Everything about United States Presidential Election 1924 totally explained
The
United States presidential election of 1924 was won by incumbent
President Calvin Coolidge, the
Republican candidate. Coolidge was given credit for a booming economy at home and no visible crises abroad. He was aided by a split within the Democratic Party. The regular Democratic candidate was
John W. Davis, a little-known former
congressman and
diplomat from
West Virginia. Since Davis was a conservative, many liberal Democrats bolted the party and backed the
third-party campaign of
Wisconsin Senator
Robert M. LaFollette, Sr., who ran as the candidate of the Progressive Party. This was the first presidential election in which all
American Indians were
citizens and thus allowed to vote. Coolidge's 25.2-point victory margin is the second largest ever, after
Warren Harding's 26.2-point victory margin in
1920.
Nominations
Republican Party nomination
Republican Candidates
Image:Calvin Coolidge photo portrait head and shoulders.jpg|President Calvin Coolidge of Massachusetts
Image:Hiram Johnson.jpg|Senator Hiram Johnson of California
Image:Robert M. La Follette, Sr. .jpg|Senator Robert M. LaFollette of Wisconsin
The Republican Convention was held in
Cleveland from
10 June to
12 June, with the easy choice of nominating incumbent President Coolidge for a full term of his own.
Although Coolidge offered the vice-presidential nomination to
Idaho Senator
William E. Borah, Borah declined the offer. He was replaced by
Charles Dawes, a prominent Republican businessman.
Democratic Party Nomination
Democratic Candidates
Image:Newton Baker, Bain bw photo portrait.jpg|Former Secretary of War Newton D. Baker of Ohio
Image:BerrySenatorD-TN.jpg|Owner and publisher George L. Berry of Tennessee
Image:GFHBrown.jpg|Governor Fred H. Brown of New Hampshire
Image:CWBryan.jpg|Governor Charles W. Bryan of Nebraska
Image:James Cox.jpg|Former Governor and 1920 nominee James M. Cox of Ohio
Image:JDaniels.jpg|Former Secretary of Navy Josephus Daniels of North Carolina
Image:JWDavis.jpg|Former Solicitor General and Ambassador to the United Kingdom John W. Davis of West Virginia
Image:WoodbridgeFerris.jpg|Senator Woodbridge Nathan Ferris of Michigan
Image:JamesWGerard.jpg|Former Ambassador to Germany James W. Gerard of New York
Image:CGlass.jpg|Senator Carter Glass of Virginia
Image:PatHarrison.jpg|Senator Pat Harrison of Mississippi
Image:DFHouston.jpg|Former Secretary of Treasury David F. Houston of Missouri
Image:John Benjamin Kendrick.jpg|Senator John B. Kendrick of Wyoming
Image:William Gibbs McAdoo, formal photo portrait, 1914.jpg|Former Secretary of Treasury William Gibbs McAdoo of California
Image:Edwin Meredith.gif|Former Secretary of Agriculture Edwin Meredith of Iowa
Image:Robert Latham Owen.jpg|Senator Robert L. Owen of Oklahoma
Image:Samuel Moffett Ralston.jpg|Senator Samuel M. Ralston of Indiana
Image:Albert Ritchie, photo portrait head and shoulders.jpg|Governor Albert Ritchie of Maryland
Image:Joseph t robinson.jpg|Senate Minority Leader Joseph Taylor Robinson of Arkansas
Image:SaulsburyWillardJr2.gif|Senator Willard Saulsbury, Jr. of Delaware
Image:George_S_Silzer.jpg|Governor George Sebastian Silzer of New Jersey
Image:AlSmithWaves.jpg|Governor Al Smith of New York
Image:William_Sweet1.gif|Governor William Ellery Sweet of Colorado
Image:OWUnderwood.jpg|Senator Oscar W. Underwood of Alabama
Image:Thomas James Walsh2.jpg|Senator Thomas J. Walsh of Montana
The
1924 Democratic National Convention was held in
New York from
24 June to
9 July. The two leading candidates were
William G. McAdoo of
California, former
Secretary of the Treasury and son-in-law of former President
Woodrow Wilson; and Governor
Al Smith of
New York, a popular former mayor of
New York City. The balloting revealed a clear geographic and cultural split in the party, as McAdoo was supported mostly by
rural,
Protestant delegates from the South, West, and small-town Midwest who were supporters of
Prohibition (called "drys"). In some cases McAdoo's delegates were also supporters of the
Ku Klux Klan (KKK), which was at its peak of nationwide popularity in the 1920's, with chapters in all 48 states and 4 to 5 million members. Governor Smith was supported by the anti-Prohibition forces (called "wets"), many
Roman Catholics and other ethnic minorities, big-city delegates in the Northeast and urban
Midwest, and by liberal delegates opposed to the influence of the Ku Klux Klan. An example of the deep split within the party came in a brutal floor fight over a proposal to publicly condemn the Klan; most of McAdoo's delegates in the South and West opposed the motion, while most of Smith's big-city delegates supported it. In the end the motion failed to carry by a single vote;
William Jennings Bryan, the three-time Democratic presidential candidate, argued against condemning the Klan for fear that it would permanently split the party.
Wendell Willkie, who would go on to become the Republican Party's 1940 presidential candidate, was a Democratic delegate in 1924 and he supported the proposal to condemn the KKK. The bitter fight between the McAdoo and Smith delegates over the KKK set the stage for the nominating ballots to come.
Due to the
two-thirds rule governing nominations, neither McAdoo, who briefly got a majority of the votes halfway through the balloting, nor Smith, were able to get the two-thirds majority necessary to win. However, neither candidate would back down, and so the deadlock continued for days on end, as ballot after ballot was taken with neither McAdoo or Smith getting close to enough delegates to win the nomination. Eventually the convention would go to over 100 ballots, becoming the longest-running political convention in American history.
Will Rogers, a popular
comedian of the era, joked that New York had invited the Democratic delegates to visit the city, not to live there.
Senator
Oscar W. Underwood of
Alabama, the Democratic leader in the Senate, also had some support, and as this was the first Democratic Convention to be broadcast on radio, Alabama's clarion "...casts 24 votes for Oscar... Dubya!...UNDERWOOD!!!" declaration for ballot after ballot became a symbol of the convention. With neither McAdoo nor Smith able to break the deadlock, on the 103rd ballot the exhausted convention turned to
John W. Davis, an obscure former
Congressman from
West Virginia and
Ambassador to the
United Kingdom, as a compromise candidate. The disarray prompted Will Rogers's famous quip: "I'm not a member of any organized political party, I'm a Democrat!"
Charles W. Bryan,
William Jennings Bryan's brother and the
Governor of
Nebraska, was nominated for Vice President, in order to gain the support of the party's rural voters who still saw Bryan as their leader.
Progressive Party
Senator
Robert M. La Follette, Sr., who had left the Republican Party and formed his own political party, the Progressive Party, in
Wisconsin, was so upset over both political parties choosing conservative candidates that he decided to run as a third-party candidate to give liberals from both parties an alternative. He thus accepted the presidential nomination of the
United States Progressive Party. Long a champion of
labor unions, and an ardent foe of
Big Business, La Follette was a fiery
orator who had dominated Wisconsin's political scene for more than two decades. Backed by radical farmers, the
AFL labor unions, and
Socialists, LaFollette ran on a platform of nationalizing
cigarette factories and other large industries. He also strongly supported increased taxation on the wealthy and the right of collective bargaining for factory workers. Despite a strong showing in labor strongholds and winning over 16% of the national popular vote, he carried only his home state of
Wisconsin in the
electoral college.
General election
The Fall Campaign
With the disastrous Democratic Convention having badly divided the Democrats, there was little doubt that Coolidge would win the election. His campaign slogan, "Keep Cool with Coolidge", was highly popular. Davis carried only the traditionally Democratic
Solid South and
Oklahoma; due to liberal Democrats voting for La Follette, Davis lost the popular vote to Coolidge by 25 percentage points. The Republicans did so well that they carried
New York City, a feat they've not repeated since.
Results
Source (Popular Vote):
Source (Electoral Vote):
Further Information
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