Election Day – November 4, 1924

Well, it's Election Day 2024. I don't know who's going to win, but I will be mighty glad to turn on the TV tonight and not see political ads.

One hundred years ago was a Presidential Election as well. Above is the front page of the Lorain Journal of November 4, 1924. I recognized Calvin Coolidge, but never heard of the rest of them. It turns out that the running mate of each presidential candidate – Calvin Coolidge (Republican), John W. Davis (Democrat) and Robert M. Follette (Progressive) – was positioned next to him on the page layout.

This Wiki page described the election as follows. "The 1924 United States presidential election was the 35th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 4, 1924. In a three-way contest, incumbent Republican President Calvin Coolidge won election to a full term. Coolidge was the second vice president to ascend to the presidency and then win a full term.

"Coolidge had been vice president under Warren G. Harding and became president in 1923 upon Harding's unexpected death. Coolidge was given credit for a booming economy at home and no visible crises abroad, and he faced little opposition at the 1924 Republican National Convention. The Democratic Party nominated former Congressman and ambassador to the United Kingdom John W. Davis of West Virginia. Davis, a compromise candidate, triumphed on the 103rd ballot of the 1924 Democratic National Convention after a deadlock between supporters of William Gibbs McAdoo and Al Smith. Dissatisfied by the conservatism of both major party candidates, the newly formed Progressive Party nominated Senator Robert La Follette of Wisconsin."

"Coolidge won a landslide victory, taking majorities in both the popular vote and the Electoral College and winning almost every state outside of the Solid South (while still making headway by winning Kentucky). La Follette won 16.6% of the popular vote, a strong showing for a third-party candidate, while Davis won the lowest share of the popular vote of any Democratic nominee in history. This was one of only three elections with more than two major candidates where any candidate received a majority of popular votes cast, the others being 1832 and 1980. This is the most recent election to date in which a third-party candidate won a non-southern state. This was also the US election with the lowest per capita voter turnout since records were kept. 

The Journal did something interesting to provide election results. The newspaper sponsored an Election Party on Seventh Street between Broadway and Reid Avenue. "A special corps of reporters will compile returns at election headquarters in Lorain and Elyria," it noted. "Forty messengers will cover the various precincts and as soon as the vote has been counted in each precinct the results will be phoned to the Journal office. Both the United Press and the United News bureaus in every state capitol and big city in the United States will start sending returns over telegraph wires into the Journal office starting at 6 p. m. Tuesday. All returns will be flashed by a moving picture machine onto a screen across the street from the Journal office."

And if that wasn't enough, there was even entertainment planned. "Thruout the evening the Italian Boys band will entertain the crowd at The Journal Election Party."

And here is the front page of the Journal from the next day.