Campaign Song of Ice and Fire

June 9, 1924

We just got through the presidential primary elections in the District of Columbia, South Dakota, Montana, New Mexico and New Jersey this week. In case you weren't paying attention, I won't spoil it for you by telling you who won. Results from party caucuses in Guam and the Virgin Islands should be known sometime today.

Caricature of Calvin Coolidge by Henry Major for Hearst newspapers, ca. June 15, 1924

100 years ago this week, Republicans met for their national convention in Cleveland to go through the motions of nominating Calvin Coolidge for President. Coolidge had trounced California Senator Hiram Johnson in almost every contest — Johnson received fewer floor votes than Wisconsin Senator Robert LaFollette, who was widely expected to make a third party run.

"Irreconcilables" who wanted a more isolationist foreign policy plank, and anti-Klan delegations who pushed for language explicitly condemning the Ku Klux Klan provided a bit of drama as the party platform was hammered together; but both were both disappointed.

"Don't Let It Happen Again" by Tom Foley in Minneapolis Star, June 10, 1924

The only real topic generating any suspense was the selection of Coolidge's running mate. Having succeeded to the presidency after the death of Warren Harding, four decades before passage of the 25th Amendment, Coolidge was in office without any understudy.

(I hope you noticed Coolidge's profile in Mr. Foley's block of ice, by the way.)

"Got Him, By Thunder" by Rollin Kirby in New York Evening World, ca. June 16, 1924

Illinois Governor Frank Lowden and Idaho Senator William Borah both declined the second spot on the Republican ticket, even though Lowden actually won the vice presidential nomination on the second ballot. Herbert Hoover was Coolidge's next choice, but he fell well short on the third ballot.

Instead, the nomination went to Charles Dawes. I have to assume that Rollin Kirby drew "Got Him, By Thunder" before Dawes's nomination was known, and only added the man's name on his suit at the last minute.

"On the Knees of the Gods" by Rollin Kirby in New York Evening World, ca. June 18, 1924

Kirby could well have had this cartoon ready and waiting for him to add the face of Coolidge's running mate before Dawes's name was announced, too. For Calvin "The Business of America Is Business" Coolidge to have shared the ticket with anyone who wouldn't sit comfortably on Big Business's lap would have been extremely out of character.

"The Kite that Mother Made" by William Hanny in Philadelphia Inquirer, June 10, 1924

Bill Hanny's is another probable example of a cartoon nearly completed before Dawes accepted the nomination. He's lucky that a candidate with a longer name such as Senator Albert Beveridge didn't get the nod.

"Unity..." by Sam Armstrong in Tacoma News Tribune, June 16, 1924

Charles Dawes, a diplomat and former Director of the Bureau of the Budget, was best known for presenting the Coolidge administration's proposal for settling German reparations for the Great War. Under the Dawes plan, U.S. banks loaned enough money to Germany to enable Germany to meet its Versailles Treaty obligations to France and Belgium, which in turn promised to withdraw their occupation troops from the Ruhr valley.

"We May Have to Remodel..." by J.N. "Ding" Darling in Des Moines Register, June 17, 1924

The one and apparently only other thing anybody knew about Charles Dawes was that he was reputed to have a short-ish temper and his favorite expletive was "Hell 'n' Maria!"

"The 'Icy-Hot' Parade" by Harold Wahl in Sacramento Bee, June 17, 1924

"Queer Treatment for 'Miss-a-Meal' Cramps" by J.T. Alley in Memphis Commercial Appeal, June 17, 1924

Tune in next week, when we'll turn our attention to the Democrats.

"Enjoying Himself" by William Hanny in Philadelphia Inquirer, June 27, 1924