BILL TO DELAY HARDING'S SENATE ELECTION DECLARATION VETOED
Columbus, Ohio (JFK+50) On February 18, 1920, Ohio Governor James Cox* vetoed a bill sponsored by Warren G. Harding's** friends to change the primary rules to permit the Senator to avoid declaring for re-election to the U.S. Senate until after the selection of the Republican presidential nominee.
Senator Harding was up for re-election in November 1920, but under the primary rules of the time, he stood to lose his senate seat if he won the presidential nomination.
The proposed bill would have waived the requirement for his declaration of a re-election run and made possible his continuing in the Senate if he won the presidential nomination of the Republican party but lost in the general election.
As it turned out, Harding won both his party's nomination and the Election of 1920 by a comfortable margin. Ironically, James Cox won the Democratic nomination only to lose to Harding.***
*James Middleton Cox (1870-1957) was born in Jacksonburg, Ohio & became a newspaper/news-service operator. JMC served in the US House of Representatives 1909-1913 & Governor of Ohio 1913-1915, 1917-1921.
JMC was the presidential nominee of the Democrats in 1920. He chose FDR as his running-mate. The Cox-Roosevelt ticket was defeated by Harding-Coolidge 127-404 & 34%-60% popular vote.
**Warren Gamaliel Harding (1865-1923) was born in Blooming Grove, Ohio & graduated from Ohio Central College 1882. WGH started a newspaper career & built up the Marion Star. He served as 29th POTUS (1921-1923). Due to scandals which came to light after his death, WGH is rated as one of our worst presidents.
***Of the 4 members of the major party tickets of 1920, 3 became POTUS: Harding, Coolidge & FDR.
JFK+50 NOTE
16 of 44 POTUS served in the U.S. Senate. Of those, only 3 went directly from the Senate to the White House: Harding, Kennedy & Obama. Had JFK been defeated by Nixon in 1960, he would have been on schedule to complete his Senate term in January 1965.
SOURCE
"Today--100: February 18, 1920: not in politics," www.whateveritisimagainstit.blogspot.com/
James M. Cox (1920)
www.archives.gov/
