document_title: United States presidential election, 1920

question_text: who garnered a million votes during the 1920 election despite being in prison

text: Nominations[edit]

text: Republican Party nomination[edit]

text:
Republican Party Ticket, 1920

Warren G. Harding
Calvin Coolidge

for President
for Vice President

U.S. Senator from Ohio
(1915–1921)
48th
Governor of Massachusetts
(1919–1921)

Campaign

text: Republican candidates:

text:
Senator
Warren G. Harding
from Ohio

Major General
Leonard Wood
from New Hampshire

Governor
Frank Orren Lowden
of Illinois

Senator
Hiram Johnson
from California

Governor
William Cameron Sproul
of Pennsylvania

Columbia University President
Nicholas Murray Butler
from New York

Senator
Robert M. La Follette
from Wisconsin

Theodore Roosevelt
from New York
(Died Jan. 6, 1919)

text: On June 8, the Republican National Convention met in Chicago. The race was wide open, and soon the convention deadlocked between Major General Leonard Wood and Governor Frank Orren Lowden of Illinois.

text: Other names placed in nomination included Senators Warren G. Harding from Ohio, Hiram Johnson from California, and Miles Poindexter from Washington, Governor Calvin Coolidge of Massachusetts, philanthropist Herbert Hoover, and Columbia University President Nicholas M. Butler. Senator Robert M. La Follette from Wisconsin was not formally placed in nomination, but received the votes of his state delegation nonetheless. Harding was nominated for president on the tenth ballot, after some delegates shifted their allegiances. The results of the ten ballots were as follows:

text:
Presidential Balloting, Republican National Convention 1920

Ballot
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Before
shifts
10
After
shifts

Warren G. Harding
65.5
59.0
58.5
61.5
78.0
89.0
105.0
133.0
374.5
644.7
692.2

Leonard Wood
287.5
289.5
303.0
314.5
299.0
311.5
312.0
299.0
249.0
181.5
156.0

Frank Orren Lowden
211.5
259.5
282.5
289.0
303.0
311.5
311.5
307.0
121.5
28.0
11.0

Hiram Johnson
133.5
146.0
148.0
140.5
133.5
110.0
99.5
87.0
82.0
80.8
80.8

William Cameron Sproul
84.0
78.5
79.5
79.5
82.5
77.0
76.0
76.0
78.0
0
0

Nicholas Murray Butler
69.5
41.0
25.0
20.0
4.0
4.0
2.0
2.0
2.0
2.0
2.0

Calvin Coolidge
34.0
32.0
27.0
25.0
29.0
28.0
28.0
30.0
28.0
5.0
5.0

Robert M. La Follette
24.0
24.0
24.0
22.0
24.0
24.0
24.0
24.0
24.0
24.0
24.0

Jeter Connelly Pritchard
21.0
10.0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

Miles Poindexter
20.0
15.0
15.0
15.0
15.0
15.0
15.0
15.0
14.0
2.0
0

Howard Sutherland
17.0
15.0
9.0
3.0
1.0
0
0
0
0
0
0

Herbert Hoover
5.5
5.5
5.5
5.0
6.0
5.0
4.0
5.0
6.0
10.5
9.5

Scattering
11.0
9.0
7.0
9.0
9.0
9.0
6.0
6.0
5.0
5.5
3.5

text:
First Presidential Ballot

Second Presidential Ballot

Third Presidential Ballot

Fourth Presidential Ballot

Fifth Presidential Ballot

Sixth Presidential Ballot

Seventh Presidential Ballot

Eighth Presidential Ballot

Ninth Presidential Ballot

Tenth Presidential Ballot
Before Shifts

Tenth Presidential Ballot
After Shifts

text: Harding's nomination, said to have been secured in negotiations among party bosses in a "smoke-filled room," was engineered by Harry M. Daugherty, Harding's political manager, who became United States Attorney General after his election. Prior to the convention, Daugherty was quoted as saying, "I don't expect Senator Harding to be nominated on the first, second, or third ballots, but I think we can afford to take chances that about 11 minutes after two, Friday morning of the convention, when 15 or 12 weary men are sitting around a table, someone will say: 'Who will we nominate?' At that decisive time, the friends of Harding will suggest him and we can well afford to abide by the result." Daugherty's prediction described essentially what occurred, but historians Richard C. Bain and Judith H. Parris argue that Daugherty's prediction has been given too much weight in narratives of the convention.

text: Once the presidential nomination was finally settled, the party bosses and Sen. Harding recommended Wisconsin Sen. Irvine Lenroot to the delegates for the second spot, but the delegates revolted and nominated Coolidge, who was very popular over his handling of the Boston Police Strike from the year before. The Tally:

text:
Vice Presidential Balloting,
Republican Nat'l Convention 1920

Calvin Coolidge
674.5

Irvine Lenroot
146.5

Henry Justin Allen
68.5

Henry W. Anderson
28

Asle Gronna
24

Hiram Johnson
22.5

Jeter Connelly Pritchard
11

Abstaining
9

text: Source for convention coverage: Richard C. Bain and Judith H. Parris, Convention Decisions and Voting Records (Washington DC: Brookings Institution, 1973), pp. 200–208.

text: Democratic Party nomination[edit]

text:
Democratic Party Ticket, 1920

James M. Cox
Franklin D. Roosevelt

for President
for Vice President

46th & 48th
Governor of Ohio
(1913–1915 & 1917–1921)
Assistant Secretary of the Navy
(1913–1920)

Campaign

text: Democratic candidates:

text:
Governor
James M. Cox
of Ohio

William Gibbs McAdoo
from California,
former United States Secretary of the Treasury

Alexander M. Palmer
from Pennsylvania,
United States Attorney General

Governor
Al Smith
of New York

John W. Davis
from West Virginia,
Ambassador to the United Kingdom

Governor
Edward I. Edwards
of New Jersey

Senator
Robert Latham Owen
from Oklahoma

Vice President
Thomas R. Marshall
(Not Formally Nominated)

Edwin T. Meredith
from Iowa,
United States Secretary of Agriculture

Senator
Carter Glass
from Virginia

DNC Chairman
Homer S. Cummings
from Connecticut

Senator
Furnifold M. Simmons
from North Carolina

James W. Gerard
from New York
former Ambassador to Germany

Senator
John Sharp Williams
from Mississippi
(Not Formally Nominated)

Senator
Gilbert Hitchcock
from Nebraska

Governor-General
Francis Burton Harrison
of the Philippines

President
Woodrow Wilson
(Not Formally Nominated)

text: It was widely accepted prior to the election that President Woodrow Wilson would not run for a third term, and would certainly not be nominated if he did make an attempt to regain the nomination. While Vice-President Thomas R. Marshall had long held a desire to succeed Wilson, his indecisive handling of the situation around Wilson's illness and incapacity destroyed any credibility he had as a candidate, and in the end he did not formally put himself forward for the nomination.

text: Although William Gibbs McAdoo (Wilson's son-in-law and former Treasury Secretary) was the strongest candidate, Wilson blocked his nomination in hopes a deadlocked convention would demand that he run for a third term, even though he was seriously ill, physically immobile, and in seclusion at the time. The Democrats, meeting in San Francisco between June 28 and July 6 (the first time a major party held its nominating convention in an urban center on the Pacific coast), nominated another newspaper editor from Ohio, Governor James M. Cox, as their presidential candidate, and 38-year-old Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt, a fifth cousin of the late president Theodore Roosevelt, for vice-president.

text: Early favorites for the nomination had included McAdoo and Attorney General Alexander Mitchell Palmer. Others placed in nomination included New York Governor Al Smith, United Kingdom Ambassador John W. Davis, New Jersey Governor Edward I. Edwards, and Oklahoma Senator Robert Latham Owen.

text:
[show](1-22)
Presidential Ballot

1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th
8th
9th
10th
11th
12th
13th
14th
15th
16th
17th
18th
19th
20th
21st
22nd

James M. Cox
134
159
177
178
181
195
295.5
315
321.5
321
332
404
428.5
443.5
468.5
454.5
442
458
468
456.5
426.5
430

William Gibbs McAdoo
266
289
323.5
335
357
368.5
384
380
386
285
380
375.5
363.5
355.5
344.5
337
332
330.5
327.5
340.5
395.5
372.5

A. Mitchell Palmer
256
264
251.5
254
244
265
267
262
257
257
255
201
193.5
181
167
164.5
176
174.5
179.5
178
144
166.5

Alfred E. Smith
109
101
92
96
95
98
4
2
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

Edward I. Edwards
42
34
32.5
31
31
30
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

Thomas R. Marshall
37
36
36
34
29
13
14
12
7
7
7
7
7
7
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

Robert L. Owen
33
29
22
32
34
36
35
36
37
37
35
34
32
34
31
34
36
38
37
41
36
35

John W. Davis
32
31.5
28.5
31
29
29
33
32
32
34
33
31.5
29.5
33
32
52
57
42
31
36
54
52

Edwin T. Meredith
27
26
26
28
27
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

Carter Glass
26.5
25.5
27
27
27
27
27
27
25
25
25
25
25
25
25
25
27
26
26
26
26
25

Homer Cummings
25
27
26
24
21
20
19
18
18
19
19
8
7
7
19
20
19
19
19
10
7
6

Furnifold M. Simmons
24
25
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

James W. Gerard
21
12
11
2
0
0
0
1
1
2
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
0
0

John Sharp Williams
20
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

Gilbert M. Hitchcock
18
16
16
5
5
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

Champ Clark
9
6
7
8
9
7
8
6
5
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
2
2
2
2
2
2

Pat Harrison
6
0
6
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

Leonard Wood
4
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

William Jennings Bryan
1
1
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

Bainbridge Colby
1
0
0
0
2
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

Josephus Daniels
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

William Randolph Hearst
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

Oscar Underwood
0.5
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

Woodrow Wilson
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
2

text:
[show](23-44)
Presidential Ballot

23rd
24th
25th
26th
27th
28th
29th
30th
31st
32nd
33rd
34th
35th
36th
37th
38th
39th
40th
41st
42nd
43rd
44th

James M. Cox
425
429
424
424.5
423.5
423
404.5
400.5
391.5
391
380.5
379.5
376.5
377
386
383.5
468.5
490
497.5
540.5
568
699.5

William Gibbs McAdoo
364.5
364.5
364.5
371
371.5
368.5
394.5
403.5
415.5
421
421
420.5
409
399
405
405.5
440
467
460
427
412
270

A. Mitchell Palmer
181.5
177
169
167
166.5
165.5
166
165
174
176
180
184
222
241
202.5
211
74
19
12
8
7
1

John W. Davis
50.5
54.5
58.5
55.5
60.5
62.5
63
58
57.5
55.5
56
54
33
28
50.5
50
71.5
76
55.5
49.5
57.5
52

Robert L. Owen
34
33
34
33
34
35.5
33
33
34
34
34
37
38.5
36
33
33
32
33
35
34
34
34

Carter Glass
25
25
25
25
25
24
24
24
12.5
9.5
13
7.5
5
4
1
1
0
0
24
24
5.5
1.5

Homer Cummings
5
5
4
3
3
4
4
4
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
4
2
2
2
3
2
0

Champ Clark
2
2
2
3
2
2
2
2
2
2
2.5
2.5
2
2
2
3
2
2
2
2
2
0

Annette Abbott Adams
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

Eugene C. Bonniwell
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

William Jennings Bryan
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

Laura Clay
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

Irvin S. Cobb
1.5
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

Bainbridge Colby
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
1

Josephus Daniels
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

Walker Hines
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

Andrieus A. Jones
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

Ring Lardner
0.5
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

James H. Lewis
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
6
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

Thomas R. Marshall
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

John J. Pershing
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

Joseph T. Robinson
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

Cora Wilson Stewart
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

Oscar Underwood
0
1
9
9
4
6
1
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

text: Other candidates[edit]

text: Socialist Party candidate Eugene V. Debs received 913,664 popular votes (3.4 percent), despite the fact that he was in prison at the time for advocating non-compliance with the draft during World War I. This was the largest number of popular votes ever received by a Socialist Party candidate in the United States, although not the largest percentage of the popular vote. Debs received double this percentage in the election of 1912.[3] The 1920 election was Debs’ fifth and last attempt to become president.

text: Parley P. Christensen of the Farmer-Labor Party took 265,411 votes (1.0%), while Prohibition Party candidate Aaron S. Watkins came in fifth with 189,339 votes (0.7%), the poorest showing for the Prohibition party since 1884. Since the Eighteenth Amendment, which initiated the period of Prohibition in the United States, had passed the previous year, this single-issue party seemed less relevant.

text: James E. Ferguson, a former Governor of Texas, announced his candidacy on April 21, 1920 in Temple, Texas under the badge of “American Party”.[4] Ferguson was opposed to Democrats whom he saw as too controlled by elite academic interests as seen when Woodrow Wilson endorsed rival Thomas H. Ball in the gubernatorial primary, and hoped to help the Republicans carry Texas for the first time (Texas never went Republican during Reconstruction).[5] Initially Ferguson and running mate William J. Hough hoped to carry their campaign to other states,[6] but Ferguson was unable to get on the ballot anywhere outside of Texas. Ferguson did manage to gain almost ten percent of the vote in Texas, and won eleven counties in the southeast of the state.[7]

text: General election[edit]

text: Return to normalcy[edit]

text: Warren Harding's main campaign slogan was a "return to normalcy", playing upon the weariness of the American public after the social upheaval of the Progressive Era. Additionally, the international responsibilities engendered by the American victory in World War I and the Treaty of Versailles proved deeply unpopular, causing a reaction against Wilson, who had pushed especially hard for the latter.

text: Ethnic issues[edit]

text: Irish Americans were powerful in the Democratic party, and groups such as Clan na Gael opposed going to war alongside their enemy Britain, especially after the violent suppression of the Easter Rising of 1916. Wilson won them over in 1917 by promising to ask Britain to give Ireland its independence. Wilson had won the presidential election of 1916 with strong support from German-Americans and Irish-Americans, largely because of his slogan "He kept us out of war" and the longstanding American policy of isolationism. At the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, however, he reneged on his commitments to the Irish-American community, and it vehemently denounced him. His dilemma was that Britain was his war ally. Events such as the anti-British Black Tom and Kingsland Explosions in 1916 on American soil (in part the result of wartime Irish and German co-ordination) and the Irish anti-conscription crisis of 1918 were all embarrassing to recall in 1920.[8][9]

text: Britain had already passed an Irish Home Rule Act in 1914, suspended for the war's duration. However the 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin had led to increased support for the more radical Sinn Féin who in 1919 formed the First Dáil, effectively declaring Ireland independent, sparking the Irish War of Independence. Britain was to pass the Government of Ireland Act in late 1920, by which Ireland would have 2 home-ruled states within the British empire. This satisfied Wilson. The provisions of these were inadequate to the supporters of the Irish Republic, however, which claimed full sovereignty. This position was also supported by many Irish Americans. The American Committee for Relief in Ireland was set up in 1920 to assist victims of the Irish War of Independence of 1919–21. Some Irish-American Senators joined the "irreconcilables" who blocked the ratification of the Treaty of Versailles and United States membership in the League of Nations.

text: Wilson blamed the Irish Americans and German Americans for the lack of popular support for his unsuccessful campaign to have the United States join the League of Nations, saying, "There is an organized propaganda against the League of Nations and against the treaty proceeding from exactly the same sources that the organized propaganda proceeded from which threatened this country here and there with disloyalty, and I want to say—I cannot say too often—any man who carries a hyphen about with him [i.e., a hyphenated American] carries a dagger that he is ready to plunge into the vitals of this Republic whenever he gets ready."[10]

text: Of the $5,500,000 raised by supporters of the Irish Republic in the United States in 1919–20, the Dublin parliament (Dáil Éireann) voted in June 1920 to spend $500,000 on the American presidential election.[11] How this money was spent remains unclear. Ironically, the lawyer who had advised the fundraisers was Franklin D. Roosevelt, the losing vice-presidential candidate. In any case, the Irish American city machines sat on their hands during the election, allowing the Republicans to roll up unprecedented landslides in every major city. Many German-American Democrats voted Republican or stayed home, giving the GOP landslides in the rural Midwest.

text: Campaign[edit]

text: Wilson had hoped for a "solemn referendum" on the League of Nations, but did not get one. Harding waffled on the League, thereby keeping Idaho Senator William Borah and other Republican "irreconcilables" in line. Cox also hedged. He went to the White House to seek Wilson's blessing and apparently endorsed the League, but—upon discovering its unpopularity among Democrats—revised his position to one that would accept the League only with reservations, particularly on Article Ten, which would require the United States to participate in any war declared by the League (thus taking the same standpoint as Republican Senate leader Henry Cabot Lodge). As reporter Brand Whitlock observed, the League was an issue important in government circles, but rather less so to the electorate. He also noted that the campaign was not being waged on issues: "The people, indeed, do not know what ideas Harding or Cox represents; neither do Harding or Cox. Great is democracy."[12] False rumors circulated that Senator Harding had "Negro blood," but this did not greatly hurt Harding's election campaign.

text: Governor Cox made a whirlwind campaign that took him to rallies, train station speeches, and formal addresses, reaching audiences totaling perhaps two million, whereas Senator Harding relied upon a "Front Porch Campaign" similar to that of William McKinley in 1896. It brought thousands of voters to Marion, Ohio, where Harding spoke from his home. GOP campaign manager Will Hays spent some $8.1 million, nearly four times the money Cox's campaign spent. Hays used national advertising in a major way (with advice from adman Albert Lasker). The theme was Harding's own slogan "America First." Thus the Republican advertisement in Collier's Magazine for October 30, 1920, demanded, "Let's be done with wiggle and wobble." The image presented in the ads was nationalistic, using catch phrases like "absolute control of the United States by the United States," "Independence means independence, now as in 1776," "This country will remain American. Its next President will remain in our own country," and "We decided long ago that we objected to foreign government of our people."[13]

text: On election night, November 2, 1920, commercial radio broadcast coverage of election returns for the first time. Announcers at KDKA-AM in Pittsburgh read telegraph ticker results over the air as they came in. This single station could be heard over most of the Eastern United States by the small percentage of the population that had radio receivers.

text: Harding's landslide came from all directions except the South. Irish- and German-American voters who had backed Wilson and peace in 1916 now voted against Wilson and Versailles. "A vote for Harding", said the German-language press, "is a vote against the persecutions suffered by German-Americans during the war." Not one major German-language newspaper supported Governor Cox.[14] Many Irish Americans, bitterly angry at Wilson's refusal to help Ireland at Versailles, simply abstained from voting in the presidential election. This allowed the Republicans to mobilize the ethnic vote, and Harding swept the big cities.

text: This was the first election in which women from every state were allowed to vote, following the passage of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution in August 1920 (just in time for the general election).

text: Tennessee’s vote for Warren G. Harding marked the first time since the end of Reconstruction that even one of the eleven states of the former Confederacy had voted for a Republican presidential candidate. Tennessee had last been carried by a Republican when Ulysses S. Grant claimed it in 1868.

text: Despite the fact that Cox was defeated badly, his running mate Franklin D. Roosevelt became a well-known political figure because of his active and energetic campaign. In 1928 he was elected Governor of New York, and in 1932 he was elected president. He remained in power until his death in 1945 as the longest-serving American president in history.

text: Results[edit]

text: The total vote for 1920 was roughly 26,750,000, an increase of eight million from 1916.[16] The Democratic vote was almost exactly the vote from 1916, but the Republican vote nearly doubled, as did the “other” vote. As pointed out earlier, the great increase in the total number of votes is mainly attributable to the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

text: Nearly two-thirds of the counties (1,949) were carried by the Republicans. The Democrats carried only 1,101 counties, a smaller number than Alton Parker had carried in 1904 and consequently the smallest number during the Fourth Party System. Not a single county was carried by the Democrats in the Pacific section, where they had carried 76 in 1916. In the Mountain section Cox carried only thirteen counties, seven of them located in New Mexico bordering Texas, whereas Wilson carried all but twenty-one Mountain Section counties in 1916. At least one county was lost in every section in the Union and in every state except South Carolina and Mississippi. Eleven counties in Texas recorded a plurality for Ferguson,[7] whilst seven counties – a decrease of two from 1916 – did not record a single vote due to black disenfranchisement[citation needed] or being inhabited solely by Native Americans who had not yet gained full citizenship.

text: The distribution of the county vote accurately represents the overwhelming character of the majority vote. Harding received 60.35 percent of the total vote, the largest percentage in the Fourth Party System, exceeding Franklin D. Roosevelt’s in 1932. Although the Democratic share was 34.13 percent, in no section did its voting share sink below 24 percent, and in three sections, the Democrats topped the poll. The Democratic Party was obviously still a significant opposition on national terms, even though Cox won only eleven states and had fewer votes in the electoral college than Parker had won in 1904. More than two-thirds of the Cox vote was in states carried by Harding. This was the last election in which the Democrats won Kentucky until 1932.

text: The distribution of the vote by counties, and the study of percentages in sections, states, and counties, seem to show that it was Wilson and foreign policies that received the brunt of attack, not the Democratic Party and the domestic proposals of the period 1896–1914.[17]

text:
Presidential candidate
Party
Home state
Popular vote
Electoral
vote
Running mate

Count
Percentage
Vice-presidential candidate
Home state
Electoral vote

Warren G. Harding
Republican
Ohio
16,144,093
60.32%
404
Calvin Coolidge
Massachusetts
404

James M. Cox
Democratic
Ohio
9,139,661
34.15%
127
Franklin D. Roosevelt
New York
127

Eugene V. Debs
Socialist
Indiana
913,693
3.41%
0
Seymour Stedman
Illinois
0

Parley P. Christensen
Farmer-Labor
Illinois
265,398
0.99%
0
Max S. Hayes
Ohio
0

Aaron S. Watkins
Prohibition
Indiana
188,787
0.71%
0
D. Leigh Colvin
New York
0

James E. Ferguson
American
Texas
47,968
0.18%
0
William J. Hough
New York
0

William Wesley Cox
Socialist Labor
Missouri
31,084
0.12%
0
August Gillhaus
New York
0

Robert Colvin Macauley
Single Tax
Pennsylvania
5,750
0.02%
0
Richard C. Barnum
Ohio
0

Other
28,746
0.11%
—
Other
—

Total
26,765,180
100%
531

531

Needed to win
266

266

text: Source (Popular Vote): Leip, David. "1920 Presidential Election Results". Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved September 11, 2012.

text: Source (Electoral Vote): "Electoral College Box Scores 1789–1996". National Archives and Records Administration. Retrieved July 31, 2005.

text:
Popular vote

Harding

60.32%

Cox

34.15%

Debs

3.41%

Christensen

0.99%

Others

1.13%

text:
Electoral vote

Harding

76.08%

Cox

23.92%

text: Geography of results[edit]

text: Results by county, shaded according to winning candidate's percentage of the vote

text: Cartographic gallery[edit]

text:
Map of presidential election results by county

Map of Republican presidential election results by county

Map of Democratic presidential election results by county

Map of “other” presidential election results by county

Cartogram of presidential election results by county

Cartogram of Republican presidential election results by county

Cartogram of Democratic presidential election results by county

Cartogram of "other" presidential election results by county

text: Results by state[edit]

text:
States won by Harding/Coolidge

States won by Cox/Roosevelt

text:
Warren G. Harding
Republican
James Cox
Democratic
Eugene Debs
Socialist
Parley Christensen
Farmer-Labor
Aaron Watkins
Prohibition
James Ferguson
American
William Cox
Socialist Labor
Margin
State Total

State
electoral
votes
#
%
electoral
votes
#
%
electoral
votes
#
%
electoral
votes
#
%
electoral
votes
#
%
electoral
votes
#
%
electoral
votes
#
%
electoral
votes
#
%
#

Alabama
12
74,556
31.37
-
159,965
67.31
12
2,369
1.00
-
-
-
-
748
0.31
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-85,409
-35.94
237,638
AL

Arizona
3
37,016
55.61
3
29,546
44.39
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
7,470
11.22
66,562
AZ

Arkansas
9
71,117
38.73
-
107,409
58.49
9
5,111
2.78
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-36,292
-19.76
183,637
AR

California
13
624,992
66.20
13
229,191
24.28
-
64,076
6.79
-
-
-
-
25,204
2.67
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
395,801
41.93
944,050
CA

Colorado
6
173,248
59.32
6
104,936
35.93
-
8,046
2.75
-
3,016
1.03
-
2,807
0.96
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
68,312
23.39
292,053
CO

Connecticut
7
229,238
62.72
7
120,721
33.03
-
10,350
2.83
-
1,947
0.53
-
1,771
0.48
-
-
-
-
1,491
0.41
-
108,517
29.69
365,518
CT

Delaware
3
52,858
55.71
3
39,911
42.07
-
988
1.04
-
93
0.10
-
986
1.04
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
12,947
13.65
94,875
DE

Florida
6
44,853
30.79
-
90,515
62.13
6
5,189
3.56
-
-
-
-
5,124
3.52
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-45,662
-31.34
145,681
FL

Georgia
14
41,089
27.72
-
107,162
72.28
14
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-66,073
-44.57
148,251
GA

Idaho
4
88,975
65.60
4
46,579
34.34
-
38
0.03
-
-
-
-
32
0.02
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
42,396
31.26
135,624
ID

Illinois
29
1,420,480
67.81
29
534,395
25.51
-
74,747
3.57
-
49,630
2.37
-
11,216
0.54
-
-
-
-
3,471
0.17
-
886,085
42.30
2,094,714
IL

Indiana
15
696,370
55.14
15
511,364
40.49
-
24,703
1.96
-
16,499
1.31
-
13,462
1.07
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
185,006
14.65
1,262,964
IN

Iowa
13
634,674
70.91
13
227,921
25.46
-
16,981
1.90
-
10,321
1.15
-
4,197
0.47
-
-
-
-
982
0.11
-
406,753
45.44
895,082
IA

Kansas
10
369,268
64.75
10
185,464
32.52
-
15,511
2.72
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
183,804
32.23
570,318
KS

Kentucky
13
452,480
49.25
-
456,497
49.69
13
6,409
0.70
-
-
-
-
3,322
0.36
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-4,017
-0.44
918,708
KY

Louisiana
10
38,538
30.49
-
87,519
69.24
10
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-48,981
-38.75
126,396
LA

Maine
6
136,355
68.92
6
58,961
29.80
-
2,214
1.12
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
77,394
39.12
197,840
ME

Maryland
8
236,117
55.11
8
180,626
42.16
-
8,876
2.07
-
1,645
0.38
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
1,178
0.27
-
55,491
12.95
428,443
MD

Massachusetts
18
681,153
68.55
18
276,691
27.84
-
32,267
3.25
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
3,583
0.36
-
404,462
40.70
993,718
MA

Michigan
15
762,865
72.76
15
233,450
22.27
-
28,947
2.76
-
10,480
1.00
-
9,646
0.92
-
-
-
-
2,539
0.24
-
529,415
50.50
1,048,411
MI

Minnesota
12
519,421
70.59
12
142,994
19.43
-
56,106
7.62
-
-
-
-
11,489
1.56
-
-
-
-
5,828
0.79
-
376,427
51.16
735,838
MN

Mississippi
10
11,576
14.03
-
69,277
83.98
10
1,639
1.99
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-57,701
-69.95
82,492
MS

Missouri
18
727,162
54.56
18
574,799
43.13
-
20,242
1.52
-
3,291
0.25
-
5,142
0.39
-
-
-
-
2,164
0.16
-
152,363
11.43
1,332,800
MO

Montana
4
109,430
61.13
4
57,372
32.05
-
-
-
-
12,204
6.82
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
52,058
29.08
179,006
MT

Nebraska
8
247,498
64.66
8
119,608
31.25
-
9,600
2.51
-
-
-
-
5,947
1.55
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
127,890
33.41
382,743
NE

Nevada
3
15,479
56.92
3
9,851
36.22
-
1,864
6.85
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
5,628
20.70
27,194
NV

New Hampshire
4
95,196
59.84
4
62,662
39.39
-
1,234
0.78
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
32,534
20.45
159,092
NH

New Jersey
14
611,541
67.65
14
256,887
28.42
-
27,141
3.00
-
2,200
0.24
-
4,734
0.52
-
-
-
-
923
0.10
-
354,654
39.23
903,943
NJ

New Mexico
3
57,634
54.68
3
46,668
44.27
-
-
-
-
1,104
1.05
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
10,966
10.40
105,406
NM

New York
45
1,871,167
64.56
45
781,238
26.95
-
203,201
7.01
-
18,413
0.64
-
19,653
0.68
-
-
-
-
4,841
0.17
-
1,089,929
37.60
2,898,513
NY

North Carolina
12
232,848
43.22
-
305,447
56.70
12
446
0.08
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-72,599
-13.48
538,741
NC

North Dakota
5
160,072
77.79
5
37,422
18.19
-
8,282
4.02
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
122,650
59.60
205,776
ND

Ohio
24
1,182,022
58.47
24
780,037
38.58
-
57,147
2.83
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
401,985
19.88
2,021,653
OH

Oklahoma
10
243,831
50.11
10
217,053
44.61
-
25,726
5.29
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
26,778
5.50
486,610
OK

Oregon
5
143,592
60.20
5
80,019
33.55
-
9,801
4.11
-
-
-
-
3,595
1.51
-
-
-
-
1,515
0.64
-
63,573
26.65
238,522
OR

Pennsylvania
38
1,218,216
65.76
38
503,843
27.20
-
70,571
3.81
-
15,704
0.85
-
42,696
2.30
-
-
-
-
753
0.04
-
714,373
38.56
1,852,616
PA

Rhode Island
5
107,463
63.97
5
55,062
32.78
-
4,351
2.59
-
-
-
-
510
0.30
-
-
-
-
495
0.29
-
52,401
31.19
167,981
RI

South Carolina
9
2,610
3.91
-
64,170
96.05
9
28
0.04
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-61,560
-92.14
66,808
SC

South Dakota
5
110,692
60.74
5
35,938
19.72
-
-
-
-
34,707
19.04
-
900
0.49
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
74,754
41.02
182,237
SD

Tennessee
12
219,829
51.29
12
206,558
48.19
-
2,239
0.52
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
13,271
3.10
428,626
TN

Texas
20
114,538
23.54
-
288,767
59.34
20
8,121
1.67
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
47,968
9.86
-
-
-
-
-174,229
-35.80
486,641
TX

Utah
4
81,555
55.93
4
56,639
38.84
-
3,159
2.17
-
4,475
3.07
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
24,916
17.09
145,828
UT

Vermont
4
68,212
75.82
4
20,919
23.25
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
774
0.86
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
47,293
52.57
89,961
VT

Virginia
12
87,456
37.85
-
141,670
61.32
12
807
0.35
-
243
0.11
-
857
0.37
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-54,214
-23.47
231,033
VA

Washington
7
223,137
55.96
7
84,298
21.14
-
8,913
2.24
-
77,246
19.37
-
3,800
0.95
-
-
-
-
1,321
0.33
-
138,839
34.82
398,715
WA

West Virginia
8
282,007
55.30
8
220,789
43.30
-
5,618
1.10
-
-
-
-
1,528
0.30
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
61,218
12.00
509,942
WV

Wisconsin
13
498,576
71.10
13
113,422
16.17
-
80,635
11.50
-
-
-
-
8,647
1.23
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
385,154
54.92
701,280
WI

Wyoming
3
35,091
64.15
3
17,429
31.86
-
-
-
-
2,180
3.99
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
17,662
32.29
54,700
WY

TOTALS:
531
16,144,093
60.32
404
9,139,661
34.15
127
913,693
3.41
-
265,398
0.99
-
188,787
0.71
-
47,968
0.18
-
31,084
0.12
-
7,004,432
26.17
26,765,180
US

text: Close states[edit]

text: Margin of victory less than 1% (13 electoral votes):

text: Kentucky, 0.44%

tag: ol

text: Margin of victory less than 5% (12 electoral votes):

text: Tennessee, 3.10%

text: Margin of victory between 5% and 10% (10 electoral votes):

text: Oklahoma, 5.50%

text: Statistics[edit]

text: Counties with Highest Percentage of the Vote (Republican)

text:
McIntosh County, North Dakota 95.76%
Leslie County, Kentucky 94.22%
Sevier County, Tennessee 93.60%
Sheridan County, North Dakota 92.98%
Billings County, North Dakota 92.81%

text: Counties with Highest Percentage of the Vote (Democratic)

text:
Chester County, South Carolina 100.00%
Edgefield County, South Carolina 100.00%
Clarendon County, South Carolina 100.00%
Bamberg County, South Carolina 100.00%
Hampton County, South Carolina 100.00%

text: Counties with Highest Percentage of the Vote (American)

text:
Austin County, Texas 61.72%
Fort Bend County, Texas 59.35%
Lavaca County, Texas 57.76%
Fayette County, Texas 55.12%
Washington County, Texas 54.04%