June 12, 1920: The Smoke-Filled Room

June 12, 1920: The Republican Convention is held at the Chicago Coliseum. With the nation tired of the moralizing and international engaging of the Democratic incumbent, Woodrow Wilson, the Republicans think they have a golden opportunity to take the Presidency. They just have to find the right man.

That proved harder than they thought. On the 1st ballot, General Leonard Wood, one of the heroes of World War I, led the balloting. He was followed by Frank Lowden and Hiram Johnson, the Governors of Illinois and California, respectively. Through 4 ballots, Wood led, but couldn't get a majority. On the 5th ballot, Lowden took the lead, but also couldn't get a majority. Through 8 ballots, it was still a toss-up between Wood and Lowden, but neither could get a majority.

So the leaders of the Party retreated to a room at the Blackstone Hotel, gathered in what became known as the famous "smoke-filled room," because of all the cigar smoking, and looked for a compromise candidate, one that supporters of Wood, Lowden and Johnson could all get behind.

Harry Daugherty, Chairman of the Republican Party of Ohio, suggested his State's Senator, Warren Harding, especially since the Democrats seemed likely to nominate that State's Governor, Jim Cox. Harding, 54 years old, was running for his 2nd term in the U.S. Senate, having previously been the Lieutenant Governor and a State Senator. He was good-looking enough to attract female voters, who, it appeared, would be legalized through the upcoming ratification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution. Most importantly, like any good "compromise candidate," he had no enemies.

But most of the men in the room didn't know anything about him. There were good reasons to pick him. Was there a good reason to not pick him? Harding was called into the room, and was asked if there was anything about him that might embarrass the Party.

Hearing the question, Harding excused himself, left the room, returned 15 minutes later, and said, "No." That leaving of the room, as well as those 15 minutes, should each have been a red flag to the men in the smoke-filled room. They took his word for it, anyway.

So what did Harding do in the intervening 15 minutes? It is believed by historians that he made phone calls to his mistresses, Nan Britton (who had already given birth to his illegitimate daughter) and Carrie Phillips, and arranged for payment for their silence.

Harding wasn't actually running before this, and hadn't considered that such arrangements would be necessary. Daugherty had put his name in nomination as a formality, and as a favor for a friend. Harding had trailed badly on the 1st 6 ballots, and gained on the 7th and the 8th. With this new support, he took the lead on the 9th ballot, and got a majority and the nomination on the 10th.

Governor Calvin Coolidge of Massachusetts, who had become nationally famous with his handling of a police strike in Boston, was nominated for Vice President. Given each man's character, the country would have been better off if the GOP nominations were the other way around: Coolidge, the strong, clean, intelligent executive whose experience ran from farm to small town to big city, for President; and Harding, the amiable, potentially scandalous nonentity, for Vice President.

Eight weeks later, on July 26, 1920, H.L. Mencken wrote this in The Baltimore Evening Sun:

As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.

After winning the election, Harding appointed Daugherty to be the U.S. Attorney General. After Harding's death, Daugherty was wrapped up in the Teapot Dome scandal, and Coolidge fired him. Daugherty later escaped a criminal conviction by the vote of 1 juror.

The Republican Party only required a simple majority of the delegates to get the nominations for President and Vice President. Until 1932, the Democratic Party required a two-thirds majority. Once the Democrats dropped that requirement for their 1936 Convention, a "smoke-filled room" full of wheeler-dealer Party officials, accountable to no voter, was never again needed to help select a major-party nominee for President. There would, however, be occasions when one would be needed to select a Vice Presidential nominee: The Democrats with Harry Truman in 1944 and Thomas Eagleton in 1972, and the Republicans with Spiro Agnew in 1968.

*

June 12, 1920 was a  Saturday. These baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Cleveland Indians, 5-4 at League Park in Cleveland. Ray Caldwell outpitched Jack Quinn. Tris Speaker, the Indians' manager and center fielder, went 1-for-3 with a walk and an RBI. Babe Ruth went 0-for-3 with a walk.

* The New York Giants lost to the St. Louis Cardinals, 2-0 at the Polo Grounds. Jesse Haines pitched a 5-hit shutout.

* The Brooklyn Robins (as the Dodgers were known during Wilbert Robinson's managing, from 1914 to 1931) lost to the Cincinnati Reds, 4-3 at Ebbets Field.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Boston Braves, 8-1 at Braves Field in Boston.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 6-4 at Baker Bowl in Philadelphia.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Philadelphia Athletics, 4-3 at Navin Field in Detroit. (It would later be renamed Briggs Stadium and Tiger Stadium.) Ty Cobb did not play.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Washington Senators, 9-8 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. It was a rare bad pitching performance from Walter Johnson.

* And the St. Louis Browns beat the Boston Red Sox, 15-4 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. George Sisler went 3-for-6 with an RBI.