presidential nominee. ↩ ↩2

See also

Categories
  • Concept
  • Event
  • Modern
  • West Bottoms

On the record — ks.city/wiki/events/1976-republican-national-convention · last revised 2026-09-08