James M. Cox was first suggested as a presidential possibility at the Governors’ and Mayors’ Conference at the White House to which I have already referred. He from the first made a splendid impression upon that gathering. Gradually as the months went on the candidates settled down to William G. McAdoo, Secretary of the Treasury, Governor Cox and two or three others.

The San Francisco Convention

The story of the San Francisco Convention is so recent that little needs to be said about it. Owing to the fact that the Democratic nominee must receive a two-thirds vote, it required forty-four ballots to secure the necessary number to nominate Governor Cox. Altho a large number of men were voted for, the fight was between the friends of Mr. McAdoo, Governor Cox and Attorney-General Palmer. Both Mr. McAdoo and Mr. Cox seemed unable to secure the necessary nomination until the thirty-eighth ballot, when Attorney-General Palmer withdrew from the race.

In the turn-over of the Palmer delegates Cox gained the advantage over William G. McAdoo, his rival for first place since early in the balloting, and that advantage never was lost. With its choice made, the convention adjourned to name a candidate for the Vice-Presidency. The nominee, Mr. Franklin D. Roosevelt, is well known for his work as Assistant Secretary of the Navy during the war.

Supporters of Governor Cox won a way to the nomination by persistent battling at the McAdoo and Palmer forces in many states thruout a long series of shiftings and rallies which left now one and now the other of the candidates in the lead. It was the most remarkable convention ever held and its result was very complimentary to Mr. Cox. Let me quote a correspondent:

Palmer’s Withdrawal

With the thirty-seventh ballot, Palmer’s strength took a big drop. Amidst wild jubilation Chairman Robinson fought for order and let former Representative Carlin of Virginia, Palmer’s manager, up to the speaker’s stand. The crowd hushed. It recognized Carlin and knew that his appearance forecast only one thing, the release of the Palmer delegates and a break-up in the long deadlock. Men halted where they stood in the aisles to listen. Corridors poured back hundreds of loungers to the floor to pack the doorways and jam even the entrances to the galleries. An electric feeling of expectancy was in the air.

Carlin briefly stated that Attorney General Palmer was not willing longer to delay a nomination and authorized the complete and unconditional release of his delegates. A shout went up, only to be quickly stilled, while Chairman Robinson announced a 20-minute recess so that delegates might be polled for new alignments and the change in the situation be considered before another vote was taken.

While the recess was on the galleries sat tense, staring down into the great pit below, where delegates scrambled and tumbled thru the aisles conferring to appraise the situation before determining their course. McAdoo and Cox workers worked up to the maximum effort to take advantage of the break. The floor hummed like the stock exchange on a panicky day. Great clusters of Cox and McAdoo workers gathered about the Palmer groups, struggling for attention and to enlist under their own standard the army about to be disbanded.

Die Hard for Palmer

Back in their seats again under the banging urge of the gavel, the delegates awaited the 39th roll call. The effect of Mr. Palmer’s release to his friends was noticeable at once. By twos and threes and larger groups, delegates previously voting unchangingly for him went to other candidates, each change that brought gain to McAdoo or Cox let loose a new roar. The faithful Pennsylvanians insisted on casting one more vote for Palmer as a final tribute to him. The delegation chairman’s statement went unheeded for the most part and the great block of votes went down for Palmer amid a surprised hush. The announcement of the whole ballot, however, started another tumult, led by Cox adherents. It showed he had outstripped McAdoo in the race for Palmer delegates and again reached the lead.

The Cox forces scented victory right there. The Cox band trooped into the gallery and hurled the strains of the Cox battle song, “Ohio, Ohio,” down into the din below. Again time was required to get quiet enough to start a new roll-call. When Pennsylvania was reached the delegation asked for a poll. One by one a big McAdoo majority in the Pennsylvania ranks was disclosed and the Cox supporters looked a little disturbed. The drift to the Ohio standard was on, however, and even the more than two-score Palmer men who joined from the Pennsylvania forces would not push McAdoo back into the lead. A fight to adjourn for the night was started by McAdoo supporters, against shouts of “No, no,” all over the floor. The motion went down on a vote that left no doubt of the convention’s determination to fight it out then and there. The 41st ballot was started.

Spectators Desert

Both McAdoo and Cox gained ground and McAdoo supporters dug themselves in, grimly determined on a last ditch fight. The 42nd roll call was started. It showed new drifts to Cox as the votes were shouted back to the platform from the unsuppressible murmur among the delegates, now regardless of the fatigue of the prolonged fight, altho the great galleries above them were by then almost vacant. Great blocks of empty seats showed where worn-out spectators had given it up by midnight and gone home expecting another day.

When Georgia was reached the delegation chairman leaped to his chair and shouted that his state, formerly in McAdoo ranks, would join hands with Ohio “To name the next President.” He cast the solid Georgia vote for Cox, and the shout that followed seemed to rock the building. McAdoo followers were still holding grimly. Again the Texas block of 40 votes went in for him. The western states, which led the way in his drives, stuck hard, and even the fact that Cox had swept beyond the first majority vote recorded for any candidate did not shake them loose.

The 43rd roll call began in a riot of noise that made the poll audible only as the surges of sound paused to let the figures reach the clerks. Little by little the drift to the Cox column continued gaining momentum as it ran. “Get into the wagon!” roared a man in the galleries, and the Cox rooters took it up. Votes for other candidates than Cox or McAdoo brought yells of “Come out of it!” and “Wake up!” In the New York delegations a challenge for a poll sent a dozen men scurrying to argue with the challenger. He was the center of a fire of argument and objurgation he could not resist. Finally, after a new move by McAdoo supporters to adjourn in a last desperate effort to stave off defeat had been roared down, the last ballot—the 44th—began.

The Last Ballot

The result was forecast with the first vote. Alabama swung solid for Cox. State by state delegations that had stuck out for McAdoo, with divided delegations, followed suit. The slide had set in and there was no stopping it. The convention had its mind set to nominate on that ballot. Up and up mounted the Ohioan’s total of votes. As it passed the 700 mark with the necessary two-thirds just ahead, the tumult increased minute by minute until the last votes were heard only vaguely on the platform. Pennsylvania went over and the Colorado chairman leaped to his chair to change the vote of his state to Cox. Half a dozen other chairmen were waving for recognition to make similar announcements.

Chairman Robinson hurried to his desk with Sam B. Amidon of Kansas, a McAdoo chief whom he presented only after a furious assault with the gavel forced a partial lull in the cheering. Thru a continuous racket Amidon moved that the rules be suspended and the nomination be made unanimous. All over the great hall men climbed upon chairs to wave their hands for silence and then stand poised like college yell leaders to signal the answer to the question.

Banging his gavel in a final thump, Chairman Robinson put the question, and the answer roared back at him with all the volume of a thousand voices in shouting the tremendous “Aye!” that made Governor Cox the Democratic nominee.

The 44th ballot never was completed. In the chorus of affirmation it was swept away as unnecessary. Many of the changes which would have been made had the vote been carried thru were never recorded. And on the fact of that ballot Governor Cox received officially 702-1/2 votes, but these were never totalled, for he was nominated by the unanimous voice of the convention.

All those in America who knew James M. Cox were delighted at this news. They had always loved and respected him; they had always marveled at his courage and honesty; and now to have him receive this honor gave us all a new heart. It gives confidence in the fundamental integrity and good sense of the American people.