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\nThe 35th Presidential election in American history took place on November 4, 1924. Calvin Coolidge, the incumbent Republican President, was seeking re-election. Hold up! Calvin Coolidge? Are you for real? What happened to Harding?...\nThe 35th Presidential election in American history took place on November 4, 1924. Calvin Coolidge, the incumbent Republican President, was seeking re-election. Hold up! Calvin Coolidge? Are you for real? What happened to Harding? Harding died, in 1923, and so Coolidge took over. At the beginning of Harding's term, there had been a depression, but the economy quickly recovered, and now Coolidge was getting all the credit for it.The so-called Roaring Twenties were now in full swing, when everything seemed to become more modern and urban, and when American culture thrived at home and abroad. Though Hiram Johnson, the Senator and former governor of California, challenged him, Calvin Coolidge was the Republican nominee. Charles Dawes, of the Dawes Plan fame, was his running mate. William Gibbs McAdoo appeared again to be a favorite for the Democratic Party, early on. However, he had associated himself with Edward Doheny, a shady character who had become associated with the Teapot Dome scandal, which tainted the Harding administration. As it turns out, Doheny associating with McAdoo really hurt McAdoo, among other things. Al Smith, the governor of New York, also looked to be a favorite. The Democratic National Convention was absolutely crazy. In fact, it was the longest ever. There were fist fights between McAdoo and Smith supporters, and the KKK kept coming up. but when it was all said and done it was John Davis who got the nomination. As a compromise nominee, he didn't even give an acceptance speech. Davis was fairly obscure. Some remembered him as a former Congressman, or former U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom or successful lawyer before that, but most people were like \"who?\" Davis was also a surprising choice to some because he was a fairly conservative, limited-government-type guy. The Democrats nominated Charles Wayland Bryan as his running mate. Bryan was William Jennings Bryan younger brother...oh, and the governor of Nebraska. Still, a lot of Americans were unsatisfied with the two-party system. Both Republicans and Democrats were associated with the Teapot Dome scandal, after all, and Coolidge and Davis seemed to be on the same page on a lot of issues. For these Americans, Robert La Follette, the well known and by this time almost legendary Senator from Wisconsin, was the answer. A new political party was created that was centered around La Follette called the Progressive Party. No, not the Bull Moose Party of 1912, which La Follette actually opposed. This was a new Progressive Party that united the labor unions and farmers. La Follette fought hard during his entire career for things like child labor laws, a social security safety net, and ending Washington cronyism, and that now resonated with many in 1924. Burton Wheeler, a Senator from Montana, was La Follette's running mate. As election day approached, things were looking really bad for the Democrats, as it appeared that many former Democrats were switching to support La Follette.\n
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\n\nMr. Beat\n\n
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- English
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