1924 Republican National Convention

Delegates

For this convention the method of allocating delegates changed in order to reduce the overrepresentation of the South. This effort proved only partly successful as Southern delegates proved to be more overrepresented than they had been in 1916 or 1920, though they were not as overrepresented as they had been in 1912 and earlier.

There were 120 female delegates, 11% of the total.{{efn|Women's participation in national GOP conventions declined after 1924 and did not reach 11% again until 1952.

Ku Klux Klan presence

The head of the Ku Klux Klan, Imperial Wizard Hiram Wesley Evans, was in the city for the convention but maintained a low public profile. Time featured Evans in a cover photograph in conjunction with an article about the organization's role in the Republican convention, dubbing it "the Kleveland Konvention." As with the 1924 Democratic National Convention, some delegates supported adding a condemnation of the Ku Klux Klan by name into the party platform, but they lacked enough support to bring their proposed language to a vote.

Presidential nomination

Presidential candidates

Image:Calvin Coolidge-by Garo-1923.jpg|President Calvin Coolidge of Massachusetts Image:Portrait of Senator Hiram Johnson of California, 1926.jpeg|Senator Hiram Johnson of California (Not Nominated) Image:Robert La Follette Sr crop.jpg|Senator Robert M. La Follette of Wisconsin (Not Nominated)

Coolidge faced a challenge from California Senator Hiram Johnson and Wisconsin Senator Robert M. La Follette in the 1924 Republican primaries. Coolidge fended off his progressive challengers with convincing wins in the Republican primaries, and was assured of the 1924 presidential nomination by the time the convention began. After his defeat in the primaries, La Follette ran a third party candidacy that attracted significant support.

Declined to run

Image:Nicholas Murray Butler ppmsca.03668.jpg|Columbia President Nicholas Murray Butler of New York Image:President Hoover portrait (cropped).jpg|Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover of California Image:Charles Evans Hughes 2.jpg| Image:Frank O Lowden portrait (1).jpg|Former Governor Frank Orren Lowden of Illinois Image:Gifford Pinchot 3c03915u.jpg|Governor Gifford Pinchot of Pennsylvania Image:JWWadsworth.jpg|Senator James Wadsworth Jr. of New York Image:James Eli Watson.jpg|Senator James E. Watson of Indiana Image:John Wingate Weeks, Bain bw photo portrait.jpg|Secretary of War John W. Weeks of Massachusetts

Presidential Balloting / 3rd Day of Convention (June 12, 1924) File:1924RepublicanPresidentialNomination1stBallot.png|1st Presidential Ballot

Vice Presidential nomination

Vice Presidential candidates

Image:Chas G Dawes-H&E (cropped).jpg|Former Budget Director Charles G. Dawes of Illinois Image:Frank O Lowden portrait (1).jpg|Former Governor Frank Orren Lowden of Illinois (Rejected Nomination) Image:BURTON, THEODORE E. HONORABLE LCCN2016861359 (3x4a).jpg|Representative Theodore E. Burton of Ohio (Not Nominated) Image:President Hoover portrait (cropped).jpg|Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover of California (Not Nominated) Image:Hon. W.S. Kenyon LCCN2016821580 (cropped).jpg|Circuit Court Judge William S. Kenyon of Iowa Image:James Eli Watson.jpg|Senator James E. Watson of Indiana Image:Charles Curtis-portrait.jpg|Senate Majority Whip Charles Curtis of Kansas Image:Arthur M. Hyde, 10th Secretary of Agriculture, March 1929 - March 1933. - Flickr - USDAgov.jpg|Governor Arthur M. Hyde of Missouri Image:FrankTHinesCropped.jpg|Veterans Director Frank T. Hines of Utah Image:William Purnell Jackson, photo portrait head and shoulders.jpg|Former Senator William P. Jackson of Maryland

As Calvin Coolidge had ascended to the presidency following the death of Warren G. Harding on August 2, 1923, he served the remainder of Harding's term without a vice president as the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution had not yet been passed. With Coolidge having locked up the presidential nomination, most attention was focused on the vice presidential nomination.

Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover of California and appellate judge William Kenyon of Iowa were seen as the front-runners for the nomination, as both were popular Western progressives who could provide balance to a ticket led by a conservative from Massachusetts. Despite saying that he would not accept the nomination, Lowden was nominated for Vice President on the second ballot over Dawes, Kenyon, and Ohio Representative Theodore E. Burton. However, the delegates picked Dawes, partly as a reaction to the perceived dominance of Coolidge in running the convention.

Vice Presidential Balloting / 3rd Day of Convention (June 12, 1924) File:1924RepublicanVicePresidentialNomination1stBallot.png|1st Vice Presidential Ballot File:1924RepublicanVicePresidentialNomination2ndBallotBefore.png|2nd Vice Presidential Ballot (Before Shifts) File:1924RepublicanVicePresidentialNomination2ndBallotAfter.png|2nd Vice Presidential Ballot (After Shifts) File:1924RepublicanVicePresidentialNomination3rdBallot.png|3rd Vice Presidential Ballot

Prayers

Each of the three days of the convention opened with a lengthy invocation by a different clergymen—one Methodist, one Jewish, one Catholic. Each was listed among the convention officers as an official chaplain.

On June 10, the opening prayer was given by William F. Anderson, Methodist Episcopal bishop of Boston. Among other things, he called for "stricter observance of the law and the preservation of the Constitution of the United States", in other words, for more zealous enforcement of Prohibition.

The next day's session was opened by Rev. Dr. Samuel Schulman, rabbi of Temple Beth-El in New York. Schulman spoke with appreciation for "the Republican Party's precious heritage of the championship of human rights"; he called for "every form of prejudice and misunderstanding" to be "driven forever out of our land". Speaking of Calvin Coolidge, he praised "the integrity, the wisdom, the fearlessness of our beloved President".

On June 12, the final day's invocation was given by Roman Catholic Bishop Joseph Schrembs of Cleveland. Schrembs characterized President Calvin Coolidge as "a chieftain whose record of faithful public service, and whose personality, untarnished and untainted by the pollution of political corruption, will fill the heart of America with the new hope of a second spring".

Notes

References

References

1. "An historical analysis of the apportionment of delegate votes at the National Conventions of the two major parties". thegreenpapers.com.
2. Rymph, Catherine E.. (2006). "Republican Women: Feminism and Conservatism from Suffrage Through the Rise of the New Right". University of North Carolina Press.
3. "Milestones: Women in the GOP". National Federation of Republican Women.
4. (June 11, 1924). "Wizard Evans Leads Drive on Anti-Klan Plank". Newspapers.com.
5. (June 23, 1924). "Ku Klux Klan: Kleveland Konvention".
6. (June 23, 1924). "Cover".
7. (23 June 1924). "Ku Klux Klan: Kleveland Konvention".
8. Gin, Willie. (2017). "Minorities and Reconstructive Coalitions: The Catholic Question". Taylor & Francis.
9. (1993). "A Bloc of One: The Political Career of Hiram W. Johnson". Stanford University Press.
10. (June 10, 1924). "Kenyon Leads for Second Place on Convention Eve, New Move to "Draft" Lowden Fails; Hoover Strong; La Follette Starts Fight for a Radical Platform". The New York Times.
11. (June 13, 1924). "Coolidge and Dawes Nominated; General Named for Second Place After Lowden, Chosen, Refuses it". The New York Times.
12. Official Report of the Proceedings of the Eighteenth Republican National Convention (1924), pp. 37
13. Official Report of the Proceedings of the Eighteenth Republican National Convention (1928), pp. 7–9
14. Official Report of the Proceedings of the Eighteenth Republican National Convention, published by the Republican National Committee (1924), pp. 49–50
15. Official Report of the Proceedings of the Eighteenth Republican National Convention, published by the Republican National Committee (1924), pp. 125–26