Research Papers

Research Papers

Today is:

                                         1920 Elections

I. National

A. Candidates for president

Woodrow Wilson, Democrat, had been elected in 1912 and served two terms. The term limits law was not passed until after Franklin D. Roosevelt died in office after being elected for a fourth term.

Wilson was not popular now by end of 2nd term. Had promised to keep nation out of war but didn’t; in negotiations of peace settlement at the end of the war he did not involve congressional opinions; would not compromise with Republicans about joining the League of Nations which Republicans opposed

1. Republican candidate – Warren Harding, Senator from Ohio, selected on the 10th ballot at the Republican Party convention.
    Massachusetts governor Calvin Coolidge selected as VP candidate

2. Democratic candidate – James Cox, Governor of Ohio, selected on the 44th ballot at the Democratic National convention.
    Franklin D. Roosevelt was selected as VP candidate

3. Other candidates
    Eugene V. Debs – Socialist (in prison at the time)
    Parlay Christensen – Farmer-Labor
    Aaron Watkins – Prohibition
    James Ferguson – American; William Cox – Socialist Labor

These candidates did not get any electoral votes. Harding won by 60% to 34%, 404 to 127 electoral votes, the widest margin in history

B. National Issues

1. Harding supported lower taxes, limited immigration, rejecting League of Nations

2. Cox supported joining the League of Nations.
    Internally the party was in disarray and divided on the issue of prohibition.
    Late in campaign Cox tried to show Harding as being corrupt

C. Presidential candidates in Kearney

1. Harding - did not campaign in the state of Nebraska
    Ran a “front porch” campaign from his home in Marion, Ohio.

2. Cox - Both Cox and Roosevelt toured the country
    Cox made a whistle stop trip through the state in late September.

Announcment in early Sept - Cox was scheduled to arrive in Kearney Sept. 27 and make a 10 minute rear platform speech.

Sept 8, 1920 news – Short Stop Here
    W. H. Thompson, national democratic committeeman, announced the itinerary of Governor James Cox while in Nebraska. He was scheduled to arrive in Kearney on Sept. 27 and will make a ten minute rear platform speech.

Announcement a week before his arrival – Due in at 11 a.m.
    Cox would be met be local democrats and would give a 10-minute speech.
    Some local democrats would meet the train in North Platte and ride with him on to Grand Island or Omaha.

Sept. 22, 1920 news – No Change in Plan Likely
    Cox was due to arrive from the west by special train in Kearney at 11 a.m.
    He would be met be local democrats and would give a 10-minute speech.
    Some local democrats would meet the train in North Platte and ride with him on to Grand Island or Omaha.

The day he arrived – Cox was met by a crowd of over 500 people.
    His speech was centered on the League of Nations which he favored joining.

Sept. 27, 1920 news – Democratic Nominee Talks on League at Brief Kearney Stop
    Cox was met by a crowd of over 500 people.
    His speech was centered on the League of Nations which he favored joining.

II. State of Nebraska

Candidates for Governor

    1. Samuel McKelvie (Republican) [McKelvie was running for a second term]
    2. John Moorehead (Democrat)
    3. J. D. Graves (Prohibition)
    4. Arthur Wray by petition (Non-partisan League; also called the farmer-labor party)

III. Women’s Vote

Politicians were uneasy
    This was the first national election in which women could vote
    Politicians could not predict how they would vote.

Many women had registered as independents rather than Republican, Democrat, Prohibitionist, Socialist or whatever.
    A figure is given of 29 million Americans registered to vote, 9 million of them women.

However, that was not an accurate figure because each state determined its own voting requirements.
    Some states required registration
    Some states set residency requirements.
       Nebraska was one of the latter.
       If a woman 21 and older had lived in the state, county, and township the required amount of time, she could vote.

IV. Voting in Buffao County

A. Polling places in the City of Kearney

Kearney had four wards with a polling station for each:
    Ward 1 – old fire station
        [in 1907 a south side fire station was established on Ave A a block or so south of the tracks at the request of First
         Ward city councilman Knaggs]
    Ward 2 – Opera House
    Ward 3 – Midway Hotel
    Ward 4 – City Hall

B. County issue – The Poor farm

Vote For the sale of County Poor Farm or vote Against the sale of County Poor Farm

The Poor Farm had been closed early in the year and the remaining residents taken to the WCTU hospital where the county paid $6 per day per individual for their keep. The land rented out.

The vote went for sale of the Poor Farm.

There was talk of using the proceeds of the sale of the land to build a facility in Kearney or some other town in the county for the care of the indigent for whom the county was responsible but that did not happen.

The land continued to be rented or leased and was not actually sold until 1958 when money was needed to help pay for the new jail.

By the end of 1926 the WTCU hospital had become Mother Hull Home which served as “a haven of refuge for those in need.”
    Most were elderly although some younger people in need of care were also accepted.
    Some paid their own way, some were paid for by the county.
    The amount paid by the county depended on how well they could take care of themselves.

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Revised: 10/11/2020