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John A. Johnson's 1908 Democratic presidential campaign
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| Contributor | Chronicler |
| Last Edited | Chronicler Feb 10, 2025 06:04pm |
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| Category | News |
| Author | Chronicler |
| News Date | Sunday, February 9, 2025 06:10:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | John A. Johnson was a Minnesota governor who waged a national campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1908, ultimately losing at the Democratic National Convention to William Jennings Bryan. A popular governor in a state mainly controlled by the Republicans, Johnson was often called a Democratic version of Abraham Lincoln in the press and was hailed as having a bright future in the national party. However, Johnson had serious health problems that took his life in mid-1909.
Background
When Minnesota Democrats nominated Johnson for governor in 1904, they did not expect him to be victorious. In the half century since statehood, a Democrat had only won the race for Minnesota governor twice (1857 and 1898). Johnson had previously served a single term in the state senate and edited a county newspaper, so he was not well known statewide. At the 1904 Republican state convention, former state auditor Robert C. Dunn took advantage of his role in assisting the merger of two important railroads to gain a plurality of delegates and was able to remove the party leaders, leading to his nomination for governor. At that point, a large fraction of the delegates bolted the convention. Three Republican state senators, including A.O. Everhart (who succeeded Johnson as governor in 1909) approached Johnson on 7/4/1904 and asked him to run as an independent. Democratic state leaders heard about the call and reached out to him afterwards. Although he tried to tamp down the movement, he was nominated unanimously at the Democratic state convention. Dunn continued to march towards winning the race until the week before the election, when a Dunn supporter published a small pamphlet stating that Johnson’s father had died in a poor house due to excessive drinking and that his mother supported the children by washing clothing of neighbors. State Democrats urged Johnson to deny the truth of the pamphlet, but after he verified the story, the Democrats made Johnson’s rise to fame from obscurity their closing argument. Because Johnson’s parents had been born in Sweden, Minnesotans of Scandinavian descent flocked to his side and helped him win a 49-46% victory over Dunn (Willmar Tribune, 9/29/1909). In the presidential balloting that same day, Theodore Roosevelt won Minnesota with a 74-19% victory over Alton Parker.
Johnson led a mostly bipartisan state government, appointing some Republicans to offices and not imposing his will on the state educational professionals during a dispute. In early 1905, when stories emerged about irregularities at a prominent state insurance firm, Johnson stepped in, helped the firm’s board to re-organize, and had the state attorney general lead the prosecution against the wrongdoers. Very soon thereafter, it was discovered that just before the 1904 election, President Roosevelt had sent George Cortelyou to ask for a large campaign donation from insurance companies to cover expenses being incurred to win New York’s vote in the election. Johnson called for national action to regulate insurance companies. Embarrassed, Roosevelt appointed a national commission, chaired by Johnson, that developed a model law that many states passed (Willmar Tribune, 9/29/1909). In the election of 1906, Johnson won a second term by a 61-35% margin over the Republican, winning a record statewide vote for governor and the second highest percentage of any gubernatorial candidate in the state up to that time. Johnson became the first Democrat to win a second term as Minnesota governor.
Early Presidential Maneuvering
At the dawn of 1907, Democrats nationally considered their upcoming national ticket. With the economic downturn, Roosevelt’s popularity had fallen, opening the possibility for a Democratic win in 1908. Their leading presidential contender was William Jennings Bryan, who had just returned from a worldwide tour. During his travels, he wired stories back that were published in newspapers. He was clearly open to a third presidential run, but eastern Democrats worried about his electability. That New Year’s Day, a newspaper editor in Minnesota (from the St. Paul Dispatch) wrote an article that perhaps Johnson was the person the Democrats needed. The article minimized Johnson's accomplishments but placed him in contention as a serious alternative who "fits all the conditions" required for a successful national campaign (the story ran in the New Ulm Review on 1/2/1907).
Life continued onwards into mid-1907 when Minnesota iron miners initiated a strike. Their leader was Teofilo Petriells, who had been born in Italy and had some socialistic tendencies. Business interests in the mining area called for the National Guard to put down the strike. Rather than calling them in, Johnson visited with the mining leaders and asked if they would be willing to give him a chance to speak with the miners, emphasizing that if violence erupted that he would call out the National Guard. With their support, he went to the center of controversy, a mining town named Eveleth, where he gave a speech outlining his main points: miners had the right to organize and to strike peacefully, but state law forbade them from hindering workers who wanted to continue working. Johnson's plan worked, and the strike was settled amicably within a few weeks (Willmar Tribune, 9/29/1909).
The first person to step up on behalf of Johnson's potential presidential candidacy was Henry Watterson, a former member of the US House in the 1870s who wrote a popular column in the Louisville Courier-Journal. That newspaper collected responses from around the nation and published a full page spread on Johnson as a contender on 7/27/1907. William Inglis, a reporter for Harper's Weekly, travelled to Minnesota to visit Johnson, resulting in an account of his personality and his successes during his two terms as governor. The article concluded with the statement that Johnson "is not looking for the Presidential nomination" (reprinted in the Baltimore Sun, 7/19/1907).
In September 1907, the Indianapolis Star ran an article on Johnson. It stated that during the past month, "scores of Democrats have traveled from various parts of the country to Minnesota to see Johnson and try to persuade him to enter the race." Johnson had standard replies, such as "no one could even think of being a candidate as long as William J. Bryan desired the nomination." The Star stated "Recently the conviction that Bryan cannot be elected has taken firmer root among thoughtful Democrats everywhere." New York Democrats were considering giving their support to their Lt. Gov., Lewis S. Chanler, who did not have the Star's support. The Star suggested that eastern Democrats who did not support Bryan would be willing to bend and support the more moderate Johnson (article quoted at length in the Minneapolis Journal, 9/27/1907).
In December 1907, Johnson attended the Rivers & Waters Congress in Washington DC. While there, he visited with Democratic congressional leaders to discuss the national atmosphere. Although he re-iterated that "he was not a candidate for president" (Osceola Times, 12/12/1907), "the impression he made there" left a positive impression on Democratic reporters (Louisville Courier-Journal, 12/28/1907).
Entering the Race
The context of a potential Johnson candidacy was clarified in January of 1908. At the beginning of the year, several newspapers conducted electoral vote calculations about the upcoming presidential race. A New York World article entitled "A Man Who Can Win: Gov. Johnson a Vote Getter Who is Not a Political Accident" summarized the conclusions: the Democrats needed to gain 98 electoral votes to win the presidency. Given Johnson's ability to attract Republican support, he "would unquestionably poll 100,000 more votes than Mr. Bryan in New York and New Jersey. If nomination for president he would carry every state that Mr. Bryan could carry, and he would give the party a fighting chance in states where Mr. Bryan's candidacy would mean a Republican walkover" (quoted in the Davenport Weekly Democrat and Leader, 1/9/1908). If eastern Democrats were giving Johnson a good look, western Democrats were not. The North Dakota Democrats held an organizational meeting in Grand Forks to set the parameters for the selection of delegates and its candidates for the year; they unanimously endorsed Bryan for president and Johnson for vice president (Grand Forks Herald, 1/29/1908). Johnson's easiest path to the nomination would require support from delegates from adjacent states. The Bryan press took to calling him "Yohn Yohnson" (Altoona Tribune, 1/31/1908 was one of dozens of instances in the newspaper.com database), which Minnesota Scandinavians took personally in the fall election.
William Jennings Bryan had previously said that he would not actively seek the presidential nomination. He was more interested in promoting his ideas than running a third campaign, and some alternative presidential nominees he could support included Gov. Folk, Gov. Johnson, William R. Hearst, Judge Gray, or Woodrow Wilson. Folk and Hearst immediately announced they weren't interested in a campaign. Wilson responded the worst of all; he said that Bryan "is the most charming and lovable of men personally, but foolish and dangerous in his theoretical beliefs" (Jersey Journal, 3/10/1908).
Minnesota Democrats sought to pressure Johnson to announce his intentions. His secretary, Frank A. Day, was more optimistic about the convention than Johnson, and he served as an outlet for Johnson's ambition during periods of questioning. When the state Democratic committee met in March to plan the year's events, Day was chosen to preside. The committee passed a resolution supporting Johnson for president by 68 to 23 for Bryan supporters (Louisville Courier-Journal, 3/7/1908). Some Democrats considered this event to be an announcement of his candidacy; Bryan supporters in Minnesota immediately met and planned their efforts to win the state's delegates to the national convention (Pittsburgh Post, 3/7/1908). After the editor of the Swedish newspaper in Minneapolis wrote to Johnson to ask about his candidacy, the governor responded that he was not seeking the nomination and believed no American should do so, but that he would accept it if tendered (Minneapolis Journal, 3/28/1908).
The tension between Johnson's support in northeastern states versus his invisibility elsewhere became a topic of conversation in the press. John S. McGroarty, a Republican, wrote a letter warning Republicans that Johnson would be the strongest Democrat since Cleveland and that Republicans needed to prepare for a major battle if he were nominated (Los Angeles Herald, 3/27/1908).
The Campaign
Johnson supporters went into action in April 1908. They opened a national campaign headquarters in rooms 100-104 of the Grand Pacific Hotel in Chicago early in the month and prepared a mailing to prominent Democrats around the nation of Johnson’s availability (Baltimore Sun, 4/6/1908). The Bryan campaign overreacted to this news. They sent out their own ill-advised mailing in which they stated that Johnson was weak in his own state, winning two fluke campaigns solely due to poor Republican candidates, and that Johnson would not carry Minnesota in 1908 (Kansas City-Times, 4/11/1908) [Minnesota in 1908 voted for Taft over Bryan by 85,000 while re-electing Johnson by 30,000].
Two events on April 15 represented a point of no return. In New York state, the Democratic state committee being held that day was bitterly divided, and with Bryan support in the minority, state Democrats chose to send an uncommitted delegate slate to the DNC. That same day, Johnson, stung by the tone of the recent Bryan mailing, said that he was moving from being a passive candidate to being an active candidate. "I shall try to make at least a dignified contest for the nomination… I'd like to have people say that [I] made a clean, decent race of it, no matter how it turns out" (Minneapolis Journal, 4/15/1908).
Newspapers nationwide were investigating the Democratic field with more interest than usual. The Cleveland Plain Dealer ran an article on Johnson, stating that the only issue where he and Bryan seemed to differ was that Johnson didn't favor federal ownership of railroads (Cleveland Plain Dealer, 4/18/1909). An unsigned article that ran in many papers stated that Johnson had "the qualities that might be described as logically and historically needful at this time, representing both in thought and by concrete achievement all of the progressive reforms to which the American people are now thoroughly committed" (Mayfield Messenger, 4/18/1908). When he gave a speech in Chicago, a reporter from the Chicago Inter Ocean wrote up a full page story on Johnson's life, pointing out that Johnson was not responding to the negative energy from Bryan in any meaningful way, just trying to set forth his own views on the federal government (Chicago Inter Ocean, 4/19/1908). The Winston-Salem Western Sentinel opined "In the estimation of many well-informed and impartial observers of the complex political game of 1908, Gov. John A. Johnson of Minnesota would prove the strongest candidate the Democratic party could place in nomination for president" as the introduction to another full-page story (Winston-Salem Western Sentinel, 4/28/1908).
An important event was the Minnesota primary on May 6. This event resembled a present-day caucus, in that voters went to the polls that evening and discussed together who to choose as delegates to the county conventions. Johnson won a smashing victory. One of Bryan's target counties was Hennepin County, where Johnson won by a 2.5:1 margin (Minneapolis Star-Tribune, 5/7/1908). When the state convention assembled later, it instructed the delegates for Johnson by a 772 to 166 margin (Brainerd Daily Dispatch, 5/15/1908). The Bryan press, observing the margin of their loss, warned that Minnesota Republicans who kept electing Johnson as governor wouldn't support him in a presidential race (Cresco [Iowa] Times-Plain Dealer, 5/8/1908). The Wilmington News Journal observed that if Republicans were worried about a Johnson nomination, they would "tremble" at the potential nomination of Delaware's Judge George Gray (Wilmington News Journal, 5/9/1908). Then the Michigan Democrats chose not to instruct their delegates for Bryan, which was unexpected (Porterville Recorder, 5/22/1908).
In May 1908, Johnson travelled extensively. He chaired a meeting of state governors in Washington DC to discuss conservation of natural resources prior to a swing through southern states (Birmingham Post-Herald, 6/5/1908). These visits, often including speeches at chautauquas, weren't sufficient to boost him in state conventions. His apparent strength in Alabama evaporated, as it did in other southern states. Tennessee Democrats instructed its delegates for Bryan for president and Johnson for VP (Daily Arkansas Gazette, 6/18/1908). The Bryan "steam roller" resulted in solid Bryan delegations in state after state (Sacramento Star, 6/27/1908). An important exception was Georgia, which sent an uninstructed delegation (Atlanta Constitution, 6/24/1908). Disgruntled unpledged Democratic delegates in Maryland, however, began to announce for Johnson in late June (Baltimore Sun, 6/24/1908). Even the possibility of Bryan failing to gain a 2/3 majority on the first ballot (an idea Frank Day mentioned again at the end of the month [Omaha Evening Bee, 7/1/1908]) seemed remote, and afterwards newspapers ran multiple articles about Johnson being an excellent candidate for VP. Most preconvention campaigning was suspended after former President Grover Cleveland died on 6/24/1908.
Democratic National Convention of 1908
By the time the DNC gathered in Denver, it was clear that Bryan had the delegates he needed. Some newspapers were promoting Johnson for vice president with Bryan (Cincinnati Enquirer, 7/3/1908). The presidential nominations began late on 7/9 while the delegates waited for the final draft of the platform. Winfield S. Hammond of Minnesota placed Johnson in nomination, giving an impressive speech as many Bryan delegates left the hall rather than hear nomination speeches for men who weren't going to get the nod. Afterwards, the Johnson supporters gave a long demonstration; the sergeant-at-arms, who had raised his hands to encourage the Bryan demonstration, stood motionless. It was nearly midnight, but Johnson's supporters in the gallery cheered wildly. The chairman tried to gavel the delegates to order, but the Minnesota delegation managed to get the band to play two songs to promote the demonstration. Finally the house electrician dimmed the lights to bring the demonstration to a close, and Judge Gray's nomination speech began almost immediately (New York Tribune, 7/10/1908). When the balloting finally took place, Johnson won just 46 delegate votes, from 8 states, placing third: he won all 22 delegates from Minnesota, 9 from Maryland (a majority of that state), 5 from CT, 3 from PA and RI, and 4 from three other states. Johnson hadn't attended the convention; instead, he was in attendance in a Chautauqua in Kansas where he gave a presentation on "The Majesty of the Law" and was introduced as "a future president of the United States" (Winfield Tribune, 7/13/1908).
Thereafter, Johnson continued his service as Minnesota governor. He ran for a third term in 1908 and was elected by a margin of 52-44%. Over the previous decade, he had gone through three intestinal operations. His health began to decline again, and when he went in for another intestinal surgery in 1909, he died during his recuperation.
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