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In U.S. political jargon, a smoke-filled room (sometimes called a smoke-filled back room) is an exclusive, sometimes secret political gathering or round-table-style decision-making process. The phrase is generally used to suggest an inner circle of power brokers, a cabal of the powerful or well-connected acting to make decisions [1] without regard for the will of the larger group.
An early example of a smoke-filled room is the Boston Caucus. A report of a 1763 meeting of this group said, "selectmen, assessors, collectors, fire-wards and representatives are regularly chosen [there] before they are chosen in the town ... There they smoke tobacco till you cannot see from one end of the garret to the other." [2]
The origin of the term was in a report by Raymond Clapper of United Press, describing rumors of the process by which Warren G. Harding was nominated at the 1920 Republican National Convention as the party's candidate for the presidential election. After many indecisive votes, Harding, a relatively minor candidate who was the junior senator from Ohio was, legend has it, chosen as a compromise candidate by Republican power-brokers in a private meeting at the Blackstone Hotel in Chicago after the convention had deadlocked, [3] [4] thought not as a complacent bystander as has often been claimed. [5] In doing so, he surpassed the three Republican front runners, General Leonard Wood, Governor Frank O. Lowden, and Senator Hiram W. Johnson. The fact that before the convention Harding's potential was considered negligible yet he was able to emerge victorious gave birth to the murky and suspicious nature of this term. [6]
Warren Gamaliel Harding was the 29th president of the United States, serving from 1921 until his death in 1923. A member of the Republican Party, he was one of the most popular sitting U.S. presidents while in office. After his death, a number of scandals were exposed, including Teapot Dome, as well as an extramarital affair with Nan Britton, which tarnished his reputation.
The 1920 United States presidential election was the 34th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 2, 1920. In the first election held after the end of the First World War, and the first election after the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment which gave equal votes to men and women, Republican senator Warren G. Harding of Ohio defeated Democratic governor James M. Cox of Ohio. It was the third presidential election in which both major party candidates were registered in the same home state, and the last time that the state was not New York. It was the first presidential election to have its results broadcast by radio.
Philander Chase Knox was an American lawyer, bank director, statesman and Republican Party politician. He represented Pennsylvania in the United States Senate from 1904 to 1909 and 1917 to 1921. He was the 44th United States Attorney General in the cabinet of William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt from 1901 to 1904 and the 40th United States Secretary of State in the cabinet of William Howard Taft from 1909 to 1913.
A United States presidential nominating convention is a political convention held every four years in the United States by most of the political parties who will be fielding nominees in the upcoming U.S. presidential election. The formal purpose of such a convention is to select the party's nominees for popular election as President and Vice President, as well as to adopt a statement of party principles and goals known as the party platform and adopt the rules for the party's activities, including the presidential nominating process for the next election cycle. Presidential nominating conventions are generally held in a different city every four years. With 26, Chicago has hosted the most major party conventions, beginning with Abraham Lincoln's nomination in 1860.
Harry Micajah Daugherty was an American politician. A key Republican political insider from Ohio, he is best remembered for his service as Attorney General of the United States under presidents Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge, as well as for his involvement in the Teapot Dome scandal during Harding's presidency.
The 1920 Republican National Convention nominated Ohio Senator Warren G. Harding for president and Massachusetts Governor Calvin Coolidge for vice president. The convention was held in Chicago, Illinois, at the Chicago Coliseum from June 8 to June 12, 1920, with 940 delegates. Under convention rules, a majority plus one, or at least 471 of the 940 delegates, was necessary for a nomination.
Frank Orren Lowden was an American Republican Party politician who served as the 25th Governor of Illinois and as a United States Representative from Illinois. He was also a candidate for the Republican presidential nominations in 1920 and 1928.
William Fife Knowland was an American politician and newspaper publisher. A member of the Republican Party, he served as a United States Senator from California from 1945 to 1959. He was Senate Majority Leader from August 1953 to January 1955 after the death of Robert A. Taft, and would be the last Republican Senate Majority Leader until Howard Baker in 1981.
The 1952 Republican National Convention was held at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago, Illinois from July 7 to 11, 1952, and nominated Dwight D. Eisenhower of New York, nicknamed "Ike", for president and Richard M. Nixon of California for vice president.
The 1914 United States Senate elections were held on November 3, 1914. These were the first regularly scheduled elections held following the ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1913, which required that all seats up for election be popularly elected, rather than chosen by their state legislatures. Thus, it was the first time that elections were generally scheduled on Election Day to coincide with the U.S. House elections. The 32 seats of Class 3 were contested in regular elections in 1914. Special elections were also held to fill vacancies. These elections occurred in the middle of Democratic President Woodrow Wilson's first term.
In United States politics and government, the term presidential nominee has two different meanings:
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.
The Blackstone Hotel is a historic 290-foot (88 m) 21-story hotel on the corner of Michigan Avenue and Balbo Drive in the Michigan Boulevard Historic District in the Loop community area of Chicago, Illinois. Built between 1908 and 1910, it is on the National Register of Historic Places. The Blackstone is famous for hosting celebrity guests, including numerous U.S. presidents, for which it was known as the "Hotel of Presidents" for much of the 20th century, and for contributing the term "smoke-filled room" to political parlance.
The 1916 Republican National Convention was held in Chicago from June 7 to June 10. A major goal of the party's bosses at the convention was to heal the bitter split within the party that had occurred in the 1912 presidential campaign. In that year, Theodore Roosevelt bolted the GOP and formed his own political party, the Progressive Party, which contained most of the GOP's liberals. William Howard Taft, the incumbent president, won the nomination of the regular Republican Party. This split in the GOP ranks divided the Republican vote and led to the election of Democrat Woodrow Wilson.
George Brinton McClellan Harvey was an American diplomat, journalist, author, street railway magnate, and editor of several magazines. He used his great wealth in politics. He was an early promoter of Woodrow Wilson, but they became bitter enemies. Harvey was a conservative who wanted Washington to protect big business from what he saw as unjust privilege by labor unions. He repudiated Wilson when he saw Wilson oppose political machines and threaten big business in the style of progressive era reformers.
A brokered convention, in US politics, can occur during a presidential election when a political party fails to choose a nominee on the first round of delegate voting at the party's nominating convention.
Warren G. Harding's tenure as the 29th president of the United States lasted from March 4, 1921, until his death on August 2, 1923. Harding presided over the country in the aftermath of World War I. A Republican from Ohio, Harding held office during a period in American political history from the mid-1890s to 1932 that was generally dominated by his party. He died of an apparent heart attack and was succeeded by Vice President Calvin Coolidge.
The 1920 United States elections was held on November 2. In the aftermath of World War I, the Republican Party re-established the dominant position it lost in the 1910 and 1912 elections. This was the first election after the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the constitutional right to vote.
The 1914 United States Senate election in Ohio was held on November 3, 1914. Republican nominee Warren G. Harding, future President of the United States, defeated Democratic nominee Timothy S. Hogan and Progressive Arthur L. Garford to succeed retiring incumbent Republican senator Theodore E. Burton.
From March 9 to June 5, 1920, voters of the Republican Party elected delegates to the 1920 Republican National Convention for the purpose of choosing the party's nominee for president in the 1920 election.