A tangent of a numismatic tangent

[BillJones]

 

This admittedly is stretch, but this little political button from the 1924 presidential campaign does have a monetary connection.

 

In 1924 there were two Donkey Party (a.k.a. “spoon”) presidential candidates who were evenly matched for delegate strength at the national convention. Former Treasury secretary, William G. McAdoo represented the conservative wing of the party. McAdoo, who was the son-in-law of the late former president Woodrow Wilson, advocated Prohibition, spoke glowingly of the rural way of life and disparaged the corrupting influence of life in the big cities. More alarmingly McAdoo had the support of the Ku Klux Klan. McAdoo’s centers of support came from the South and the Western states.

 

McAdoo’s rival was New York governor Alfred E. Smith. Smith had the support of the eastern urban areas and was a “wet,” which meant that he opposed Prohibition. Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was recovering from an attack in infantile paralysis, gave a rousing nominating speech for Smith in which he called the New York governor, “The happy warrior.”

 

McAdoo led in the delegate polls for the presidential nomination, but he was unable to win a majority of the vote. As a result the delegates voted time after time after time until the total number of votes reached 100 ballots. To put things in perspective, neither of the major political parties has taken more than one ballot to nominate their presidential candidates since 1952.

 

Finally after the 100th ballot McAdoo and Smith withdrew from the race. It took three more ballots to nominate John W. Davis of West Virginia for president. To put this into a modern perspective it would be the equivalent of having Clinton and Obama fight to a draw at this year’s Donkey Party convention and then having John Edwards or even Bill Richardson get the nomination.

 

In a move that was aimed to placate the western wing of the party Charles Bryan was nominated for vice president. If the name “Bryan” sounds familiar, there is a good reason. He was the younger brother of three time Donkey Party candidate William Jennings Bryan who was the famed advocate of “Free Silver.” It is generally assumed the Charles Bryan won the nomination because of his brother’s influence, which was undoubtedly true. Charles had been governor of Nebraska, however, which did give him a political resume. Still it was remarkable that William Jennings Bryan, after three failed attempts at the presidency and 28 years after he had delivered his famous “Cross of Gold” speech, still had so much influence over the party.

 

In the general election the Davis-Bryan ticket lost badly to Calvin Coolidge, which was no surprise. The protracted convention battle at left the Donkey Party members dispirited and unenthusiastic. The Donkey Party was very short on cash and issued very little in the way of campaign items. Even a simple John W. Davis picture button is scarce and worth more than $100. Jugates (a button with the presidential and vice presidential candidates pictured on them) like this Davis-Bryan piece are very rare and are worth a few thousand dollars.

 

[DC Dawg]

(thumbs u (thumbs u Great post!

I am a bit of a political junkie and love the twists and turns of how political battles are won. I am fascinated by the "sausage making" amongst the parties (from the quote, "laws are like sausages, you do not want to see either one being made"). Great stuff!!

 

Scott

[rrantique]

Interesting post Bill. (thumbs u

[Dcoin]

History

[rbrown4]

Very interesting thank you for the history.

 

Rey