Show if wendell willkie wins in november he 11 ll be sixth political ial dark horse to be stabled in the white hou house by ELMO SCOTT WATSON released by western N union F AS the republican party idell IP hopes and believes we wendell n willkie is the winner in the presidential race next november he will become the sixth dark horse to be stabled in the white house for only five times in our nations eions history of years have the people elected electea to the highest office in the land a man who was either unknown before his nomination or was not seriously considered as a potential candidate james knox polk folk was the first of the dark horse breed of candidates di he was a tennessee country lawyer who went to congress for seven terms and bec became amea a strong partisan of old hickory jackson due mainly fo jacksons influence he became speaker of the house of representatives and later governor of tennessee he was defeated for reelection election re to that office and his political career seemed ended As the time for democratic convention of 1844 approached the strongest contender for the nomination was martin van buren who had served ont one term as president but had lost to the whig candidate gen william henry harrlson harrison in 1840 van buren had the backing of general jackson b but u t the southern democracy was sus V I 1 JAMES K POLK licious of him and his attitude toward slavery during the first seven ballots at the convention in in baltimore van buren had ama jonty of the delegates votes but due to the strength of lewis cass of michigan he could not get the two thirds vote required by party rules after the seventh ballot we the southern delegates secured a recess and held a caucus they decided to rally behind the defeated tennessee governor who was right on the slavery question and who enjoyed the friendship of jackson beyond folks hopes polk had no hope of being the presidential nominee but he had made it known that he would accept the vice presidency on the eighth ballot the southerners sprang their surprise candidate and the new york delegates withdrew van burens name on the next roll call they swung to polk folk other states followed and when the ninth ballot ended the PF wk OMEN ce A GARFIELD first dark horse in convention history a man who been mentioned for the honor 24 hours previously had been unanimously nominated of 01 courie course the whigs were delighted to have i a nobody no body as an opponent for their candidate henry clay but their jubilation was premature forchay For Clay the kentuckian angered the south by pussyfooting on the question of annexing texas thereby adding slave territory and the new liberty liberti party of abolitionists headed by james G birney diverted enough votes from clay to give polk an easy victory eight years later the democrats agam again nominated and elect A h 4 y 1 R B HATIES ed a dark horse candidate Fx franklin anklin pierce our only president from new hampshire educated at bowdoin college he was a successful young lawyer when he was elected to congress at the age of 29 and to the senate when he was only 33 but because mrs pierce was a shy woman who hated public life pierce resigned from the senate and went back to his law practice in concord at the outbreak of the war with mexico he entered the t he service came out as a brigadier brij adier general and announced that he was through with public life forever but the political situation during the next five years changed all that when the democratic convention opened tn in baltimore on june 1 1852 the leading candidates were lewis cass of michigan james buchanan of pennsylvania and stephen A douglas of illinois for 28 ballots none of these men was able to secure the necessary two thirds majority then the convention decided it had better turn to a new candidate who had taken no part in the slavery dispute and had therefore incurred no bitter enmities in other words a nobody some of the mane maine delegates suggested the exl senator s from their neighboring state slate so franklin pierce was trotted out as a dark horse received 15 votes on the ballot and gained steadily until the when he received 55 by that time it was apparent that the band wagon was wa on its wa way and the delegates hastily climbed on on the ballot pierce received of the votes the whigs nominated gen winfield scott hoping that old fuss and feathers could repeat the victory of that other hero of the mexican war old rough and ready taylor but the democrats young mexican war general swept the election field with electoral votes to scotts 42 pierce tried for in 1856 but was defeated and vanished from the political scene first republican dark horse thus far the democratic party had been the one which supplied dark horse candidates but beginning in 1878 1876 the republicans took their turn in that year james G blaine was their logical candidate and in the early balloting at the convention in cincinnati he was within 30 votes of victory however the man from maine had his enemies who were determined to block his nomination among the favorite sons who were trailing along on complimentary votes was rutherford B a became a major general in the union army then returned home to serve two terms in congress and three terms as gover governor hor of his native state he was scarcely ly known outside the borders of ohio and during th the 6 spirited contest between blaines partisans and his enemies no one paid much attention to hayes 61 votes roscoe conkling of new york had the support of the new york and pennsylvania delegates but when it became apparent that conkling had no chance to beat blaine the pennsylvanians ians began to throw their support to chios favorite son this started a swing which carried the buckeye dark horse to victory by votes to blaines the democrats nominated samuel J tilden of new york and in the election it seemed that tilden had won then occurred the famous incident of the contested electoral votes of florida louisiana and south carolina the appointment by congress of an electoral commission and its 8 to 7 vote in favor of hayes so another dark horse went to the white house but th there ere are those who still believe that he had lost the election before the electoral commissions vote sent him there although hayes was not a great president he was probably the best of any of the dark horses declaring that he serves his party best who serves his country best hayes gave the country an administration which set a high mark mack for future dark horse presidents to try to equal the first of these was another buckeye james A garfield securing an education by his own efforts effort she he became a teacher and was elected to the ohio senate which he left in 1861 to become the youngest brigadier general in the union army he came out of the war a major general and was sent to con congress 9 res s where his principal distinction was his loyalty to blaine grant tries for a third term the 1880 republican convention was again a battle between conkling and blaine but this time the new york leader was trying to secure a third term for ulysses S grant although grant led blaine in the voting from the first ballot conkling could not muster up quite enough votes to secure the nomination for the ex dent garfield was present at the convention vent ionas as the leader of the ohio 4 6 i R Y k FRANKLIN PIERCE delegation pledged to john sherman he made the speech placing shermans Sher mans name in nomina tion tio nand andl as it turned out succeeded in in nominating himself by doing it for when it became apparent that neither grant gran t nor blaine could win the convention turned to a compromise candidate on the ballot garfield received 17 votes he immediately protested that he was there in in the interests of sherman but the chairman ruled him out of order and the balloting proceeded on the ballot the break came the blaine and sherman forces swung behind garfield and he was nominated with votes to grants garfield easily defeated the democratic nominee gen winfield scott hancock but his career as president preside nt was cut short by the bullet of a digap WARREN G HARDING pointed office seeker charles J Gul guiteau september 19 1881 1181 a little more than six months after he had entered the white house the story ot of the fifth dark horse president is so recent and so familiar to most americans as to need only brief mention here the 1920 republican convention was in chicago a fight between gen leonard wood and gov frank 0 lowdan of illinois for the nomination it soon became apparent that i a hopeless deadlock would prevent the nomination of either candidate then followed the now famous night conference in a smoke filled hotel room and the next day senator warren G harding an ohio favorite son was ge ee lecter as the nominee harding defeated his fellow buckeye gov james M cox electoral votes to and entered th the white house pledged to bring th the country back to norr normalcy nalcy 11 his administration marred by scandals reminiscent of the grant regime ended august 2 1923 when death summoned this ill fated ohioan the second dark horse hor S e president preside n t to die in the harness |