Organizing a National Convention:
A Lesson from Senator Dick
Edited by THOMAS
E. FELT*
FROM THE CIVIL WAR to the
present, the engineers and operators
of Ohio's major party machinery have
been obliged by circum-
stances to learn their trade
thoroughly. The state's strategic geo-
graphic position, its coveted electoral
votes, and its diverse economic
interests have made it not only a home
of presidents and would-be
presidents but a school for party
managers as well. In this hotly
contested two-party state, the school
has never been an easy one.
Occasionally, however, an experienced
coach has appeared on the
scene with an offer of assistance, and
on one occasion at least, the
coach set his lessons down in writing.
The occasion was the struggle between
Theodore Roosevelt and
William Howard Taft for the Republican
presidential nomination
in 1912. The coach was former Senator
Charles W. F. Dick of Ohio.
Dick had studied in the school of Mark
Hanna, and on Hanna's
death in 1904 had been elected to
succeed him in the senate. His
training had begun in the politics of
his native Akron. At the age
of twenty-nine he began the first of
two terms as chairman of the
Republican state central committee
(1887-91), followed by a year
as head of the state executive
committee and later a period as a
secretary to the Republican national
committee. After the brief
interruption of the Spanish-American
War, in which he served as a
lieutenant colonel, Dick went to
congress for three terms and was
again chosen to head the state
executive committee before entering
the senate. A Democratic legislature
had retired him from that
office in 1911, and his chances for a
comeback the following year
depended largely upon the success of
the Taft faction of his party
in the state and at the national
convention.
*Thomas E. Felt is field representative
for the Illinois State Historical Society.
ORGANIZING A NATIONAL CONVENTION 51
Dick was understandably troubled over
the possible outcome of
the Chicago convention. Roosevelt's
managers had contested the
credentials of enough delegates to
prevent any claims to a first-
ballot victory for Taft from gaining
popular acceptance, and the
nomination could hinge on the
inclinations of a credentials com-
mittee that would have to decide on
some 254 contested seats in
far too short a time even to attempt
thorough investigations. The
choice of temporary and permanent
chairmen were also crucial, if
less difficult, matters. Finally, there
was not only the likelihood of
some leakage of delegates to Roosevelt
at the last minute but also a
real danger of a stampede in his
direction. The Taft men, represent-
ing the administration, rightly saw
their strategy as one of defense.
A veteran of state and national party
conventions since 1892,
Dick knew that careful preparation was
essential, and to emphasize
its importance he wrote a confidential
sixteen-page outline of his
ideas on convention strategy for the
benefit of his colleagues. How
wide a circulation it received is not
definitely known, but a note
in the senator's handwriting attached
to the copy in the Ohio
Historical Society Library names two of
the recipients: McKinley
and Hilles. Representative William B. McKinley of Illinois (no
relation to President McKinley) had
been a national convention
delegate only once before, and although
he had served six years in
congress by 1912, he was best known as
a loyal, arch-conservative
multimillionaire who could raise
quantities of campaign funds.
Charles B. Hilles, who was to share a
great part of the convention
responsibility with McKinley, was a
native of Belmont, Ohio. He
was soon to be made national committee
chairman, but at this time
he could claim only the experience of
two years as Taft's assistant
secretary of the treasury and a
subsequent two years as the presi-
dent's private secretary. For the work
before them, both men were
novices. But Dick had been Hanna's
prize student, and so, "with
a seraphic smile and a straight-forward
way of presenting his facts
in logical sequence that goes right to
the meat of a proposition,"1
he proceeded to instruct them:
1 As his friend Victor Rosewater
described him in the New York World, June
16, 1912. Quoted in Rosewater's Backstage
in 1912 (Philadelphia, 1932), 123-124.
52 THE OHIO HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
THE WORK IN THE NATIONAL CONVENTION.2
I.
HEADQUARTERS ORGANIZATION.
1. A secret committee of five of seven
should be selected by the candi-
date or by his friends with his
approval, all to be men of good health,
experienced in convention politics, and
of sound judgment. A chairman
should be chosen by the candidate or
selected otherwise, in whom absolute
authority and power should be vested.
2. At least two private secretaries
should be chosen, each to have certain
hours of duty assigned him. They should
receive telegrams and ordinary
telephone messages, and should take such
dictation as may be required.
They should be able to save the chairman
and the committee unnecessary con-
versations with visitors, and should be
men of prudence and wide acquaint-
ance.
3. A sufficient number of doorkeepers
should be selected, assigned to
duty for specified hours, and be in
general charge of a head doorkeeper.
They should be men of discretion, wide
acquaintance with public men,
and should save the chairman and members
of the committee unnecessary
conversations with visitors. When the
committees are in session these door-
keepers should allow no one else to
enter the room or open the door,
and no doorkeeper should be allowed
to be in the room during committee
sessions.
4. Eight or ten aides should be selected
to carry written or oral messages,
report the responses, and perform other
appropriate duties. Specified hours
of duty should be assigned them, and a
captain should be put in charge of
their work. These aides should be young
men of wide acquaintance, good
address, and sound discretion. It will
be found that they can save the chair-
man and the members of the committee a
vast amount of time and effort.
5. Two or three clerks should be
appointed and provided with a complete
roster of all committees and other men
working under the direction of the
chairman or reporting to him in any way,
all delegations and delegates,
locations of all delegation
headquarters, and the necessary hotel or boarding
house addresses and telephone numbers.
This roster should be in book form,
2 From
a typewritten copy in the Charles Dick Collection, Ohio Historical Society
Library. Another copy is in the
possession of Mrs. Grace Williams of Akron, Ohio.
Her permission to publish this document
is gratefully acknowledged.
ORGANIZING A NATIONAL CONVENTION 53
arranged by states, territories, names
of men, etc. A record of this kind
will be found of great value.
II.
DIVISION OF WORK.
The general work should be divided to
such an extent as will save the
chairman and the committee as far as
possible and make sure of efficient
effort. The following divisions are
suggested, with the understanding that
at least one man in the confidence of
the chairman will be made responsible
for each division:
1. Visits.
It may be found that delegates or
delegations will wish to be visited and
talked to by a man or two coming
directly from the principal headquarters
and, therefore, representing the
candidate in some sense. These visits should
be arranged for and made wherever
desired. In other instances the visits
should be made by the Ohio delegation or
some part of it.
2. Speakers.
Probably requests will be made at
headquarters for speakers. Usually
requests of that kind can be referred to
the loyal part of the Ohio delega-
tion, a member of the committee or an
aide laying the request before the
chairman of the loyal part of the Ohio
delegation, but if the case has
special or peculiar features the
organization headquarters should attend to it.
3. Publicity.
The loyal part of the Ohio delegation
should have general charge of
this work except as to the preparation
and publication of interviews.
Interviews should be carefully prepared
before hand, and the sooner
the work is done the better, on the
various points of the candidate's record
that it may be desired to put before the
delegates favorably, or concerning
which it may be thought well to make
defense. Besides all that, interviews
should be prepared now setting forth the
principal arguments in favor of
nominating the candidate. This is a most
important branch and the work
should be given to experienced writers,
who are thoroughly familiar with
the facts and the best way to present
them.
If possible, first drafts of all these
interviews should be submitted to
the candidate for his revision and then
several copies should be made of
each. All the interviews should be taken
to Chicago early and kept under
lock and key. When occasion requires the
use of one, a prominent man
should be asked to let the interview be
published as his own, thus furnishing
"a name to carry the story."
54 THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
In the heat of a convention battle there
is no time to write interviews as
they should be written. Do it now.
4. The Press.
Much attention should be given the
gentlemen of the press in the head-
quarters by the chairman and those
associated with him particularly to the
representatives of the Chicago, St.
Louis, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Boston,
and New York papers. But the gentlemen
of the press from all parts of
the country are worthy of most thoughtful
consideration because, induced
by the dispatches to the papers, many
men at home will telegraph their views
to delegates.
5. Entertainment.
Some delegates and other influential men
will be found amenable to
social attention in the way of drives,
dinners, theatres, etc. There should
be at command genial and well informed
men who know how to give a
dinner acceptably or extend other
hospitalities in the right way. These
attentions should be offered and
bestowed in the way that prevails among
such gentlemen. This subject may be
found a most important one, and it
should be in the general charge of the
right man.
6. Secret Service.
(a) In national convention battles, as
in the other forms of warfare,
secret service is highly essential, and
its attention should be given not only
to the opposition, but to those whose
support we have the right to expect.
The details of this work should
be put in the hands of a man who has been
thoroughly familiar with secret service
work, if possible, say, one who has
done secret service work in the employ
of the Government, or a railroad
company, or some great industrial or
business enterprise, but not a profes-
sional or commercial detective. The kind of man described will know
instinctively how to select and direct
his subordinates and how to sift the
wheat from the chaff in their reports.
He should report frequently each
day and night to the man assigned to do
this work generally and he to
the chairman. Frequent suggestions should
be made to the man in charge
of the details as to particular
individuals or to particular lines of effort, so
as to meet the developments of the hour
or day and prepare for the future,
having in mind attempts to
"handle" our delegates or do other mischief.
(b) Without the knowledge of the man in
charge of the above branch,
bright [,] quick, alert
men--amateurs--should be encouraged to organize
little bureaus of their own, giving to
each specified delegations, and requir-
ing him to select his own agencies. In
this way the whole convention can
be covered by three or four amateur
bands. The men in charge should
report to the member of the committee
who has this secret work in hand
ORGANIZING A NATIONAL CONVENTION 55
generally and he should report to the
chairman. These amateurs may be
allowed to think the headquarters has no
other way of getting this work done.
(c) No man engaged in secret service
work should be allowed to have
any knowledge except that acquired by
his own efforts.
7. Polling.
(a) Appoint a well chosen
committee--say, of forty members -- to do
this work. They should come from all
parts of the Union, if possible. Give
to each member a state or more and make
him responsible for learning and
reporting, day by day, the exact
standing of every delegate in his territory,
no matter how the delegates may stand.
He should learn and report the
second choice of each delegate, and his
personal characteristics, associates,
and surroundings.
This committee should have a fixed and secret
place of meeting, and it
should appoint a chairman, secretary,
and one or more doorkeepers. Admis-
sion should be by password to be changed
each night. All meetings should
be under a solemn pledge of secrecy, no
word or hint to be given to any-
body except by reports through the
chairman of the committee to the chair-
man of the organization or the one designated
by him.
The committee should meet at eleven
o'clock every night and make a
report of the exact situation at that
hour. The roll of the committee should
be called and each member should be
required to make verbal report as
to the delegates in his territory. The
secretary should put the figures and
necessary facts down appropriately,
making one document only which, at
the end of the meeting, should be handed
to the chairman of the committee
and by him to the chairman of the
organization. If the committee does
its work well it will be able in two or
three days to make its reports with
such accuracy as to foretell the result
within three or four votes as to each
candidate on a ballot taken the next
morning.
(b) Amateur polling organizations should
be selected and put to work
just as the amateur secret service men.
Each man in charge of an amateur
body should be required to select his
men and proceed along the same lines
as above indicated for the committee of
forty.
(c) By using both these agencies you
will be able to check up the work
of each, and where discrepancies are
found inquiries can be made or direc-
tions for further effort be given.
(d) It will be found that some of the
newspaper men will have agencies
of their own for polling the various
delegations and that they do good work.
Friendly arrangements should be made
with some of these for securing their
information in sufficient detail to
enable a comparison with the other work
done as above indicated.
56
THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
III.
CONSULTATIONS.
(a) Prominent and useful men, to the
number of thirty or forty, should
be told by the chairman of the
organization that he will desire to consult
with them frequently, and he should
arrange for them to visit him several
times each day and night. Opportunities
can be found or made for bringing
as many as ten or fifteen of these
gentlemen into secret meetings behind
closed doors, at which valuable suggestions
and information can be obtained
and lines of work agreed upon. These
meetings will be very helpful to the
chairman and very pleasing to those who
engage in them.
(b) Intelligent and loyal newspaper men
should be asked to bring facts
and suggestions to the attention of the
chairman, and they should be made
to feel that they are part and parcel of
the campaign. The zeal, intelligence,
and usefulness of these men is not to be
over-estimated.
IV.
"HANDLING" DELEGATES.
It is to be expected that the opposition
will endeavor to indulge in the
wicked "handling" of
delegates. Locate all efforts of this kind and surround
such delegates with every safeguard or
preventive. Reliable and companiable
[sic] men should be designated to associate with each
suspected man. One
should sleep in the room with him, or
watch his bedroom door at night, and
go to breakfast with him. Another should
then take the man in charge
and spend every moment with him. He
should be relieved late in the after-
noon by a third who will remain with him
until the delegate goes to bed.
The suspected delegate should thus be
prevented from having any com-
munication with the opposition unless in
the sight and hearing of a good
reliable man. Telegrams should be sent
frequently to good friends in his
district, asking them to wire the
delegate to stand firm. Loyal delegates
from the same state should encourage and
admonish him. While in the Con-
vention Hall he should be surrounded by
Taft men every moment.
Similar precautions should be taken
concerning those men who are apt
to drink to excess, or whom the
opposition may wish to make drunk for
their own purposes, or even kidnap for a
time.
Secret service and other shrewd men
could be used effectively along these
lines.
V.
THE CONVENTION COMMITTEES.
It is of the utmost important [sic] that
the candidate's managers shall
give constant attention to the selection
of friends to serve on the committees
ORGANIZING A NATIONAL CONVENTION 57
on resolutions, credentials, permanent
organization, rules and order of
business, to the end that a proper
platform shall be adopted, that lawfully
selected friends of the candidate shall
not be reported against by the com-
mittee on credentials in cases of
contest, a just permanent organization
secured, and suitable rules and order of
business be prepared and adopted.3
If diligent attention is not paid to the
selection of these committees, weak
or thoughtless men will be chosen out of
compliment, or through trades
made in the delegations, or through
efforts to advance the interests of district
or state politicians. In one or the
other of these ways the interests of the
national candidate and party are lost
sight of frequently. The chairman of
the organization should designate at
least one man to look after each of
the committees above named, and that man
should select a sufficient corps
of workers who will bring pressure to
bear constantly on the friends of the
candidate in the respective delegations.
This work should begin as soon
as the headquarters are opened in
Chicago, and receive unflagging attention
until the committees have done their
work. Let there be constant vigilance
in this branch.
VI.
STAMPEDING THE CONVENTION.
It is safe to assume that one or more
efforts of the kind will be made.
The surest ways to defeat such efforts
are:
1. As soon as the various headquarters
have been opened in Chicago the
candidate's organizers should confer
with those of Mr. LaFollette, agree
that no effort shall be spared to
prevent stampedes, and pledge themselves
to inform their respective supporters
immediately and day after day to be
on guard against such attempts. There
should be constant but secret com-
munication between the LaFollette
headquarters on this subject, for mutual
interests are involved and all should
work in harmony.4
2. The organization chairman should
select at least one man whose duty
it will be to give constant attention to
this subject, and that man should
select such assistants as he may
require. The delegates supporting the candi-
date should be visited daily, be warned
to expect the movement, and be ex-
horted to stand firm. In this way
delegates will become accustomed to the
3 Dick himself accepted as his major
assignment the preparation of the cases in
favor of seating pro-Taft delegates by
the credentials committee. It was perhaps felt
within the party leadership that he
could better afford to stand as a target for the
ill feeling such a task would bring than
could an incumbent seeking reelection that year.
4 Senator Robert M. La Follette of
Wisconsin represented a remnant of pro-
gressive Republicans that never conceded
Roosevelt's claims to leadership of that
wing of the party. At the convention La
Follette held aloof from any real combination
with either side, but his managers may
have been willing to cooperate with the
Taft men to the extent suggested by
Dick.
58
THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
thought of an attempted stampede, and
each will become firm in his determ-
ination not to be stampeded. No
convention has been stampeded when all
of the delegates had been expecting an
effort of the kind for a day or more.
Stampedes, like panics in battle, come
unexpectedly to the stampeded ones
and that is why they succeed. Constant
vigilance will prevent a stampede.
3. The men engaged in the polling, and
also the secret service men, can
be made highly useful in this
anti-stampede work, and so can every worker.
Spare no one.
4. Let the newspapers ding-dong the
stampede talk into the ears of the
convention people day by day, the
purpose being to make them familiar with
it first and then get them so tired of
it as to be utterly disgusted. Then "it is
to laugh" if anybody tries to
stampede the convention.
VII.
CLUBS AND BODIES.
Clubs or organized bodies should be put
in the hands of the loyal part
of the Ohio delegation with occasional
suggestions as to their use. Should
small bands or individual bodies of
Irish, German, Jews, French, etc. be
at the Convention they should be under
the general direction of a man to
be designated by the chairman. They are
capable of doing good work if
properly directed, but their national
traits make them wish for a good deal of
attention and consideration.
VIII.
STATE DELEGATION.
The chairman of the organization should
be in frequent touch with the
loyal part of the state delegation, but
not allow it to occupy his own par-
ticular field. That loyal part of the
delegation can do most effective work if
kept within its own field. It should
have its own organization and separate
headquarters. It can do most effective
work by argument, exhortation, and
polling all the delegations.
IX.
MEETING OF TAFT DELEGATES.
Opponents will make vociferous claims of
a majority of the delegates and
these claims will disturb the Taft
delegates. The Harrison people had to
meet the same situation in the
Minneapolis Convention of 1892, and after
anxious deliberation and consultation
with thirty highly judicious men, and
the approval of the "committee of
forty" having the polling in charge, it
was determined to get a hall and take
the Harrison delegates into it at the
right time. Everyone consulted about
this plan was solemnly pledged to
ORGANIZING A NATIONAL CONVENTION 59
absolute secrecy, and the knowledge of
it did not escape until the delegates
were in the hall that had been secured.
The polling "committee of forty"
had assigned to its various members the
delegates in specified territory. When
it was determined to hold this meeting
on the day fixed the gentlemen of
that committee were advised that, as
soon as the convention adjourned for
the day, they were to go to their
respective delegates and say: "Come with
me and you will see something you have
never seen before. Do not ask
me what it is but rely upon me to show
you something you would not miss
for the world." The purposes of
this were, first, to throw the mantle of
mystery about the whole affair and thus
get the delegates to go along through
curiosity, and, second, to avoid
apprising some of the weak and doubtful
ones of what was in store for them, and
thus giving them opportunity to
desert. The result was that all but
about fifteen or twenty of the Harrison
delegates were taken by the committeemen
past the doorkeepers into the hall
selected, and the famous Market Hall
meeting was held. A chairman and
secretary were selected; short and
enthusiastic speeches were made about
the purpose of the meeting and in praise
of Harrison; the roll was called
and the delegates present answered to
their names and declared for Harri-
son; satisfactory reasons were given for
the absence of the few who were
not present, such as temporary illness, or leaving Convention Hall
before adjournment, etc. The secretary
kept a tally of the votes, footed up
the result, and the chairman announced
it to the delegates, who cheered
loudly. On a motion being put they all
arose in testimony of their determina-
tion to stand by Harrison to the end.
They were then advised to tell every-
body about the meeting, the number of
delegates present, and state fully
what was said and done. All this they
did faithfully when the meeting
adjourned and consternation spread
through the ranks of the opposition,
while the Harrison men were knitted more
closely together than ever. The
moment that meeting was held all doubt
of Harrison's re-nomination
vanished.
This is an example of what it may be
well to do in the approaching
convention. If this is to be undertaken,
every safeguard must be thrown
about it for the purpose of securing secrecy
and accomplishing the desired
result. Any publicity of the purpose to
hold the meeting would be sure to
keep quite a percentage of delegates
away from it, especially the weak-
kneed ones, and those engaged in
dark-horse plots, etc.5
5 This account of the Market Hall
meeting conforms to contemporary newspaper
reports and adds a few details. The
device was not tried in 1912, if only because the
temper of debate from the beginning was
far above the point where any "consterna-
tion" in the ranks of the
opposition could have been expected.
60
THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
X.
CANDIDATE'S RELATIVES.
The candidate's kin folks of discretion
and good address can be made
highly useful in the campaign for the
nomination, for many men will feel
that they, in talking with the kin, are
really talking with the candidate
himself. These kin should be a part of
the time at the principal headquarters,
a part of the time at the state
headquarters, the remainder of the time they
could spend profitably in visiting such
delegates or prominent men as may
be designated, but they should have
company at all times so that statements
or promises may not be attributed to
them falsely. This work may be most
effective if done discreetly.
XI.
CIPHER CODE.
A short cipher code should be prepared
for use in telegraphing or tele-
phoning the candidate. It should cover
the names of the opposing candi-
dates and their managers, and include
the names of some of the principal
states. It will be found better to use arbitrary
words to represent these
names, putting in one column all names
in alphabetical order and in the
opposite column the arbitrary words that
represent the names. In another
column put the arbitrary words in
alphabetical order and set opposite
them the names they represent. This
cipher should be in the possession of
the candidate, the chairman of the
organization, and his secretaries but no
others, and its existence should not be
known or suspected.
Great care should be exercised in using
the telegraph or the telephone
between the candidate and the
headquarters, for it may be depended upon
that some operators, through zeal for
other candidates or something worse,
will carry information where it should
not go. This danger should be in
mind constantly.
XII.
PLANS OF THE OPPOSITION.
The plans of the opposition must be
learned. The way and the person
to get those plans day by day must be
found. The plans will be considered
and talked of in the headquarters and in
the committee conferences of the
opposition. More careful men than those
in charge of the opposition
campaign have let their plans become
known to the other side in past
conventions. Get their plans day by
day.
XIII.
DEALING WITH CLAIMS OF THE OPPOSITION.
The opposition will claim that their
candidate alone can be elected. That
claim should be thoroughly studied and
analyzed right now, having particular
ORGANIZING A NATIONAL CONVENTION 61
reference to the states that must be
carried by the Republican party to insure
success at the polls. It is apt to be
found that, beginning with Illinois and
going thence over the northern states to
our eastern boundary, a majority
of the Republican voters did not
participate in the primaries. Their absence
indicates clearly that they were in such
an independent frame of mind
that they resolved not to commit themselves
by taking part in the primaries.
Whether they shall vote the Republican
ticket in November must depend
entirely upon the candidate nominated
and the platform adopted. These
men may be called Republicans with
strong independent leanings. Such
men make up the dreaded "silent
vote." Their present attitude and dis-
position and the dangers of the future
should be impressed upon the
delegates at once and continuously. One
way to do that is through the
newspapers before and during the
Convention. Another way is to have
representative men in goodly numbers
attend the convention and argue
to the delegates that the nomination of
the opposing candidate means
defeat in November.6
It should be demonstrated by fact and
argument that the opposing candi-
date would not be able to carry a single
northern state east of the Mississippi,
with the possible exception of
Pennsylvania, because of the presence of an
enormously large number of independent
voters in our party in those states,
to say nothing of the well known
determined and fixed opposition to him.
It can be made clear that he could not
be elected because he would be
unable to carry the larger portion of
those states. That the opposing candi-
date feels and fears all this is shown
by his declaration that he will carry
some of the southern states.7
The arguments above referred to must be
presented with force, earnest-
ness, statistical accuracy, and without
ceasing. It is time that the existence of
that determined and fixed opposition,
and of the wide spread independent
feeling above alluded to, should not
only be seriously considered by but
be urged earnestly upon the delegates.
It must be that there are many
delegates at present enrolled under the
banner of the opposing candidate who
have not seriously thought of these
questions, but who will give them
earnest attention if laid before them in
the right way and with the pertinacity
of a pile driver.
6 These arguments were designed to offset the effect of Roosevelt's
strong showing
in the state presidential primaries. He had won in
eleven, lost to La Follette in
two, and to Taft in only one.
7 Roosevelt's strength as a Republican
nominee was not to be tested in 1912, but
heading a hastily organized Progressive
ticket he captured Pennsylvania and Michigan
of the sixteen states in this region,
led Taft in four others, and won a popular vote
in the area of 2,908,678 to Taft's
2,117,712. See Edgar E. Robinson, The Presidential
Vote, 1896-1932 (Palo Alto, 1934), 46.
62
THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
It is high time the delegates were
being persuaded to turn from riot to
reason. That can be done by wisely
directed and continued effort.
May 28, 1912.
It will never be known exactly to what
extent Dick's advice was
acted upon, much less how well it might
have served its purpose at
the time. Taft did win renomination in
1912, but the convention
split wide open and a new Progressive
party was formed to support
Roosevelt's candidacy. It might be
suggested, however, that conven-
tion managers of future
candidates--when they have a moment free
from consultation with their television
experts--might do far worse
than to ponder awhile the lessons of
the former senator from Ohio.
Organizing a National Convention:
A Lesson from Senator Dick
Edited by THOMAS
E. FELT*
FROM THE CIVIL WAR to the
present, the engineers and operators
of Ohio's major party machinery have
been obliged by circum-
stances to learn their trade
thoroughly. The state's strategic geo-
graphic position, its coveted electoral
votes, and its diverse economic
interests have made it not only a home
of presidents and would-be
presidents but a school for party
managers as well. In this hotly
contested two-party state, the school
has never been an easy one.
Occasionally, however, an experienced
coach has appeared on the
scene with an offer of assistance, and
on one occasion at least, the
coach set his lessons down in writing.
The occasion was the struggle between
Theodore Roosevelt and
William Howard Taft for the Republican
presidential nomination
in 1912. The coach was former Senator
Charles W. F. Dick of Ohio.
Dick had studied in the school of Mark
Hanna, and on Hanna's
death in 1904 had been elected to
succeed him in the senate. His
training had begun in the politics of
his native Akron. At the age
of twenty-nine he began the first of
two terms as chairman of the
Republican state central committee
(1887-91), followed by a year
as head of the state executive
committee and later a period as a
secretary to the Republican national
committee. After the brief
interruption of the Spanish-American
War, in which he served as a
lieutenant colonel, Dick went to
congress for three terms and was
again chosen to head the state
executive committee before entering
the senate. A Democratic legislature
had retired him from that
office in 1911, and his chances for a
comeback the following year
depended largely upon the success of
the Taft faction of his party
in the state and at the national
convention.
*Thomas E. Felt is field representative
for the Illinois State Historical Society.