Ny press and the democratic national convention
One hundred years ago today … The New York newspapers used a variety of strategies to cover the Democratic National Convention, which started on June 28 and would go until July 6.
The William Randolph Hearst newspaper, New York American, sent a platoon of celebrity writers and publicized the roster in other newspapers.
The New York Times, 28 June 1920. Newspapers.com.
Notable here are those who were not career political journalists: Bryan, Kyne, Hurst (whose Humoresque was currently playing in NY theaters—see our post of June 4), Runyon, Lardner, and Baer—the last three of whom had made their names as sports journalists.
The Daily News relied on celebrity-style “Who’s Who” spreads.
The Daily News, 29 June 1920 p. 31.
The Daily News, 30 June 1920 p. 11.
The 1920 DNC was held in San Francisco—the first year either the Democrats or Republicans held their convention in a West Coast City. The presidential nomination went to Ohio Governor James M. Cox, who beat out top competitors Secretary of the Treasury William McAdoo and Attourney General A. Mitchell Palmer (whom we have discussed in numerous posts, as the chief of the Palmer Raids). Vice-Presidential nominations were, in those days, also voted on at the national conventions. The Democrats nominated Secretary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt, of New York.
Spoiler alert: the Republicans, led by Warren G. Harding, won in a landslide.
WRITTEN BY JONATHAN GOLDMAN, JULY 3, 2020.
TAGS: Democratic National convention, politics, presidential race, newspapers, journalism