FDR Runs to be Vice President

FDR with Cox at the White House

Franklin was nominated at the Democratic convention in San Francisco.  He was considered a bridge between James Cox, the Democratic nominee, and the Wilson administration in which he had served.  Roosevelt was thrilled to have received the nomination, being the second youngest nominee ever. Franklin campaigned heavily using the Roosevelt name and comparing himself to Teddy Roosevelt.  On election day, the American voters chose the Republican ticket of Harding and Coolidge by a vote of 16,152,200 to 9,147,353.

Roosevelt went to the Democratic convention in San Francisco as a supporter of Al Smith's nomination for Presidency. He was asked by Smith to second the nomination. His speech was a great success. In the speech he stated: "I love him as a friend. I look up to him as a man. I am with him as a Democrat, and we all know his record throughout the nation." Smith was not nominated. The Democratic nominee was the governor of Ohio, James Cox. Upon being asked his choice for the Vice Presidential candidate, Cox stated: "my choice is young Roosevelt. His name is good, he's right geographically, and he's anti-Tammany."

Judge Timothy Ansberry put his name before the convention. He stated: "The young man whose name I am going to suggest is but three years over the age of thirty-five prescribed by the Constitution but he has crowded into that short period of time a very large experience as a public official. He is a name to be conjured with in American politics... Franklin Roosevelt."

Before the campaign itself began, Cox and Roosevelt went to the White House to meet the invalid President Wilson. There they expressed their strong support for American entry into the League of Nations. It became one of the central points in the campaign. Roosevelt campaigned from coast to coast traveling in his private railcar. He often invoked the image of Theodore Roosevelt, making it clear that he was a close relative. Despite the hard work, the Cox-Roosevelt ticket went down to overwhelming defeat. The popular vote was 16,152,200 to 9,147,353, while the Harding campaign carried the electoral college 404 to 127.