Veeps: Charles Dawes
Charles Gates Dawes, the 30th Vice President of the United States, was the only Vice President to be a Nobel Prize Winner. He was that and much more: a banker, a general in the First World War, the first director of the US Bureau of the Budget, the composer of the music for a hit song and a man who tried to help rebuild Europe following the first world War. Yet I suspect many of you have never heard of him.
Dawes was born in Marietta, Ohio on August 27, 1865. His parents were Rufus Dawes, a Union general during the Civil war, and Mary Beman Gates Dawes. Charles graduated from Marietta College in 1884, and from the Cincinnati Law School two years later in 1886. He married Caro Blymyer on January 24, 1889, and they had four children: Rufus Fearing Dawes, Carolyn Dawes, Dana McCutcheon, and Virginia Dawes.
Dawes was admitted to the bar in Nebraska, and he practiced in Lincoln, Nebraska from 1887 to 1894. During that time a young army Lieutenant named 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 began a lifelong friendship. 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.
The serious looking Dawes had a musical side too. He 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 morphed into the pop song "It's All in the Game" in 1951 when Carl Sigman added lyrics. Since then, the song 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 to be credited with a No. 1 pop hit.
Dawes was recruited by prominent Republican party leaders, who asked him to manage William McKinley's presidential campaign in Illinois in 1896. When McKinley was victorious in the election, Dawes was rewarded by being named Comptroller of the Currency, an office in the Department of the Treasury. He served in that role from 1898 to 1901. One of his achievements was to changed banking practices following the Panic of 1893 to try to prevent a similar event in the future. In October 1901, Dawes left the Department of the Treasury in order to run for the U.S. Senate in Illinois. When McKinley was assassinated, Theodore Roosevelt, preferred Dawes's opponent and Dawes lost his party's nomination. Dawes declared that he was done with politics. On September 5, 1912, his 21 year old son Rufus drowned in Geneva Lake while on summer break from Princeton University.
During the First World War, Dawes was commissioned Major, Lieutenant Colonel, and later 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 of the United States War Department. After the war, the U.S. Senate held hearings on overcharges by military suppliers. During a heated exchange in his 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!" This remark was widely quoted in the press and Dawes became knownas "Hell and Maria Dawes".He resigned from the Army in 1919.
When the Bureau of the Budget was created, Dawes was appointed in 1921 by President Warren G. Harding as its first Director. He was also appointed as a member of the Allied Reparations Commission in 1923. He helped to formulate a progtram which became known as the Dawes Plan, which enabled Germany to restore and stabilize its economy. For this achievement he shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1925. However a political faction which called for harsher post-war treatment of Germany replaced the Dawes Plan with the Young Plan, which had harsher provisions against the defeated nation.
At the 1924 Republican National Convention, Calvin Coolidge was selected almost without opposition to be the Republican presidential nominee. The vice presidential nomination was more problematic. Illinois Governor Frank Lowden was nominated, but declined. Coolidge's next choice was Idaho Senator William Borah, but he also declined the nomination. Eventually, the delegates chose Dawes for the number two spot on the ticket. Coolidge felt that Dawes was a excellent choice. The ticket won the election on November 4, 1924 and Dawes and Coolidge were inaugurated on March 4, 1925.
In an odd turn of events, Coolidge wanted Dawes to attend cabinet meetings, but Dawes sent a letter to the president saying that he would not be attending them. (It is odd because often the situation was reversed, with Vice Presidents wanting to attend cabinet meetings, but being denied the privilege). This led to a feud between the two running mates. On inauguration day Dawes publicly criticized the U.S. Senate. Dawes made an angry 30 minute speech denouncing the rules of the Senate, the seniority system and many other things that Senators held dear. His speech drew a lot of attention, overshadowing Coolidge's inaugural address, which angered the President.
On March 10, the president's nomination of Charles B. Warren to be United States Attorney General was being debated. 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. Dawes decided to take a break for a nap after being assured by the majority and minority leaders that no vote would be taken that afternoon. After Dawes left the Senate, however, all but one of the scheduled speakers decided not to speak 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, which meant that by the time Dawes arrived, there was no longer a tie to break. The nomination had failed by a single vote, making it the first such rejection of a president's nominee in nearly 60 years. Another rift between the President and his Vice President occurred when Dawes lobbied Senators to pass the McNary–Haugen Farm Relief Bill, only to have Coolidge vetoed it.
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 Coolidge made it known that he would consider Dawes' re-nomination to be an insult to him. Senate Majority Leader Charles Curtis of Kansas was selected instead.
After Dawes term as Vice President was over, he was appointed as the U.S. Ambassador to the Court of St. James (the United Kingdom) from 1929 to 1932. Dawes was considered to be a very effective ambassador. King George's son, the future King Edward VIII was quite complimentary of Dawes in his memoirs. Dawes disliked much of the formality associated with the position. He said that he hated having to present American débutantes to King George V, and he refused to wear the customary Court dress, which then included knee breeches.
When the Great Depression struck the United States, Dawes accepted President Herbert Hoover's request to leave diplomatic service and head the newly created Reconstruction Finance Corporation. But Dawes resigned from the position a few months later, choosing instead to attend to some of his personal financial interests which were failing. This marked the end of Dawes' career in public service.
Dawes returned 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. He died in Evanston, Illinois at the age of 85 on April 23, 1951. He is interred in Rosehill Cemetery, in Chicago.
Dawes was born in Marietta, Ohio on August 27, 1865. His parents were Rufus Dawes, a Union general during the Civil war, and Mary Beman Gates Dawes. Charles graduated from Marietta College in 1884, and from the Cincinnati Law School two years later in 1886. He married Caro Blymyer on January 24, 1889, and they had four children: Rufus Fearing Dawes, Carolyn Dawes, Dana McCutcheon, and Virginia Dawes.
Dawes was admitted to the bar in Nebraska, and he practiced in Lincoln, Nebraska from 1887 to 1894. During that time a young army Lieutenant named 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 began a lifelong friendship. 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.
The serious looking Dawes had a musical side too. He 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 morphed into the pop song "It's All in the Game" in 1951 when Carl Sigman added lyrics. Since then, the song 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 to be credited with a No. 1 pop hit.
Dawes was recruited by prominent Republican party leaders, who asked him to manage William McKinley's presidential campaign in Illinois in 1896. When McKinley was victorious in the election, Dawes was rewarded by being named Comptroller of the Currency, an office in the Department of the Treasury. He served in that role from 1898 to 1901. One of his achievements was to changed banking practices following the Panic of 1893 to try to prevent a similar event in the future. In October 1901, Dawes left the Department of the Treasury in order to run for the U.S. Senate in Illinois. When McKinley was assassinated, Theodore Roosevelt, preferred Dawes's opponent and Dawes lost his party's nomination. Dawes declared that he was done with politics. On September 5, 1912, his 21 year old son Rufus drowned in Geneva Lake while on summer break from Princeton University.
During the First World War, Dawes was commissioned Major, Lieutenant Colonel, and later 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 of the United States War Department. After the war, the U.S. Senate held hearings on overcharges by military suppliers. During a heated exchange in his 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!" This remark was widely quoted in the press and Dawes became knownas "Hell and Maria Dawes".He resigned from the Army in 1919.
When the Bureau of the Budget was created, Dawes was appointed in 1921 by President Warren G. Harding as its first Director. He was also appointed as a member of the Allied Reparations Commission in 1923. He helped to formulate a progtram which became known as the Dawes Plan, which enabled Germany to restore and stabilize its economy. For this achievement he shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1925. However a political faction which called for harsher post-war treatment of Germany replaced the Dawes Plan with the Young Plan, which had harsher provisions against the defeated nation.
At the 1924 Republican National Convention, Calvin Coolidge was selected almost without opposition to be the Republican presidential nominee. The vice presidential nomination was more problematic. Illinois Governor Frank Lowden was nominated, but declined. Coolidge's next choice was Idaho Senator William Borah, but he also declined the nomination. Eventually, the delegates chose Dawes for the number two spot on the ticket. Coolidge felt that Dawes was a excellent choice. The ticket won the election on November 4, 1924 and Dawes and Coolidge were inaugurated on March 4, 1925.
In an odd turn of events, Coolidge wanted Dawes to attend cabinet meetings, but Dawes sent a letter to the president saying that he would not be attending them. (It is odd because often the situation was reversed, with Vice Presidents wanting to attend cabinet meetings, but being denied the privilege). This led to a feud between the two running mates. On inauguration day Dawes publicly criticized the U.S. Senate. Dawes made an angry 30 minute speech denouncing the rules of the Senate, the seniority system and many other things that Senators held dear. His speech drew a lot of attention, overshadowing Coolidge's inaugural address, which angered the President.
On March 10, the president's nomination of Charles B. Warren to be United States Attorney General was being debated. 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. Dawes decided to take a break for a nap after being assured by the majority and minority leaders that no vote would be taken that afternoon. After Dawes left the Senate, however, all but one of the scheduled speakers decided not to speak 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, which meant that by the time Dawes arrived, there was no longer a tie to break. The nomination had failed by a single vote, making it the first such rejection of a president's nominee in nearly 60 years. Another rift between the President and his Vice President occurred when Dawes lobbied Senators to pass the McNary–Haugen Farm Relief Bill, only to have Coolidge vetoed it.
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 Coolidge made it known that he would consider Dawes' re-nomination to be an insult to him. Senate Majority Leader Charles Curtis of Kansas was selected instead.
After Dawes term as Vice President was over, he was appointed as the U.S. Ambassador to the Court of St. James (the United Kingdom) from 1929 to 1932. Dawes was considered to be a very effective ambassador. King George's son, the future King Edward VIII was quite complimentary of Dawes in his memoirs. Dawes disliked much of the formality associated with the position. He said that he hated having to present American débutantes to King George V, and he refused to wear the customary Court dress, which then included knee breeches.
When the Great Depression struck the United States, Dawes accepted President Herbert Hoover's request to leave diplomatic service and head the newly created Reconstruction Finance Corporation. But Dawes resigned from the position a few months later, choosing instead to attend to some of his personal financial interests which were failing. This marked the end of Dawes' career in public service.
Dawes returned 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. He died in Evanston, Illinois at the age of 85 on April 23, 1951. He is interred in Rosehill Cemetery, in Chicago.