1920 United States presidential election
November 2, 1920
531 members of the Electoral College
266 electoral votes needed to win
Turnout49.2%[1] Decrease 12.6 pp
 
Warren G Harding-Harris & Ewing crop.jpg
James M. Cox 1920.jpg
Nominee Warren G. Harding James M. Cox
Party Republican Democratic
Home state Ohio Ohio
Running mate Calvin Coolidge Franklin D. Roosevelt
Electoral vote 404 127
States carried 37 11
Popular vote 16,166,126 9,140,256
Percentage 60.4% 34.1%
Presidential election results map. Red denotes states won by Harding/Coolidge, blue denotes those won by Cox/Roosevelt. Numbers indicate the number of electoral votes allotted to each state.
President before election

Woodrow Wilson
Democratic

 Elected President

Warren G. Harding
Republican

Woodrow Wilson, the incumbent president in 1920, whose term expired on March 4, 1921

The 1920 United States presidential election was the 34th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 2, 1920. In the first election held after the end of the First World War and the first election after the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment (which gave equal votes to men and women), Republican Senator Warren G. Harding of Ohio defeated Democratic Governor James M. Cox of Ohio. It was one of only six presidential elections where both major candidates had the same home state.

Incumbent Democratic President Woodrow Wilson privately hoped for a third term, despite his severe physical and mental disabilities. He had very little support. Former President Theodore Roosevelt had been the front-runner for the Republican nomination, but he died in 1919 without leaving an obvious heir to his progressive legacy. The major parties turned to little-known dark horse candidates from the state of Ohio, a swing state with a large number of electoral votes. Cox won the 1920 Democratic National Convention on the 44th ballot, defeating William Gibbs McAdoo (Wilson's son-in-law), A. Mitchell Palmer, and several other candidates. Harding emerged as a compromise candidate between the conservative and progressive wings of the party, and he clinched his nomination on the tenth ballot of the 1920 Republican National Convention.

The election was dominated by the American social and political environment in the aftermath of World War I, which was marked by a hostile response to certain aspects of Wilson's foreign policy and a massive reaction against the reformist zeal of the Progressive Era. The wartime economic boom had collapsed and the country was deep in a recession. Wilson's advocacy for America's entry into the League of Nations in the face of a return to non-interventionist opinion challenged his effectiveness as president, and overseas there were wars and revolutions. At home, the year 1919 was marked by major strikes in the meatpacking and steel industries, and large-scale race riots in Chicago and other cities. Anarchist attacks on Wall Street produced fears of radicals and terrorists. The Irish Catholic and German communities were outraged at Wilson's perceived support of their traditional enemy Great Britain, and his political position was critically weakened after he suffered a stroke in 1919 that left him severely disabled.

Harding all but ignored Cox in the race, and essentially campaigned against Wilson by calling for a "return to normalcy". Harding won a landslide victory, sweeping every state outside of the South and becoming the first Republican since the end of Reconstruction to win a former state of the Confederacy, Tennessee. Harding's victory margin of 26.2% in the popular vote remains the largest popular-vote percentage margin for a Republican and the largest ever since widespread popular elections began in the 1820s, although subsequent candidates (in 1936, 1964 and 1972) have exceeded his share of the popular vote.[2] Cox won just 34.1% of the popular vote, and Socialist Eugene V. Debs won 3.4%, despite being in prison at the time. It was also the first election in which women had the right to vote in all 48 states, which caused the total popular vote to increase dramatically, from 18.5 million in 1916 to 26.8 million in 1920.[3] Both major-party vice-presidential nominees would later succeed to the presidency: Calvin Coolidge (Republican) upon Harding's death in 1923 and Franklin D. Roosevelt (Democratic) after defeating Republican President Herbert Hoover in 1932.

Nominations

Republican Party nomination

Republican Party (United States)
Republican Party (United States)
1920 Republican Party ticket
Warren G. Harding Calvin Coolidge
for President for Vice President
U.S. Senator from Ohio
(1915–1921)		 48th
Governor of Massachusetts
(1919–1921)
ID: 39 votes[4]
HCV: 692.2 votes
144,762 votes

Other Candidates

Candidates in this section are sorted by their highest vote count on the nominating ballots
Leonard Wood Frank Orren Lowden Hiram Johnson William Cameron Sproul Nicholas Murray Butler Calvin Coolidge
Chief of Staff of the Army
from New Hampshire
(1910–1914)		 Governor
of Illinois
(1917–1921)		 U.S. Senator
from California
(1917–1945)		 Governor
of Pennsylvania
(1919–1923)		 Columbia University President
from New York
(1902–1945)		 Governor
of Massachusetts
(1919–1921)
ID: 145 votes[4]
HCV: 314.5 votes
710,863 votes		 ID: 78 votes[4]
HCV: 311.5 votes
389,127 votes		 ID: 110 votes[4]
HCV: 148 votes
965,651 votes		 ID: 0 votes[4]
HCV: 84 votes
0 votes		 ID: 0 votes[4]
HCV: 69.5 votes
0 votes		 ID: 0 votes[4]
HCV: 34 votes
0 votes
Robert M. La Follette Jeter Pritchard Miles Poindexter Howard Sutherland Herbert Hoover
U.S. Senator
from Wisconsin
(1906–1925)		 Court of Appeals Judge
from North Carolina
(1904–1921)		 U.S. Senator
from Washington
(1911–1923)		 U.S. Senator
from West Virginia
(1917–1923)		 Director of the U.S. Food Administration
from California
(1917–1918)
ID: 0 votes[4]
NFN
HCV: 24 votes
0 votes		 ID: 17 votes[4]
HCV: 21 votes
0 votes		 ID: 14 votes[4]
HCV: 20 votes
3,806 votes		 ID: 0 votes[4]
HCV: 17 votes
33,849 votes		 ID: 0 votes[4]
HCV: 10.5 votes
303,815 votes

Following the return of former president Theodore Roosevelt to the Republican Party after the previous election, speculation quickly grew as to whether he would make another run for the presidency. Roosevelt's health declined seriously in 1918, however, and he died on January 6, 1919. Attention then turned to the party's unsuccessful 1916 candidate, Charles Evans Hughes, who had narrowly fallen short of defeating Wilson that year, but Hughes remained aloof as to the prospect of another run, and ultimately ruled himself out following the death of his daughter early in 1920.

On June 8, the Republican National Convention met in Chicago. The race was wide open, and soon the convention deadlocked between Major General Leonard Wood and Governor Frank Orren Lowden of Illinois.

Other names placed in nomination included Senators Warren G. Harding from Ohio, Hiram Johnson from California, and Miles Poindexter from Washington, Governor Calvin Coolidge of Massachusetts, philanthropist Herbert Hoover, and Columbia University President Nicholas M. Butler. Senator Robert M. La Follette from Wisconsin was not formally placed in nomination, but received the votes of his state delegation nonetheless. Harding was nominated for president on the tenth ballot, after some delegates shifted their allegiances. The results of the ten ballots were as follows:

Presidential Balloting, Republican National Convention 1920
Ballot12345678910
Before
shifts		10
After
shifts
Warren G. Harding65.559.058.561.578.089.0105.0133.0374.5644.7692.2
Leonard Wood287.5289.5303.0314.5299.0311.5312.0299.0249.0181.5156.0
Frank Orren Lowden211.5259.5282.5289.0303.0311.5311.5307.0121.528.011.0
Hiram Johnson133.5146.0148.0140.5133.5110.099.587.082.080.880.8
William Cameron Sproul84.078.579.579.582.577.076.076.078.000
Nicholas Murray Butler69.541.025.020.04.04.02.02.02.02.02.0
Calvin Coolidge34.032.027.025.029.028.028.030.028.05.05.0
Robert M. La Follette24.024.024.022.024.024.024.024.024.024.024.0
Jeter Connelly Pritchard21.010.0000000000
Miles Poindexter20.015.015.015.015.015.015.015.014.02.00
Howard Sutherland17.015.09.03.01.0000000
Herbert Hoover5.55.55.55.06.05.04.05.06.010.59.5
Scattering11.09.07.09.09.09.06.06.05.05.53.5

Harding's nomination, said to have been secured in negotiations among party bosses in a "smoke-filled room," was engineered by Harry M. Daugherty, Harding's political manager, who became United States Attorney General after his election. Before the convention, Daugherty was quoted as saying, "I don't expect Senator Harding to be nominated on the first, second, or third ballots, but I think we can afford to take chances that about 11 minutes after two, Friday morning of the convention, when 15 or 12 weary men are sitting around a table, someone will say: 'Who will we nominate?' At that decisive time, the friends of Harding will suggest him and we can well afford to abide by the result." Daugherty's prediction described essentially what occurred, but historians Richard C. Bain and Judith H. Parris argue that Daugherty's prediction has been given too much weight in narratives of the convention.

Once the presidential nomination was finally settled, the party bosses and Sen. Harding recommended Wisconsin Sen. Irvine Lenroot to the delegates for the second spot, but the delegates revolted and nominated Coolidge, who was very popular over his handling of the Boston Police Strike from the year before. The Tally:

Vice Presidential Balloting,
Republican Nat'l Convention 1920
Calvin Coolidge674.5
Irvine Lenroot146.5
Henry Justin Allen68.5
Henry W. Anderson28
Asle Gronna24
Hiram Johnson22.5
Jeter Connelly Pritchard11
Abstaining9

Source for convention coverage: Richard C. Bain and Judith H. Parris, Convention Decisions and Voting Records (Washington DC: Brookings Institution, 1973), pp. 200–208.

Democratic Party nomination

Democratic Party (United States)
Democratic Party (United States)
1920 Democratic Party ticket
James M. Cox Franklin D. Roosevelt
for President for Vice President
46th & 48th
Governor of Ohio
(1913–1915 & 1917–1921)		 Assistant Secretary of the Navy
(1913–1920)
ID: 74 votes[5]
HCV: 699.5 votes
86,194 votes

Other candidates

Candidates in this section are sorted by their highest vote count on the nominating ballots
William Gibbs McAdoo Mitchell Palmer Al Smith John W. Davis Edward Edwards Robert Latham Owen
U.S. Secretary of the Treasury
from California
(1913–1918)		 U.S. Attorney General
from Pennsylvania
(1919–1921)		 Governor
of New York
(1919–1920)		 Ambassador to Britain
from West Virginia
(1918–1921)		 Governor
of New Jersey
(1920–1923)		 U.S. Senator
from Oklahoma
(1907–1925)
ID: 0 votes[5]
HCV: 467 votes
74,987 votes		 ID: 104 votes[5]
HCV: 267 votes
140,010 votes		 ID: 0 votes[5]
HCV: 109 votes
0 votes		 ID: 0 votes[5]
HCV: 71.5 votes
0 votes		 ID: 28 votes[5]
HCV: 42 votes
28,470 votes		 ID: 20 votes[5]
HCV: 41 votes
0 votes
Thomas Marshall Edwin T. Meredith Carter Glass Homer Cummings Furnifold Simmons James Gerard
U.S. Vice President
from Indiana
(1913–1921)		 U.S. Secretary of Agriculture
from Iowa
(1920–1921)		 U.S. Senator
from Virginia
(1920–1946)		 Chair of the DNC
from Connecticut
(1919–1920)		 U.S. Senator
from North Carolina
(1901–1931)		 Ambassador to Germany
from New York
(1913–1917)
ID: 0 votes[5]
NFN
HCV: 37 votes
0 votes		 ID: 0 votes[5]
HCV: 28 votes
0 votes		 ID: 24 votes[5]
HCV: 27 votes
0 votes		 ID: 0 votes[5]
HCV: 27 votes
0 votes		 ID: 0 votes[5]
HCV: 25 votes
0 votes		 ID: 10 votes[5]
HCV: 21 votes
4,706 votes
John Sharp Williams Gilbert Hitchcock Francis Harrison
U.S. Senator
from Mississippi
(1911–1923)		 U.S. Senator
from Nebraska
(1911–1923)		 Philippine Governor-General
from New York
(1913–1921)
ID: 0 votes[5]
NFN
HCV: 20 votes
0 votes		 ID: 0 votes[5]
HCV: 18 votes
37,452 votes		 ID: 0 votes[5]
HCV: 6 votes
0 votes
A ticket purchased by a guest of the Democratic National Convention in San Francisco.

It was widely accepted prior to the election that President Woodrow Wilson would not run for a third term, and would certainly not be nominated if he did make an attempt to regain the nomination. While Vice-president Thomas R. Marshall had long held a desire to succeed Wilson, his indecisive handling of the situation around Wilson's illness and incapacity destroyed any credibility he had as a candidate, and in the end he did not formally put himself forward for the nomination.

Although William Gibbs McAdoo (Wilson's son-in-law and former Treasury Secretary) was the strongest candidate, Wilson blocked his nomination in hopes a deadlocked convention would demand that he run for a third term, even though he was seriously ill, physically immobile, and in seclusion at the time. The Democrats, meeting in San Francisco between June 28 and July 6 (the first time a major party held its nominating convention in an urban center on the Pacific coast), nominated another newspaper editor from Ohio, Governor James M. Cox, as their presidential candidate, and 38-year-old Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt, a fifth cousin of the late president Theodore Roosevelt, for vice-president.

Early favorites for the nomination had included McAdoo and Attorney General Alexander Mitchell Palmer. Others placed in nomination included New York Governor Al Smith, United Kingdom Ambassador John W. Davis, New Jersey Governor Edward I. Edwards, and Oklahoma Senator Robert Latham Owen.

Other candidates

Socialist Party

1920 Socialist Party ticket
Eugene V. Debs Seymour Stedman
for President for Vice President
Indiana State Senator
(1885–1887)		 Civil liberties lawyer

Socialist Party candidate Eugene V. Debs was incarcerated at the Atlanta federal penitentiary at the time for advocating non-compliance with the draft during World War I. He received the largest number of popular votes ever received by a Socialist Party candidate in the United States, although not the largest percentage of the popular vote. Debs received double this percentage in the election of 1912.[6] The 1920 election was Debs's fifth and last attempt to become president.[7]

In 1919, members of the Socialist Party who had come from Russian language federation of the party and other more radical groups within the party started to create their own papers and membership dues and cards. These members supported a platform that was similar to the Communist International and elected twelve of their members to the fifteen-member National Executive Committee. However, there was accusations of election irregularities and an Emergency Convention held on August 30, 1919, suspended seven of the party's twelve language federations and expelled the party affiliates in Michigan, Massachusetts, and Ohio. The more radical members of the party held a convention in New York City in June 1919, which was attended by 94 delegates from twenty states. A vote to create a new party was defeated by a vote of 55 to 38 causing 31 delegates to withdraw from the convention. These 31 delegates held their own convention in Chicago on September 1, where they founded the Communist Party USA.[8] The Communist Party USA attempted to give its presidential nomination to Debs, but he declined the nomination.[7]

The Socialist Party held its 1919 convention in Chicago with 140 delegates in attendance. Twenty-six delegates, who were members of the party's left-wing, left the convention. These delegates attempted to unite with the Communist Party USA, but formed the Communist Labor Party of America on September 2, after those attempts failed.[8]

The Socialist Party had 100,000 members before the splits, but it fell to 55,000 members while the Communist Party had 35,000 members and the Communist Labor Party had 10,000 members. The Communist Party claimed to have 60,000 members while the Communist Labor Party claimed to have 30,000 members. The United Communist Party was formed in May 1920 between the Communist Labor Party and some members of the Communist Party. The United Communist Party and the Communist Party united in December 1921 to form the Workers Party of America.[8]

Edward Henry, who was a friend of Debs, Lena Morrow Lewis, and Oscar Ameringer nominated Debs for the party's nomination on May 13, 1920, and the 134 delegates to the national convention voted unanimously to give him the nomination. Kate Richards O'Hare, who was also in prison, was considered for the vice-presidential nomination, but Seymour Stedman was selected by a vote of 106 to 26, which was later made unanimous, in order to have one of the candidates campaign. James H. Maurer was also considered for the vice-presidential nomination, but he declined due to his duties as head of the Pennsylvania Federation of Labor. Debs accepted the presidential nomination in an Atlanta prison on May 29, after being notified by Seymour, James Oneal, and Julius Gerber.[7][9][10][11]

During the campaign the Socialists had four airplanes drop socialist literature over Toledo, Ohio. The wife of Charles Edward Russell claimed that the ghost of Susan B. Anthony told her to vote for Debs. Over 60,000 people donated to the Socialist Party's campaign fund. Gerber predicted that Debs would receive three million votes and that five Socialists would be elected to Congress. Debs received 913,693 votes with his largest amount of support coming from New York. His vote total was over 50% more than what Allan L. Benson had received in the 1916 election. Debs later chose to not run for president in the 1924 election and instead supported Robert M. La Follette.[7][12]

Presidential Ballot
Eugene V. Debs132

Farmer-Labor Party

1920 Farmer-Labor Party ticket
Parley P. Christensen Max S. Hayes
for President for Vice President
State Representative
from Utah
(1915–1917)		 Editor of the Cleveland Citizen
from Ohio

Other Candidates

Candidates in this section are sorted by their highest vote count on the nominating ballots
Dudley Field Malone Eugene V. Debs Henry Ford Lynn Frazier
Collector of the
Port of New York
from New York
(1913–1913)		 State Representative
from Indiana
(1885–1887)		 President of the
Ford Motor Company
from Michigan
(1906–1919)		 Governor
of North Dakota
(1917–1921)
HCV: 174.6 votes HCV: 68 votes HCV: 12.3 votes DN
HCV: 9 votes
Herbert S. Bigelow Louis F. Post Jane Addams Robert M. La Follette
Clergyman
from Ohio		 Asst U. S. Secretary of Labor
from New York
(1913–1921)		 Co-founder of Hull House
from Illinois		 U.S. Senator
from Wisconsin
(1906–1925)
HCV: 7 votes HCV: 1.7 votes HCV: 0 votes DN

Prohibition Party

1920 Prohibition Party ticket
Aaron S. Watkins D. Leigh Colvin
for President for Vice President
Professor and Methodist Minister
from Ohio		 American politician
from New York
Campaign

Other Candidates

Candidates in this section are sorted by their highest vote count on the nominating ballots
Robert H. Patton Daniel A. Poling Charles Hiram Randall William Jennings Bryan
Prohibition Party Convention Chair
(1916)		 Intinerent Minister
from Pennsylvania		 Congressman
from California
(1915–1921)		 U.S. Secretary of State
from Nebraska
(1913–1915)
HCV: 85 votes HCV: 28 votes HCV: 9 votes DN

Meeting in Lincoln, Nebraska, there was some question whether the Prohibition Party would field an independent ticket as opposed to endorsing either Harding or Cox, but this was predicated on either making a clear statement that they would not move to weaken the Eighteenth Amendment; neither chose to make any such commitment.[13] The ticket favored by most present was that of William Jennings Bryan for president and William "Billy" Sunday for vice president, and indeed when a motion was made to nominate Bryan by acclamation, of the more than two hundred present it was only opposed by six.[14] Upon hearing of his nomination however Bryan declined the gesture, not wishing to remain singularly focused on the prohibition question or to sever his ties with the Democratic Party entirely.[15] Some had considered Billy Sunday a possible substitute but Sunday was "satisfied" with Republican nominee Warren Harding, while others thought about potentially nominating Henry Ford as their standard-bearer. With the nomination thrown wide open, the Party ultimately opted to nominate keynote speaker and Methodist minister Aaron Watkins of Ohio, over other candidates such as 1916 Convention Chair Robert Patton of Illinois, itinerant minister Daniel Poling of Pennsylvania, and Congressman Charles Randall of California. Historian David Leigh Colvin of New York was nominated for the Vice Presidency.

Presidential Balloting Vice-Presidential Balloting
Ballot12Ballot1
Aaron S. Watkins85.0108.0D. Leigh Colvin108.0
Robert H. Patton85.074.0Herman P. Faris47.0
Daniel A. Poling28.024.0Frank S. Regan15.0
Charles H. Randall9.02.0James H. Woertendyke12.0

American Party

James E. Ferguson, a former governor of Texas, announced his candidacy on April 21, 1920, in Temple, Texas, under the badge of "American Party".[16] Ferguson was opposed to Democrats whom he saw as too controlled by elite academic interests as seen when Woodrow Wilson endorsed rival Thomas H. Ball in the gubernatorial primary, and hoped to help the Republicans carry Texas for the first time (Texas never went Republican during Reconstruction).[17] Initially Ferguson and running mate William J. Hough hoped to carry their campaign to other states,[18] but Ferguson was unable to get on the ballot anywhere outside of Texas. Ferguson did manage to gain almost ten percent of the vote in Texas, and won eleven counties in the southeast of the state.[19]

General election

Return to normalcy

Warren Harding's main campaign slogan was a "return to normalcy", playing upon the weariness of the American public after the social upheaval of the Progressive Era. Additionally, the international responsibilities engendered by the Allied victory in World War I and the Treaty of Versailles proved deeply unpopular, causing a reaction against Wilson, who had pushed especially hard for the latter.

Ethnic issues

Poster for the 1920 Democratic presidential ticket

Irish Americans were powerful in the Democratic party, and groups such as Clan na Gael opposed going to war alongside their enemy Britain, especially after the violent suppression of the Easter Rising of 1916. Wilson won them over in 1917 by promising to ask Britain to give Ireland its independence. Wilson had won the presidential election of 1916 with strong support from German-Americans and Irish-Americans, largely because of his slogan "He kept us out of war" and the longstanding American policy of isolationism. At the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, however, he reneged on his commitments to the Irish-American community, who vehemently denounced him. His dilemma was that Britain was his war ally. Events such as the anti-British Black Tom and Kingsland Explosions in 1916 on American soil (in part the result of wartime Irish and German co-ordination) and the Irish anti-conscription crisis of 1918 were all embarrassing to recall in 1920.[20][21]

Britain had already passed an Irish Home Rule Act in 1914, suspended for the war's duration. However the 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin had led to increased support for the more radical Sinn Féin who in 1919 formed the First Dáil, effectively declaring Ireland independent, sparking the Irish War of Independence. Britain was to pass the Government of Ireland Act in late 1920, by which Ireland would have 2 home-ruled states within the British empire. This satisfied Wilson. The provisions of these were inadequate to the supporters of the Irish Republic, however, which claimed full sovereignty. This position was also supported by many Irish Americans. The American Committee for Relief in Ireland was set up in 1920 to assist victims of the Irish War of Independence of 1919–21. Some Irish-American Senators joined the "irreconcilables" who blocked the ratification of the Treaty of Versailles and United States membership in the League of Nations.

Wilson blamed the Irish Americans and German Americans for the lack of popular support for his unsuccessful campaign to have the United States join the League of Nations, saying, "There is an organized propaganda against the League of Nations and against the treaty proceeding from exactly the same sources that the organized propaganda proceeded from which threatened this country here and there with disloyalty, and I want to say—I cannot say too often—any man who carries a hyphen about with him [i.e., a hyphenated American] carries a dagger that he is ready to plunge into the vitals of this Republic whenever he gets ready."[22]

Of the $5,500,000 raised by supporters of the Irish Republic in the United States in 1919–20, the Dublin parliament (Dáil Éireann) voted in June 1920 to spend $500,000 on the American presidential election.[23] How this money was spent remains unclear. Ironically, the lawyer who had advised the fundraisers was Franklin D. Roosevelt, the losing vice-presidential candidate. In any case, the Irish American city machines sat on their hands during the election, allowing the Republicans to roll up unprecedented landslides in every major city. Many German-American Democrats voted Republican or stayed home, giving the GOP landslides in the rural Midwest.

Campaign

Roosevelt and Cox at a campaign appearance in Washington, D.C.

Wilson had hoped for a "solemn referendum" on the League of Nations, but did not get one. Harding waffled on the League, thereby keeping Idaho Senator William Borah and other Republican "irreconcilables" in line. Cox also hedged. He went to the White House to seek Wilson's blessing and apparently endorsed the League, but—upon discovering its unpopularity among Democrats—revised his position to one that would accept the League only with reservations, particularly on Article Ten, which would require the United States to participate in any war declared by the League (thus taking the same standpoint as Republican Senate leader Henry Cabot Lodge). As reporter Brand Whitlock observed, the League was an issue important in government circles, but rather less so to the electorate. He also noted that the campaign was not waged on issues: "The people, indeed, do not know what ideas Harding or Cox represents; neither do Harding or Cox. Great is democracy."[24] False rumors circulated that Senator Harding had "Negro blood," but this did not greatly hurt Harding's election campaign.

Governor Cox made a whirlwind campaign that took him to rallies, train station speeches, and formal addresses, reaching audiences totaling perhaps two million, whereas Senator Harding relied upon a "Front Porch Campaign" similar to that of William McKinley in 1896. It brought thousands of voters to Marion, Ohio, where Harding spoke from his home. GOP campaign manager Will Hays spent some $8.1 million, nearly four times the money Cox's campaign spent. Hays used national advertising in a major way (with advice from adman Albert Lasker). The theme was Harding's own slogan "America First". Thus the Republican advertisement in Collier's Magazine for October 30, 1920, demanded, "Let's be done with wiggle and wobble." The image presented in the ads was nationalistic, using catch phrases like "absolute control of the United States by the United States," "Independence means independence, now as in 1776," "This country will remain American. Its next President will remain in our own country," and "We decided long ago that we objected to foreign government of our people."[25]

On election night, November 2, 1920, commercial radio broadcast coverage of election returns for the first time. Announcers at KDKA-AM in Pittsburgh read telegraph ticker results over the air as they came in. This single station could be heard over most of the Eastern United States by the small percentage of the population that had radio receivers.

Harding's landslide came from all directions except the South. Irish- and German-American voters who had backed Wilson and peace in 1916 now voted against Wilson and Versailles. "A vote for Harding", said the German-language press, "is a vote against the persecutions suffered by German-Americans during the war". Not one major German-language newspaper supported Governor Cox.[26] Many Irish Americans, bitterly angry at Wilson's refusal to help Ireland at Versailles, simply abstained from voting in the presidential election. This allowed the Republicans to mobilize the ethnic vote, and Harding swept the big cities.

Clifford Berryman's cartoon depiction of Eugene V. Debs' campaign from prison.

This was the first election in which women from every state were allowed to vote, following the passage of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution in August 1920 (just in time for the general election).

Tennessee's vote for Warren G. Harding marked the first time since the end of Reconstruction that even one of the eleven states of the former Confederacy had voted for a Republican presidential candidate. Tennessee had last been carried by a Republican when Ulysses S. Grant claimed it in 1868.

Even though Cox lost badly, his running mate Franklin D. Roosevelt became a well-known political figure because of his active and energetic campaign. In 1928, he was elected Governor of New York, and in 1932 he was elected president. He remained in power until his death in 1945 as the longest-serving American president in history.

Results

Results by county explicitly indicating the percentage for the winning candidate. Shades of red are for Harding (Republican), shades of blue are for Cox (Democratic), shades of green are for Ferguson (American),[19] grey indicates zero recorded votes and white indicates territories not elevated to statehood.[27]

The total vote for 1920 was roughly 26,750,000, an increase of eight million from 1916.[28] Harding won in all twelve cities with populations above 500,000. Harding won a net vote total of 1,540,000 from the twelve largest cities which was the highest amount for any Republican and fifth highest for any candidate from 1920 to 1948.[29] The Democratic vote was almost exactly the vote from 1916, but the Republican vote nearly doubled, as did the "other" vote. As pointed out earlier, the great increase in the total number of votes is mainly attributable to the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which gave women the right to vote.

Nearly two-thirds of the counties (1,949) were carried by the Republicans. The Democrats carried only 1,101 counties, a smaller number than Alton Parker had carried in 1904 and consequently the smallest number during the Fourth Party System until that point (Al Smith would carry even fewer in 1928). Not a single county was carried by the Democrats in the Pacific section, where they had carried 76 in 1916. In the Mountain section Cox carried only thirteen counties, seven of them located in New Mexico bordering Texas, whereas Wilson carried all but twenty-one Mountain Section counties in 1916. At least one county was lost in every section in the Union and in every state except South Carolina and Mississippi. Eleven counties in Texas recorded a plurality for Ferguson.[19]

Wilson had won the support of Americans of German, Italian, Irish, or Jewish descent in the 1916 election, but Cox lost in all of those demographics and received less support from Jewish voters than Debs. Harding received support from over 90% of black voters.[29]

The distribution of the county vote accurately represents the overwhelming character of the majority vote. Harding received 60.35 percent of the total vote, the largest percentage in the Fourth Party System, exceeding Franklin D. Roosevelt's in 1932. Although the Democratic share was 34.13 percent, in no section did its voting share sink below 24 percent, and in three sections, the Democrats topped the poll. The Democratic Party was still a significant opposition on national terms, even though Cox won only eleven states and had fewer votes in the electoral college than Parker had won in 1904. More than two-thirds of the Cox vote was in states carried by Harding. The distribution of the vote by counties, and the study of percentages in sections, states, and counties, seem to show that it was Wilson and foreign policies that received the brunt of attack, not the Democratic Party and the domestic proposals of the period 1896–1914.[30]

This was also the third presidential election in which both major party candidates were registered in the same home state; the others have been in 1860, 1904, 1940, 1944, and 2016.

Electoral results
Presidential candidate Party Home state Popular vote Electoral
vote		 Running mate
Count Percentage Vice-presidential candidate Home state Electoral vote
Warren G. Harding Republican Ohio 16,166,126 60.35% 404 Calvin Coolidge Massachusetts 404
James M. Cox Democratic Ohio 9,140,256 34.12% 127 Franklin D. Roosevelt New York 127
Eugene V. Debs Socialist Indiana 914,191 3.41% 0 Seymour Stedman Illinois 0
Parley P. Christensen Farmer-Labor Illinois 265,395 0.99% 0 Max S. Hayes Ohio 0
Aaron S. Watkins Prohibition Indiana 188,709 0.70% 0 D. Leigh Colvin New York 0
James E. Ferguson American Texas 47,968 0.18% 0 William J. Hough New York 0
William Wesley Cox Socialist Labor Missouri 31,084 0.12% 0 August Gillhaus New York 0
Robert Colvin Macauley Single Tax Pennsylvania 5,750 0.02% 0 Richard C. Barnum Ohio 0
Other 28,746 0.11% — Other —
Total 26,788,225 100% 531 531
Needed to win 266 266

Source (Popular Vote): Leip, David. "1920 Presidential Election Results". Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved June 10, 2023.

Source (Electoral Vote): "Electoral College Box Scores 1789–1996". National Archives and Records Administration. Retrieved July 31, 2005.

Popular vote
Harding
 
 60.3%
Cox
 
 34.1%
Debs
 
 3.41%
Christensen
 
 0.99%
Others
 
 1.13%
Electoral vote
Harding
 
 76.08%
Cox
 
 23.92%

Geography of results

Results by state

Source: [31]

States/districts won by Cox/Roosevelt
States/districts won by Harding/Coolidge
Warren G. Harding
Republican		 James Cox
Democratic		 Eugene Debs
Socialist		 Parley Christensen
Farmer-Labor		 Aaron Watkins
Prohibition		 James Ferguson
American		 William Cox
Socialist Labor		 Margin State Total
State electoral
votes		 #  % electoral
votes		 #  % electoral
votes		 #  % electoral
votes		 #  % electoral
votes		 #  % electoral
votes		 #  % electoral
votes		 #  % electoral
votes		 #  % #
Alabama 12 74,556 31.37 - 159,965 67.31 12 2,369 1.00 - - - - 748 0.31 - - - - - - - -85,409 -35.94 237,638 AL
Arizona 3 37,016 55.61 3 29,546 44.39 - 222 0.33 - 15 0.02 - 4 0.01 - - - - - - - 7,470 11.22 66,562 AZ
Arkansas 9 71,117 38.73 - 107,409 58.49 9 5,111 2.78 - - - - - - - - - - - - - -36,292 -19.76 183,637 AR
California 13 624,992 66.20 13 229,191 24.28 - 64,076 6.79 - - - - 25,204 2.67 - - - - - - - 395,801 41.93 944,050 CA
Colorado 6 173,248 59.32 6 104,936 35.93 - 8,046 2.75 - 3,016 1.03 - 2,807 0.96 - - - - - - - 68,312 23.39 292,053 CO
Connecticut 7 229,238 62.72 7 120,721 33.03 - 10,350 2.83 - 1,947 0.53 - 1,771 0.48 - - - - 1,491 0.41 - 108,517 29.69 365,518 CT
Delaware 3 52,858 55.71 3 39,911 42.07 - 988 1.04 - 93 0.10 - 986 1.04 - - - - - - - 12,947 13.65 94,875 DE
Florida 6 44,853 30.79 - 90,515 62.13 6 5,189 3.56 - - - - 5,124 3.52 - - - - - - - -45,662 -31.34 145,681 FL
Georgia 14 41,089 27.72 - 107,162 72.28 14 465 0.31 - - - - - - - - - - - - - -66,073 -44.57 148,251 GA
Idaho 4 88,975 65.60 4 46,579 34.34 - 38 0.03 - - - - 32 0.02 - - - - - - - 42,396 31.26 135,624 ID
Illinois 29 1,420,480 67.81 29 534,395 25.51 - 74,747 3.57 - 49,630 2.37 - 11,216 0.54 - - - - 3,471 0.17 - 886,085 42.30 2,094,714 IL
Indiana 15 696,370 55.14 15 511,364 40.49 - 24,703 1.96 - 16,499 1.31 - 13,462 1.07 - - - - - - - 185,006 14.65 1,262,964 IN
Iowa 13 634,674 70.91 13 227,921 25.46 - 16,981 1.90 - 10,321 1.15 - 4,197 0.47 - - - - 982 0.11 - 406,753 45.44 895,082 IA
Kansas 10 369,268 64.75 10 185,464 32.52 - 15,511 2.72 - - - - - - - - - - - - - 183,804 32.23 570,318 KS
Kentucky 13 452,480 49.25 - 456,497 49.69 13 6,409 0.70 - - - - 3,322 0.36 - - - - - - - -4,017 -0.44 918,708 KY
Louisiana 10 38,538 30.49 - 87,519 69.24 10 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -48,981 -38.75 126,396 LA
Maine 6 136,355 68.92 6 58,961 29.80 - 2,214 1.12 - - - - - - - - - - - - - 77,394 39.12 197,840 ME
Maryland 8 236,117 55.11 8 180,626 42.16 - 8,876 2.07 - 1,645 0.38 - - - - - - - 1,178 0.27 - 55,491 12.95 428,443 MD
Massachusetts 18 681,153 68.55 18 276,691 27.84 - 32,267 3.25 - - - - - - - - - - 3,583 0.36 - 404,462 40.70 993,718 MA
Michigan 15 762,865 72.76 15 233,450 22.27 - 28,947 2.76 - 10,480 1.00 - 9,646 0.92 - - - - 2,539 0.24 - 529,415 50.50 1,048,411 MI
Minnesota 12 519,421 70.59 12 142,994 19.43 - 56,106 7.62 - - - - 11,489 1.56 - - - - 5,828 0.79 - 376,427 51.16 735,838 MN
Mississippi 10 11,576 14.03 - 69,277 83.98 10 1,639 1.99 - - - - - - - - - - - - - -57,701 -69.95 82,492 MS
Missouri 18 727,162 54.56 18 574,799 43.13 - 20,242 1.52 - 3,291 0.25 - 5,142 0.39 - - - - 2,164 0.16 - 152,363 11.43 1,332,800 MO
Montana 4 109,430 61.13 4 57,372 32.05 - - - - 12,204 6.82 - - - - - - - - - - 52,058 29.08 179,006 MT
Nebraska 8 247,498 64.66 8 119,608 31.25 - 9,600 2.51 - - - - 5,947 1.55 - - - - - - - 127,890 33.41 382,743 NE
Nevada 3 15,479 56.92 3 9,851 36.22 - 1,864 6.85 - - - - - - - - - - - - - 5,628 20.70 27,194 NV
New Hampshire 4 95,196 59.84 4 62,662 39.39 - 1,234 0.78 - - - - - - - - - - - - - 32,534 20.45 159,092 NH
New Jersey 14 611,541 67.65 14 256,887 28.42 - 27,141 3.00 - 2,200 0.24 - 4,734 0.52 - - - - 923 0.10 - 354,654 39.23 903,943 NJ
New Mexico 3 57,634 54.68 3 46,668 44.27 - - - - 1,104 1.05 - - - - - - - - - - 10,966 10.40 105,406 NM
New York 45 1,871,167 64.56 45 781,238 26.95 - 203,201 7.01 - 18,413 0.64 - 19,653 0.68 - - - - 4,841 0.17 - 1,089,929 37.60 2,898,513 NY
North Carolina 12 232,848 43.22 - 305,447 56.70 12 446 0.08 - - - - - - - - - - - - - -72,599 -13.48 538,741 NC
North Dakota 5 160,072 77.79 5 37,422 18.19 - 8,282 4.02 - - - - - - - - - - - - - 122,650 59.60 205,776 ND
Ohio 24 1,182,022 58.47 24 780,037 38.58 - 57,147 2.83 - - - - - - - - - - - - - 401,985 19.88 2,021,653 OH
Oklahoma 10 243,831 50.11 10 217,053 44.61 - 25,726 5.29 - - - - - - - - - - - - - 26,778 5.50 486,610 OK
Oregon 5 143,592 60.20 5 80,019 33.55 - 9,801 4.11 - - - - 3,595 1.51 - - - - 1,515 0.64 - 63,573 26.65 238,522 OR
Pennsylvania 38 1,218,216 65.76 38 503,843 27.20 - 70,571 3.81 - 15,704 0.85 - 42,696 2.30 - - - - 753 0.04 - 714,373 38.56 1,852,616 PA
Rhode Island 5 107,463 63.97 5 55,062 32.78 - 4,351 2.59 - - - - 510 0.30 - - - - 495 0.29 - 52,401 31.19 167,981 RI
South Carolina 9 2,610 3.91 - 64,170 96.05 9 28 0.04 - - - - - - - - - - - - - -61,560 -92.14 66,808 SC
South Dakota 5 110,692 60.74 5 35,938 19.72 - - - - 34,707 19.04 - 900 0.49 - - - - - - - 74,754 41.02 182,237 SD
Tennessee 12 219,829 51.29 12 206,558 48.19 - 2,239 0.52 - - - - - - - - - - - - - 13,271 3.10 428,626 TN
Texas 20 114,538 23.54 - 288,767 59.34 20 8,121 1.67 - - - - - - - 47,968 9.86 - - - - -174,229 -35.80 486,641 TX
Utah 4 81,555 55.93 4 56,639 38.84 - 3,159 2.17 - 4,475 3.07 - - - - - - - - - - 24,916 17.09 145,828 UT
Vermont 4 68,212 75.82 4 20,919 23.25 - - - - - - - 774 0.86 - - - - - - - 47,293 52.57 89,961 VT
Virginia 12 87,456 37.85 - 141,670 61.32 12 807 0.35 - 243 0.11 - 857 0.37 - - - - - - - -54,214 -23.47 231,033 VA
Washington 7 223,137 55.96 7 84,298 21.14 - 8,913 2.24 - 77,246 19.37 - 3,800 0.95 - - - - 1,321 0.33 - 138,839 34.82 398,715 WA
West Virginia 8 282,007 55.30 8 220,789 43.30 - 5,618 1.10 - - - - 1,528 0.30 - - - - - - - 61,218 12.00 509,942 WV
Wisconsin 13 498,576 71.10 13 113,422 16.17 - 80,635 11.50 - - - - 8,647 1.23 - - - - - - - 385,154 54.92 701,280 WI
Wyoming 3 35,091 64.15 3 17,429 31.86 - - - - 2,180 3.99 - - - - - - - - - - 17,662 32.29 54,700 WY
TOTALS: 531 16,144,093 60.32 404 9,139,661 34.15 127 913,693 3.41 - 265,398 0.99 - 188,787 0.71 - 47,968 0.18 - 31,084 0.12 - 7,004,432 26.17 26,765,180 US

Close states

Margin of victory less than 1% (13 electoral votes):

  1. Kentucky, 0.44% (4,017 votes)

Margin of victory less than 5% (12 electoral votes):

  1. Tennessee, 3.10% (13,271 votes)

Margin of victory between 5% and 10% (10 electoral votes):

  1. Oklahoma, 5.50% (26,778 votes)

Tipping point state:

  1. Rhode Island, 31.19% (52,401 votes)

Statistics

Counties with Highest Percentage of the Vote (Republican)

  1. McIntosh County, North Dakota 95.76%
  2. Leslie County, Kentucky 94.22%
  3. Sevier County, Tennessee 93.60%
  4. Sheridan County, North Dakota 92.98%
  5. Billings County, North Dakota 92.81%

Counties with Highest Percentage of the Vote (Democratic)

  1. Chester County, South Carolina 100.00%
  2. Edgefield County, South Carolina 100.00%
  3. Clarendon County, South Carolina 100.00%
  4. Bamberg County, South Carolina 100.00%
  5. Hampton County, South Carolina 100.00%

Counties with Highest Percentage of the Vote (American)

  1. Austin County, Texas 61.72%
  2. Fort Bend County, Texas 59.35%
  3. Lavaca County, Texas 57.76%
  4. Fayette County, Texas 55.12%
  5. Washington County, Texas 54.04%

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ "National General Election VEP Turnout Rates, 1789-Present". United States Election Project. CQ Press.
  2. ↑ Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Elections (compare national data by year)
  3. ↑ Leip, David. "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections". Uselectionatlas.org. Retrieved August 18, 2016.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 "Status Of Republican Delegates". The Chicago Tribune. May 23, 1920. Retrieved November 17, 2022.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 "Democratic Convention Situation". The Chicago Tribune. May 23, 1920. Retrieved November 17, 2022.
  6. ↑ "1912". President Elect. Archived from the original on December 30, 2008. Retrieved August 18, 2016.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Morgan, H. Wayne (1962). Eugene V. Debs: Socialist for President. Syracuse University Press.
  8. 1 2 3 Haynes, Fred (1924). Social Politics in the United States. The Riverside Press Cambridge.
  9. ↑ A Political Guide for the Workers. Socialist Party of America. 1920. p. 8.
  10. ↑ Laidler, Henry W. (June 1, 1920). The Socialist Convention. The Socialist Review.
  11. ↑ Coleman, McAlister (1930). Eugene V. Debs: A Man Unafraid. Greenberg Publisher.
  12. ↑ Ray, P. Orman (1924). An Introduction to Political Parties and Practical Politics. Charles Scribner's Sons.
  13. ↑ "Want to nominate Prohibition Ticket" (PDF). The New York Times. Lincoln, Nebraska. July 19, 1920. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 28, 2022.
  14. ↑ "Drys in Stampede Nominate Bryan; Vote him, willing or not, their Party Standard Bearer in Coming Campaign. - Woman Chairman Leads – Delegates, Impatient at Talk of Refusal, Parade and Should for Convention Nominee". The New York Times. July 22, 1920.
  15. ↑ "Bryan rejects 'dry' nominate; Wires from Montana when he returns from fishing trip and hears of it. Will remain in his party although not sure how he will vote – Drys name Ohioan for President". The New York Times. July 23, 1920.
  16. ↑ Havel, James T.; The Elections, 1789–1992, p. 106 ISBN 0028646231
  17. ↑ Richardson, Darcy G.; Others: "Fighting Bob" La Follette and the Progressive Movement: Third-Party Politics in the 1920s, p. 76-79 ISBN 0595481264
  18. ↑ Richardson; Others, p. 81
  19. 1 2 3 Scammon, Richard M. (compiler); America at the Polls: A Handbook of Presidential Election Statistics 1920–1964 pp. 426-430, 456 ISBN 0405077114
  20. ↑ "The enemy within; the inside story of German sabotage in America : Landau, Henry, b. 1892 : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive". Archive.org. Retrieved August 18, 2016.
  21. ↑ "Essay by M. Plowman (2009) on the complexities of the "Indo-Irish-German" conspiracy in the USA during the war" (PDF). Lse.ac.uk. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 9, 2022. Retrieved August 18, 2016.
  22. ↑ "American Rhetoric: Woodrow Wilson -- "Final Address in Support of the League of Nations"". www.americanrhetoric.com. Retrieved November 16, 2022.
  23. ↑ "Dáil Éireann – 29/Jun/1920 MINISTERIAL MOTIONS. - PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN IN U.S.A". Oireachtasdebates.oireachtas.ie. February 24, 2015. Retrieved August 18, 2016.
  24. ↑ Sinclair, p. 168
  25. ↑ Sinclair, p. 162
  26. ↑ Sinclair, p. 163
  27. ↑ The Presidential Vote, 1896–1932 – Google Books. Stanford University Press. 1934. ISBN 978-0-8047-1696-3. Retrieved August 12, 2014.
  28. ↑ The Presidential Vote, 1896–1932, Edgar E. Robinson, p. 19
  29. 1 2 Murphy, Paul (1974). Political Parties In American History, Volume 3, 1890-present. G. P. Putnam's Sons.
  30. ↑ The Presidential Vote, 1896–1932, Edgar E. Robinson, pg. 21
  31. ↑ "1920 Presidential General Election Data – National". Uselectionatlas.org. Retrieved March 18, 2013.

References and further reading

Primary sources

  • "The Presidential Election of 1920". American Leaders Speak: Recordings from World War I and the 1920 Election. Library of Congress. Retrieved November 16, 2002.
  • Chester, Edward W A guide to political platforms (1977) online
  • Porter, Kirk H. and Donald Bruce Johnson, eds. National party platforms, 1840–1964 (1965) online 1840–1956
  • Eugene V. Debs, A Word to the Workers! New York: New York Call, n.d. [1920]. —Socialist campaign leaflet.
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