1920 Republican National Convention

Presidential nomination

Presidential candidates

File:Warren G Harding portrait as senator June 1920.jpg|Senator Warren G. Harding of Ohio File:Leonard Wood, administrator, soldier, and citizen (1920) (14579077497) (grayscale).png|Major General Leonard Wood of Massachusetts File:Frank O Lowden portrait (1).jpg|Governor Frank Orren Lowden of Illinois File:Portrait of Senator Hiram Johnson of California, 1926.jpeg|Senator Hiram Johnson of California Image:William Cameron Sproul in 1918.jpg|Governor William C. Sproul of Pennsylvania File:Nicholas Murray Butler ppmsca.03668.jpg|Columbia President Nicholas Murray Butler of New York File:Calvin Coolidge-by Garo-1923.jpg|Governor Calvin Coolidge of Massachusetts File:Robert La Follette Sr crop.jpg|Senator Robert M. La Follette of Wisconsin (Not Nominated) Image:Jeter_Connelly_Pritchard.jpg|Circuit Court Judge Jeter Pritchard of North Carolina File:POINDEXTER, MILES. SENATOR LCCN2016857260 (cropped).jpg|Senator Miles Poindexter of Washington Image:SUTHERLAND, H. HONORABLE LCCN2016862408.jpg|Senator Howard Sutherland of West Virginia Image:Herbert Hoover, head of the U.S. Food Administration - NARA - 31480857.jpg|ARA Director Herbert Hoover of California

Potential or declined candidates

• Henry Cabot Lodge, U.S. senator from Massachusetts (declined to run)
• Henry Justin Allen, Governor of Kansas
• Albert J. Beveridge, former U.S. senator from Indiana
• William Borah, U.S. senator from Idaho
• Omar Bundy, General from Indiana
• T. Coleman du Pont, businessman from Delaware
• Will H. Hays, chairman of the Republican National Committee
• Charles Evans Hughes, former U.S. Supreme Court Justice, former Governor of New York, 1916 Republican candidate for President (declined to run)
• Myron Herrick, former Governor of Ohio
• Frank B. Kellogg, U.S. senator from Minnesota
• Philander C. Knox, U.S. senator from Pennsylvania
• Irvine Lenroot, U.S. senator from Wisconsin
• Edwin P. Morrow, Governor of Kentucky
• John J. Pershing, General of the Armies from Missouri
• Theodore Roosevelt, former President of the United States (died January 6, 1919)
• William Howard Taft, former President of the United States
• James E. Watson, U.S. senator from Indiana
• Frank B. Willis, former Governor of Ohio

At the start of the convention, the race was wide open. General Leonard Wood, Illinois Governor Frank Lowden, and California Senator Hiram Johnson were considered the three most likely nominees. Ohio Senator Warren G. Harding had been a front-runner, but his star had faded by the time of the convention.

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. Conservatives strongly opposed Wood, while Lowden was opposed by the progressive wing of the party.

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.

Presidential Balloting / 4th Day of Convention (June 11, 1920) File:1920RepublicanPresidentialNomination1stBallot.png|1st Presidential Ballot File:1920RepublicanPresidentialNomination2ndBallot.png|2nd Presidential Ballot File:1920RepublicanPresidentialNomination3rdBallot.png|3rd Presidential Ballot File:1920RepublicanPresidentialNomination4thBallot.png|4th Presidential Ballot

Presidential Balloting / 5th Day of Convention (June 12, 1920) File:1920RepublicanPresidentialNomination5thBallot.png|5th Presidential Ballot File:1920RepublicanPresidentialNomination6thBallot.png|6th Presidential Ballot File:1920RepublicanPresidentialNomination7thBallot.png|7th Presidential Ballot File:1920RepublicanPresidentialNomination8thBallot.png|8th Presidential Ballot File:1920RepublicanPresidentialNomination9thBallot.png|9th Presidential Ballot File:1920RepublicanPresidentialNomination10thBallotBefore.png|10th Presidential Ballot (Before Shifts) File:1920RepublicanPresidentialNomination10thBallotAfter.png|10th Presidential Ballot (After Shifts)

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."

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. 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.

Vice Presidential nomination

Vice Presidential candidates

File:Calvin Coolidge-by Garo-1923.jpg|Governor Calvin Coolidge of Massachusetts File:LENROOT, IRWIN L. SENATOR LCCN2016857277 (cropped).jpg|Senator Irvine Lenroot of Wisconsin File:Henry Justin Allen in 1918.jpg|Governor Henry Justin Allen of Kansas File:Colonel Henry Watkins Anderson circa 1915.jpg|ARC Commissioner Henry W. Anderson of Virginia File:Portrait of Senator Hiram Johnson of California, 1926.jpeg|Senator Hiram Johnson of California (Not Nominated – Declined Consideration)

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. When Johnson turned down the offer, they approached Lenroot, who accepted. Coolidge, who was not at the convention during the vice presidential nomination, agreed to join the ticket.

Vice Presidential Balloting / 5th Day of Convention (June 12, 1920) File:1920RepublicanVicePresidentialNomination1stBallot.png|1st Vice Presidential Ballot

Notes

References

Bibliography

• Official Report of the Proceedings of the Seventeenth Republican National Convention, Held in Chicago, Illinois, June 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12, 1920

References

1. Margulies, Herbert F.. (1977). "Irvine L. Lenroot and the Republican Vice-Presidential Nomination of 1920". The Wisconsin Magazine of History.
2. (11 June 1920). "Platform Adopted With Anti-Wilson League Plank; 'My Victory,' Says Johnson; Balloting Starts Today; Wood Men Claim the Lead; Midnight Move for Lowden". New York Times.
3. (1999). "Populist Nationalism: Republican Insurgency and American Foreign Policy Making, 1918–1925". Greenwood Publishing Group.
4. https://chicagotribune.newspapers.com/image/355017021 Chicago Tribune, June 8, 1920
5. (9 June 1920). "Platform Fights Starts as the Convention Opens; Johnson Flatly Demands Repudiation of the League; Apathy in the Convention; Lodge Permanent Chairman". New York Times.
6. (10 June 1920). "Text of the Republican Platform, Except League Plank; Dispute Over That, and Threat of a Bolt by Borah; Wood Men See Gains; New Yorkers Balk at Butler Pledge". New York Times.
7. (12 June 1920). "Four Ballots, No Nomination, Wood Leads; Has 314 1/2 Votes, Lowden 289 and Johnson 140 1/2; Midnight Conferences Brings No Results". New York Times.
8. (13 June 1920). "Harding Nominated for President on the Tenth Ballot at Chicago; Coolidge Chosen for Vice President". New York Times.
9. 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. After the eighth ballot, the convention recessed. During the recess, Harding's managers lobbied Lowden's supporters and others to support Harding. 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.Miller, pp. 90–91
10. A slightly different version appears in Andrew Sinclair, ''The available man: the life behind the masks of Warren Gamaliel Harding'' (1965) p. 136.
11. Richard C. Bain, and Judith H. Parris, ''Convention decisions and voting records'' (Brookings Institution, 1973).
12. Wesley M. Bagby, "The 'Smoke Filled Room' and the Nomination of Warren G. Harding." ''Mississippi Valley Historical Review'' 41.4 (1955): 657–74 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1889182 online].
13. (1967). "Calvin Coolidge: The Quiet President". Macmillan.
14. (1973). "Convention Decisions and Voting Records". Brookings Institution.