Evening star., 1936-05-08
0bER[|N TO HOLD
MOCK CONVENTION
76-Year-0Id Tradition Be.
hind G. O. P. Nomination
This Week.

OBERL1N, Ohio, May N.A.
N.AD.-A tradition of rs years stand
ing will be honored here today and
tomorrow when Oberlin College pre-
sents its nineteenth quadrennial
mock national political convention, an
event which originated in 1860 and
which has been repeated every fourth
year since, with one exception.
There was no mock convention in
| 1912. It seems that little too much
exuberance attended the 1908 conven-
ton, and the faculty banned it. The
convention was reinstated in 1916.
In the 18 conventions held so far,
the student delegates nine times NOM
| mated the man who later in the same
year was nominated for President by
| his party. Six times the convention
choice was elected-Presidents Grant,
Benjamin Harrison. Mckinley, Theo-
dore Roosevelt, Taft and Hoover.
Four years ago. the Oberlin Con-
vention missed the boat. It nominated
Owen D. Young on the eleventh ballot
It clicked in 1928 with Herbert Hoover,
but missed in 1924. when Senator Will
liam E. Borah won the conventions
favor.
Harding 1904 Chairman.
In 1904, the then Lieutenant Cover
nor Of Ohio was chairman Of the con-
vention. His name was Warren G.
Harding. In 1920, however, Mr.. Hard
ing failed to win the nomination OF
the Oberlin Convention. 1t went that
year to Charles Evans Hughes.
Up to 1882, every Oberlin mock
convention was Republican Conven.
ton. In 1882, the students voted to
| have a Democratic Convention, but
this year they voted, by a majority OF
533, to return to the Republican fold
All the delegates to the convention
are Oberlin College students. Com
mittees were appointed last Fall tc
make preparations. The convention
will be run in exactly the same man.
ner as will the regular Republican
National Convention, which will be
held 80 miles away in Cleveland q
month later. The verisimilitude will
go even so far as the conniving In
back rooms, although they will not
necessarily be smoke-filled.
Tonight, there will be q parade
of delegates, headed by 7,500-pound
elephant. The keynote address will be
delivered by former Gov. Clifford
Pinchot Of Pennsylvania, who was
the Oberlin conventions choice for
Vice President in 1924. Tonight also
will see the debate on resolutions
The Resolutions Committee has been
working on its report for weeks, and
will submit it at that time.
Bricker to Preside.
John w. Bricker, attorney general
of Ohio, will preside over the Satur-
day session, at which the nominations
will be made.
The Oberlin Mock Convention has
attracted wider attention with each
repetition. The managers expect sew
eral thousand visitors to attend this
weeks sessions. The meeting tomor-
row night will be broadcast over a rs.
station network. the first broadcast
of the convention proceedings in its
history.
An added feature this year will
be the alumni vote. Ballots have
been mailed to all Of Oberlin's 10000
alumni and the result of this vote will
be announced Saturday night. The
alumni votes will not affect the out.
come Of the student convention, how.
ever. More than 100 Oberlin Alumni
Clubs will hold meetings all over
America tomorrow night to hear the
broadcast.
(Copyright 1886 by the North American
Newspaper Alliance Inc.)