Warren G. Harding Wednesday: Brokered Convention

1920 Republican Convention

In modern times, the Democratic and Republican National Conventions are pretty boring.  Everyone knows who will win the nomination long before the convention starts, eliminating the possibility of a brokered convention.  But that doesn’t stop people from fantasizing about the possibility of a convention where no one candidate has enough delegates on the first ballot, where a candidate is chosen only after multiple ballots, much political finagling and a 2:00 AM deal made in smoky back room.  A Google search for “brokered convention” for the months leading up to the 2012 Republican convention shows that lots of people were writing about the possibility of one, even though many admitted upfront that it was highly unlikely.

Brokered conventions were not rare in Harding’s day.  While the most recent one was over 60 years ago now, back in the day it wasn’t so clear who would get the nomination.  For one thing, national media did not have nearly the reach that it does today, so voting voting was often more regional.  Party bosses also had a huge influence.  Delegate rules have changed over the years.  For these reasons and more, a brokered convention was just more likely to happen back then.

Going into the 1920 convention, Warren G. Harding was in sixth place among the Republican candidates.  To compare this to the most recent election cycle, imagine that Mitt Romney, while clearly being the leading Republican candidate, did not quite have the majority of delegates needed to clinch the nomination prior to the convention.  Then, despite garnering fewer delegates that Romney, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul, Newt Gingrich, and even Jon Huntsman, some back-room deals were hatched and Michele Bachman became the Republican candidate.  And then won the Presidency.  By a landslide.  That’s insane to think of now, but that’s what happened in 1920 and that’s part of how Warren G. Harding became President.

One difference to note however, that part of why Harding won out is that he was largely unknown, offended no one, and “looked Presidential.”  The same could not be said for Michele Bachman, who was covered extensively in the national media for some rather controversial opinions and, as a woman, stood no chance of looking like the traditional idea of a US President.  Warren G. Harding was probably more of a Jon Huntsman in this regard, but without all the competency and qualifications for office.

Warren G. Harding Wednesday: The Most Okay-est Option

Warren G Harding at Applebee's

Picture it: you and five of your friends want to go out to eat, but need to decide on where.  Each person suggests a favorite local restaurant, but each idea is vetoed by another group member who does not want to go there.

A steakhouse?  Too expensive.

Thai food?  Doesn’t agree with someone

Bar-B-Que?  No vegetarian options.

and so on…

In the end, you all end up at Applebee’s.  This is not not because anyone was was craving Applebee’s; it’s because no one could find a problem with going to Applebee’s.  Applebee’s is an inoffensive choice where everyone can have an adequate meal.

If you and your friends were to each vote for your favorite restaurant, Applebee’s would earn zero votes.  But that night, it gets all of your business.  You and your friends couldn’t all get what you wanted, so you compromised.

That’s kind of how Warren G. Harding ended up being president.  Especially following World War I and Woodrow Wilson’s progressive administration, people wanted a leader that wasn’t going to make them uncomfortable, and Warren G. Harding was that guy.

Harding was a nice enough guy with experience in government, but no particular agenda.  His career in government was unremarkable–during his time in the US Senate, he took no strong positions and adopted a casual policy towards attendance, missing many high-profile votes.  He gave the impression that he could do his job adequately without pushing anyone the wrong way.  He was uninspiring as Applebee’s while at the same time being as inoffensive Applebee’s.

The full story is of course more complicated, but Warren G. Harding can, in part, thank his political blandness for his rise to the top.

Warren G. Harding Wednesday: Dude looks like a leader

Warren G Harding

Does this like a leader to you?  For many people in 1920, the answer was “yes.” There’s little doubt that Warren G. Harding’s looks are one of the main reasons that he ended up in the highest office in the land.  What he lacked in substance, he made up for in style.

In his book Blink, Malcolm Gladwell discusses what he calls the “Warren Harding Error,” in which people can make snap judgments about others and their abilities based solely on their appearance and the way they present themselves.   Warren G. Harding, on the surface, looked like leader.  Presidential, even.  Beneath that surface, there wasn’t much that would suggest that he’d make a good president, but that kind of minor detail often doesn’t make a difference to people when they’re making major decisions like who should lead the country.  Instead, they’ll go for the candidate they feel looks like they would be a good leader, even if the facts aren’t there to support that assumption.

According to many reports, when Harry Daugherty, the political maestro who orchestrated Warren G. Harding’s rise to the top, first encountered Harding, he immediately thought to himself that Harding was a man who could be elected President.  This is with knowing really nothing about him, except that he was a pleasant, dignified-looking individual who happened to be getting his shoes shined at the same hotel as Daugherty was that day.  If not for Harding’s appearance and Daugherty’s snap judgment, it’s unlikely that any of us would even know who Warren G. Harding was.

Take a look at the two candidates for President in 1920.  James M. Cox looks like a decent enough guy, but he lacks Harding’s presence and suggestion of authority.

Cox and Harding

Of course, looks can be deceiving…which is part of the 1920 election resulted in arguably the worst President ever.

Warren G. Harding Wednesday: Was women’s suffrage really such a great idea?

1920 Voting Ribbon

True story:  Warren G. Harding was the first US President elected after the 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote.  He was elected on November 2, 1920, just 76 days after the amendment received the final state ratification required for enactment on August 18.

Don’t get me wrong, I think women’s suffrage is a swell idea.  I myself have exercised this right in every Presidential election since I’ve been of age.  But I have to wonder what the earlier members of my gender were thinking.  I mean, generations of women had to work and fight for over 70 years for this basic right, and once they finally get it, they elect…Warren G. Harding?  Really, ladies?  This is how you want to demonstrate to your country and the world that you should be trusted with the responsibility of helping to choose our nation’s leaders?  Really?

I do sometimes like to joke, facetiously of course, that Warren G. Harding’s election is proof that women should not have been given the right to vote.  However, women in 1920 didn’t vote all that differently than men, so even if the 19th Amendment wasn’t ratified in time for this election, our country’s men would have made the same bad decision without the assistance of the fairer sex.  Warren G. Harding won by a significant margin, and as you can see by the electoral map, candidate selection was decidedly regional.  Democrat James M. Cox won most of the South, and Republican Warren G. Harding took everything else.

Interestingly enough, Warren G. Harding was a sitting US Senator when the 19th Amendment some up for a vote in Congress, meaning he had an opportunity to weigh in on its passage…but he was not present, and did not cast a vote.  Even so, he was known to be moderately in favor of granting women the right to vote.

Warren G. Harding Wednesday: Warren G. Harding is my Weekend at Bernie’s

Harding Pajamas

This is a picture of Warren G. Harding’s pajamas.  I took it during a 2006 visit to the National Museum of American History in Washington, DC.  Of all things to photograph, why would someone bother to take a picture of pajamas, let alone Warren G. Harding’s pajamas?

I can’t answer for anyone else, but for me it is because I love Warren G. Harding.  He’s totally my favorite US President.  But not really.  Except that he is.

While a part of me dies inside every time I make a reference to the NBC sitcom Friends, there is one scene that comes to mind that can help explain my love of Warren G. Harding.  In the scene, Ross is holding a trivia contest to see how well the other friends know each other.  Part of the lightning round goes like this:

Q:  Rachel claims her favorite move is…

A:  Dangerous Liaisons

Q:  Her actual favorite move is…

A:  Weekend at Bernie’s

Warren G. Harding is my Weekend at Bernie’s.

In the Friends universe, Rachel would like to think (and for others to think) that her real favorite movie is something well-made and well-regarded, but in reality she just wants to lose herself in a goofball comedy where Andrew McCarthy and Jonathan Silverman schlep a dead guy around the Hamptons for a couple days.  As for me, I would like to think that my favorite President is one of the greats, one who lead our country with great courage and conviction, one who was at least moderately competent.  That President is not Warren G Harding.  I would never say that he was the best President.  In fact, I can literally think of 42 other Presidents I would name before him (43 if you count Grover Cleveland twice).

And yet, if there’s one President that piques my interest above all others, it’s Warren G. Harding.  Maybe it’s because he’s the Presidential equivalent of a late-1980s romp full of wacky corpse-related hijinks.  I don’t know.  But I could go on about him forever–and often have.