1904 Farmer-Labor Party presidential nomination

Background
For a decade following the midterms of 1890, the Farmer-Labor Party found themselves facing landslide defeat after defeat, reduced to a tiny minority in both houses of Congress. Yet, the midterms of 1902 have become a beacon of hope for the party, with Federal Republicans losing their House majority, 8 Senate seats, and defeating Farmer-Labor by only 1.3% in the popular vote. With the party ascendant anew and unions growing at the fastest rate in decades amidst countless strikes, party leaders see a chance of victory on the horizon for the first time in years, with the once thoroughly dry party of John Bidwell becoming increasingly wet under the influence of a nationally influential newspaperman.

The Primaries
The Kentucky primary brought a shock as George Taylor won three of the state’s thirteen delegates, yet William Randolph Hearst was able to sweep the state overall, sweeping Wisconsin in a similar landslide with Richard F. Pettigrew in second. The Hearst campaign’s snowball was stymied as Jones’ carried Massachusetts with the support of the followers of the late Edward Bellamy, Arthur F. Devereux chief among them. Meanwhile, Bellamy’s Floridian brother Francis prepared the Jones organization for a likely successful Florida campaign, with Jones fortunes looking up. Pettigrew was able to carry his home state to the surprise of few, yet Hearst came in second in both Clay and Massachusetts while winning Texas in a landslide, with 42.3% of the vote to George Taylor in second with 13.1%.

Henry Teller won all five delegates up for grabs in Colorado, his home state remaining loyal to the man they’d followed for decades, yet it was the Ohio primary that captivated observers. Hearst and his ally John McLean worked against the Jones campaign, allied with wet Senator Tom L. Johnson, in Jones’ home state, with the primary becoming largely a one on one contest, with the fate of Samuel M. Jones’ presidential hopes on the line. Yet, Hearst found an ally in leading Farmer-Laborite Jacob Coxey, whose eleven speeches in support of the newspaper magnate were printed and distributed across the state, setting the stage for the eventual Hearst victory.

Samuel M. Jones announced his departure from the race a day later, endorsing Richard F. Pettigrew. Tom Watson’s excursion to Nebraska to campaign for the upcoming primary was damaged by an apparent lack of action from William Jennings Bryan, whom Watson had counted on to expand the Georgian’s appeal beyond the South, yet who was seemingly now largely unconcerned with the presidential race. Wyoming yielded Hearst a victory, yet Pettigrew further solidified his status as the main opposition candidate by winning Montana. Despite carrying 7 Nebraska delegates to 9 for Hearst, Watson’s attempts to paint Nebraska’s primary as a relative victory largely fell through.

Hearst’s editorial empire held strong influence in Houston, Tennessee, and Illinois, with the endorsements of Adlai Stevenson in Illinois and James Richardson in Tennessee aiding him, outpacing and out-funding Clarence Darrow’s Illinois campaign for Pettigrew and John P. Buchanan’s efforts for Tom Watson. While Tom Watson carried Florida with the aid of former Senator and current cult leader Cyrus Teed and South Carolina on the efforts of Ben Tillman, his prior high standing with black voters was shattered, leaving an opening for George Taylor. 60 year old J. Milton Turner and rising black Farmer-Laborite George W. Buckner would travel to the Caribbean to convince black populations in Santo Domingo and Afro-Cubans to switch parties and back Taylor, an effort that would result in the shocking victory of Taylor in the Caribbean primaries. Hearst’s New York World and his status as Governor was enough to carry him to a landslide victory in New York, while the radical element in Iowa found itself too weak to bolster Pettigrew to the top and Watson’s lack of active support from Bryan crippled his efforts outside of the South, allowing Hearst to carry Iowa. North Carolina proved a three way tie in delegates between Hearst, Taylor, and Watson, with Hearst winning the popular vote with 32.4%.

Alabama Governor Milford W. Howard led Watson’s effort in the state, while Arkansas was a battleground between James K. Jones’ Hearst supporters and the inheritors of the mantle of Charles E. Cunningham, backing Watson. Georgia, meanwhile, was considered a safe state for Watson, who put little effort into the home state. The fiery populist would come to regret the decision, as Hearst poured everything into exploiting the cracks in Watson’s campaign, with his alienation of white supremacist Rebecca Felton due to his support of civil rights and alienation of black voters due to his alliance with Ben Tillman both being used to drive the Feltons to refuse to make an endorsement and drive many once pro-Watson black voters to Taylor. Even as Arkansas and Alabama went for Watson, his managers would lack a minute of sleep on the night of the primary as the state went for Hearst, ending Watson’s presidential hopes and making Pettigrew the only serious challenger to Hearst in one fell swoop. Finding himself one of the last men standing, a surprised George E. Taylor would embark upon a speaking tour in Tijuana, which, while failing to win him delegates, marked a major growth of support outside of his black base. Hearst carried California, where his uncle had once served as Governor, yet was put back on his toes as Pettigrew carried Minnesota by 1.4%, which Hearst had taken for granted as a victory. Responding to the disaster in Minnesota, Hearst’s newspapers and organization redoubled their efforts, outspending the damaged Pettigrew campaign by a 4-1 margin, and carrying himself to victory in every state of the final Western primaries bar New Mexico. Meanwhile, THearst campaign manager Thomas L. Hisgen met with George Taylor, and while not officially speaking for Hearst, made a speech in favor of civil rights, with Hearst working to cultivate Taylor and his delegates to back him over Pettigrew.

Pettigrew found a surprise victory in Mississippi’s low turnout primary after winning the endorsement of Tom Watson, yet Hearst carried both other primaries with the endorsement of Donelson Caffery Jr. in Louisiana and the Michigan state Farmer-Labor Party itself. With Edmund R. Cocke’s nearly four decade old left wing organization falling behind Hearst in Virginia, the frontrunner was further aided by the official endorsement of Henry Teller and support from Indiana moderate Benjamin F. Shively, who led Hearst forces in the Midwest against Eugene Debs’ Pettigrew organization. When the smoke of the political contest cleared, Hearst had won every primary. Hearst continued his winning streak despite a small but dedicated Pettigrew contingent. With 242 delegates after the certification of the Connecticut results, he had won the adequate support to win the Farmer-Labor nomination for the presidency on the first ballot, with Taylor endorsing him the day before the final round of primaries. Both winner-take-all Northeastern primaries served to do naught but expand Hearst’s margin, as he won all 36 delegates up for grabs.

The Convention
Nominated by acclamation at the New York City convention, the once-shy Hearst, having conquered his fear of public speaking after a year and a half as Governor, ascended to the podium for a speech of acceptance. In the convention hall and outside 50,000 supporters looked on with enthusiasm as he began his acceptance speech not by downplaying his wealth, but by focusing on it, stating that ”I am not in this election because I have any itch for office or because I want the salary, but because I want to accomplish something for your benefit and win your approval.” Cheers broke out, with calls of “Hearst, Hearst, he’s not the worst!” heard for blocks around.

”According to American principle and practice, the public is the ruler of the State” Hearst declared, before moving on to accuse actions against striking union workers of being democratic suppression, stating ”When free discussion is denied, hardening of the arteries of democracy has set in, free institutions are but a lifeless form, and the death of the republic is at hand.” Defending his own reputation, he continued, ”Not even the most venal of newspapers has suggested that anyone owns me, or that I would be influenced by anything save the will of the people in the event of the election.” Stating that he was no radical and that ”Any man who has the brains to think and the nerve to act for the benefit of the people of the country is considered a radical by those who are content with stagnation and willing to endure disaster”, Hearst then declared his firm support of the “right of private property”, arguing that the right applied to the public as much as individuals and noting that he compensated the utilities he put under local public ownership in New York.

Next came a resounding call for an end to prohibition, stating ” I am against Prohibition because it has set the cause of temperence back twenty years; because it has substituted an ineffective campaign of force for an effective campaign of education; because it has replaced comparatively uninjurious light wines and beers with the worst kind of hard liquor and bad liquor; because it has increased drinking not only among men but has extended drinking to women and even children.” With a nod to a group of delegates carrying a Taylor sign, Hearst would then call for a formal endorsement of the status quo on civil rights in the Farmer-Labor platform, stating that ”I do not think that any man should be attacked because of his race or religion, or that he should be immune from attack because of race or religion.” Finally, Hearst concluded with ”We must be alarmingly enterprising, and we must be startlingly original, and do new and striking things which constitute a revolution.” as the crowd, spilling across the block outside the Convention Hall, exploded into cheers and shouts.

It was in the aftermath of this enthusiasm that Hearst would move for a coup de grace to secure the coalition he hoped to build. The LAP remains for Dewey, yet it has endorsed many a Farmer-Labor candidate downballot and Farmer-Labor representatives brought John Nance Garner to victory as Speaker of the House. Thus, Hearst sought to draft the moderate Southerner, while considered progressive in the LAP, hardly a Laborite, though only arguably a conservative, for his running mate. He had begun negotiations with Garner after the Texas primary and, with Garner opposing Dewey’s lethargy on anti-prohibitionism and seeking another avenue to power, the 36 year old Texan agreed to join the 41 year old New Yorker on the Farmer-Labor ticket, nominated with only eight votes to spare against a scattering of votes for others.