Anybody know who else Harding considered for Veep? (ie, alternative for Coolidge as POTUS, 1923-29, or beyond)

[raharris1973]

Anybody know who else Harding considered for Veep besides Calvin Coolidge?

Most significantly, I'm interested them not so much for their Vice-Presidential service, but for their potential impact as President when Harding dies and they are almost certainly elected, and have high odds of being reelected in their own right in 1928 [assuming they don't die, have a health calamity, or a personal tragic reason to prefer retirement like Coolidge did].

 

[Silver Priest]

The only other candidate to clear 100 votes was Irvine Lenroot. That's a name I had never heard before. He was nowhere near Coolidge, but the wiki entry gives an idea for how he may have made more of a fight for it:

Party leaders decided that the progressive Lenroot would be a balance to a ticket with the more conservative Harding. By Saturday night, June 12, many of the delegates had gone home, along with most of the party bosses. After Lenroot's name had been placed in nomination and seconded but before a vote could be taken, an Oregon delegate, Wallace McCamant,[5] nominated Calvin Coolidge of Massachusetts for vice president.[6] Unfettered by party bosses, the delegates weighed in for Coolidge, who received 674 votes to Lenroot's 146 and won on the first ballot.

I've also thought that Charles Curtis would be an interesting choice as veep eight years earlier, though he was evidently not considered in 1920. He competed in 1924 though, so I think it's not impossible he could have given it a try a few years earlier. He was apparently more of a conservative so the best bet may be for Coolidge to either not run or flame out, and his name being tossed out as a compromise.

As for how he'd act as president, being half Native American he was an advocate for them, and introduced the first Equal Rights Amendment into congress in 1923. I do wonder if his age would be an issue in 1928, given he's have been 68. But he did run OTL in that year so I think there's a decent chance he'd do so here as well, even with five years of being president behind him.

 

[Octosteel]

Harding wasn't really considering anyone, seems like it was more the party and the convention deciding. Walter Edge was vying for nomination.

 

[raharris1973]

The only other candidate to clear 100 votes was Irvine Lenroot. That's a name I had never heard before. He was nowhere near Coolidge, but the wiki entry gives an idea for how he may have made more of a fight for it:


I've also thought that Charles Curtis would be an interesting choice as veep eight years earlier, though he was evidently not considered in 1920. He competed in 1924 though, so I think it's not impossible he could have given it a try a few years earlier. He was apparently more of a conservative so the best bet may be for Coolidge to either not run or flame out, and his name being tossed out as a compromise.

As for how he'd act as president, being half Native American he was an advocate for them, and introduced the first Equal Rights Amendment into congress in 1923. I do wonder if his age would be an issue in 1928, given he's have been 68. But he did run OTL in that year so I think there's a decent chance he'd do so here as well, even with five years of being president behind him.

Curtis (Kansas) would have been interesting for those couple reasons, and for being the only post-1913 facial hair President.

I wiki'd Irvine Lenroot (Wisconsin) - the page wasn't too revealing about his policy preferences, although the comment you made about him being more progressive is interesting.

I also looked up Walter Edge (NJ) which sent me down a rabbit hole of New Jersey pols like Frank Hague, Nucky Johnson (from Boardwalk Empire). But it didn't show much about his views on national issues.

Thanks for sharing all the responses.