Editing Charles G. Dawes (section)

==Vice presidency (1925–1929)==
[[File:Coolidge-Dawes.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Dawes (right) and [[Calvin Coolidge]]]]

{{blockquote |I should hate to think that the Senate was as tired of me at the beginning of my service as I am of the Senate at the end.|Charles G. Dawes<ref name="Hatfield">Hatfield, M. O. (1997). Vice Presidents of the United States, 1789–1993. Senate Historical Office. Washington: United States Government Printing Office</ref>}}

At the [[1924 Republican National Convention]], President [[Calvin Coolidge]] was selected almost without opposition to be the Republican presidential nominee.<ref name="Hatfield1997" >Hatfield 1997: 363</ref> The vice-presidential nominee was more contested. Governor Lowden was nominated, but declined. Coolidge's next choice was Idaho Senator [[William Borah]], who also declined the nomination. The Republican National Chairman, William Butler, wanted to nominate then-Commerce Secretary [[Herbert Hoover]], but he was insufficiently popular. Eventually, the delegates chose Dawes. Coolidge quickly accepted the delegates' choice and felt that Dawes would be loyal to him and make a strong addition to his campaign.<ref name="Hatfield1997"/>

Dawes traveled throughout the country during the campaign, giving speeches to bolster the Republican ticket. On August 22, Dawes would appear at a rally located in [[Augusta, Maine]] on the behalf of Republican candidate for Governor [[Ralph Owen Brewster]], who was accused by his opponent [[William Robinson Pattangall]] of being backed by the [[Ku Klux Klan]] and having sympathies for them. Dawes, who was challenged by Pattangall to talk on the issue, gave a speech attacking the Klan and its religious and racial prejudice rhetoric (Dawes was however careful on how he talked about race).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dunlap |first=Annette |title=Charles Gates Dawes: A Life |date=September 15, 2016 |publisher=Northwestern University Press |isbn=978-0-8101-3419-5 |pages=192–195}}</ref> He frequently attacked [[Progressive Party (United States, 1924–1934)|Progressive]] nominee [[Robert M. La Follette]] as a dangerous radical who sympathized with the [[Bolsheviks]].<ref name="dawesvp1"/> The Coolidge-Dawes ticket was elected on November 4, 1924, with more popular votes than the candidates of the Democratic and Progressive parties combined.<ref>Hatfield 1997: 364</ref> The inauguration was held on March 4, 1925.<ref name="AFR">{{cite book|title=American Foreign Relations, A History|page=193|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rgnm9C5u1DMC&pg=PT193|access-date=January 26, 2017|isbn=9781619066649|last1=Reviews|first1=C.T.I|date=October 16, 2016}}{{Dead link|date=September 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

=== Speech to Senate ===
When Dawes took the oath on March 4, he would take action and infamously go on a tangent against the Senate's [[filibuster]]. In the speech, Dawes criticized rule XXII, calling it "undemocratic" and noted how it was easily taken advantage of due to its two-thirds voting procedure. Through most of the speech, Dawes pointed at specific senators and repeatedly slammed his fist on a table. [[William Howard Taft|Chief Justice William Howard Taft]] wrote to his son that the vice president had "made a monkey out of himself." Alongside annoying the entire Senate with a speech that left many shocked, Dawes ended up irritating them again that same day, by having the senators be sworn in one by one (usually they would take the oath in groups). Dawes would end up stealing the thunder from Coolidge that day. With many in the press afterwards making a joke out of Dawes, Coolidge was very upset with how the vice president was starting off his term.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dunlap |first=Annette |title=Charles Gates Dawes: A Life |date=September 15, 2016 |publisher=Northwestern University Press |isbn=978-0-8101-3419-5 |pages=202–204}}</ref>

=== Nomination of Charles B. Warren ===
On March 10, the Senate debated the president's nomination of [[Charles B. Warren]] to be [[United States Attorney General]]. In the wake of the [[Teapot Dome scandal]] and other scandals, Democrats and Progressive Republicans objected to the nomination because of Warren's close association with the [[American Sugar Refining Company|Sugar Trust]]. At midday, six speakers were scheduled to address Warren's nomination. Desiring to take a break for a nap, Dawes consulted the majority and minority leaders, who assured him that no vote would be taken that afternoon. After Dawes left the Senate, all but one of the scheduled speakers decided against making formal remarks, and a vote was taken. When it became apparent that the vote would be tied, Republican leaders hastily called Dawes at the Willard Hotel, and he immediately left for the Capitol. The first vote was 40-40, a tie which Dawes could have broken in Warren's favor. While waiting for Dawes to arrive, the only Democratic senator who had voted for Warren switched his vote. The nomination then failed 41-39—the first such rejection of a president's nominee in nearly 60 years.<ref name="Hatfield"/> This incident was chronicled in a derisive poem, based on the Longfellow poem "[[Paul Revere's Ride]]"; it began with the line, "Come gather round children and hold your applause for the afternoon ride of Charlie Dawes." The choice of poem was based on Charles Dawes being descended from [[William Dawes]], who rode with Paul Revere.{{citation needed|date=January 2017}}

Dawes and Coolidge became alienated from one another. Dawes declined to attend Cabinet meetings and annoyed Coolidge with his attack on the Senate [[filibuster in the United States Senate|filibuster]]. Dawes championed the [[McNary–Haugen Farm Relief Bill]], which sought to alleviate the [[1920s farm crisis]] by having the government buy surplus farm produce and sell that surplus in foreign markets. Dawes helped ensure the passage of the bill through Congress, but President Coolidge vetoed it.<ref name="dawesvp1"/>

In 1927, Coolidge announced that he would not seek re-election. Dawes again favored Frank Lowden at the [[1928 Republican National Convention]], but the convention chose [[Herbert Hoover]].<ref name="dawesvp1"/> Rumors circulated about Dawes being chosen as Hoover's running mate. Coolidge made it known that he would consider the renomination of Dawes as vice president to be an insult. [[Charles Curtis]] of Kansas, known for his skills in collaboration, was chosen as Hoover's running mate.<ref>{{Cite book | last = Mencken | first = Henry Louis | author-link1 = H. L. Mencken |author2=George Jean Nathan  | author-link2 = George Jean Nathan | title = The American Mercury | year = 1929 | page = 404 }}</ref>