31: 5. The Democratic Convention: Wilson's Downfall and the Rise of Cox and Roosevelt David Pietrusza 1920: The Year of the Six Presidents Meeting in San Francisco in July 1920, the Democrats grappled with Woodrow Wilson's political liability due to his uncom
The John Batchelor Show
John Batchelor
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🗓️ 27 October 2025
⏱️ 13 minutes
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Summary
David Pietrusza
1920: The Year of the Six Presidents
Meeting in San Francisco in July 1920, the Democrats grappled with Woodrow Wilson's political liability due to his uncompromising League of Nations stance and desire for a third term. Wilson received only a grim demonstration of support, and his cabinet feared he would die if nominated. The two leading contenders were William Gibbs McAdoo, Wilson's son-in-law, and Ohio Governor John Cox. Due to the Democratic two-thirds rule, the convention took many ballots. Cox, a moderate publisher, secured the nomination after 44 ballots. After meeting with Wilson, Cox abandoned his moderate position to strongly support the League. Franklin D. Roosevelt was chosen as Vice President due to his name recognition, Navy service, and New York connections.
1929 HOOVER INAUGURAL
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is CBS Eye on the World. Here's John Batchelor. |
| 0:04.9 | Continuing with the historian and author David Petrucia, his new book, 1920, the Year of the Sixth Presidents. |
| 0:13.3 | Wilson is frail forever in the White House, so he has ambitions for a third term. |
| 0:20.8 | Teddy Roosevelt is gone in January of 2019. |
| 0:24.8 | Warren G. Harding has been nominated by the Republicans in Chicago |
| 0:28.7 | earlier in the summer of 1920. |
| 0:32.0 | It is now July, early July, 1920, |
| 0:36.8 | and the Democrats are meeting in San Francisco, first time they've ever held a convention in on the West Coast. |
| 0:45.3 | The contest now is between the party regulars. They have favorites. One is named McAdoo, who is the son-in-law of Woodrow Wilson. He married |
| 0:57.2 | Woodrow Wilson's daughter. He's a leading candidate. And another candidate, a leading candidate, |
| 1:03.5 | is the governor of Ohio, John, Jimmy Cox. But we need to attend to the setup for the nomination process, which will take many |
| 1:15.2 | ballots. |
| 1:16.7 | And the setup includes, what do you do because you owe everything to where you've been these |
| 1:25.0 | last years with Wilson? |
| 1:26.3 | He was the first Democrat to win the presidency, excepting Grover Cleveland, who was the governor |
| 1:33.9 | of New York as well in the 1880s and 1890s, the first Democrat to win the White House since the |
| 1:40.6 | Civil War. |
| 1:41.6 | So Wilson's achieved something for the Democrats that no other candidate had been able to, |
| 1:47.0 | to take the solid South and add to it northern states enough to win the electoral college. |
| 1:53.0 | But Wilson is now seen as a negative to the campaign to the party because of one the League of the League of Nations that he insists upon |
| 2:05.9 | Two he will not compromise with the Republican Senate though the compromise is offered again and again and three |
| 2:15.0 | Wilson himself imagines that he can be a candidate. At some point, |
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