Charles G . Dawes Charles Gates Dawes ( August 27 , 1865 – April 23 , 1951 ) was an American banker and politician who was the 30th Vice President of the United States ( 1925 – 1929 ) . For his work on the Dawes Plan for World War I reparations he was a cowinner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1925 . Dawes served in the First World War , was the Comptroller of the Currency , the first director of the Bureau of the Budget , and , in later life , the Ambassador to the United Kingdom . Dawes was married to Caro Blymyer on January 24 , 1889 , and they had four children : Rufus Fearing Dawes , Carolyn Dawes , Dana McCutcheon , and Virginia Dawes . Early life , family , and career . Dawes was born in Marietta , Ohio in Washington County , the son of an Civil War officer Rufus Dawes and Mary Beman Gates Dawes . He graduated from Marietta College in 1884 , and from the Cincinnati Law School in 1886 . Dawes was admitted to the bar in Nebraska , and he practiced in Lincoln , Nebraska from 1887 to 1894 . When Lieutenant John Pershing , the future Army general , was appointed as a military instructor at the University of Nebraska while attending its law school , he and Dawes became acquainted and formed a lifelong friendship . Dawes was the great - great - grandson of the Revolutionary War figure William Dawes and the son of Brigadier General Rufus Dawes , who commanded the 6th Wisconsin regiment of the Iron Brigade from 1863 to 1864 during the American Civil War . His brothers were Rufus C . Dawes , Beman Gates Dawes , and Henry May Dawes , all prominent businessmen or politicians . He also had two sisters , Mary B . and Betsy D . Dawes . In 1894 , Dawes acquired interests in a number of Midwestern gas plants , and he became the president of both the La Crosse Gas Light Company in La Crosse , Wisconsin and the Northwestern Gas Light and Coke Company in Evanston , Illinois . Dawes was a self - taught pianist and a composer . His composition , " Melody in A Major " in 1912 became a well - known piano and violin song , and it was played at many official functions as his signature tune . It was transformed into the pop song " It ' s All in the Game " in 1951 when Carl Sigman added lyrics . Tommy Edwards ' recording of " It ' s All in the Game " was a number one hit on the American " Billboard " record chart for six weeks in the fall of 1958 . Edwards ' version of the song also hit number one on the United Kingdom chart that year . Since then , it has since become a pop standard , recorded hundreds of times by artists including Cliff Richard , The Four Tops , Isaac Hayes , Jackie DeShannon , Van Morrison , Nat " King " Cole , Brook Benton , Elton John , Mel Carter , Donny and Marie Osmond , Barry Manilow , and Keith Jarrett . Dawes is the only Vice - President or winner of the Nobel Peace Prize to be credited with a No . 1 pop hit . Marriage and family . Dawes married in 1889 . They had a son Rufus , born 1891 , and two daughters , Carolyn and Virginia . Carolyn later married Melvin Burton Ericson , and Virginia married Richard Thompson Cragg in 1936 . Early political career . Dawes ' prominent positions in business caught the attention of Republican party leaders . They asked Dawes to manage the Illinois portion of William McKinley ' s bid for the Presidency of the United States in 1896 . Following McKinley ' s election , Dawes was rewarded for his efforts by being named Comptroller of the Currency , United States Department of the Treasury . Serving in that position from 1898 – 1901 , he collected more than $ 25 million from banks that had failed during the Panic of 1893 , and also changed banking practices to try to prevent a similar event in the future . In October 1901 , Dawes left the Department of the Treasury in order to pursue a U . S . Senate seat from Illinois . He thought that , with the help of the McKinley Administration , he could win it . McKinley was assassinated and his successor , President Theodore Roosevelt , preferred Dawes ' s opponent . In 1902 , following this unsuccessful attempt at legislative office , Dawes declared that he was done with politics . He organized the Central Trust Company of Illinois , where he served as its president until 1921 . On September 5 , 1912 , the Dawes ' son , Rufus ( 21 ) , drowned in Geneva Lake while on summer break from Princeton University . Reverend W . T . McElveen read Dawes ' tribute to his son . Inspired by his son ' s charity , Dawes wrote , " I have taken him with me among the greatest in the nation and looked in vain for any evidence in him of awe or even curiosity . He has taken me , asking me to help them among the poor and lowly of earth . " In his memory , Dawes created residence homes for down - and - out individuals in both Chicago and Boston . World War I participation and the Nobel Peace Prize . Dawes helped support the first Anglo - French Loan to the Entente of $ 500 , 000 , 000 . Dawes support was important because the House of Morgan needed public support from a non - Morgan banker . The Morgan banker Lamont said that Dawes ' support would " make a position for him in the banking world such as he otherwise could never hope to make . " ( Loans were seen as possibly violating neutrality , and Wilson was still resisting permitting loans . ) During the First World War , Dawes was commissioned Major , Lieutenant Colonel , and Brigadier General of the Seventeenth Engineers . He served with the American Expeditionary Force as chief of supply procurement and was a member of the Liquidation Commission , United States War Department . After the war , the U . S . Senate held hearings on overcharges by military suppliers . During heated testimony , Dawes burst out , " Hell and Maria , we weren ' t trying to keep a set of books over there , we were trying to win a war ! " He was later known as " Hell and Maria Dawes " ( although he always insisted the expression was " Helen Maria " ) . Dawes resigned from the Army in 1919 . When the Bureau of the Budget was created , he was appointed in 1921 by President Warren G . Harding as its first Director . Hoover appointed him to the Allied Reparations Commission in 1923 . For his work on the Dawes Plan , a program to enable Germany to restore and stabilize its economy , Dawes shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1925 . The plan was deemed unworkable and replaced with the Young Plan , which had harsher provisions against Germany . Vice Presidency . At the 1924 Republican National Convention , Calvin Coolidge was quickly selected almost without opposition to be the Republican presidential nominee . The vice presidential nominee was more contested . Illinois Governor Frank Lowden was nominated , but declined . Coolidge ' s next choice was Idaho Senator William Borah , but he also declined the nomination . The Republican National Chairman , William Butler , pledged to nominate then Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover , but he was not sufficiently popular . Eventually , the delegates chose Dawes to be the vice presidential nominee . Coolidge quickly accepted the delegates ' choice and felt that Dawes would be loyal to him and make a strong addition to his campaign . Dawes was elected Vice President of the United States on November 4 , 1924 with more popular votes than the candidates from the Democratic and Progressive parties combined . Dawes and Coolidge were inaugurated on March 4 , 1925 . Soon after his election , Dawes sent a letter to the president saying that he would not be attending cabinet meetings . This is believed to be the beginning of a feud between the two which brought the reputation of the Vice Presidency to its nadir for the 20th century . Having angered the President , Dawes publicly criticized the U . S . Senate . At that time , the Vice President was inaugurated in the Senate Chamber , where he would give an inaugural address . After that , the parties would go to the outside platform , where the President would take the oath . Dawes made a fiery , half - hour address denouncing the rules of the Senate , the seniority system and many other things that Senators held dear . His speech overshadowed that of Coolidge , which angered the President . Only days after Dawes started presiding over the Senate , he made a major error . On March 10 , the president ' s nomination of Charles B . Warren to be United States Attorney General was being debated . In the wake of the Teapot Dome scandal and other business - related scandals , Democrats and Progressive Republicans objected to the nomination because of Warren ' s close association with the Sugar Trust . At midday six speakers were scheduled to address Warren ' s nomination . Desiring to take a break for a nap , Dawes consulted the majority and minority leaders , who assured him that no vote would be taken that afternoon . After Dawes left the Senate , however , all but one of the scheduled speakers decided against making formal remarks , and a vote was taken . When it became apparent that the vote would be tied , Republican leaders hastily called Dawes at the Willard Hotel . He jumped in a taxi and sped toward the Capitol . But in the intervening time , the only Democratic senator who had voted for Warren switched his vote against him . By the time Dawes arrived , there was no longer a tie to break . The nomination had failed by a single vote — the first such rejection of a president ' s nominee in nearly 60 years . This incident was chronicled in a derisive poem , based on the Longfellow poem " Paul Revere ' s Ride ; " it began with the line , " Come gather round children and hold your applause for the afternoon ride of Charlie Dawes . " The choice of poem was based on Charles Dawes being descended from William Dawes , who rode with Paul Revere . Dawes convinced the Senate to pass the McNary – Haugen Farm Relief Bill ; Coolidge vetoed the bill . In 1928 , the Republican presidential nomination went to Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover . His supporters considered putting Dawes on the ticket for another term as vice president . But President Coolidge made it known that he would consider Dawes ' re - nomination to be a personal affront . The Senate Majority Leader , Charles Curtis of Kansas , known for his skills in collaboration , was chosen . The Court of St . James ' s and the RFC . After Dawes had finished his term as Vice President , he served as the U . S . Ambassador to the United Kingdom ( i . e . , to the Court of St . James ' s ) from 1929 to 1932 . Overall , Dawes was considered to be a very effective U . S . ambassador , as King George ' s son , the future King Edward VIII , would later confirm in his memoirs . Dawes was rather rough - hewn for some of his duties , disliking having to present American " débutante s " to King George V . On his first visit to the royal court , in deference to American public opinion , he refused to wear the customary Court dress , which then included knee breeches . This episode was said to upset King George , who had been prevented by illness from attending the event . As the Great Depression continued to ravage the United States , Dawes accepted President Herbert Hoover ' s appeal to leave diplomatic office and head the newly created Reconstruction Finance Corporation . But after a few months , Dawes resigned from the RFC . As a board member of the failing City National Bank and Trust Company of Chicago , he felt obligated to work for its rescue . ( Political opponents alleged that , under Dawes ' leadership , the RFC had given his bank preferential treatment . ) This marked the end of Dawes ' career in public service . Later life . Dawes resumed a role in the banking business . He served for nearly two decades as chairman of the board of the City National Bank and Trust Co . , from 1932 until his death in Evanston in 1951 . He is interred in Rosehill Cemetery , Chicago . Selected bibliography . The list below was retrieved from Haberman ' s 1972 " Nobel Lectures , Peace 1901 – 1925 " . This list can also be obtained here .