Editing James M. Cox (section)

==Bid for presidency==
[[File:Cox Roosevelt poster 1920.jpg|thumb|left|Cox/Roosevelt electoral poster]]
[[File:FDR and James M Cox cph.3b03395.jpg|thumb|left|Roosevelt (left) and Cox (right) at a campaign appearance in Washington, D.C., 1920]]
A capable and well-liked progressive reformer,<ref>[https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=vuZPAAAAIBAJ&pg=PA7&dq=COX+IS+PRAISED+BY+STATESMEN&article_id=1120,3333270&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj3q8W08baKAxUvWEEAHa-XB4wQ6AF6BAgFEAI#v=onepage&q=COX%20IS%20PRAISED%20BY%20STATESMEN&f=false The Bryan Times 4 Oct 1912]</ref> Cox was nominated for the presidency by the Democratic Party at the 1920 Democratic convention in San Francisco defeating [[A. Mitchell Palmer]] and [[William Gibbs McAdoo]] on the 44th ballot.<ref>[http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/nfhtml/nfexpe.html James M. Cox, Democratic Candidate for President], ''Library of Congress''</ref>

Cox conducted an activist campaign visiting 36 states and delivering 394 speeches mainly focusing on domestic issues, to the displeasure of the Wilsonians, who pictured the election "as a referendum on the League of Nations."<ref name=ANBO /> To fight unemployment and inflation, he suggested simultaneously lowering income and business profits taxes. He promised to introduce national collective bargaining legislation and pledged his support to the [[Volstead Act]]. Cox spoke in support of [[Americanization]] to increase the immigrant population's loyalty to the United States.

Despite all of his efforts, Cox was defeated in the [[1920 United States presidential election|1920 presidential election]] by a fellow Ohioan and newspaperman, [[U.S. Senator]] [[Warren G. Harding]] of [[Marion, Ohio|Marion]]. The public had grown weary of the turmoil of the Wilson years and eagerly accepted Harding's call for a "[[return to normalcy]]."  Cox's running mate was future president, then-[[Assistant Secretary of the Navy]] [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]. One of the better-known analyses of the 1920 election is in [[Irving Stone]]'s book about defeated presidential candidates, ''[[They Also Ran]].'' Stone rated Cox as superior in every way over Harding and claimed that Cox would have made a much better president. Stone argued that there was never a stronger case in the history of American presidential elections for the proposition that the better man lost. Of the four men on both tickets, all but Cox would ultimately become president: Harding won and was succeeded by his running mate, [[Calvin Coolidge]], after Harding died in office, and Roosevelt would be elected president in 1932. Cox would, however, outlive all three men by several years.
[[File:Franklin D. Roosevelt and James Cox in Dayton, Ohio - NARA - 197236.jpg|thumb|right|Cox with FDR in Dayton, Ohio during 1920 presidential campaign]]

During the campaign, Cox recorded several times for ''The Nation's Forum'', a record label that made voice recordings of American political and civic leaders in 1918–1920.<ref>[http://www.authentichistory.com/special/nationsforum/index.html Nation's Forum Recordings: 1918-1920], ''AuthenticHistory.com''</ref><ref>[https://memory.loc.gov/ammem/nfhtml/ American leaders speak], ''Library of Congress''</ref> Among them was the campaign speech now preserved at the [[Library of Congress]] that accused the Republicans of failing to acknowledge that Wilson's successful prosecution of the Great War had, according to Cox, "saved civilization."<ref>Governor James M. Cox. [https://www.loc.gov/item/2016655170/ The World War], ''Library of Congress sound recording''</ref>