1920 Republican National Convention

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The 1920 Republican National Convention nominated Ohio Senator Warren G. Harding for president and Massachusetts Governor Calvin Coolidge for vice president. The convention was held in Chicago, Illinois, at the Chicago Coliseum from June 8 to June 12, 1920, with 940 delegates. Under convention rules, a majority plus one, or at least 471 of the 940 delegates, was necessary for a nomination.

Many Republicans sought the presidential nomination, including General Leonard Wood, Illinois Governor Frank Lowden and California Senator Hiram Johnson. Dark horse Harding, however, was nominated. Many wanted to nominate Wisconsin Senator Irvine L. Lenroot for vice president, but Coolidge was nominated instead, because he was known for his response to the Boston Police Strike in 1919.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

The convention also adopted a platform opposed to the accession of the United States to the League of Nations.<ref name=nyt5>Template:Cite news</ref> The plank was carefully drawn up by Henry Cabot Lodge to appease opponents of the League such as Johnson, while still allowing eventual American entry into the League.<ref name=Miler>Template:Cite book</ref>

Presidential nomination

Presidential candidates

Potential or declined candidates

<ref>https://chicagotribune.newspapers.com/image/355017021 Chicago Tribune, June 8, 1920</ref>

File:Party banner decorating the balcony 276036v (cropped).jpg
Delegates gathered on the convention floor

At the start of the convention, the race was wide open.<ref name=nyt1>Template:Cite news</ref> General Leonard Wood, Illinois Governor Frank Lowden, and California Senator Hiram Johnson were considered the three most likely nominees.<ref name=nyt2>Template:Cite news</ref> Ohio Senator Warren G. Harding had been a front-runner, but his star had faded by the time of the convention.<ref name=nyt2/> Many expected a dark horse to be chosen, such as Pennsylvania Governor William Cameron Sproul, Pennsylvania Senator Philander C. Knox, Kansas Governor Henry Justin Allen, Massachusetts Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, or 1916 nominee Charles Evans Hughes.<ref name=nyt1/> Sproul in particular had been gaining momentum at the expense of Lowden, the candidate of the conservative wing of the party.<ref name=nyt2/> The issue of joining the League of Nations took center stage at the convention, with some speculating that Johnson would bolt the party if the platform endorsed the League.<ref name=nyt2/> The convention adjourned for the night after four ballots produced no clear leader, and many states stuck to favorite-son candidates.<ref name=nyt3>Template:Cite news</ref>

File:Republican National Convention, 1920 LCCN2007663528 (cropped1).jpg
Inside the convention hall

As the balloting continued the next day, Wood, Lowden, and Johnson remained in the lead, and party leaders worked to find a candidate acceptable to both the progressive and conservative wings of the party.<ref name=nyt4>Template:Cite news</ref> Conservatives strongly opposed Wood, while Lowden was opposed by the progressive wing of the party.<ref name=nyt4/> Harding emerged as a moderately conservative candidate acceptable to the progressive wing of the party, and as the convention remained deadlocked, Harding emerged as a strong compromise candidate.<ref name=nyt4/> After the eighth ballot, the convention recessed. During the recess, Harding's managers lobbied Lowden's supporters and others to support Harding.<ref name=nyt4/> Harding was also helped by the fact that the Democrats might nominate James M. Cox of Ohio, and Republicans did not want to give the Democrats a home state advantage in electorally critical Ohio.<ref name="Miller, 90-91">Miller, pp. 90–91</ref>

File:Harding front porch campaign.jpg
After being nominated, Harding delivers an acceptance speech from the front porch of his home

Harding jumped into the lead on the ninth ballot, and clinched the nomination on the tenth ballot. Many thought that Johnson could have stopped the Harding movement by throwing his support behind Knox, who could have displaced Harding as the compromise candidate. Johnson disliked Harding's policies and disliked Harding personally, and was friends with Knox. However, Johnson never released his supporters, and Harding took the nomination.<ref name=nyt4/><ref name="Miller, 90-91"/>

Presidential Balloting
Candidate 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10thTemplate:Efn 10thTemplate:Efn Unanimous
Harding 65.5 59 58.5 61.5 78 89 105 133.5 374.5 644.7 692.2 984
Wood 287.5 289.5 303 314.5 299 311.5 312 299 249 181.5 156
Lowden 211.5 259.5 282.5 289 303 311.5 311.5 307 121.5 28 11
Johnson 133.5 146 148 140.5 133.5 110 99.5 87 82 80.8 80.8
Sproul 84 78.5 79.5 79.5 82.5 77 76 75.5 78 0 0
Butler 69.5 41 25 20 4 4 2 2 2 2 2
Coolidge 34 32 27 25 29 28 28 30 28 5 5
La Follette 24 24 24 22 24 24 24 24 24 24 24
Pritchard 21 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Poindexter 20 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 14 2 0
Sutherland 17 15 9 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Hoover 5.5 5.5 5.5 5 6 5 4 5 6 10.5 9.5
du Pont 7 7 2 2 6 4 3 3 0 0 0
Watson 0 0 2 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
Borah 2 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Knox 0 1 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Ward 0 0 0 0 1 2 1 0 0 0 0
Hays 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1
Kellogg 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0
Lenroot 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1
MacGregor 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
Warren 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Not Voting 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2.5 0.5

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Presidential Balloting / 4th Day of Convention (June 11, 1920)


Presidential Balloting / 5th Day of Convention (June 12, 1920)

The smoke-filled room

At the time, Harding's nomination was said to have been secured in negotiations led by party bosses George Harvey and Senator Henry Cabot Lodge in a mysterious "smoke-filled room" at Chicago's Blackstone Hotel." Legend says Harry M. Daugherty, Harding's political manager was the mastermind. After Harding's election he became United States Attorney General. On February 11, 1920, long before the convention, Daugherty predicted:

I don't expect Senator Harding to be nominated on the first, second, or third ballots, but I think we can afford to take chances that about 11 minutes after two, Friday morning of the convention, when 15 or 12 weary men are sitting around a table, someone will say: 'Who will we nominate?' At that decisive time, the friends of Harding will suggest him and we can well afford to abide by the result."<ref>A slightly different version appears in Andrew Sinclair, The available man: the life behind the masks of Warren Gamaliel Harding (1965) p. 136.</ref>

Daugherty's prediction described essentially what occurred, but historians argue that Daugherty's prediction has been given too much weight in narratives of the convention.<ref>Richard C. Bain, and Judith H. Parris, Convention decisions and voting records (Brookings Institution, 1973).</ref> The "smoke filled room" was actually a suite rented by National Chairman Will H. Hays. For six hours the leaders considered numerous alternatives, including Wood, Lowden, and Johnson. However, there were objections to all of them. Headlines in the next morning newspapers suggested intrigue. Historian Wesley M. Bagby argues, "Various groups actually worked along separate lines to bring about the nomination - without combination and with very little contact." Bagby finds that the key factor in Harding's nomination was his wide popularity among the rank and file of the delegates.<ref>Wesley M. Bagby, "The 'Smoke Filled Room' and the Nomination of Warren G. Harding." Mississippi Valley Historical Review 41.4 (1955): 657–74 online.</ref>

Vice Presidential nomination

Vice Presidential candidates

Before Harding was nominated, Johnson, Kansas Governor Henry Justin Allen, Massachusetts Governor Calvin Coolidge, Wisconsin Senator Irvine Lenroot, Kentucky Governor Edwin P. Morrow, and Harding himself were all seen as possible vice presidential nominees.<ref name=nyt4/> Once the presidential nomination was finally settled, Harding and the party bosses asked Johnson to join the ticket as a progressive balance to Harding.<ref name=senate>Template:Cite web</ref> When Johnson turned down the offer, they approached Lenroot, who accepted.<ref name=senate/> However, when Illinois Senator Medill McCormick stood up to nominate Lenroot, several delegates began to shout for Coolidge.<ref name=senate/> Though initially he had only been nominated after the refusal of Senator Lodge (another Massachusetts man), a groundswell of support built up for Coolidge, who won the nomination over Lenroot; historian Donald R. McCoy called it the first time since the 1880 nomination of James Garfield that "the delegates had taken control of a Republican convention".<ref name=McCoy>Template:Cite book</ref> Coolidge, who was not at the convention during the vice presidential nomination, agreed to join the ticket.<ref name=senate/>

Vice Presidential Balloting<ref name=Convention>Template:Cite book</ref>
Candidate 1st Unanimous
Coolidge 674.5 984
Lenroot 146.5
Allen 68.5
Anderson 28
Gronna 24
Johnson 22.5
Pritchard 11
Not Voting 9


Vice Presidential Balloting / 5th Day of Convention (June 12, 1920)

See also

Notes

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References

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Bibliography

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