[Much of the historical information in this article is explained in greater length in "1920: The Year of the Six Presidents," by David Pietrusza, which I will be reviewing on the blog upon completion; uncited information that follows is derived from said book.]
Since the DNC is starting its live stream of their 2020 convention tonight, I thought I would take us back to the Democratic National Convention of 1920 which fielded the seldom-remembered James Middleton Cox alongside future progressive Democrat star Franklin Delano Roosevelt. I wrote about Roosevelt's rise to popularity recently - you can read that article here if you haven't already. Here, I hope to reveal a bit about Cox and his nomination as well as the context and setting of the 1920 convention.
Much like the 2016 and 2020 presidential races have focused repeatedly on the levels of health and vitality in ageing candidates Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden, the 1920 election was awash with speculation and game-changing bouts of illness. Incumbent Democrat President Woodrow Wilson had suffered a massive and crippling stroke in October of 1919 due largely to overexertion on a speaking tour, but those close to him hid the frightening severity of his condition from the press and the public so well that a Wilson third term run was highly anticipated. The Republicans had a similar but slightly more workable situation going on - that is, if one considers the death of the top candidate "more workable." Theodore Roosevelt, once estranged from the Republican Party, had shown signs of being the 1920 Republican nominee until his health began to decline. He died in January of 1919. The Republicans were thrown into a bit of a shock, but they at least could be certain of their need to look for a second option. Democrats were stuck with too many questions for too long. This would leave them with some relatively disappointing choices once the prospect of Wilson running once more was finally left behind.
The Democrats held their convention in San Francisco's almost-brand-spankin'-new Civic Auditorium (still standing today and known as the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium). While today's 2020 convention is physically inaccessible due to it being an online live-stream, 1920's convention was quite inconvenient for many to get to given the fact that it was on the West Coast; it was the first party convention to be located in the region! San Francisco had recently hosted the Panama-Pacific International Exposition and had rebounded nicely from the 1906 7.9 magnitude earthquake it suffered.
Continually recurring - and continually losing - candidate William Jennings Bryan showed up, as did notorious Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer. However, the man who would ultimately be offered the nomination was remained back east. Just like Warren G. Harding of the Republicans, the eventual nominee was a dark horse Ohio politician who had made an impact - just not too much of an impact to be widely disliked. As mentioned earlier, this man's name was James M. Cox. At the time, he was the Governor of Ohio; he had held the position from 1913-1915 and was reelected in 1917 after a brief time out of office. Ohio History Connection notes that as Governor of Ohio, Cox was a successful and progressive leader who "oversaw reforms within the state court system, the civil service, ... the budget and tax processes[, and] ... dealt with municipal home rule, workmen's compensation, educational reform, and prison reform, among numerous other issues."
Wilson's former Treasury Secretary and son-in-law William McAdoo had long coveted the role of successor to his former boss, and his name garnered the most attention from delegates early in the convention. Attorney General Palmer also did well early on; he and McAdoo were tailed by reasonably sizeable votes for Governor Cox and future Democratic Party nominee (1928) Al Smith during some of the early stages. William Jennings Bryan's time in the spotlight had ended, and his name was barely mentioned during the votes. It took until the 44th ballot for James M. Cox of Ohio to finally be selected as the Democrats' choice. The decision to place Franklin Roosevelt of New York in the Vice President's slot was far quicker. The Assistant Secretary of the Navy had been sent to San Francisco as a McAdoo delegate originally, and he had been staying aboard the battleship New York due to an apparent inability to secure a hotel room for the duration of the event.
The convention had lasted from June 28, 1920 to 1:43 a.m. on July 6, 1920 before it selected Cox. The Ohioan had already been giving the matter of his potential VP choice some thought apparently, because it was his recommendation over the phone that pretty much secured FDR as the easy pick.
In the coming days, I will write about the Democratic Party Platform that the 1920 convention put out. In the meantime, you can watch the 2020 DNC speaker live streams... I know, my posts are probably better. I'll be quick.