1924 Indiana gubernatorial election

Last updated

1924 Indiana gubernatorial election
Flag of Indiana.svg
  1920 November 4, 1924 1928  
  EdwardLJackson.jpg Carleton B. McCulloch LCCN2014717334.jpg
Nominee Edward L. Jackson Carleton B. McCulloch
Party Republican Democratic
Popular vote654,184572,303
Percentage52.9%46.3%

1924 Indiana gubernatorial election results map by county.svg
County results
Jackson:     40–50%     50–60%     60–70%
McCulloch:     40–50%     50–60%     60–70%

Governor before election

Emmett Forest Branch
Republican

Elected Governor

Edward L. Jackson
Republican

The 1924 Indiana gubernatorial election took place on November 4, 1924 under the provisions of the Constitution of Indiana. It was the 31st gubernatorial election in the State of Indiana. Republican Edward L. Jackson defeated Democrat Carleton B. McCulloch. The election took place concurrently with the 1924 United States elections that saw Republicans hold the White House and increase their majorities in both houses of Congress.

Contents

Warren T. McCray defeated McCulloch in the 1920 election. His tenure was marked by conflict with the Indiana Ku Klux Klan and Grand Dragon D. C. Stephenson, who grew the organization to be the largest voluntary association in the state by 1924. At Stephenson's behest, Jackson offered McCray a $10,000 bribe to appoint certain Klansmen to state offices. When McCray refused, the Klan exposed his corrupt business dealings. McCray was convicted of mail fraud and resigned the governorship on April 30, 1924, days before the Republican primary election in which he was not a candidate. [1]

Emmett Forest Branch, who succeeded McCray upon his resignation, did not run for re-election. Jackson was the frontrunner to receive the Republican nomination and had the support of Stephenson the Indiana Klan. His main opponent was Lewis Shank, the outgoing mayor of Indianapolis and one of the Klan's most outspoken Republican critics. [2] Jackson defeated Shank by a margin of more than two to one; the Klan celebrated his victory with a parade through downtown Indianapolis that drew as many as 100,000 onlookers. [3] Democrats were divided in their response to the Klan's rising influence. One faction led by state chairman Thomas Taggart sought to maintain a neutral position on the Klan, while Irish Catholics vocally and strenuously denounced the Klan's activities. McCulloch kept a studied silence through the primary campaign and finished with the most votes for any candidate, but less than the majority requisite for nomination. In the aftermath of the primary, McCulloch declared his opposition to the Klan. He was formally nominated by the Democratic State Convention on a platform condemning the Klan's divisive tactics in targeting racial, ethnic, and religious minorities. [4]

Discussion of the Klan dominated the fall campaign. In a break with tradition, African Americans overwhelmingly supported the Democratic ticket. [5] Stephenson and the Klan worked tirelessly on behalf of the state and national Republican candidates, alleging that a Democratic victory would usher in a Catholic theocracy and the end of white supremacy. Jackson campaigned on law and order, anti-corruption, and support for Prohibition, the last policy being strongly associated with Anti-Catholicism and nativism. Despite the mass defection of historically Republican Black voters, Jackson won the election, albeit with less than the majority for McCray in 1920, amidst a statewide sweep for the Klan's candidates. Jackson carried northern and central Indiana, including White and Hamilton counties where the Klan was strongest, while McCulloch performed well in traditionally Democratic southern Indiana and carried Allen County, home to the University of Notre Dame.

Primary elections

Primary elections were held on May 6, 1924. [6]

Republican primary

Candidates

Results

Republican primary results [6]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Republican Edward L. Jackson 227,785 55.12
Republican Samuel Lewis Shank95,49423.11
Republican Edward C. Toner55,38113.40
Republican Edgar D. Bush 22,5315.45
Republican Ora D. Davis9,2102.23
Republican Elias W. Dulberger2,8210.68
Total votes413,222 100.00

General election

Candidates

Major party candidates

Other candidates

Results

1924 Indiana gubernatorial election [7]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Republican Edward L. Jackson 654,184 52.92%
Democratic Carleton B. McCulloch572,30346.29%
Socialist Francis M. Wampler5,9840.48%
Prohibition Basil L. Allen3,8080.31%
Majority81,881
Turnout
Republican hold Swing

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ku Klux Klan</span> American white supremacist terrorist hate group

The Ku Klux Klan, commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan is the name of several historical and current American white supremacist, far-right terrorist organizations and hate groups. The Klan was "the first organized terror movement in American history." Their primary targets are African Americans, Hispanics, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, Italian Americans, and Catholics, as well as immigrants, leftists, homosexuals, Muslims, atheists, and abortion providers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1924 United States presidential election</span> 35th quadrennial U.S. presidential election

The 1924 United States presidential election was the 35th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 4, 1924. In a three-way contest, incumbent Republican President Calvin Coolidge won election to a full term. Coolidge was the second vice president to ascend to the presidency and then win a full term.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">D. C. Stephenson</span> American murderer and Ku Klux Klan leader (1891–1966)

David Curtis "Steve" Stephenson was an American Ku Klux Klan leader, convicted rapist and murderer. In 1923 he was appointed Grand Dragon of the Indiana Klan and head of Klan recruiting for seven other states. Later that year, he led those groups to independence from the national KKK organization. Amassing wealth and political power in Indiana politics, he was one of the most prominent national Klan leaders. He had close relationships with numerous Indiana politicians, especially Governor Edward L. Jackson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1924 Democratic National Convention</span> U.S. political event held in Madison Square Garden in New York City

The 1924 Democratic National Convention, held at the Madison Square Garden in New York City from June 24 to July 9, 1924, was the longest continuously running convention in United States political history. It took a record 103 ballots to nominate a presidential candidate. It was the first major party national convention that saw the name of a woman, Lena Springs, placed in nomination for vice president. John W. Davis, a dark horse, eventually won the presidential nomination on the 103rd ballot, a compromise candidate following a protracted convention fight between distant front-runners William Gibbs McAdoo and Al Smith.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward L. Jackson</span> American politician (1873–1954)

Edward L. Jackson was an American attorney, judge and politician, elected the 32nd governor of the U.S. state of Indiana from January 12, 1925, to January 14, 1929. He had also been elected as Secretary of State of Indiana.

This is a partial list of notable historical figures in U.S. national politics who were members of the Ku Klux Klan before taking office. Membership of the Klan is secret. Political opponents sometimes allege that a person was a member of the Klan, or was supported at the polls by Klan members.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hiram Wesley Evans</span> Ku Klux Klan Imperial Wizard (1881–1966)

Hiram Wesley Evans was the Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, an American white supremacist group, from 1922 to 1939. A native of Alabama, Evans attended Vanderbilt University and became a dentist. He operated a small, moderately successful practice in Texas until 1920, when he joined the Klan's Dallas chapter. He quickly rose through the ranks and was part of a group that ousted William Joseph Simmons from the position of Imperial Wizard, the national leader, in November 1922. Evans succeeded him and sought to transform the group into a political power.

Daisy Douglas Barr was Imperial Empress (leader) of the Indiana Women's Ku Klux Klan (WKKK) in the early 1920s and an active member of the Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). People were associated with both the KKK and the WCTU because the Ku Klux Klan was a very strong supporter and defender of temperance and National Prohibition. Professionally, she was a Quaker minister in two prominent churches, First Friends Church of New Castle, Indiana, and Friends Memorial Church in Muncie, Indiana. She served as the vice-chair of the Republican Committee in Indiana as well as president of the Indiana War Mother's organization. She was killed in a car wreck and her funeral was held in a Friends meeting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Warren T. McCray</span> American politician

Warren Terry McCray was the 30th governor of the U.S. state of Indiana from 1921 to 1924.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indiana Republican Party</span> Indiana affiliate of the Republican Party

The Indiana Republican Party is the affiliate of the United States Republican Party in the state of Indiana. The chairman of the Indiana Republican State Committee is Anne Hathaway.

George Richard Durgan was a U.S. Representative from Indiana from 1933 to 1935.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harry E. Rowbottom</span> American politician

Harry Emerson Rowbottom was an American businessman and Republican politician. He was elected to the United States House of Representatives from Indiana in 1924 and served three terms from 1925 to 1931. He was defeated for re-election in 1930 and subsequently convicted of accepting bribes, abruptly terminating his political career.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indiana Klan</span> Indiana branch of the Ku Klux Klan

The Indiana Klan was a branch of the Ku Klux Klan, a secret society in the United States that organized in 1915 to promote ideas of racial superiority and affect public affairs on issues of Prohibition, education, political corruption, and morality. It was strongly white supremacist against African Americans, Chinese Americans, and also Catholics and Jews, whose faiths were commonly associated with Irish, Italian, Balkan, and Slavic immigrants and their descendants. In Indiana, the Klan did not tend to practice overt violence but used intimidation in certain cases, whereas nationally the organization practiced illegal acts against minority ethnic and religious groups.

Walter Frederick Bossert was Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan for Indiana and 17 other states, from 1924 to 1926.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Robinson Pattangall</span> American judge (1865–1942)

William Robinson Pattangall was an American politician from Maine. He was particularly known for his support of public schools and opposition to the Ku Klux Klan. He was later the Chief Justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court retiring on July 16, 1935.

Although the Ku Klux Klan is most often associated with white supremacy, the revived Klan of the 1920s was also anti-Catholic. In the U.S. state of Maine, with a small African-American population but a burgeoning number of Acadian, French-Canadian and Irish immigrants, the Klan revival of the 1920s was a Protestant nativist movement directed against the Catholic minority as well as African-Americans. For a period in the mid-1920s, the Klan captured elements of the Maine Republican Party, even helping to elect a governor, Ralph Owen Brewster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1926 Oregon gubernatorial election</span> Election

The 1926 Oregon gubernatorial election took place on November 2, 1926 to elect the governor of the U.S. state of Oregon. The election matched incumbent Democrat Walter M. Pierce against Republican Isaac L. Patterson and Independent candidate H. H. Stallard, who ran on an anti-Prohibition platform. Patterson won by a wide margin.

Julius Curtis Travis was an American lawyer, politician, sports journalist, businessman, and judge who served as a justice of the Indiana Supreme Court from January 3, 1921 to January 3, 1933.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1920 Indiana gubernatorial election</span> Election for the governorship of the U.S. state of Indiana

The 1920 Indiana gubernatorial election was held on November 2, 1920. Republican nominee Warren T. McCray defeated Democratic nominee Carleton B. McCulloch with 54.63% of the vote.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arthur L. Gilliom</span> Indiana Attorney General, 1925-1929

Arthur Luther Gilliom was an American lawyer and politician who served as the twenty-fifth Indiana Attorney General from January 1, 1925 to January 1, 1929.

References

  1. Madison, James H. (2020). The Ku Klux Klan in the Heartland. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. p. 117. ISBN   9780253052209.
  2. Moore, Leonard J. (1991). Citizen Klansmen: The Ku Klux Klan in Indiana, 1921-1928. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina. p. 153. ISBN   0-8078-1981-6.
  3. Madison, 117.
  4. Moore, 158-59.
  5. Griffin, William W. (June 1983). "The Political Realignment of Black Voters in Indianapolis, 1924". Indiana Magazine of History. 79 (2): 158. JSTOR   27790698.
  6. 1 2 Guide to U.S. elections - CQ Press, Congressional Quarterly, inc. CQ Press. 2005. ISBN   9781568029818 . Retrieved August 9, 2020.
  7. Kalb, Deborah (December 24, 2015). Guide to U.S. Elections. CQ Press. ISBN   9781483380353 . Retrieved August 9, 2020.