# SDMB Retrospective US Presidential Elections 1924 **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [March 12, 2014, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-retrospective-us-presidential-elections-1924/683517 "2014-03-12T05:27:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2014, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-retrospective-us-presidential-elections-1924/683517/1 "2014-03-12T05:27:13Z")
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United\_States\_presidential\_election,\_1924](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_1924) LaFollette’s the only decent choice here. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2014, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-retrospective-us-presidential-elections-1924/683517/2 "2014-03-12T22:27:55Z")
Agreed. ---
**Author:** ![WillFarnaby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/willfarnaby/32/514_2.png) [@WillFarnaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WillFarnaby)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2014, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-retrospective-us-presidential-elections-1924/683517/3 "2014-03-13T13:30:31Z")
Coolidge was easily the best president of the 20th century, and among the best all time. “The business of America is business.” Nuff said. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2014, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-retrospective-us-presidential-elections-1924/683517/4 "2014-03-13T14:20:52Z")
> [@WillFarnaby](#): > > Coolidge was easily the best president of the 20th century, and among the best all time. “The business of America is business.” Nuff said. Thank God I had put my drink down before reading that one. I’d have spent the day cleaning Diet Coke off the screen. Jolly funny one, old chap! Of course I’d have voted Progressive. It’s quite remarkable to look at these maps and see the solid Democratic south, before the parties swapped positions on race. ---
**Author:** ![WillFarnaby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/willfarnaby/32/514_2.png) [@WillFarnaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WillFarnaby)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2014, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-retrospective-us-presidential-elections-1924/683517/5 "2014-03-13T15:23:40Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Thank God I had put my drink down before reading that one. I’d have spent the day cleaning Diet Coke off the screen. Jolly funny one, old chap! > > Of course I’d have voted Progressive. It’s quite remarkable to look at these maps and see the solid Democratic south, before the parties swapped positions on race. I didn’t realize the parties had positions on race. What exactly do you have against Calvin Coolidge? Was it the booming economy, rising standard of living, or was it the peace? ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2014, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-retrospective-us-presidential-elections-1924/683517/6 "2014-03-13T15:46:15Z")
> [@WillFarnaby](#): > > I didn’t realize the parties had positions on race. > > What exactly do you have against Calvin Coolidge? Was it the booming economy, rising standard of living, or was it the peace? Not formal positions per se, but many pre-CRA Democrats were generally unfriendly to race issues and the Republicans of those days were much more progressive. Since Nixon’s Southern Strategy, all of the old racist Democrats became Republicans. Calvin Coolidge was just another one of the gilded age laissez-faire Republicans. Shrinking the size of government and narrowing the tax base in my opinion contributed to the depth of the Depression. On some matters he was quite enlightened but on the whole his presidency was forgettable. ---
**Author:** ![WillFarnaby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/willfarnaby/32/514_2.png) [@WillFarnaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WillFarnaby)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2014, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-retrospective-us-presidential-elections-1924/683517/7 "2014-03-13T18:45:38Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Not formal positions per se, but many pre-CRA Democrats were generally unfriendly to race issues and the Republicans of those days were much more progressive. Since Nixon’s Southern Strategy, all of the old racist Democrats became Republicans. > > Calvin Coolidge was just another one of the gilded age laissez-faire Republicans. Shrinking the size of government and narrowing the tax base in my opinion contributed to the depth of the Depression. On some matters he was quite enlightened but on the whole his presidency was forgettable. “Another one of the gilded age laissez-faire Republicans”? He was the only “laissez-faire gilded age” Republican besides Harding. Taft and Roosevelt were big time trust busters, Herbert Hoover was a big time economic interventionist. That leaves McKinley. I don’t think he fits the mold of laissez faire. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2014, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-retrospective-us-presidential-elections-1924/683517/8 "2014-03-13T21:17:46Z")
> [@WillFarnaby](#): > > “Another one of the gilded age laissez-faire Republicans”? He was the only “laissez-faire gilded age” Republican besides Harding. Taft and Roosevelt were big time trust busters, Herbert Hoover was a big time economic interventionist. That leaves McKinley. I don’t think he fits the mold of laissez faire. Don’t you think you might be setting the bar too high? ---
**Author:** ![WillFarnaby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/willfarnaby/32/514_2.png) [@WillFarnaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WillFarnaby)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2014, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-retrospective-us-presidential-elections-1924/683517/9 "2014-03-13T21:44:40Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Don’t you think you might be setting the bar too high? I’m actually lowering the bar considerably. It would be a bizarre twist of history to claim Hoover, Taft, and McKinley were laissez faire for their time. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2014, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-retrospective-us-presidential-elections-1924/683517/10 "2014-03-14T22:12:53Z")
“Gilded Age” refers more to the late 19th century; it applies directly to Hayes, Garfield, Arthur, and B. Harrison most of all; Taft is really pushing it, and Hoover is right out. Far as I’m concerned, the phase called Gilded Age was ended by T. Roosevelt’s trust busting. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2014, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-retrospective-us-presidential-elections-1924/683517/11 "2014-03-14T22:30:30Z")
I picked LaFollette even though he didn’t stand a chance that year. Just out of curiosity, was LaFollette for or against Prohibition in 1924? I knew Coolidge was for it as was (I think) Davis. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2014, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-retrospective-us-presidential-elections-1924/683517/12 "2014-03-15T00:19:50Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > I picked LaFollette even though he didn’t stand a chance that year. Hey, he did pick up 13 electoral votes and got the third best finish for a 3rd party in history. > [@](#): > > Just out of curiosity, was LaFollette for or against Prohibition in 1924? [Bob altogether avoided the prohibition issue](http://www.lafollette.wisc.edu/publications/otherpublications/lafollette/laflegacy.html) > [@](#): > > and instead concentrated on what he felt to be more weighty problems-oppression of individuals by powerful corporations, undemocratic decisionmaking and corruption in government, and foreign military actions by the national government. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2014, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-retrospective-us-presidential-elections-1924/683517/13 "2014-03-19T04:11:43Z")
I have a La Follette/Wheeler button around here somewhere. It’s a repro. Why anybody would reproduce a political button for a third-party ticket is anybody’s guess. Why I would have bought it ($.35 for it and another oddball in 1972–nearly a pack of smokes) is completely inexplicable. Maybe I was planning for this moment, when I can finally cast my vote for Fighting Bob La Follette.