Draft:Calvin Coolidge 1920 presidential campaign

The 1920 presidential campaign of Calvin Coolidge, governor of Massachusetts,

Early stages
Frank W. Stearns, Coolidge’s campaign manager ever since his 1916 vice governor bid, began recruiting for Coolidge’s presidential ambition in January 1919. He formed a key team out of Dwight Morrow and Thomas Cochran, two J.P. Morgan & Co. partner and like Coolidge former Amherst graduates, and James B. Reynolds, secretary of the Republican national committee.

The Massachusetts Republican party at that time was divided between a  faction led by former U.S. Senator Winthrop Murray Crane and a faction led by Senate majority leader Henry Cabot Lodge. The most dividing issue was the League of Nations. Crane supported joining the league, whereas Lodge fought it in the senate. Coolidge stayed ambiguous on the issue and he even moderated a public debate on the treaty between Lodge and Harvard president A. Lawrence Lowell in Symphony Hall on March 19.

Coolidge rose to national prominence in September for his decisive action against the Boston police strike and law and order became his main campaign stance furthermore. He won the reelection as governor on November 4 in a land

Coolidge locked in his first major endorsement as Henry Cabot Lodge endorsed him on November 26.

Frank W. Stearns published some of Coolidges speeches in the book Have Faith in Massachusetts.

Presidential balloting
Speaker of the House Frederick H. Gillett nominated Coolidge for president at the 1920 Republican National Convention in Chicago. The nomination was seconded by Alexandra Carlisle Pfeiffer.

On the first ballot of the convention Coolidge got 34 votes and came in seventh in a twelve candidate field. He was considered a favorite son getting 28 votes from Massachusetts, the other six Massachusetts delegates voting for Leonard Wood. On the second ballot he got the 28 votes from Massachusetts and 32 in total. On the third ballot he lost six Massachusetts delegates to Wood, and got 27 votes in total. Despite his loses he rose to sixth place.