1928 Republican National Convention

American political convention February 2026 January 2025 1928 Republican RP1932.png 125 RV1932.png 125 Nominees Hoover and Curtis June 12–15, 1928 Convention Hall Kansas City, Missouri Herbert Hoover of California Charles Curtis of Kansas 1924 1932 1 1,089 545 thumb|right|300px|Convention Hall The 1928 Republican National Convention was held at Convention Hall in Kansas City, Missouri, from June 12 to June 15, 1928. A Look Back At The 3 Times Kansas City Hosted National Political Conventions http://kcur.org/post/look-back-3-times-kansas-city-hosted-national-political-conventions KCUR 2014-12-14 June 11, 2014 Newill Cody Because President Calvin Coolidge had announced unexpectedly he would not run for re-election in 1928, Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover became the natural front-runner for the Republican nomination. Former Illinois Governor Frank Lowden and Kansas Senator Charles Curtis were candidates for the nomination but stood no chance against the popular and accomplished Hoover. Chicago Mayor William Hale Thompson considered himself a candidate, but without the support of Ruth Hanna McCormick, his candidacy was unsuccessful.http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,882358,00.html Thompson v. McCormicks 2008-05-02 1930-11-03 Time, Inc. Time https://web.archive.org/web/20080605233217/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0%2C9171%2C882358%2C00.html 5 June 2008 dead Hoover was nominated on the first ballot with 837 votes to 72 for Lowden and 64 for Curtis and the rest scattered. John L. McNab delivered Hoover's nomination address. In his acceptance speech, Hoover said, "We in America today are nearer to the final triumph over poverty ever before in the history of any land." That and other optimistic remarks about the country's future were used against him in the 1932 election, which he lost to Franklin Roosevelt. Background After Coolidge announced that "I do not choose to run"nyt19330106 for a second full term in August 1927, Hoover emerged as the frontrunner. Illinois Governor Frank Lowden, Vice President Charles Dawes, and Senators James Eli Watson of Indiana, Charles Curtis of Kansas, Guy D. Goff of West Virginia, and Frank Willis of Ohio were potential challengers to Hoover. Hoover had won respect by many for his work in the Wilson, Harding, and Coolidge administrations, but many party regulars distrusted his loyalty to the party on issues of both policy and patronage. Some progressive Republicans, such as California Senator Hiram Johnson, also disliked Hoover, but others, such as Senator William E. Borah, favored his candidacy. Many party leaders pressured Secretary of the Treasury Andrew Mellon to run, but at 73, Mellon felt that he was too old to run in 1928. Mellon sought to convince former Secretary of State and 1916 Republican nominee Charles Evans Hughes to run, but Hughes refused to campaign for the nomination.Rusnak Robert J. Andrew W. Mellon: Reluctant Kingmaker Presidential Studies Quarterly Spring 1983 13 2 269–278 27547924 Platform The platform praised the Coolidge administration for the prosperity of the mid-1920s, and promised reduction of the national debt, tax reduction, retention of the protective tariff, opposition of cancellation of foreign debts, settlement of claims from World War I from foreign governments, continuation of the Coolidge foreign policy, support of arbitration treaties, civil service protection, a tariff for agricultural protection and continued farm exports, aid to the coal-mining industry, continued appropriations for highway construction, the right to collective bargaining, regulation of railroads, a continued independent American merchant marine, government supervision of radio facilities, construction of waterways to help transportation of bulk goods, support for war veterans, federal regulation of public utilities, conservation, vigorous law enforcement, honest government, continued reclamation of arid lands in the West, improvement of air-mail service, restricted immigration and naturalization of foreign immigrants in America, continued enforcement of the Washington Naval Treaty, and continued territory status for Alaska and Hawaii, and called for more women in public service, authority for the President to draft defense material resources and services, creation of an Indian Commission, and an Anti-Lynching Law, and promised continued "Home Rule for the American Citizen". Hoover's forces won an early victory by securing adoption of an agricultural plank which endorsed President Coolidge's position on the question and rejected all principles of the McNary–Haugen Farm Relief Bill. Former Governor Lowden caused a sensation by announcing that since the agricultural plank was unsatisfactory, he withdrew from consideration as presidential nominee. Presidential nomination Presidential candidates Party leaders wanted Coolidge to run again, and he would have easily been nominated. He sent Secretary to the President Everett Sanders to the convention to tell leaders of state delegations to vote for anyone else.Unusual Political Career of Calvin Coolidge, Never Defeated for an Office https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/0704.html 2024-07-23 The New York Times With no strong alternative, Hoover appeared to be the likely nominee at the start of the convention, but many in the party still opposed his candidacy. A "draft Coolidge" movement emerged, but the movement collapsed after William S. Vare, political boss of Philadelphia, unexpectedly supported Hoover. Coolidge remained silent, refusing to tell even the delegation from the president's home state of Vermont whether to support the draft. Curtis sought supporters of Hoover's rivals for his own candidacy.Oulahan Richard V. Hoover Certain on First Ballot as Convention Opens; His Rivals May Unite on Curtis in Final Fight on Him; Wets in Force Urge Dry Law Repeal Plank in Platform https://partners.nytimes.com/library/politics/camp/280613convention-gop-ra.html 9 October 2015 New York Times 13 June 1928 However, Hoover won the nomination on the first ballot. Presidential Ballot June 15, 1928 Hoover By Landslide! https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/ebMAAOSw0y1aE0w9/s-l1600.jpg The Milwaukee Sentinel Milwaukee, Wisconsin January 7, 2018 Candidate 1st UnanimousHoover8371,089Lowden74Curtis64Watson45Norris24Goff18Coolidge17Dawes4Hughes1Not Voting5 Presidential Balloting / 3rd Day of Convention (June 14, 1928) States Total delegates Hoover Watson Lowden Curtis Coolidge Hughes Dawes Norris Goff Absent Alabama 15 15 Arizona 9 9 Arkansas 11 11 California 29 29 Colorado 15 15 Connecticut 17 17 Delaware 9 9 Florida 10 9 1 Georgia 16 15 1 Idaho 11 11 Illinois 61 24 4 16 13 1 3 Indiana 33 33 Iowa 29 7 22 Kansas 23 23 Kentucky 29 29 Louisiana 12 11 1 Maine 15 15 Maryland 19 19 Massachusetts 39 39 Michigan 33 33 Minnesota 27 11 15 1 Mississippi 12 12 Missouri 39 28 3 1 4 1 2 Montana 11 10 1 Nebraska 19 11 8 Nevada 9 9 New Hampshire 11 11 New Jersey 31 31 New Mexico 9 7 2 New York 90 90 North Carolina 20 17 3 North Dakota 13 4 8 1 Ohio 51 36 10 4 1 Oklahoma 20 20 Oregon 13 13 Pennsylvania 79 79 Rhode Island 13 12 1 South Carolina 11 11 South Dakota 13 2 2 9 Tennessee 19 19 Texas 26 26 Utah 11 9 2 Vermont 11 11 Virginia 15 15 Washington 17 17 West Virginia 19 1 18 Wisconsin 26 9 15 2 Wyoming 9 9 Alaska 2 2 District of Columbia 2 2 Hawaii 2 2 Philippines 2 2 Puerto Rico 2 2 Total 1089 837 45 74 64 17 1 4 24 18 5 Vice Presidential nomination Vice Presidential candidates At the start of the convention, Vice President Charles G. Dawes was perhaps the most likely running mate for Hoover. Other possibilities included former Kansas Governor Henry Justin Allen, New Jersey Senator Walter Edge, New Hampshire Senator George H. Moses, Connecticut Representative John Q. Tilson, and Ambassador Alanson B. Houghton. Curtis was also a possibility, but he was not yet ready to concede the presidential nomination to Hoover. After Hoover won the presidential nomination, Moses, Illinois Senator Charles S. Deneen, and former Massachusetts Governor Channing Cox were named as the most likely vice-presidential nominees, with a re-nomination for Dawes also a possibility.Oulahan Richard V. Hoover Named on First Ballot by 837; Lowden Second With 74; Curtis Gets 64; Farmers Squelched on Floor, 807 to 277 https://partners.nytimes.com/library/politics/camp/280615convention-gop-ra.html 9 October 2015 New York Times 15 June 1928 Party leaders considered nominating Cox or Dawes, but Cox was vetoed by Utah Senator Reed Smoot, and Dawes was unacceptable to Hoover and Coolidge for supporting McNary-Haugen. The convention turned to the farm vote in hopes of placating them for the unfavorably received farm relief plank. Curtis' name was entered by Senator Borah and his nomination was practically assured since the Lion of Idaho and other westerners had issued an ultimatum that a westerner must hold the vice presidency to placate the farmers. The Senate Majority Leader voted for the McNary-Haugen Bill which President Coolidge vetoed, but had refused to vote to override the veto of that measure. Curtis, possibly with the support of Coolidge, was nominated by the party leaders, and the convention ratified the choice.Clements Kendrick A. The Life of Herbert Hoover: Imperfect Visionary, 1918-1928 2010 Palgrave Macmillan 410 9780230107908 https://books.google.com/books?id=NZHGAAAAQBAJ&q=republican+vice+presidential+nomination+1928+curtis 9 October 2015 Vice Presidential Ballothttp://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=60095 Our Campaigns - US Vice President - R Convention Race - Jun 15, 1928 www.ourcampaigns.com 4 April 2018 Candidate 1st UnanimousCurtis1,0521,089Ekern19Dawes13MacNider2Not Voting3 Vice Presidential Balloting / 4th Day of Convention (June 15, 1928) Prayers Each of the four days of the convention opened with a lengthy invocation by a different clergymen—one Jewish, one Catholic, one Episcopalian, one Methodist."Hoover Partisans Confident of his Early Nomination" [Associated Press story], Deadwood (S.D.) Daily Pioneer-Times, June 10, 1928: "Ministers of four denominations have been selected to deliver opening prayers during the first four days of the convention." Together, these four religious groups formed a majority of Americans at the time.U.S. Census of Religious Bodies, 1936, Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1941 All of the clergy were based in Missouri, where the convention was held. Each was listed among the convention officers as an official chaplain.Official Report of the Proceedings of the Nineteenth Republican National Convention (1928), pp. 37"Temporary Officers of Convention Announced," Harrisburg Evening News, June 12, 1928 On June 12, the opening prayer was given by Bishop S. C. Partridge of the Episcopal Diocese of West Missouri.Official Report of the Proceedings of the Nineteenth Republican National Convention (1928), pp. 7-8"Hoover to be Chosen on First Ballot" [Associated Press story], Roseburg (Ore.) News-Review, June 12, 1928: "While delegates and spectators stood, Bishop S. C. Partridge of the Episcopal Church pronounced the opening prayer petitioning for 'peaceful and harmonious' party consultations." Speakers on the second through fourth days were Catholic Bishop Thomas F. Lillis of the Diocese of Kansas City,Official Report of the Proceedings of the Nineteenth Republican National Convention (1928), pp. 48-49"Convention Waits for Committees" [Associated Press story], Emporia (Kans.) Gazette, June 13, 1928 Rabbi Herman M. Cohen of Congregation Keneseth Israel-Beth Sholom, Kansas City,Official Report of the Proceedings of the Nineteenth Republican National Convention (1928), pp. 111-12Damon Runyon, "Runyon Likens Hoover Victory to Hand Gallop" [Universal News Service story], Charleston (W.Va.) Gazette, June 15, 1928: "Rabbi Herman M. Cohen of Kansas City, swarthy and well groomed, and looking like a young Prince of Israel, prayed for the Republicans." and Bishop E. L. Waldorf of the Methodist Episcopal Diocese of Kansas City.Official Report of the Proceedings of the Nineteenth Republican National Convention (1928), pp. 223-24"Convention Speeds Curtis Nomination", New York Times, June 16, 1928"It Looks Like Curtis Running as Vice Pres," Olean (N.Y.) Evening Times, June 15, 1928: "Finally, most of them sat down, then rose again immediately to hear the invocation pronounced by Bishop E. L. Waldorf, of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Kansas City. He prayed 'the blessings of God for the man who had been given the great place' by this convention last night. He also asked for Divine protection for the delegates on their homeward journeys." See also History of the United States Republican Party List of Republican National Conventions United States presidential nominating convention 1928 Republican Party presidential primaries 1928 United States presidential election 1928 Democratic National Convention References 30em External links Republican Party platform of 1928 at The American Presidency Project 1924Cleveland, Ohio Republican National Conventions 1932Chicago, Illinois Republican 1928 Republican National Convention Category:1928 in Missouri Category:June 1928 in the United States Category:Republican National Conventions Category:United States presidential nominating conventions in Kansas City, Missouri Category:Herbert Hoover