1920 United States presidential election in Arkansas

The 1920 United States presidential election in Arkansas took place on November 2, 1920, as part of the 1920 General Election in which all 48 states participated. Arkansas voters chose nine electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting Democratic nominee James M. Cox and his running mate, Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin Roosevelt, against Republican challenger U.S. Senator Warren G. Harding and his running mate, Governor Calvin Coolidge.

Main article: 1920 United States presidential election
1920 United States presidential election in Arkansas
November 2, 1920
 
Nominee James M. Cox Warren G. Harding
Party Democratic Republican
Home state Ohio Ohio
Running mate Franklin D. Roosevelt Calvin Coolidge
Electoral vote 9 0
Popular vote 106,682 71,948
Percentage 58.05% 39.15%
County Results
President before election

Woodrow Wilson
Democratic

 Elected President

Warren G. Harding
Republican

Elections in Arkansas

Background

Except for the Unionist Ozark counties of Newton and Searcy where Republicans controlled local government, Arkansas since the end of Reconstruction had been a classic one-party Democratic “Solid South” state.[1] Disfranchisement during the 1890s of effectively all Negroes and most poor whites had meant that outside those two aberrant counties, the Republican Party was completely moribund and Democratic primaries the only competitive elections. Although the northwest of the state was to develop a strong Socialist Party movement that served as a swing vote in county elections,[2] political repression[3] and internal party divisions[4] diminished that party's strength substantially.

The Democratic Party, under the influence of future federal Senate Minority and Majority Leader Joseph Taylor Robinson and demagogic Governor and Senator Jeff Davis, was to make many familiar progressive changes in railroad regulation and child labor,[5] but under the administration of George W. Donaghey – who saw his administration and Democratic primary candidacy as a fight against the “Davis Machine”[6] – more rapid development occurred, especially in abolishing convict leasing and improving bank regulation.[7]

The aftermath of World War I, however, made for a temporary turn in Arkansas voter allegiances. The League of Nations was deeply unpopular in the isolationist and fundamentalist[8] Ozark region,[9] and outgoing President Woodrow Wilson was thus stigmatised for his advocacy of that organisation. New Democratic nominee James M. Cox also supported American participation in the League,[10] whereas his rival Warren Harding was largely opposed to the League and was helped in the South by racial and labor unrest elsewhere in the country.[11]

Despite this, the solid Democratic majority of Arkansas was always conceded by polls across the nation at the end of October, even as the possibility of Harding breaking the “Solid South” was seen in Tennessee and even North Carolina.[12]

Vote

Ultimately Cox won the election in Arkansas with 58.05 percent of the vote; Harding received 39.15 percent of the vote and the only other candidate on the ballot, imprisoned Socialist Eugene Debs received the remaining 2.80 percent. Harding’s result was nonetheless a major improvement upon the mere 28 percent won by Charles Evans Hughes in 1916, and rivalled any Republican performance in the state since advent of the poll tax, although Theodore Roosevelt in 1904 had done marginally better. Harding was the first Republican to ever carry Van Buren County,[13] the first to carry Logan County since Ulysses S. Grant in 1872,[13] and the first Republican since Benjamin Harrison to carry Arkansas County and Lincoln County.[13]

Results
1920 United States presidential election in Arkansas[14]
Party Candidate Running mate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Democratic James M. Cox Franklin D. Roosevelt 106,682 58.05% 9
Republican Warren G. Harding Calvin Coolidge 71,948 39.15% 0
Socialist Eugene V. Debs Seymour Stedman 5,141 2.80% 0
Totals 183,637 100.00% 9

Results by county
County James Middleton Cox
Democratic		 Warren Gamaliel Harding
Republican		 Eugene Victor Debs
Socialist		 Margin Total votes cast[14]
# % # % # % # %
Arkansas 1,156 48.43% 1,199 50.23% 32 1.34% -43 -1.80% 2,387
Ashley 1,312 63.41% 725 35.04% 32 1.55% 587 28.37% 2,069
Baxter 707 56.07% 484 38.38% 70 5.55% 223 17.69% 1,261
Benton 2,838 58.28% 1,916 39.34% 116 2.38% 922 18.94% 4,870
Boone 1,106 60.87% 647 35.61% 64 3.52% 459 25.26% 1,817
Bradley 1,146 65.22% 540 30.73% 71 4.04% 606 34.49% 1,757
Calhoun 736 64.62% 337 29.59% 66 5.79% 399 35.03% 1,139
Carroll 1,344 48.93% 1,338 48.71% 65 2.37% 6 0.22% 2,747
Chicot 887 64.00% 489 35.28% 10 0.72% 398 28.72% 1,386
Clark 1,507 59.19% 1,020 40.06% 19 0.75% 487 19.13% 2,546
Clay 1,775 50.83% 1,536 43.99% 181 5.18% 239 6.84% 3,492
Cleburne 678 56.22% 459 38.06% 69 5.72% 219 18.16% 1,206
Cleveland 809 62.28% 475 36.57% 15 1.15% 334 25.71% 1,299
Columbia 2,052 70.13% 857 29.29% 17 0.58% 1,195 40.84% 2,926
Conway 1,791 58.32% 1,243 40.48% 37 1.20% 548 17.84% 3,071
Craighead 2,079 64.15% 1,058 32.64% 104 3.21% 1,021 31.51% 3,241
Crawford 1,861 54.77% 1,497 44.06% 40 1.18% 364 10.71% 3,398
Crittenden 905 83.80% 167 15.46% 8 0.74% 738 68.34% 1,080
Cross 845 62.87% 457 34.00% 42 3.13% 388 28.87% 1,344
Dallas 1,140 62.60% 659 36.19% 22 1.21% 481 26.41% 1,821
Desha 931 70.85% 360 27.40% 23 1.75% 571 43.45% 1,314
Drew 1,397 63.56% 773 35.17% 28 1.27% 624 28.39% 2,198
Faulkner 1,971 60.63% 1,148 35.31% 132 4.06% 823 25.32% 3,251
Franklin 1,502 62.79% 769 32.15% 121 5.06% 733 30.64% 2,392
Fulton 763 59.47% 502 39.13% 18 1.40% 261 20.34% 1,283
Garland 1,670 57.57% 1,055 36.37% 176 6.07% 615 21.20% 2,901
Grant 619 71.56% 230 26.59% 16 1.85% 389 44.97% 865
Greene 1,865 61.82% 1,072 35.53% 80 2.65% 793 26.29% 3,017
Hempstead 2,239 55.72% 1,754 43.65% 25 0.62% 485 12.07% 4,018
Hot Spring 1,061 52.42% 910 44.96% 53 2.62% 151 7.46% 2,024
Howard 1,452 54.02% 1,208 44.94% 28 1.04% 244 9.08% 2,688
Independence 1,546 57.05% 1,077 39.74% 87 3.21% 469 17.31% 2,710
Izard 841 62.20% 485 35.87% 26 1.92% 356 26.33% 1,352
Jackson 1,575 56.17% 1,131 40.34% 98 3.50% 444 15.83% 2,804
Jefferson 2,670 70.58% 1,048 27.70% 65 1.72% 1,622 42.88% 3,783
Johnson 1,579 57.31% 996 36.15% 180 6.53% 583 21.16% 2,755
Lafayette 954 65.61% 500 34.39% 0 0.00% 454 31.22% 1,454
Lawrence 1,686 69.27% 699 28.72% 49 2.01% 987 40.55% 2,434
Lee 1,108 73.87% 354 23.60% 38 2.53% 754 50.27% 1,500
Lincoln 888 47.11% 988 52.41% 9 0.48% -100 -5.30% 1,885
Little River 853 56.08% 618 40.63% 50 3.29% 235 15.45% 1,521
Logan 1,840 49.58% 1,871 50.42% 0 0.00% -31 -0.84% 3,711
Lonoke 1,711 68.96% 697 28.09% 73 2.94% 1,014 40.87% 2,481
Madison 1,463 45.29% 1,715 53.10% 52 1.61% -252 -7.81% 3,230
Marion 744 57.36% 371 28.60% 182 14.03% 373 28.76% 1,297
Miller 1,545 62.65% 836 33.90% 85 3.45% 709 28.75% 2,466
Mississippi 1,809 60.70% 1,050 35.23% 121 4.06% 759 25.47% 2,980
Monroe 834 46.96% 912 51.35% 30 1.69% -78 -4.39% 1,776
Montgomery 430 38.43% 615 54.96% 74 6.61% -185 -16.53% 1,119
Nevada 1,220 47.82% 1,292 50.65% 39 1.53% -72 -2.83% 2,551
Newton 486 35.37% 828 60.26% 60 4.37% -342 -24.89% 1,374
Ouachita 1,307 52.83% 1,141 46.12% 26 1.05% 166 6.71% 2,474
Perry 738 53.99% 592 43.31% 37 2.71% 146 10.68% 1,367
Phillips 1,965 69.14% 868 30.54% 9 0.32% 1,097 38.60% 2,842
Pike 849 46.73% 921 50.69% 47 2.59% -72 -3.96% 1,817
Poinsett 1,201 62.49% 633 32.93% 88 4.58% 568 29.56% 1,922
Polk 1,208 47.65% 1,173 46.27% 154 6.07% 35 1.38% 2,535
Pope 2,082 63.65% 1,120 34.24% 69 2.11% 962 29.41% 3,271
Prairie 962 52.14% 842 45.64% 41 2.22% 120 6.50% 1,845
Pulaski 6,506 62.76% 3,711 35.80% 150 1.45% 2,795 26.96% 10,367
Randolph 1,412 67.50% 652 31.17% 28 1.34% 760 36.33% 2,092
St. Francis 1,252 56.60% 903 40.82% 57 2.58% 349 15.78% 2,212
Saline 1,206 72.22% 403 24.13% 61 3.65% 803 48.09% 1,670
Scott 771 48.13% 751 46.88% 80 4.99% 20 1.25% 1,602
Searcy 594 33.75% 1,070 60.80% 96 5.45% -476 -27.05% 1,760
Sebastian 3,852 50.78% 3,492 46.03% 242 3.19% 360 4.75% 7,586
Sevier 1,236 61.89% 599 29.99% 162 8.11% 637 31.90% 1,997
Sharp 995 65.72% 400 26.42% 119 7.86% 595 39.30% 1,514
Stone 516 55.19% 367 39.25% 52 5.56% 149 15.94% 935
Union 1,967 78.06% 493 19.56% 60 2.38% 1,474 58.50% 2,520
Van Buren 440 23.13% 1,388 72.98% 74 3.89% -948 -49.85% 1,902
Washington 2,637 54.05% 2,118 43.41% 124 2.54% 519 10.64% 4,879
White 2,086 58.06% 1,359 37.82% 148 4.12% 727 20.24% 3,593
Woodruff 1,049 51.62% 943 46.41% 40 1.97% 106 5.21% 2,032
Yell 1,925 63.20% 1,042 34.21% 79 2.59% 883 28.99% 3,046
Totals106,68258.05%71,94839.15%5,1412.80%34,73418.90%183,771
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References
  1. See Urwin, Cathy Kunzinger; Agenda for Reform: Winthrop Rockefeller as Governor of Arkansas, 1967-71, p. 32 ISBN 1557282005
  2. Reed, Roy; Faubus: the Life and Times of American Prodigal, p. 32 ISBN 1610751485
  3. Green, James R.; Apocalypse and the Millennium in the American Civil War Era: Radical Movements in the Southwest, 1895-1943, p. 316-318 ISBN 0807107735
  4. Reed; Faubus, p. 33
  5. Moneyhon, Carl H.; Arkansas and the New South: 1874-1929, p. 121 ISBN 1610750284
  6. Moneyhon; Arkansas and the New South, p. 122
  7. Whayne, Jeannie M.; DeBlack, Thomas A.; Sabo, George and Arnold, Morris S.; Arkansas: A Narrative History, p. 302 ISBN 155728993X
  8. Ruotsila, Markku; ‘Conservative American Protestantism in the League of Nations controversy’; Church History, vol. 72, issue 3, pp. 593-616
  9. Phillips, Kevin P.; The Emerging Republican Majority, p. 211 ISBN 9780691163246
  10. Faykosh, Joseph D.; ‘A party in peril: Franklin Roosevelt, the Democratic Party, and the Circular Letter of 1924’, p. 43. Published 2016 by Bowling Green State University
  11. Faykosh, ‘A Party in Peril’, p. 42
  12. ‘Victory is Claimed by Rival Chairmen: Hays Sees 368 Electoral Votes for Harding’; The Washington Post, October 31, 1920, p. 1
  13. Menendez, Albert J.; The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868-2004, pp. 148-151 ISBN 9780786422173
  14. Robinson, Edgar Eugene; The Presidential Vote; 1896-1932 (second edition); pp. 139-145 Published 1947 by Stanford University Press
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