"THE PEOPLE WANTED TO BE LET ALONE"

AMERICANS VOTE FOR 'A RETURN TO NORMALCY'

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) "The country--recently riven by disease, inflamed with racial violence and anxious about immigration, torn between isolation and globalism--yearned for...a return 'to normalcy.'"

These words, written by Thomas Mallon in The New Yorker, describe not the state of the nation in 2020, but the situation the people of the United States faced on November 2nd 1920.

Although voter turn-out was low, Americans elected Republican Warren Gamaliel Harding, who promised 'a return to normalcy,' by a landslide.  Republicans gained comfortable control of both houses of Congress.

The nation had endured a bloody world war, an influenza epidemic that took 675,000 American lives, racial strife which included lynchings in Minnesota, Texas, North Carolina, Mississippi and Florida, and were increasingly concerned about immigration.

Irving Stone wrote in 1943...

"The people were tired:  tired from the war, tired from the suffering and bloodshed, tired from hysteria...they wanted to be let alone, to sleep in the sun, to recoup their energy and their enthusiasm." 

 

SOURCE

"How the Promise of Normalcy Won the 1920 Election," by Thomas Mallon, September 14, 2020, The New Yorker, www.newyorker.com/ 

 

 

 

Warren G. Harding

Harris & Ewing Photo (1920)

  

"HARDING WILL CARRY THE COUNTRY IN A GREAT SWEEP"

CORRESPONDENTS PREDICT REPUBLICAN SWEEP

New York City (JFK+50) On October 31, 1920, the Sunday Star of Washington, D.C. published a front page story detailing the opinions of correspondents on how the Election of 1920 would turn out.

In the story, written here in New York by N.O. Messenger, the prediction of reporters who covered both Democratic and Republican campaigns since mid May was that...

 "Harding and Coolidge will carry the country in a great sweep."

Without the benefit of modern day computers and polling data, they were able to say that "Missouri is...leaning...toward Harding.  West Virginia...to Cox, Maryland...to Harding, Kentucky...(to Cox)."

Mr. Messenger added that "Indiana is close, Ohio is safely Republican, Wisconsin is a puzzle, Iowa, of course is Republican, (and) New England, New York and New Jersey...are going republican heavily."

The Election of 1920, held on November 2nd, did indeed result in a landslide victory for the Harding-Coolidge Republican ticket.  The correspondents' predictions proved to be spot on.  The only exception was West Virginia, which went for Harding.

The final totals were...

Harding-Coolidge (R) 404 electoral votes, 60% popular vote

Cox-Roosevelt (D) 127 electoral votes, 34% popular vote.

JFK+50 NOTE

My home state of Tennessee played an interesting role in 1920.  Traditionally part of the Democratic "Solid South", the Volunteer State went for Harding.  It was only the second time TN was carried by the Republican candidate, the first was Ulysses S. Grant.

One of the reasons for this result in 1920 was that Woodrow Wilson and the Democrats were in favor of the League of Nations while Harding and the Republicans opposed to it.  There was an "abnormally high voter turnout among isolationist mountaineers in rock-ribbed Republican East Tennessee."

My home county, Knox, was carried by Harding 63% to 36% while bordering Sevier County (Sevierville, Gatlinburg) went Republican by 93.6% to 6.3%.

 

SOURCE

"The Sunday Star," Washington, D.C., October 31, 1920, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/ 

 

 

 

 Presidential Election by County (1920)

Minnesota Population Center

National Historical Geographic

Information System

Version 2.0

Minneapolis, MN

University of Minnesota (2011)

www.nhgis.org/

 

"GOVERNOR COX'S SPECIAL TRAIN WENT INTO A DITCH"

DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE UNHURT IN TRAIN MISHAP

Phoenix, Arizona (JFK+50) On September 23, 1920, The Sun and New York Herald published an account describing a train mishap the previous afternoon involving James M. Cox*, Democratic nominee for President of the United States.

Governor Cox's special train "went into the ditch" 15 miles north of Phoenix around 4:30 p.m. Mountain time on the 22nd.  While the Governor's car never left the rails, two of the cars on the train did and were badly damaged.

Governor Cox was uninjured although some passengers were "shaken up" and "cut by flying glass."  The speed of the train at the time of the mishap was 50 m.p.h.

The Governor had planned to speak in Phoenix and Prescott last night, and resumed his campaign tour the following day. 

*James Middleton Cox (1870-1957) was born in Jacksonburg, Ohio & worked in the newspaper business before being elected to the US House of Representatives & to the governorship of Ohio.

JMC, the 1920 Democratic nominee for POTUS, chose FDR as his running mate.

The Democrats were defeated in 1920 by Warren G. Harding who won 60% of the popular vote.  It was the worst popular vote defeat in presidential election history to that time.

After his retirement from public service, Mr. Cox's media empire grew and prospered. 

SOURCE

"Cox Uninjured in Train Wreck," The Sun and The New York Herald, September 23, 1920, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/ 

 

FDR & James M. Cox

Democratic Ticket (1920)

Photo by Harris & Ewing

Library of Congress Image