Our Campaigns Blog - Chronicler's Minutiae

The Candidates' Election Day - 1924
Posted September 17, 2020 at 07:00pm by Chronicler

=== Election of 11/4/1924 ===

The presidential election of 1924 was the first to be waged partially by radio. President Coolidge and John W. Davis were granted time the evening before the election to make their final appeals (Burlington Free Press, 11/4/1924). Also unlike 1920, the presidential nominees partially monitored the election returns by radio in addition to the telegraph. President Coolidge spent most of the campaign season at his desk in the Oval Office, and newspapers generally felt his speeches were too general. Davis travelled throughout the nation, making the case for a moderate approach to the issues of the day. LaFollette maintained the most intense campaign schedule before the election.

John W. Davis (Democratic)

Davis spent the night before the election at his house in Locust Valley on Long Island. Having told the Democratic voters to vote early, Davis and his wife went to the polls at 10 am. The precinct judge met him at the polls and offered to take him to the front of the line of voters. Davis declined and waited in line before becoming voter #232. His wife was #233. Reporters took photographs of them casting their votes, and then Ellen Davis said that she "voted for the next President" (Brooklyn Citizen, 11/4/1924). Davis spent the middle of election day golfing. Some friends greeted him in the clubhouse, and he told them he hoped that he was a better golfer than campaigner. Davis then drove home, where he received some neighbors all afternoon. He told one visitor that he was glad that "the campaign grind was over" (Buffalo Commercial, 11/4/1924).

John and Ellen Davis left home at 5:05 pm to drive to the house of Frank Polk in Manhattan to receive the election news (New Castle News, 11/4/1924). None of the newspapers carried details of his evening, but he was aware of his defeat before going to bed. Upon arising and reading the New York World, the paper that was his major supporter, reported on Coolidge's landslide defeat. Just before 11 am on the morning following the election, Davis sent Coolidge a brief telegram congratulating him on his "Sweeping victory" (Buffalo Enquirer, 11/5/1924). Davis then took a break from politics but deepened his law practice and came to be considered one of the finest attorneys in New York City.

Robert M. LaFollette (Progressive)

Senator LaFollette ended his vigorous campaign and spent the night before election day at his farm Maple Bluff just north of Madison, Wisconsin. His wife realized he was not likely to be successful in his presidential campaign and remained at their house in Washington DC, but their two sons travelled with him. The Senator and his two sons drove to Madison early on election day to vote; their polling place was the Dane County Court House. The Senator calculated that this was his 13th time voting in a presidential election, as 1876 had been his first. After voting, the LaFollettes visited some friends in Madison and then returned to Maple Bluff.

A reporter caught up with Sen. LaFollette at Maple Bluff the afternoon of election day. The Senator said "I'm sorry it's all over. It has been the most exhilarating fight of my life. I wish I could go on and on." He was glad to be back at his farm, saying "It's so quiet, so restful." He said that the election was a choice between the forces of reaction and progress, and while hopeful, he didn't expect to "be up very late" (Edwardsville [Illinois] Intelligencer, 11/4/1924).

The LaFollettes received the election returns at Gov. Blaine's office in Madison. The Governor had special telegraph lines extended into this office to receive private information from the LaFollette managers around the nation (Neenah [Wisconsin] News-Record, 11/4/1924). The group of people in Blaine's office also heard returns broadcast over the radio. Although both Blaine and LaFollette won in Wisconsin, information from other states was difficult for the Senator. At one point he told a reporter "One cannot be too optimistic over the start of a new movement." By the end of election night, three Plains states were still undecided: North and South Dakota and Montana. When he rose the morning after the election, the Senator realized that Coolidge had swept most states outside of the South. He told a reporter "The American people have chosen to retain in power the reactionary Republican administration... Progressives will not be dismayed by this result. We have just begun to fight... The loss of this one battle in the age-long struggle of the masses against the privileged few is but an incident" (Reading [Pennsylvania] Times, 11/6/1924).

Note: Newspapers mostly called LaFollette an Independent candidate and not the Progressive candidate. In about 2/3 of news stories in the nation, his name was spelled "LaFollette" while the other third of news stories spelled his name "La Follette."

Calvin Coolidge (Republican)

Coolidge was the first president in a long time to stay at the White House on election day. He rose early that day and took his customary stroll through a residential neighborhood before breakfast. All the cabinet officers had returned home to vote for him except for the Secretary of the Navy. At noon, he held his semi-weekly press conference. That evening, Coolidge listened to the returns on the radio along with a small group of people including Curtis Wilbur (Navy Secretary) and Frank Stearns of Boston, who had been called Coolidge's "guiding genius" (Muncie Evening Press, 11/4/1924; Minneapolis Star Tribune, 11/5/1924). Chief Justice Taft walked to the White House for a brief visit on election evening as one of the few visitors (Boston Globe, 11/5/1924). Coolidge stayed up past his bedtime of 10 pm, not retiring until 12:45 when papers had projected he had won 344 electoral votes to 126 for Davis (Minneapolis Star-Tribune, 11/5/1924). His victory was slightly less than Harding's 1920 victory.

Third Party Nominees

Gilbert O. Nations, the American presidential nominee, issued his monthly publication The Protestant that was mailed just prior to the election. His main editorial investigated an alleged Catholic conspiracy to take over the United States (St. Joseph [Missouri] Fraternalist, 11/6/1924). He was one of a handful of presidential nominees who was unable to vote for himself, as he lived in Washington DC which did not cast votes for US President in 1924 (Akron Beacon Journal, 11/4/1924).

Newspapers were silent about Herman P. Faris, Prohibition presidential nominee; William J. Wallace, presidential nominee of the Commonwealth Land Party; William Z. Foster, the Workers Party presidential nominee; and Frank T. Johns, the Socialist Labor presidential nominee.

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