Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-06-10
.FLAWLESS POLITICS
.CL|NCH NOMINAT ION
.OF CAREFUL CALVIN
BY DAVID LAWRENCE
Especial Leased Wire to The Journal.)
Copyright, 1921

| importance, the nomination of Cal
vim Coolidge to the presidency by
the Republican party is being taken,
| for granted so much that there has
J been little inclination to inquire into
the methods by which the man from
Massachusetts has achieved the
prize.
On, the surface it has seemed an
easy campaign. But it has not been,
in any sense except financially, for
it is doubtful whether any cam
! paign for the presidency in the pres
! ent generation has cost IS little.
There were occasions when a sin
| gle blunder might have cost Calvin
! Coolidge the nomination. After talk
! ing with some of the men who have
! been most instrumental in bringing
| about the triumph of Calvin Cool
| ldge, the writer is convinced that al
most the same kind of campaign
with respect to fundamentals now
will be waged for the election of the
| president. The strategy of the Cool
| idge campaign has been a recogni-
! ton of two fundamentals from the
| very outset; First, that the person
| atty of Calvin Coolidge was UNI
| known to the mass of the people
and even to the politicians, and sec
ond, that the politicians would fall
| in line if the right kind of policies
were enunciated by the president.
Played Right from Start
The effort to nominate Mr.. Cool
| idge began IN the week that he sue
| ceeded the late Warren Harding to
| the presidency. This does not mean
! that he was conscious Of it, or that.
! he gave it impulse or momentum. 1t
does mean that the leaders of the
party saw an opportunity to nomi-
nate him if he passed muster on GER
| tain fundamentals.
Two things that Mr.. Coolidge did
| at the very beginning made him
| solid with the regular organizat ton.
| He announced that the personnel
appointed by Mr.. Harding would be
retained, and that the policies of his
predecessor would be followed out
as FAR as was consistent with chang
ing circumstances. But he did
something else-he sent to senate in
December every one of the recess ap-
po1ntments madebyMr Harding and
even carried out some of the informal
pledges made concerning appoint
ments by the late president
This was evidence that Mr. Cool
ldge was a faithful party man and
would not upset the organization-
at least not before the organization
had an opportunity to demonstrate
or 70
its rewards. Anyone who under
stands practical politics cannot under
estimate the Importance of these
moves. Then the appointment as
private secretary of c. Bascom
Slemp, former representative from
Virginia. 1t was suggested by Sena-
tor Curtis, of Kansas, and Speaker
Gillette, and was concurred in by
Secretary of War Weeks, of Massa-
chusetts. 1t was the first time a
son of a Confederate soldier had sat
in the chair of the private secretary
in the White House
Slemp Knew the Ground
But the appointment of Mr.. Slemp
was valuable for reasons other than
its sentimental effect upon the lead
ers of the Republican party in The
south. Mr.. Slemp himself hal been
i'll the house of representatives and
knew its personnel and methods in
tunately. Mr.. Coolidge knew the SEN
late, but didn't know the b 1u e. Also
Mr.. Slemp knew more about how to
get the delegates from the south ttan
any man in the Republican, PARTY.
AS member of the Republican ma
tional committee. from Virginia, he
! knew the personalities in the party,
their strong points and their weak.
nFSSes.
The business of getting DELEGATES
snCuld not be nisconStrucd SIS buTely
q case Of political manipulation MI
CooidgeS nomination is not due to
the cOralling of delegates as such.
| Most or them were anxious to be
coralled. 1t was due to the psyche
logical process by which most of the
leaders in the south became con-
WINGED that their lot lay with Cool
! idSe and no other Mr.. Slemp pre-
vented them from becoming the nu-
cleus of anybody elses organization
until they were themselves won over.
And it did not take them long to see
that Mr.. Coolidge was ready to show
his party fidelity.
Battle Shifts to West
The first address to congress de
| livered by Mr.. Coolidge was a critical
point in the campaign. Up to that
time Mr.. Coolidge was unfolding his
personality in interviews with Repub-
| lican leaders and in brief statements
to the press, but his program, indeed
his platform, was announced in the
communication to OnGreSS terSely
written and straight to the point.
| The editorial approval which follow
ed that speech brought Mr.. Coolidge
more delegates than anything his
friends did. The south had come into
line quickly. New England was. of
course, loyal from the outset The
battle shifted to the west.
In the first primary of Importance
- South Dakota = the same state
which had instructed for Calvin Cool
| idge in 1920, came forth with an in
dorsement. 1t was significant of Mr..
CoolidGe's strength in the west This
was on December /. One cannot eX-
laggerate the Importance of that
South Dakota primary. First OF all.
| it contradicted the advice of those
who had been urging Mr.. Coolidge to
stay out of primaries altogether and
| to make a passive campaign. Sec
Ondly, it led to Endorsement in the
primaries of neighboring states.