Pinback button promoting Calvin Coolidge for president and Charles Dawes for vice president, 1924. The Whitehead and Hoag Co., Newark, New Jersey.
Coolidge, having risen to the presidency upon the death of Harding in the summer of 1923, was the unanimous choice of Republicans for the nomination the following year. Rebuffed by their first choice for vice president, delegates finally settled on Chicago banker and diplomat Charles Dawes, noted for his leadership in the renegotiation of German war debts (the Dawes Plan). It was a surprise choice, even to Dawes, who remarked that his nomination was "about the most unexpected thing in my life."
The Coolidge-Dawes ticket won handily over a divided opposition (the Democrats ran John W. Davis, an obscure Congressman from West Virginia, and a minor Republican schism produced a resurgent Progressive movement led by maverick Winconsin senator Robert LaFollette). Despite his polularity, Coolidge declined to run for a second term in 1928.
Few jugate pinbacks (featuring portraits of both candidates) are known from 1924. We offer a choice example for the Coolidge and Dawes ticket.
