The election of 1924 was a sweep for Calvin Coolidge, but it was under the shadow of a major personal tragedy. A blister of his son turned into blood poisoning, and Calvin Jr died on July 7. The normally silent Cal openly wept and he was never the same afterwards. Let's say that this tragedy happens a couple months earlier, when who would get the Republican nomination wasn't as certain. Calvin Coolidge ends up declining to run due to his emotional turmoil. Who would be picked instead of him? Given how easily Coolidge won, I have little doubt the Republicans would win in 1924. What would that candidates' potential presidency be like, especially if they end up running a second term and are in office in 1929
Coolidge Declines Running in 1924
- Thread starter redjirachi
- Start date
If Hoover runs, he very probably gets the nomination. Hoover was already well-known and extremely popular from his famine relief work during and immediately after WW1. Plus he'd been Harding's Secretary of Commerce since the beginning of the administration, had made the position fairly important, and was generally seen to have done an excellent job at it.
If not Hoover, then probably Leonard Wood or Frank Lowden, who had been the initial front-runners in the 1920 convention before Harding was chosen as a compromise pick to break the deadlock. Wood was a retired general and a war hero from the Spanish-American war who was particularly popular with the Progressive wing of the party due to personal ties to Theodore Roosevelt. Lowden was governor of Illinois until 1921 and was politically closer to Harding than Wood was. At the 1924 convention, the delegates voted on the second ballot to offer Lowden the Vice Presidential slot, which Lowden declined.
OTL, Lowden would run again in 1928 and would come in a very distant second to Hoover. Wood didn't run again in 1928 because he'd died of brain cancer the previous year.
If not Hoover, then probably Leonard Wood or Frank Lowden, who had been the initial front-runners in the 1920 convention before Harding was chosen as a compromise pick to break the deadlock. Wood was a retired general and a war hero from the Spanish-American war who was particularly popular with the Progressive wing of the party due to personal ties to Theodore Roosevelt. Lowden was governor of Illinois until 1921 and was politically closer to Harding than Wood was. At the 1924 convention, the delegates voted on the second ballot to offer Lowden the Vice Presidential slot, which Lowden declined.
OTL, Lowden would run again in 1928 and would come in a very distant second to Hoover. Wood didn't run again in 1928 because he'd died of brain cancer the previous year.
So maybe Hover runs with Lowden as vp and wins easily and with an easy reelection in 1928. Lowden possibly getting the nomination in 1932 and gets clobbered by Roosevelt.
Lowden turned down Coolidge's VP slot, so I'd expect him to turn down Hoover's as well. Hoover opposed re-nominating Dawes in 1928 OTL because of disagreements over farm policy that were already evident in 1924, so probably not him either. The other contenders on the first ballot for VP in OTL 1924 were Representative Theodore Burton and Judge William Kenyon, both of whom seem to have gotten along fairly well with Hoover and at first glance seem to be plausible running mates.
OTL, Burton died of a heart attack the day after the 1929 stock market crash, so if he's Hoover's VP, the position will likely be vacant for much of Hoover's second term. If it's Kenyon, I agree he'd get clobbered by FDR (or anyone else the Dems might nominate due to butterflies) in 1932.