Macy’s Convention Club at the Democratic National Convention. Madison Square Garden, June 24 to July 9, 1924. by (PHOTOGRAPHY: AMERICAN POLITICS) - 1924

New York: Macy's Department Store, 1924. Original photograph album detailing activities at the Macy’s Convention Center at the infamous 1924 Democratic Convention (commonly referred to as the “Klanbake Convention”). Macy’s set up their Convention Center at the Garden Theater adjacent to Madison Square Garden. Folio (13 x 19 inches). 68 leaves bearing 48 original 8 x 10 inch photographs (captioned in white ink), numerous newspaper articles, a slew of original signed letters by various dignitaries commending Macy’s . The book/album is broken up into 12 chapters. The opening page to each chapter bears professional calligraphic lettering and charming colored drawings. The whole bound in contemporary half black morocco over cloth with gilt spine lettering. Some rubbing to leather and one page loose. A magnificent production.The 1924 Democratic Convention took place in Madison Square Garden and Macy’s Convention Center was held in the adjoining theater. The heading of Chapter I reads: “The Democratic Convention is tendered facilities of a club room and lounge by R. H. Macy & Co. Inc. as an expression of welcome to the visiting delegates. The Green Theatre, adjoining the Convention Hall in Madison Square Garden, is transformed into Macy’s Convention Club”. The other chapter headings concern the various amenities offered by Macy’s at the Center (powder room, smoking room, post office, etc.) as well as chapters covering the press’s coverage of Macy’s and a section of signed testimonials. The photographs mainly depict the physical amenities such as the post office and powder room but many are given over to various celebrities at the convention. Included are photographs of Tex Rickhard, builder of Madison Square Garden, chief promoter of the time and owner of the New York Rangers; John R. Voorhis, police commissioner of New York City, Cordell Hull, future Secretary of State under FDR; Joseph P. Day, Tammany Hall VIP; and several photographs of Josephine Norman, beautiful leader of the California delegation and a McAdoo supporter. There are also numerous images of the actual building (including all four corners), and two photographs of cigar store Indians, and one of the actual delegate hall. One interesting photograph shows silent actress Gilda Grey, popularizer of the Shimmy Dance, post the first transcontinental air missive from the convention (the first daily Transcontinental Air Mail service involving both day and night flying over the entire route was opened on July 1, 1924 from this Convention). It seems Hollywood has long favored movie stars. In addition to Gilda Gray there are two other movies stars; Allen Conner and Peggy Browne, both mainly stars of the silent screen. The Beauty Parlor and the Smoking Room are also well represented in photographs. The photographer, no doubt a professional and probably Macy’s in-house photographer, but is not noted. The newspapers articles are from a newspaper cutting service and are all mounted on little tabs with publication history. The clippings are exhaustive (70,000 cigarettes and a mountain of mints were supplied by Macy’s) and while many of them concern Macy’s contribution to the convention, one could get a firm grasp of the entire Convention by reading them. The testimonials are all signed originals with most of them coming from the offices of various states although many individual letters of appreciation are included as well. There is also one page bearing a specimen of official convention letterhead stationary with the envelope and two postcards of the convention. In 1924, Democratic prospects in the upcoming presidential election seemed promising. The administration of Republican Calvin Coolidge was rocked by a scandal, the Teapot Dome, which involved secret leasing of the Navy's oil fields to private businesses. But the Democratic Party was deeply divided. The Democratic Party was an uneasy coalition of diverse elements: Northerners and Southerners, Westerners and Easterners, Catholics and Jews and Protestants, conservative landowners and agrarian radicals, progressives and big city machines, urban cosmopolitans and small-town traditionalists. On one side were defenders of the Ku Klux Klan, prohibition, and fundamentalism, predominantly from the South and the West. On the other side were northeastern Catholics and Jewish immigrants and their children. A series of issues that bitterly divided the country during the early 1920s were on display at the 1924 Democratic Convention held at Madison Square Garden in New York City from June 24 to July 9, 1924. These issues included prohibition and religious and racial tolerance. The Northeasterners wanted an explicit condemnation of the Ku Klux Klan.The two leading candidates symbolized a deep cultural divide. Al Smith, New York's governor, was a Catholic and an opponent of prohibition and was bitterly opposed by Democrats in the South and West. Former Treasury Secretary William Gibbs McAdoo, a Protestant, defended prohibition and refused to repudiate the Ku Klux Klan, making himself unacceptable to Catholics and Jews in the Northeast.Newspapers called the convention a "Klanbake," as pro-Klan and anti-Klan delegates wrangled bitterly over the party platform. The convention opened on a Monday and by Thursday night, after 61 ballots, the convention was deadlocked. The next day, July 4, some 20,000 Klan supporters wearing white hoods and robes held a picnic in New Jersey. One speaker denounced the "clownvention in Jew York." They threw baseballs at an effigy of Al Smith. The event culminated in a cross burning.Al Smith and William Gibbs McAdoo withdrew from contention after the 99th ballot. It was the longest political convention in American history, going 16 days and requiring 103 ballots before a compromise candidate was selected. On the 103rd ballot, the weary convention nominated John W. Davis of West Virginia, formerly a US Representative from West Virginia, Solicitor General for the United States, and US Ambassador to Britain under President Woodrow Wilson. The nomination proved worthless. Liberals deserted the Democrats and voted for Robert La Follette, a third party candidate. Apathy and disgust kept many home, and just half of those eligible went to the polls. The Democrat candidate, John Davis, received 8 million votes. The Republican candidate, incumbent president Calvin Coolidge, received 15 million votes.