Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.

Start by marking “1920: The Year of the Six Presidents” as Want to Read:

Other editions

Enlarge cover

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Open Preview

1920: The Year of the Six Presidents

David Pietrusza

3.97 · Rating details · 1,130 ratings · 126 reviews

The presidential election of 1920 was one of the most dramatic ever. For the only time in the nation's history, six once-and-future presidents hoped to end up in the White House: Woodrow Wilson, Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Herbert Hoover, and Theodore Roosevelt. It was an election that saw unprecedented levels of publicity -- the Republic ...more

Get A Copy

Hardcover, 533 pages

Published February 1st 2007 by Carroll & Graf Publishers (first published December 8th 2006)

More Details... Edit Details

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Reader Q&A

To ask other readers questions about 1920, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

The Making of the President 1960 by Theodore H. White

The Making of the President 1968 by Theodore H. White

Books about U.S. Presidential Elections (nonfiction)

109 books — 53 voters

The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt by Edmund Morris

Best Presidential Biographies (nonfiction)

395 books — 490 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

Showing 1-30

Average rating 3.97 ·

Rating details

· 1,130 ratings · 126 reviews

More filters

Sort order

Start your review of 1920: The Year of the Six Presidents

Dec 18, 2007 Glenn rated it it was amazing

Shelves: journalism

As someone whose interest in history only flourished long after I was out of high school, I remember with a shudder those grim history books I was made to read. I know that the way history is transmitted can determine whether or not the subject really connects to a reader. Usually, it is done badly, and most people wind up not caring about the past.

David Pietrusza's remarkable new book “1920: The Year of Six Presidents” is exactly the way history should be written. It is riveting, involving, fil As someone whose interest in history only flourished long after I was out of high school, I remember with a shudder those grim history books I was made to read. I know that the way history is transmitted can determine whether or not the subject really connects to a reader. Usually, it is done badly, and most people wind up not caring about the past.

David Pietrusza's remarkable new book “1920: The Year of Six Presidents” is exactly the way history should be written. It is riveting, involving, filled with verified fact and compelling anecdote. It makes the era come alive, challenges presumptions about well-known figures (showing, for instance that we could use a man like Herbert Hoover again) and methodically reveals a country changing--coming out of a War into relative prosperity, and trying to figure out how to relate to other countries, a well as the shifting relationship of citizen to citizen, white, black, man & woman.

David take a cast of almost literally thousands, a twisting path to nomination and election, and issues such as women's suffrage, sedition laws, the Palmer Raids, Sacco & Vanzetti, the resurrection of the Klan (and President Wilson's tacit endorsement of the racial politics of both the Klan and related things like “Birth of a Nation,”), the rise of the labor movement and its ties to the socialist revolution, and much, much more. David has the knack for choosing the smallest detail to communicate the most information about a person or incident. For instance, his relating that Herbert Hoover got married in a brown suit reveals much of the man that pages of exposition could not.

He also creates real tension--despite our knowing how things turned out--in extended chapters like the one where Warren Harding wins the Republican nomination. We read page after page as the tides shift from one candidate to another, Harding far behind, until finally, he rises, and wins.

And, being both talented writer and expert historian--a combination rarely present in the same person--David manages to balance all of these things, giving us as much information as we need in order to understand what the book tells us: That the election of 1920, and the events and characters surrounding and involved in it, was one of the most remarkable of any ever held in our country. In lesser hands, an 87 year-old political campaign would surely be a recipe for boredom, or irrelevance. But “1920…” connects to our current affairs subtly and unobtrusively, and tells a tale well worth telling. ...more

flag 12 likes · Like · see review

Jan 10, 2021 Louis rated it really liked it

After reading Pietrusza's entertaining account of the 1948 election, I was looking forward to how he would deal with another presidential contest, one that now feels more relevant to 2020 than would seem to be the case. As with the other book, he does an excellent job of tying together the various events and personalities that made that election fascinating.

The 1920 election took place on the heels of a pair of tragedies. World War I had ended not long before; the unsatisfying attempt by Preside ...more

flag 11 likes · Like · see review

Feb 15, 2013 Arminius rated it it was amazing

Shelves: presidents

The book “1920 The Year if the Six Presidents” gives a fascinating look at Presidents’ Theodore Roosevelt,, Woodrow Wilson, Warren Harding ,Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover and Franklin D. Roosevelt. The author curiously leaves out William Howard Taft one of the featured candidates. They were all alive and very active in 1920.

After reading the Presidents’ Club seeing how President Truman created enduring friendships among the living presidents I wonder if he saw the animosity of the 1920’s group ...more

flag 8 likes · Like · see review

Jul 27, 2019 Mike rated it really liked it

Shelves: politics, america, non-fiction, history, culture

1920: The Year of the Six Presidents is misleading because Teddy Roosevelt, one of the six, doesn’t make past 1919….but the author makes him part of the story anyway. There are a number of interesting historical facts in this story of politics between the world wars. I was completely unaware that FDR ran for Vice President in 1920. FDR is not admirable while Hoover is. Harding doesn’t come across as the caricature he has become. Coolidge seems a little more human than commonly accepted and Woodr ...more

flag 5 likes · Like · see review

Sep 17, 2010 Lauren Albert rated it really liked it

Shelves: history-american

A book for people interested not just in politics but in "politicking.". It was a little too detailed for me and even with the list of people.at the front, I found myself getting confused. But I blame that on my ignorance of that period of our history. It was incredibly well researched and Pietrusza dug up plenty of amusing anecdotes to lighten the book. ...more

flag 4 likes · Like · see review

Aug 10, 2020 Doreen Petersen rated it liked it

Shelves: presidents

It was just okay but I probably wouldn’t bother with this one.

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Jan 29, 2019 Lauren Hiebner rated it liked it

Shelves: owned

Pietrusza’s book is very readable with some sensationalism in covering the events leading up to the 1920 presidential election. The author tends to dwell on the seamy side of the characters in a tell all book with a pinch of wit and a dash of sarcasm. I’m not sure why, but possibly to humanize the people involved. This is a micro-history of the 1920 presidential election with tremendous detail well researched by the author. The author depends on newspaper articles of that time period some of whi ...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Aug 21, 2007 Snail in Danger (Sid) Nicolaides marked it as decided-not-to-read

Shelves: history, american-history

Now that the school year has started, I've decided that I don't have time for books that don't fully cite their sources. This guy seems to have taken the "I'm only going to cite direct quotations" approach. As someone who is reading because of historical interest ... well, let's just say that my opinion is that if you don't cite ALL your sources, then your (non-fiction) work is useless. The incomplete citations plus the overly dramatic tone had me deciding within two pages that I wasn't going to ...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

May 21, 2017 Katlyn Calia rated it it was ok

Shelves: history, presidents, 2017

Poorly structured- some interesting parts, but some very repetitive parts and way too much listing ballot counts

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Dec 11, 2016 Stan Prager rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Review of: 1920: The Year of the Six Presidents, by David Pietrusza
by Stan Prager (June 4, 2016)

In an election year that at first glance seems unprecedented – the Republican nominee is not really a Republican, a woman is likely for the first time to head up a national ticket, and her stubborn rival for the Democratic nomination is not really a Democrat – I turned to historian David Pietrusza as a reminder that this is hardly the first Presidential electoral cycle branded with the air of the pecu Review of: 1920: The Year of the Six Presidents, by David Pietrusza
by Stan Prager (June 4, 2016)

In an election year that at first glance seems unprecedented – the Republican nominee is not really a Republican, a woman is likely for the first time to head up a national ticket, and her stubborn rival for the Democratic nomination is not really a Democrat – I turned to historian David Pietrusza as a reminder that this is hardly the first Presidential electoral cycle branded with the air of the peculiar. I’m a big fan of Pietrusza: his frenetic retelling of two of the most consequential elections of the postwar twentieth century – 1948: Harry Truman’s Improbable Victory and the Year that Transformed America, and 1960: LBJ vs. JFK vs. Nixon The Epic Campaign that Forged Three Presidencies – represent some of the best accounts I have read about modern politics and elections, and his style is often both compelling and irresistible.
This time, I selected his earlier work, the fascinating but in my opinion deeply flawed 1920: The Year of the Six Presidents, which recounts how in the days when deals made in smoke-filled rooms overruled primaries, an unlikely dark horse from Ohio named Warren Harding became the Republican nominee and eventually the President of the United States. Harding – who on the convention’s first ballot polled a dreadful sixth with only 65 votes while the top two contenders garnered 287 and 211 votes respectively – became the eventual nominee largely because, as famously noted by Republican Connecticut Senator Frank Brandegee, “We’ve got a lot of second-raters and Warren Harding is the best of the second-raters.” [p225]
The book’s subtitle is a little misleading: one of the “Six Presidents” is actually Theodore Roosevelt, who actually died before he could fulfill or dispel predictions that after some years of exile due to his 1912 third-party revolt he would again be the Republican Party’s standard bearer, and Pietrusza does not really explore how the ghost of his probable candidacy weighed on the election. Another is Woodrow Wilson, the reigning President, a stroke victim broken both physically and emotionally, who dreams of a third term that virtually no one else considers possible. The remainder, in addition to Harding, are indeed future Presidents: Herbert Hoover, at this point a progressive whom (like the future Dwight Eisenhower) no one is sure is Republican or Democrat; Calvin Coolidge, the laconic and little-known governor of Massachusetts who becomes Harding’s Vice-President; and, Franklin Roosevelt, the handsome pre-polio rising star who becomes the vice-presidential candidate on the opposing ticket.
The level of detail in 1920 is daunting, but a little lop-sided on the Republican side. There is a deep study of the biographies of Harding and Coolidge and a host of other party regulars, as well as moment-by-moment coverage of the Republican convention, but I walked away still knowing almost nothing of substance about James Cox, the other dark horse from Ohio who became Harding’s opponent on the Democratic side, and the coverage of the latter convention was superficial in comparison. One wonders whether this is because Pietrusza is a conservative historian, although that is hardly detectable in his later works, 1960 and 1948, where he appears to disdain all candidates equally. In 1920, on the other hand, he seems unable to suppress his admiration for Harding, who nevertheless comes off as an intellectual lightweight and somewhat of a cad who is most successful at accumulating much younger mistresses. He also clearly favors Coolidge, a strange man and kind of a political stick-figure who rose to national prominence by crushing a police strike, and then unexpectedly ascends to the Oval Office on the death of Harding.
For Democrat FDR, on the other hand, Pietrusza reserves a kind of barely suppressed loathing. Nearly two chapters are disproportionately devoted to exploring unseemly scandals involving homosexual sailors during Roosevelt’s tenure as Secretary of the Navy in the Wilson Administration. For instance, the author roundly condemns FDR for his responsibility in the return to active duty of former inmates of a naval prison – many who were termed “moral perverts” – to the consternation of ranking officers. While it is true that there was great antipathy at the time towards what were termed “unlawful and unnatural acts,” what is striking and perhaps cringe-worthy in this narrative is that Pietrusza writing from a twenty-first century perspective cannot disguise his own horror at those he freely terms “perverts” roaming navy ships at will [p134-35]. There is of course a certain irony in historical retrospect: Harding presided over one of the most irresponsibly corrupt administrations in the nation’s history; Coolidge – whose economic policies are lauded by the author – was barely out of office before the nation suffered catastrophic economic collapse; yet it is FDR, who provided existential leadership through depression and war, who is widely heralded by historians as the nation’s third greatest President of all time, following only Lincoln and Washington.
Pietrusza’s other books are generally fast-paced; this one often gets bogged down with minutiae, but there are highlights that draw both sharp contrasts and parallels to this election season nearly a century beyond it. And the topic of “gays in the military” is not the only one that resounds to the present day. This was the first election where women had the franchise; almost a hundred years later there is yet to be a female President, although Hillary Rodham Clinton may very well change that in November. Socialism and progressivism, as well as populism, were central albeit fading elements of political discourse. Terrorism – in this case bombs lobbed by anarchists – was much in the news. Business and labor were at odds, and the proper role of government in this and other arenas was much debated. Most striking was the chilling anti-immigrant nativism that reverberates today … cross out and replace the ethnicities in the quote below from Woodrow Wilson’s own shamefully resurrected 1903 commentary on the nation’s “wretched refuse” and 2016 sounds too much like 1920:

“Now there came multitudes of men of the lowest class from the south of Italy and men of the meaner sort out of Hungary and Poland, men out of the ranks where there was neither skill nor energy nor any initiative of quick intelligence; and they came in numbers which increased from year to year, as if the countries of the south of Europe were disburdening themselves of the more sordid and hapless elements of their population, the men whose standards of life and of work were such as American workmen had never dreamed of hitherto.” [p326-27]

[Now replay this scary echo: “When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending the best. They're not sending you, they're sending people that have lots of problems and they're bringing those problems. They're bringing drugs, they're bringing crime. They're rapists . . .” – Donald Trump, 2015]

Internationalism vs isolationism was also a potent issue. World War I was part of the fabric of the very recent past and both major parties were sharply divided within their own ranks about whether to embrace or reject Wilson’s beloved but doomed offspring of the peace, the League of Nations. And this is in my estimation where the greatest fault of 1920 is most detectable, for conspicuous in its absence is a focused examination of this single great issue that dominated the national contest like no other. The reader will learn where each candidate stood on the League – or how well he waffled about it – but not the weightier arguments that defined the debate. Perhaps pages devoted to blow-by-blow tallies of convention votes, detailed accounts of Harding’s numerous peccadillos, and Roosevelt’s role in the scandals of gay sailors might better have been redirected to a more thorough exploration of this critical topic.
While this is certainly not his finest book, Pietrusza is both a talented writer and historian, which is far more admirably evident in his later works. And despite its flaws, 1920 is a worthwhile drive-through of an often overlooked election that ends up telling us perhaps more than we would like to know about our own times and about how little we have grown up nearly a century later. To channel Jean-Baptiste Karr, (plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose) "the more things change, the more they stay the same."

My latest book review - 1920: The Year of the Six Presidents, by David Pietrusza, is live on my book blog https://regarp.com/2016/06/04/review-... ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Jun 01, 2020 Kristi Thielen rated it it was amazing

I read this a decade ago and reread it in 2020. 1920 was a singularly important election year, not just because of who was ultimately elected, but because of how the men who were in the 1920 political orbit impacted America for the next 20 years. I think it possible that the election of 2020 will be like that, too.

In 1920, Woodrow Wilson was president. Teddy Roosevelt wanted to run for president but died before he could do so. Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge ran on the republican ticket ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Mar 07, 2014 F.C. Schaefer rated it it was amazing

In the history books, the Presidential election of 1920 is usually described as a debacle, one that resulted in the election of Warren G. Harding, universally thought to be one of our worst Chief Executives; to ice the cake, Harding won with 60% of the popular vote, making him one of the few men ever to pull off a feat that not even Ronald Reagan could achieve.

But in his book, 1920: The Year of the Six Presidents, author and historian David Pietruza brings the America of that year back to life a In the history books, the Presidential election of 1920 is usually described as a debacle, one that resulted in the election of Warren G. Harding, universally thought to be one of our worst Chief Executives; to ice the cake, Harding won with 60% of the popular vote, making him one of the few men ever to pull off a feat that not even Ronald Reagan could achieve.

But in his book, 1920: The Year of the Six Presidents, author and historian David Pietruza brings the America of that year back to life and shows us that much more was going on than meets the eye.

The six Presidents of the title were: Wilson, Harding, Coolidge, Hoover, and both Roosevelts, all of whom factored into the campaign of 1920. America would not see this many political heavy weights contend in a Presidential contest again until the 1960's. But Pietruza's book is not just about them, he gives the reader a detailed portrait of a country leaving the supposedly simple and agrarian 19th Century far behind and rushing headlong into the 20th. We were no longer a nation where the center of power rested on farms and in small towns; the majority of the country now lived in urban areas and as a result the United States had gone big city, embracing automobiles, woman's suffrage, jazz, department stores and radio, then in its infancy. Those who loved the older America pushed back, enacting Prohibition and outlawing the teaching of evolution, thus setting off a culture war that has never really gone away.

In his book, Pietzuza chronicles the resurgence of the Klan and the challenge of the Socialists; the sad case of Sacco and Vanzetti and the Red Scare that cracked down on anarchists and leftist agitators; the battle for America's entry into the League of Nations and the isolationists who wanted nothing to do with it. All of these things had tremendous impact on the election and its outcome.

It is in his portraits of the titled Presidents and the others who made their mark on 1920 that Pietruza really shines. The Woodrow Wilson of these pages is bitter, inflexible, and after suffering a stroke, no longer in touch with reality and clearly unfit to continue as President. Yet he conspires to seek a third term, much to the detriment of his fellow Democrats. Warren Harding is quite the contrast, a kind and generous man to his friends, well liked by everyone, but at the same time, an amoral adulterer, as bad or worse than Bill Clinton on his best day. Herbert Hoover is the heroic public servant who saved millions from starvation in Europe after World War I, admired by his fellow Americans, with supporters in both parties who want him to be their nominee, although no one seems to notice he lacks the common touch. The young Franklin D. Roosevelt is the Assistant Secretary of the Navy and Democratic VP nominee, ambitious for higher office and with a fidelity problem of his own. Theodore Roosevelt, FDR's distant cousin, who leaves us with one of the great What If's of American political history when he dies in January of 1919, well before he could have claimed the Republican nomination the following year and won the White House again, thus making Harding's nomination possible. Then there is Calvin Coolidge, clearly a favorite of Pietruza (whom he has written about in other books), who comes across as a plain speaking and unassuming public servant, everything the others are not.

This book also has a great cast of supporting characters, some forgotten by history: James M. Cox, the Ohio Governor who lost badly to Harding and was the first divorced man to head a Presidential ticket; Harry Daugherty, Harding's shrewd and dishonest campaign manager,a future disgraced Attorney General; Florence Harding, the Senator's ambitious and fearful wife who knew how to look the other way; Hiram Johnson, the petulant California Senator who blew off a chance to be Harding's VP and ultimately the Presidency itself; General Leonard Wood, the Republican front runner who could not seal the deal; Professor William Estabrook Chancellor, a morbid racist and character assassin; Eugene Debs, the Socialist candidate for President, who did all his campaigning from a cell in the Atlanta Penitentiary; and Al Smith, the Governor of New York and the first Catholic to seriously contest for the Democratic Presidential nomination.

We also get a great behind the scenes look at the Republican convention that year where legend has it that Harding was picked by party bosses in a "smoke filled room." The truth is somewhat different, but just as fascinating. So to the homosexual scandal at the Newport, Rhode Island Naval Base that nearly derailed FDR's political career.

Why did Harding win and by such a big margin? It had a lot to do with "back to normalcy," a slogan and an issue that resonated deeply with a public tired and disillusioned after the tumult of the first World War and desperately wanting a return to quieter times. But "normalcy" in the 20th Century would not be what it had once been.

There is some bias in this book; you'd wouldn't know it from these pages why Woodrow Wilson is regarded as a great President, and Pietzuza is generally easy on the Republicans. Not unusual for a guy who appears on FNC, but he should know that the Republican and Democratic parties of the 1920's are not the same parities of today. There needs to be more context when it comes to the policies and choices Harding and Coolidge made and how they ultimately contributed to the Great Depression and the coming of World War II. There is also some snark in Pietzuza's style, which may not sit well with some readers of history.

Still, most of those who devour history books, not to mention students of political history, will love 1920: THE YEAR OF THE SIX PRESIDENTS. Read it and see how much has not changed in nearly 93 years. ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Nov 27, 2020 John Ryan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. My one friend, Lee, suggested this book to me, knowing how I have this weird fascination of President Harding. Surprisingly, I never read it despite it being about the 1920 elections. The premise is that 1920 was different than any other year because six presidents – past or future – were, at some point, interested in running for president. As Lee promised, it was quick reading with lots of interesting points about the people and the times.

The author did a good job outlining the various characte ...more

flag Like · see review

Nov 17, 2013 Judy rated it really liked it

Before anyone gets the wrong idea--the United States not only didn't have six presidents in 1920, but one of the presidents under discussion, Theodore Roosevelt, died in 1919. What the author is referring to is that in the American political environment as the 1920 election year approached, six presidents-one past, one sitting, and four men who would become presidents in the future were involved in the political discussions, debates, and decision-making of that post World War I world. Even thoug ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Sep 24, 2010 Adam rated it really liked it

You won't be disappointed in this documentary of the election that kicked off our roaring '20s. The book opens with the nearly incapacitated Wilson negotiating the 14 points and Treaty of Versailles to close WWI.
Then Republican promise Teddy Roosevelt passes away; leaving the delegates lost on their next move for the Presidency.

Incredible detail on both the Republican and Democratic...(and Socialist) primaries of 1919. A good indication of how the primaires function as more of a groupthink and ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Oct 26, 2008 Sean rated it really liked it

Engaging history of the presidential election of 1920 in which, at one point or another, six men who held the position vied for the office.
The author does a fine job of laying the landscape and developing the principals. Also, he provides excellent background on the suffrage movement (1920 was the first year women were provided the right to vote).
The descriptions of the conventions was also very enjoyable.
A well-written, easily read history of an important time in American history. The interbell ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Jun 21, 2017 Reginald rated it really liked it

AMAZING, AMAZING, AMAZING........And we thought that the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election Campaigns were something else..... I want to compel you to read THIS one.....
Imagine "6" very INTENSE Campaigners: six once-and-future presidents hoped to end up in the White House: Woodrow Wilson, Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Herbert Hoover, and Theodore Roosevelt. It was an election that saw unprecedented levels of publicity. A GREAT Historical READ... ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Feb 04, 2019 Brett Van Gaasbeek rated it it was amazing

As much as Harding is "fly over" territory of Presidential history, his election in 1920 is fascinating from the standpoint that it was the end of the Progressive movement of TR and Wilson and the beginning of the "Roaring 20s" mentality of Harding, Coolidge and Hoover. The 1920s Presidents are overlooked, so it is interesting to see how Pietrusza humanizes them in the book. This was a fast read and excellent narrative history, told with a fair look into the lives of these historical figures. ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Jun 14, 2017 Darrylgann rated it liked it · review of another edition

A bit misleading in its title

An interesting read. But by 1920 only two were actual Presidents: Theodore Roosevelt and Wilson. One was the actual subject of the book, Harding. And the other were just Presidents to be: Cooledge, FDR and Hoover. A bit misleading and not all that dramatic as it lead on.

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Feb 08, 2008 Diskojoe rated it really liked it

Recommended to Diskojoe by: Emily

This was an excellent read, especially considering these present times. I wish I could vote for Calvin Coolidge.

flag 1 like · Like · see review

May 26, 2012 Bill rated it really liked it

Enjoyed it enough to purchase extra copies for friends and family

flag 1 like · Like · see review

May 31, 2019 Mark Greathouse rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

An outstanding history of an era when the early manifestation of the progressive movement began to metastasize, spreading its cancerous anti-republic tentacles within the U.S. government.

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Jan 13, 2021 Jared Goerke rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

In 1920 The Year of Six Presidents, David Pietrusza has lent his brilliant ability to a historic election. After reading his book 1960--LBJ vs. JFK vs. Nixon: The Epic Campaign That Forged Three Presidencies, I didn’t think it was possible for him to match the quality and entertaining narrative, and I am thrilled to say I was wrong.

It is always remarkable to think about how different the world is only 100 years later. To think that Woodrow Wilson was able to cover up his complete inability to ac ...more

flag Like · see review

May 30, 2011 Anthony Bergen rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

(Review originally posted at Dead Presidents):

1920: The Year of Six Presidents
By David Pietrusza
Paperback Edition. 2008. 553 pp. Basic Books

In 1920, the United States was weary from the first World War and leaning towards isolationism after spending most of Woodrow Wilson's Presidential term focused on foreign turmoil. After two terms in the White House, Wilson was a broken man, unpopular with most Americans, despised by his Republican opponents, and an invalid thanks to stroke that nearly killed him in 1919 and left him a physical and emotional wreck who only remained in power due to his wife's skillful management and concealment of his true condition. In Wilson's mind, the only person capable of guiding the country through the next four years was Woodrow Wilson and he felt that he deserved an unprecedented third term. President Wilson was adamant that the U.S. join the League of Nations, but his stubborn refusal to consult the Congress or modify his foreign policy not only contributed to the breakdown in his health, but guaranteed that he would not be renominated in 1920. Even if he had, it's doubtful he would have won and almost certain that he wouldn't have survived a third term (Wilson died in February 1924).

In 1920: The Year of Six Presidents, David Pietrusza explores a wild and dramatic election with a wide variety of characters that he brings to life in a gripping story that is just as fun as it is informative. Among the contenders for the Presidency heading into 1920 are six men who were former or future Presidents of the United States: Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, and Franklin D. Roosevelt.

As time progresses towards the national conventions, candidates drop out, drop dead, and are dropped from consideration by their parties. TR died in 1919, derailing what would probably have been an easy Republican victory for the Rough Rider. Wilson not only loses his grip on the reins of the Democratic Party, but slowly descends into madness and paranoia, part of which was the make-up of his character and part of which was a result of his serious illness. Hoover, a hero to millions around the world because of his relief efforts during the first World War, flirts with both parties before settling into the Republican camp and supporting the eventual nominee. Governor Calvin Coolidge of Massachusetts reluctantly hops on board as the Republican Vice Presidential nominee, but campaigns effectively for the ticket. The Democratic Vice Presidential nominee is Franklin D. Roosevelt --- a 38-year-old New Yorker with boundless ambition, unlimited energy, incredibly political connections, and a famous name who was attempting to follow in the footsteps of his legendary cousin, Theodore.

The wild card is Republican Senator Warren G. Harding of Ohio. A compromise candidate that Republican leaders turned to when they couldn't agree on a nominee at the convention in Chicago; Harding was chosen in what has famously become known as the "smoke-filled room". Little was known about Harding besides the fact that he was popular with fellow Senators, a good speaker, and looked like a President. Republican operatives asked the potential nominee if he had any skeletons in his closet and, after thinking for a moment, Harding replied, "No". They probably should have dug a little deeper.

Harding had numerous extramarital affairs, a domineering wife, several rumored illegitimate children, poor health and believed that he was not fit to be President. His Democratic opponent, Governor James Cox (also of Ohio), was straight as an arrow, but eight years of an increasingly unpopular Democratic administration handicapped Cox from the start. FDR covered more ground while campaigning for Cox than any other Presidential or Vice Presidential candidate up to that point, but Harding's promise for a "return to normalcy" took hold throughout the nation. During the campaign, Republicans outspent the Democratics by a 4-to-1 margin. Harding rarely left the front porch of his Marion, Ohio home; instead, he let the campaign come to him, and addressed supporters who showed up on his lawn to see the Republican candidate. In November, Harding crushed Cox and went on to become just as terrible of a President as he believed he would be. Among scandals and intrigues, Harding died in office in 1923 and was succeeded by Coolidge.

1920: The Year of Six Presidents brilliantly captures the United States during a time of change and turmoil and Pietrusza paints a great picture of what would soon be known at the Roaring 20's. Besides the six Presidents, Pietrusza introduces other political leaders, potential Presidential candidates, and characters whose connections to the six Presidents are either influential, troublesome, or both. Set during a time of tremendous transformation in America, 1920 is a detailed account of what some consider the first modern campaign in Presidential history complete with advertising, media buys, spin control, and even a smear campaign (rumors that Harding was actually of African-American ancestry). The lessons learned and strategies attempted during the 1920 campaign are still seen and felt today.

History books walk a fine line and it's difficult for historians to be informative and entertaining. Pietrusza makes it look easy. 1920: The Year of Six Presidents is not merely a great read; it's a great experience. Theodore White's The Making of the President series might be the standard that books about Presidential campaigns are measured against, but Pietrusza's 1920 gives White a run for his money.

Highly recommended
Grade: A-

...more

flag Like · see review

Nov 21, 2016 SeaShore rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 1920-us-presidents

Woodrow Wilson thought thirteen was his lucky number. His name contained thirteen letters. He taught at Princeton for thirteen years. He was the thirteenth president. David Pietrusza includes little titbits like that in this easy to read book. Wilson was dyslexic and very determined to succeed.
The six presidents comprise Wilson, the two Roosevelts, Herbert Hoover, Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge.
"Wilson had suffered a stroke... and his health never fully recovered- and his judgment may have s ...more

flag Like · see review

Aug 08, 2020 Adam rated it really liked it

With the exception of Pietrusza’s vague favor for Harding and vague antipathy for Wilson and FDR, I thought this was a fascinating recapitulation of an election that actually involved 6.5 presidents (I give partial credit for Taft). Numerous times throughout the narrative, I found myself taking to Wikipedia to learn more about someone or other, which is generally the sign of a historical story told compellingly.

If anything else, this book convinced me of the worth of Calvin Coolidge, whom, as a ...more

flag Like · see review

Sep 02, 2018 Ralphz rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: recommended, sold

This a fun book by one of my favorite authors, David Pietrusza.

It was 1920, when six men who had been, were or would be president ran for the highest office.

Ex-president Theodore Roosevelt led the pack and was the favorite to get the Republican nomination. The very ill and very stubborn Woodrow Wilson wanted to run again to save his League of Nations. Also in the mix, eventual winner Warren G. Harding, his vice-president Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover and Teddy’s cousin Franklin Roosevelt.

They ...more

flag Like · see review

May 24, 2015 Al rated it it was amazing

The basis of this book is that the 1920 election was dominated by six personalities- former and future Presidents, and it’s unlikely due to the 22nd Amendment to ever see that again. In 1919, Teddy Roosevelt, after his failed 1912 third party campaign- looks to be undoubtedly headed back to the White House as a Republican. Unfortunately, he dies that year. Woodrow Wilson is the current President, and although he is too ill and too unpopular to likely win a third term, it is his not so secret des The basis of this book is that the 1920 election was dominated by six personalities- former and future Presidents, and it’s unlikely due to the 22nd Amendment to ever see that again. In 1919, Teddy Roosevelt, after his failed 1912 third party campaign- looks to be undoubtedly headed back to the White House as a Republican. Unfortunately, he dies that year. Woodrow Wilson is the current President, and although he is too ill and too unpopular to likely win a third term, it is his not so secret desire to do so. Taft, at this point is alive, but a non-contributor as he is only interested in fulfilling his life long dream to become a Supreme Court Judge. Harding and Coolidge of course get elected in 1920, and Hoover and FDR are both on the ascent and figure heavily into the mix (FDR is the Democratic nominee for Vice President in 1920)
Pietrusza has pretty solid Conservative credentials. He is a Fox News regular and this book has been mentioned as a favorite of Dubya Bush’s, Karl Rove’s and Glen Beck’s. That said, the prospect of the book hooked me. I have heard Pietrusza called a “Conservative Howard Zinn” or a “Conservative Tom Wolfe”. I don’t know if that is accurate. That said, he is immensely readable.
I didn’t detect any undue bias if that is what you are afraid of. David is clearly a Coolidge fan. Silent Cal has become a hero for today’s GOP. The TR of Pietrusza’s book is Rushmore-worthy, but the more I read on Teddy, the more I agree. Woodrow Wilson is the most unsympathetic character. He is vain, narcissistic, racist, unpopular and to a certain extent self-delusional. Still, I have heard many of the same accusations levelled by the most liberal of historians and writers.
I can’t imagine many people give the Election of 1920 much thought, but Pietrusza sells it as a fascinating race. TRs death takes an obvious result and throws it into disarray. The two leading nominees both claim to be TR’s heir. There is General Leonard Wood, a personal friend of TR who also enjoys the support of Teddy’s family. Sen Hiram Johnson from California’s claim is that he was the Bull Moose nominee running mate of Teddy’s in 1912.
Neither man is particularly charismatic. They may have TR’s ideas, but they have none of his personality. I am reminded of the parade of candidates who claimed that they were heirs to Ronald Reagan (Al Haig, Gary Bauer, Alan Keyes, Dan Quayle, Pat Buchanan, Donald Rumsfeld) but were laughed at by the electorate at large.
Illinois Gov Frank Lowden has a claim at the nomination, but is a terrible campaigner and appears that he wants to buy the nomination outright, which makes him unpopular when that fact emerges. Pennsylvania Governor Sproul would be a real contender, but his state is not in play, so he is a no-go. So, after much balloting and the famous “smoky backrooms”, Harding emerges as the eventual nominee.
Famously, Harding is asked if there are any reasons he should not run (i.e. skeletons in his closet) and he answers no, though he really has an illegitimate daughter with a woman he still is seeing and essentially is buying her silence.
The Democratic side is similarly unorganized. Wilson is hoping he gets nominated for a third term, so he chooses not to get out of that way, nor does he bestow his blessing on any of the contenders. Treasury Secretary (and Wilson’s son-in-law) William McAdoo is a front runner, but paralyzed by Wilson’s actions. Attorney General Alexander Palmer is popular as the election cycle campaign, but the “Red Scare”(and Palmer Raids) which made him popular in 1919, only make him look like a fool when the great ‘communist conspiracy’ doesn’t pan out. Vice President Thomas Marshall isn’t particularly interested, nor does he have any of the qualifications to be President. Like Wilson, three times nominee William Jennings Bryan also has delusions that he will be called to run.
The Democrats settle on a compromise in James Cox. Like Harding, a newspaperman from Ohio. Cox is Governor, Harding a Senator. Harding campaigns from his front porch. Cox goes on tour, but clearly doesn’t have the right personality. FDR emerges as the future star. (meanwhile, Herbert Hoover was the Colin Powell of his time, He could have probably ran as a Democrat or Republican, and gets support from both, though his campaign doesn’t exactly ignite this time around. We will have to wait until 1928 for that).
There’s Eugene Debs, of course running from prison. Meanwhile, various third parties convene in Chicago to find a candidate that can unite them all, but the movement is doomed, the parties are disorganized, the nominee Utah lawyer Parley Christensen is a failure. (I am reminded of the 2012 Americans Elect movement- in which it sounds like a good idea on paper to unite all these disparate movements, but only succeeds in giving some kooks center stage)
There’s some racy stuff here (Harding and FDR’s love lives, there’s the KKK, we have socialists, communists and anarchists) but it’s all pertinent. FDR, while serving as Deputy Secretary of Navy sees a scandal that affects him to the negative. He is called to appear in Senate hearings, as there were allegations of his boss using young men to ferret out homosexuals in the navy, by taking any actions necessary to “out” them, which means what you think it does
The book is incredibly readable- the kind you can’t put down and wish could just continue. Of course, we know the ending, but it’s a credit that you can’t wait to see how it unfolds. The only downtime is maybe that the FDR Navy scandal goes a bit more in depth than it needs be. I recommend this to political junkies of all stripes. ...more

flag Like · see review

Dec 02, 2018 Gregory rated it liked it

Lively and fun read of the 1920 election. Lots of details on the conventions and the candidates. Good background on women's suffrage and African-American voting. However, if I had one complaint or comment, it is that the emphasis on personality completely overshadowed serious discussion on policy. For example, the debate of the Treaty of Versailles is reduced to a personal battle between President Woodrow Wilson and Senator Henry Cabot Lodge. Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge come off well in t ...more

flag Like · see review

Oct 30, 2017 J Bradley rated it liked it · review of another edition

Great drama. Well told. Helps puts 21st Century politics in perspective (today isn't so uniquely crazy). This book might have been even better if it didn't go into so much detail. Still, well done. Where's the movie?

One unique aspect was, at the beginning, a brief bio of the "characters" being written about in the book to help set the stage, then, at the end of the book, a review of what happened to them after 1920. ...more

flag Like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »

Recommend It | Stats | Recent Status Updates

Readers also enjoyed

See similar books…

Genres

History

127 users

Politics

49 users

Nonfiction

45 users

North American Hi... > American History

38 users

Politics > Presidents

29 users

Biography

16 users

Presidents > Us Presidents

8 users

Literature > American

3 users

Historical

3 users

Literature > 20th Century

2 users

See top shelves…

About David Pietrusza

David Pietrusza

45 followers

David Pietrusza has produced a number of critically-acclaimed works concerning 20th century American history.

His book "1960: LBJ vs JFK vs Nixon: The Epic Campaign that Forged Three Presidencies" was named by ForeWord Magazine as among the best political biographies.

Pietrusza's "1920: The Year of the Six Presidents" received a Kirkus starred review, was honored as a Kirkus "Best Books of 2007" tit

...more

Books by David Pietrusza

Rothstein: The Life, Times, and Murder of the Criminal Genius Who Fixed the 1919 World Series

1960--LBJ vs. JFK vs. Nixon: The Epic Campaign That Forged Three Presidencies

1948: Harry Truman's Improbable Victory and the Year that Transformed America

1932: The Rise of Hitler and Fdr--Two Tales of Politics, Betrayal, and Unlikely Destiny

Silent Cal's Almanack: The Homespun Wit And Wisdom Of Vermont's Calvin Coolidge

More…

News & Interviews

Power, Sister! 20 New Books on Women’s History

Happy Women's History Month! One of the undisputedly good things about modern scholarship is that women’s history is finally getting its due....

Trivia About 1920: The Year of...

1 trivia question

More quizzes & trivia...

Quotes from 1920: The Year of...

“Though there is no evil in righteousness, there is in self-righteousness,” — 13 likes

“Author points out in Woodrow Wilson the flipside of the positive we might call big picture vision. He observes that as college president Wilson resorted to the language of a national crusade when he met resistance in a local, academic issue.” — 3 likes

More quotes…

See a Problem?

Preview — 1920 by David Pietrusza

1920: The Year of the Six Presidents

Get A Copy

Friend Reviews

Reader Q&A

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topic
Discuss This Book

Readers also enjoyed

Genres

About David Pietrusza

Books by David Pietrusza

News & Interviews

Trivia About 1920: The Year of...

Quotes from 1920: The Year of...

See a Problem?

Preview — 1920 by David Pietrusza

1920: The Year of the Six Presidents

Get A Copy

Friend Reviews

Reader Q&A

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topicDiscuss This Book

Readers also enjoyed

Genres

About David Pietrusza

Books by David Pietrusza

News & Interviews

Trivia About 1920: The Year of...

Quotes from 1920: The Year of...

new topic
Discuss This Book