By Edwin Cooney
Twenty-six men and one woman have been nominated for the vice presidency of the United States by the Democratic Party since 1900. Only 10 of these 27 Democrats were elected. You can easily be forgiven if you haven't heard of the more obscure candidates such as Adlai Stevenson, Sr. (whose grandson and namesake was twice nominated to run for president against Dwight Eisenhower during the 1950’s.) The elder Stevenson was nominated in 1900 during William Jennings Bryan's second campaign against William McKinley. (Note that Mr. Stevenson had already served as Vice President in Grover Cleveland’s second term, 1893-1897.) In 1924, at the close of a 104 ballot convention, Nebraska Governor Charles Wayland Bryan (who was the younger brother of the “Great Commoner” William Jennings Bryan) became the second man on the Democratic ticket to John W. Davis who was equally obscure. Names such as Thomas Marshall from Indiana (who actually was twice elected with Woodrow Wilson) and John W. Kern, also from Indiana, are known to very few people today. It's even forgivable if men such as Arkansas's distinguished Senator Joseph Robinson (who ran with Al Smith in 1928), former House Speaker John Nance Garner (1932 and 1936), and even Edmund S. Muskie (1968) have somehow escaped your notice! (Note that Ed Muskie ran such a calming campaign that for the following four years he was considered the front runner for the 1972 Democratic presidential nomination.)
If you're like me, you'll be both interested and fascinated to learn of the 1904 Democratic vice presidential nominee. The only nominated candidate who was more obscure than Henry Gassaway Davis was the 1904 presidential nominee, Judge Alton B. Parker, Chief Justice of the Court of Appeals of New York State. Judge Parker would lose every state north of the Mason-Dixon Line. Teddy Roosevelt would win the electoral vote 336 to 140. Parker's and Davis's nominations were largely due to the reality that TR was running for a full term on the Republican ticket. Accordingly, the Democrats got practical more than political. What's especially fascinating about potential Vice President Henry Gassaway Davis was his purpose and his value to the party. Davis was exceedingly wealthy. He'd been both a railroad executive and a coal mining executive. His value was his willingness to finance the party effort that fall. Finally, there was the fact that Davis, who was born on Sunday, November 16th, 1823, was 80 years old at the time of his nomination — the oldest presidential or vice presidential candidate in history. Not only is that remarkable in view of the fact that not even penicillin had yet been discovered to protect people of great age, the fact is that former West Virginia Senator Davis lived to be 92. He died on Saturday, March 11th, 1916. (Goodness — Joe Biden still has 14 years to catch Henry Gassaway Davis!)
Walter Mondale (elected 1976) is among the most notable Democratic vice presidential candidates. He is also currently 92, having been born on Thursday, January 5th, 1928. Additionally there's Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson (1960), Harry Truman (1944), and, most notably, Franklin D. Roosevelt who was 38 and pre-polio when Ohio Governor James M. Cox chose him to be his running mate in 1920. (Note that early in 1920 young FDR was considered by many Democrats as a possible vice presidential running mate for Herbert Clark Hoover before the former World War I food distribution hero declared himself a Republican.)
Harry Truman's vice presidential selection (which was born out of the party-wide discomfort with incumbent Vice President Henry A. Wallace) didn't come until the July 17th, 1944 Democratic Convention in Chicago. (Incidentally, Senator Truman's acceptance speech took less than two minutes for him to deliver!) Three other vice presidential nominations should be touched on here. The 1948 nomination of Kentucky Senator Alben W. Barkley marked the second time the party gave a high nomination place to its keynote speaker. Back in 1896, William Jennings Bryan was nominated for president purely on the strength of his "Cross of Gold" keynote address.
The 1972 nomination of Missouri Senator Thomas Eagleton was, in the view of this observer, a much sounder one than most others believe it was. Senator Eagleton probably couldn't have helped elect Senator George McGovern president, but I believe the reaction to the revelation that Senator Eagleton had had a nervous breakdown should have been more strongly resisted by the presidential candidate. Obviously, Eagleton’s replacement by R. Sargent Shriver did little to help the ticket. Additionally, the rejection of Senator Eagleton was not in the tradition of the usual Democratic party's championing of people with mental health issues. I like to think I would have kept Eagleton!
Finally, the selection in 1984 of Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro hurt the Mondale ticket more than it helped. I believe that San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein would have been a much better choice in view of Ms. Ferraro's husband's financial woes. It can be argued that Ms. Ferraro's candidacy didn't help Mr. Mondale any more than did Mr. Shriver's late choice help Senator George McGovern!
As for these vice presidential nominees — Henry A. Wallace of Iowa (elected 1940), John Sparkman of Alabama (1952), Estes Kefauver of Tennessee (1956), Lloyd Bentsen of Texas (1988), Al Gore of Tennessee ((elected)1992-1996), Joe Lieberman of Connecticut (2000), John Edwards of North Carolina (2004) and Tim Kaine of Virginia (2016) — a beckoning vice presidency, especially on a major party ticket, is still quite a high honor in anyone's life! (Note: I have wondered for some time why Al Gore never made another run for the presidency since he came so close in 2000. Neither William Jennings Bryan, Adlai Stevenson nor Hubert Humphrey would have understood!)
As for 2020, I like all three of Mr. Biden's most likely choices: Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris and Susan Rice. I think Senator Warren's credentials are the most substantive and I think Senator Harris's personality and smarts are very enticing, but I think Ambassador Rice's foreign policy credentials could be most formidable. It's my guess that Ms. Rice's formidability will ultimately get her the nomination to be the next Vice President of the United States!
What say you?
RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,
EDWIN COONEY
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