Community Corner
Election of 1924 Reprised at Historical Museum
The North Shore Historical Museum recently presented a talk by historian Dr. Millie DeRiggi on the Election of 1924.
Local resident and attorney, John W. Davis, ran as the Democratic candidate for President. He lived on Overlook Drive, which connects Lattingtown Road and a road with an unforgettable name, Skunks Misery Lane.
Originally from West Virginia, Davis had a practice common to a country lawyer, with a variety of clients. He became known for his legal ability, integrity and loyal friends. This became the base for his political support.
In 1910 West Virginia voters sent him to Congress and in 1912 President Woodrow Wilson named his Solicitor General, the Chief United States trial lawyer. In 1919 Davis became Ambassador to Great Britain. His successful three-year service gave him a love of England and valuable diplomatic experience.
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When Davis returned to the United States, he joined a Wall Street firm and soon had important clients, including J.P. Morgan, Jr. In 1923 he bought his estate, which overlooked the Long Island Sound.
His supporters in West Virginia, however, had decided Davis would be a good candidate for president in 1924, and begged him to come back to West Virginia. Davis was an admirer of Thomas Jefferson and believed in limited federal government and individual liberty, but they asked how wound Democrats vote for a Wall Street lawyer who lived on Long Island's Gold Coast?
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The Democratic Convention met in New York City in steamy July heat and witnessed a bitter struggle between John McAdoo, a businessman endorsed by the Ku Klux Klan, and Al Smith the popular Governor of New York, supported by Tammany Hall. Neither was able to obtain the required number of votes, and finally the exhausted delegates on the 103 ballot nominated John W. Davis.
In the election, Calvin Coolidge a conservative Republican won, Davis carried only the then Democratic "solid south", and many liberal Democrats voted for the Progressive Party.
The campaign over, Davis returned to practicing law and life on Overlook Drive, earning over a lifetime the distinction of having presented more legal arguments (140) to the Supreme Court than any other American in the Twentieth Century.
The North Shore Historical Museum is located at 140 Glen Street in Glen Cove. For information about the Museum’s programs and exhibits, call 516-801-1191 or visit horthsorehistoricalmuseum.org.
