[Electoral Broadside from the 1920 Presidential Election]

A snapshot of the 1920 United States presidential election.

This uncommon broadside was published in 1920 to publicly inform the audience on the various factors surrounding the upcoming Presidential election that year. A large map of the United States (created by Rand McNally) highlights the results from the prior contest in 1916, in which incumbent Woodrow Wilson defeated the Republican challenger, Charles Hughes. While Wilson was certainly interested in a third term, a stroke prevented broad support, and the nomination went to James Cox of Ohio.

Brief descriptions of the candidates for President and Vice-President are provided in the lower center. Adjacent are summaries of the Republican and Democratic platforms, which note contemporary concerns such as the political situation in Europe, immigration, veterans’ rights, and even the Armenian genocide. Two further maps (also by Rand McNally) show the states’ ratification dates for the Prohibition Amendment and the Women’s Suffrage Amendment, both of which passed in 1920. An advertisement in the upper left for the St. Louis-based Blank-Baer Extract & Preserving Company encourages the reader to ‘Keep Abreast with the Times! It Pays.’

The 1920 United States presidential election was a decisive point in American history, marking the first time women nationwide could vote following the ratification of the 19th Amendment. Republican candidate Warren G. Harding secured a landslide victory by campaigning on a “Return to Normalcy,” promising a retreat from the idealism and upheaval of World War I. The results reflected a massive public shift toward conservatism and isolationism, as voters largely rejected President Woodrow Wilson’s internationalist vision for the League of Nations. Ultimately, the election ushered in a decade of Republican dominance and set the stage for the economic boom—and eventual bust—of the Roaring Twenties.

Sources: UCSB; Library of Congress; EBSCO Research;