That Smoke-filled Room: A Utahn's Role in the 1920 GOP Convention BY JEFFREY L. SWANSON
President Warren G. Harding on visit to Utah, Gov. Charles R. Mabey, standing with hat in hand, accompanied the presidential party. Utah State Historical Society collections, gift of Mr. Mabey.
A HE REPUBLICAN PARTY LOOKED forward to the 1920 presidential election with enthusiasm. The 1918 congressional elections had given the GOP a solid majority in the House of Representatives and the Senate. Although the Democrats under Woodrow Wilson had controlled the White House since 1913, the Republicans, with their senatorial power, had thwarted Wilson's dream of American participation in the League Mr. Swanson is an LDS seminary teacher in Salt Lake City.
