Challenge: Describe a Hughes 1916/Cox 1920 voter

[Thunderbird is the word]

Another pretty tricky one.

[Dr. Cynic]

Hell, you've got me. Probably someone with inconsistent views on the world, or a world federalist who supports the idea of the League...

There couldn't have been very many of these voters out there. The views are just so incredibly divergent...

[Podgy the Bear]

There were several pro-League Republicans that did publicly declare for Cox.  On the other hand, most of them such as Herbert Hoover stayed with the Republican ticket.

The League issue was something in which there was little to be gained.  But those who were anti-League and those Americans whose home countries were negatively affected by the Treaty of Versailles (e.g. Germany, Italy, and Ireland) had a massive reaction against the Democrats.  Big reasons why the upper Midwest (German dominated) states and cities like New York and Boston (large Irish populations)--all of whom supported Wilson in 1916-- rolled up huge Republican majorities in 1920.   

[Mechaman]

There were several pro-League Republicans that did publicly declare for Cox.  On the other hand, most of them such as Herbert Hoover stayed with the Republican ticket.

The League issue was something in which there was little to be gained.  But those who were anti-League and those Americans whose home countries were negatively affected by the Treaty of Versailles (e.g. Germany, Italy, and Ireland) had a massive reaction against the Democrats.  Big reasons why the upper Midwest (German dominated) states and cities like New York and Boston (large Irish populations)--all of whom supported Wilson in 1916-- rolled up huge Republican majorities in 1920.   

Yes.

Considering that many Irish neighborhoods at the time were 90% Democratic and the evidence suggests Harding even won those places, to say that the Democrats screwed up is a massive understatement.

It would be like the Democrats losing the black vote in 2020.

[Landslide Lyndon]

But I have read that these people just abstained from the election, not that they voted Republican.

[Mechaman]

But I have read that these people just abstained from the election, not that they voted Republican.

Yeah but the reduced turnout obviously drove up the proportion of those voting Republican.  It would be like a Safe Republican in say Oklahoma winning like 40% of the black vote against an utterly incompetent Democrat in a low turnout year.

Obviously, voting Republican was still a mortal sin to many in the ethnic Irish (emphasis here to distinguish from the mainstream protestants who were pretty much WASPs by this point) community, but sitting on their asses was pretty much all the endorsement in the world that Harding needed.

[Sumner 1868]

In terms of basically destroying his political party, I don't know of anyone that compares to Woodrow Wilson. Even Jimmy Carter and George Bush didn't cause as much damage.

I not sure about that. While the effect of Wilson was extremely bad in the short-term, the Democrats recovered quite well eventually, whereas the damage of Carter and Bush remains indefinite.

[Mechaman]

In terms of basically destroying his political party, I don't know of anyone that compares to Woodrow Wilson. Even Jimmy Carter and George Bush didn't cause as much damage.

I not sure about that. While the effect of Wilson was extremely bad in the short-term, the Democrats recovered quite well eventually, whereas the damage of Carter and Bush remains indefinite.

Eh how?

The Democrats held the House until 1994 and the Republicans took the US House in 2010.  And there isn't really a lot of evidence that the Democrats will be locked out of the US House forever or that the Republican Party will be out of office for the next twenty years.

The only thing that really saved the Democrats in the 1920s, was this:



Otherwise there was little chance they'd make it to 1928 much less 1932.

[SingingAnalyst]

Perhaps a Bryan-supporting Democrat who wanted to punish Wilson for supporting the Federal Reserve Bank. Missouri didn't move away from the Democrats much between 1916 and 1920, so perhaps there were a few such voters in Missouri.

[E-Dawg 🇺🇦🇦🇲]

Some people in Polk County, North Carolina for some reason, the nation's only Hughes-Cox county!

As discussed in this topic (https://talkelections.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=415039.0), some sources including Atlas and Wikipedia have numbers claiming that Manistee County, MI is also a Hughes-Cox county, but those numbers are almost certainly incorrect. Manistee voted GOP in almost every other election from 1896-1928, and by landslide margins in 1924/1928. Michigan as a whole swung GOP by 42 points from 1916/1920, and every other county in the state swung GOP by at least 10 points.

However, Polk County seems to be an actual Hughes-Cox county. North Carolina only swung GOP by 3 points and Polk had twice the voter amount in 1920 compared to 1916 (likely due to 19th amendment)

[darklordoftech]

Someone who wants America to be involved in Europe.