NOMINATION FOR THE PRESIDENCY
James M. Cox was first suggested as a presidential possibility at the
Governors’ and Mayors’ Conference at the White House to which I have
already referred. He from the first made a splendid impression upon
that gathering. Gradually as the months went on the candidates settled
down to William G. McAdoo, Secretary of the Treasury, Governor Cox and
two or three others.
THE SAN FRANCISCO CONVENTION
The story of the San Francisco Convention is so recent that little
needs to be said about it. Owing to the fact that the Democratic
nominee must receive a two-thirds vote, it required forty-four ballots
to secure the necessary number to nominate Governor Cox. Altho a large
number of men were voted for, the fight was between the friends of Mr.
McAdoo, Governor Cox and Attorney-General Palmer. Both Mr. McAdoo and
Mr. Cox seemed unable to secure the necessary nomination until the
thirty-eighth ballot, when Attorney-General Palmer withdrew from the
race.
In the turn-over of the Palmer delegates Cox gained the advantage over
William G. McAdoo, his rival for first place since early in the
balloting, and that advantage never was lost. With its choice made,
the convention adjourned to name a candidate for the Vice-Presidency.
The nominee, Mr. Franklin D. Roosevelt, is well known for his work as
Assistant Secretary of the Navy during the war.
Supporters of Governor Cox won a way to the nomination by persistent
battling at the McAdoo and Palmer forces in many states thruout a long
series of shiftings and rallies which left now one and now the other
of the candidates in the lead. It was the most remarkable convention
ever held and its result was very complimentary to Mr. Cox. Let me
quote a correspondent:
PALMER’S WITHDRAWAL
With the thirty-seventh ballot, Palmer’s strength took a big drop.
Amidst wild jubilation Chairman Robinson fought for order and let
former Representative Carlin of Virginia, Palmer’s manager, up to the
speaker’s stand. The crowd hushed. It recognized Carlin and knew that
his appearance forecast only one thing, the release of the Palmer
delegates and a break-up in the long deadlock. Men halted where they
stood in the aisles to listen. Corridors poured back hundreds of
loungers to the floor to pack the doorways and jam even the entrances
to the galleries. An electric feeling of expectancy was in the air.
Carlin briefly stated that Attorney General Palmer was not willing
longer to delay a nomination and authorized the complete and
unconditional release of his delegates. A shout went up, only to be
quickly stilled, while Chairman Robinson announced a 20-minute recess
so that delegates might be polled for new alignments and the change in
the situation be considered before another vote was taken.
While the recess was on the galleries sat tense, staring down into the
great pit below, where delegates scrambled and tumbled thru the aisles
conferring to appraise the situation before determining their course.
McAdoo and Cox workers worked up to the maximum effort to take
advantage of the break. The floor hummed like the stock exchange on a
panicky day. Great clusters of Cox and McAdoo workers gathered about
the Palmer groups, struggling for attention and to enlist under their
own standard the army about to be disbanded.
DIE HARD FOR PALMER
Back in their seats again under the banging urge of the gavel, the
delegates awaited the 39th roll call. The effect of Mr. Palmer’s
release to his friends was noticeable at once. By twos and threes and
larger groups, delegates previously voting unchangingly for him went
to other candidates, each change that brought gain to McAdoo or Cox
let loose a new roar. The faithful Pennsylvanians insisted on casting
one more vote for Palmer as a final tribute to him. The delegation
chairman’s statement went unheeded for the most part and the great
block of votes went down for Palmer amid a surprised hush. The
announcement of the whole ballot, however, started another tumult, led
by Cox adherents. It showed he had outstripped McAdoo in the race for
Palmer delegates and again reached the lead.
The Cox forces scented victory right there. The Cox band trooped into
the gallery and hurled the strains of the Cox battle song, “Ohio,
Ohio,” down into the din below. Again time was required to get quiet
enough to start a new roll-call. When Pennsylvania was reached the
delegation asked for a poll. One by one a big McAdoo majority in the
Pennsylvania ranks was disclosed and the Cox supporters looked a
little disturbed. The drift to the Ohio standard was on, however, and
even the more than two-score Palmer men who joined from the
Pennsylvania forces would not push McAdoo back into the lead. A fight
to adjourn for the night was started by McAdoo supporters, against
shouts of “No, no,” all over the floor. The motion went down on a vote
that left no doubt of the convention’s determination to fight it out
then and there. The 41st ballot was started.
SPECTATORS DESERT
Both McAdoo and Cox gained ground and McAdoo supporters dug themselves
in, grimly determined on a last ditch fight. The 42nd roll call was
started. It showed new drifts to Cox as the votes were shouted back to
the platform from the unsuppressible murmur among the delegates, now
regardless of the fatigue of the prolonged fight, altho the great
galleries above them were by then almost vacant. Great blocks of empty
seats showed where worn-out spectators had given it up by midnight and
gone home expecting another day.
When Georgia was reached the delegation chairman leaped to his chair
and shouted that his state, formerly in McAdoo ranks, would join hands
with Ohio “To name the next President.” He cast the solid Georgia vote
for Cox, and the shout that followed seemed to rock the building.
McAdoo followers were still holding grimly. Again the Texas block of
40 votes went in for him. The western states, which led the way in his
drives, stuck hard, and even the fact that Cox had swept beyond the
first majority vote recorded for any candidate did not shake them
loose.
The 43rd roll call began in a riot of noise that made the poll audible
only as the surges of sound paused to let the figures reach the
clerks. Little by little the drift to the Cox column continued gaining
momentum as it ran. “Get into the wagon!” roared a man in the
galleries, and the Cox rooters took it up. Votes for other candidates
than Cox or McAdoo brought yells of “Come out of it!” and “Wake up!”
In the New York delegations a challenge for a poll sent a dozen men
scurrying to argue with the challenger. He was the center of a fire of
argument and objurgation he could not resist. Finally, after a new
move by McAdoo supporters to adjourn in a last desperate effort to
stave off defeat had been roared down, the last ballot--the
44th--began.
THE LAST BALLOT
The result was forecast with the first vote. Alabama swung solid for
Cox. State by state delegations that had stuck out for McAdoo, with
divided delegations, followed suit. The slide had set in and there was
no stopping it. The convention had its mind set to nominate on that
ballot. Up and up mounted the Ohioan’s total of votes. As it passed
the 700 mark with the necessary two-thirds just ahead, the tumult
increased minute by minute until the last votes were heard only
vaguely on the platform. Pennsylvania went over and the Colorado
chairman leaped to his chair to change the vote of his state to Cox.
Half a dozen other chairmen were waving for recognition to make
similar announcements.
Chairman Robinson hurried to his desk with Sam B. Amidon of Kansas, a
McAdoo chief whom he presented only after a furious assault with the
gavel forced a partial lull in the cheering. Thru a continuous racket
Amidon moved that the rules be suspended and the nomination be made
unanimous. All over the great hall men climbed upon chairs to wave
their hands for silence and then stand poised like college yell
leaders to signal the answer to the question.
Banging his gavel in a final thump, Chairman Robinson put the
question, and the answer roared back at him with all the volume of a
thousand voices in shouting the tremendous “Aye!” that made Governor
Cox the Democratic nominee.
The 44th ballot never was completed. In the chorus of affirmation it
was swept away as unnecessary. Many of the changes which would have
been made had the vote been carried thru were never recorded. And on
the fact of that ballot Governor Cox received officially 702-1/2
votes, but these were never totalled, for he was nominated by the
unanimous voice of the convention.
All those in America who knew James M. Cox were delighted at this
news. They had always loved and respected him; they had always
marveled at his courage and honesty; and now to have him receive this
honor gave us all a new heart. It gives confidence in the fundamental
integrity and good sense of the American people.