Grand Old Party / GOP

The traditional nickname for the Republican Party widely used in American political reporting.

The party's official history traces the term back to the late 19th century citing an article in the Boston post headlined "The G.O.P. Doomed".

The party website suggests the term Grand Old Party may have evolved from the term used to refer to British Prime Minister William Gladstone - the G.O.M or the Grand Old Man.

In Richard Nixon's 1964 presidential campaign the acronym was used briefly as the basis for the slogan the "Go-Party", but by the late '70s it had become firmly associated with the term Grand Old Party as it is today.