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Charles G. Dawes

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Adapted from the English Wikipedia article Charles G. Dawes, available under CC BY-SA 4.0Updated 11 August 20255 sources
Charles G. Dawes
BornError: Invalid birth date for calculating age
Marietta, Ohio, U.S.
Died23 April 1951(1951-04-23) (aged 85)
Occupation(s)Politician, banker, military officer, composer
Years active1887–1932
Known for30th Vice President of the United States, Dawes Plan, Nobel Peace Prize (1925)

Charles Gates Dawes (born August 27, 1865 – died April 23, 1951) was the 30th vice president of the United States, serving from 1925 to 1929 alongside President Calvin Coolidge. Affiliated with the Republican Party, he was honored with the Nobel Peace Prize in 1925 for his instrumental involvement in creating the Dawes Plan, which addressed the issue of World War I reparations.

Originating from Marietta, Ohio, Dawes pursued legal studies at Cincinnati Law School before embarking on a career as a lawyer in Lincoln, Nebraska. He later shifted to the business sector, taking on an executive role at a gas company. Dawes also managed the successful 1896 presidential campaign of William McKinley in Illinois. Following this, McKinley appointed him as Comptroller of the Currency, a post he held until 1901, after which he established the Central Trust Company of Illinois. During World War I, Dawes attained the rank of general and chaired the general purchasing board for the American Expeditionary Forces. In 1921, President Warren G. Harding named him as the inaugural director of the Bureau of the Budget. Dawes played a key role in the Allied Reparations Commission, where he developed the Dawes Plan aimed at stabilizing Germany’s faltering economy.

At the 1924 Republican National Convention, following former Illinois governor Frank O. Lowden’s refusal of the vice-presidential nomination, Dawes was chosen as Calvin Coolidge’s running mate. The Republican ticket secured victory, and Dawes assumed office as vice president in 1925. He advocated for the McNary–Haugen Farm Relief Bill in Congress; however, President Coolidge vetoed it. Dawes sought to be renominated at the 1928 Republican National Convention, but due to Coolidge’s opposition, Charles Curtis was selected instead. In 1929, President Herbert Hoover appointed him as ambassador to the United Kingdom. Dawes briefly headed the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, overseeing governmental responses during the onset of the Great Depression, before stepping down in 1932 to return to banking. He passed away in 1951 from coronary thrombosis.

Early life and family

Born on August 27, 1865, in Marietta, Ohio, Washington County, Dawes was the son of Civil War General Rufus Dawes and Mary Beman Gates. His father led the 6th Wisconsin Regiment within the famed Iron Brigade during the Civil War. His uncle, Ephraim C. Dawes, served under Ulysses S. Grant and sustained injuries at the Battle of Dallas in 1864.

Dawes’s siblings included brothers—Rufus C. Dawes, Beman Gates Dawes, and Henry May Dawes—who were influential figures in business and politics. He also had two sisters: Mary Frances Dawes Beach and Betsey Gates Dawes Hoyt.

His lineage traces back to notable ancestors such as Edward Doty, a Mayflower passenger, and Revolutionary War figure William Dawes, known for his ride alongside Paul Revere.

On January 24, 1889, he married Caro Blymyer. Together they had two biological children: Rufus Fearing (1890–1912) and Carolyn; they later adopted two additional children named Dana and Virginia.

Education

Dawes completed his undergraduate studies at Marietta College in 1884, followed by earning a law degree from Cincinnati Law School in 1886. During his academic career, he was affiliated with the fraternity Delta Upsilon.

Early business career

After gaining admission to the Nebraska bar, Dawes practiced law in Lincoln between 1887 and 1894. It was there that he formed a lasting friendship with Lieutenant John Pershing, who once contemplated leaving the military to join Dawes in legal practice but was discouraged due to financial instability. Dawes also developed a friendship with Democratic Congressman William Jennings Bryan despite their differing political views.

Amid the economic turmoil of the Panic of 1893, Dawes relocated to Chicago. By 1894, he had acquired stakes in gas utilities across the Midwest and assumed leadership roles as president of both the La Crosse Gas Light Company in Wisconsin and the Northwestern Gas Light and Coke Company based in Evanston, Illinois.

Interest in music

A self-educated musician, Dawes mastered the piano and flute and composed music. His piece Melody in A Major gained prominence as a composition for piano and violin in 1912. In 1921, Marie Edwards arranged it for piano solo, and Adolf G. Hoffmann later adapted it for small orchestra within the same year. This composition was regularly performed at official events attended by Dawes.

Lyrics were added to Melody in A Major in 1951 by Carl Sigman, transforming it into the song "It's All in the Game". Tommy Edwards's 1958 rendition dominated the American Billboard charts for six weeks and also secured the top spot in the UK. Since then, numerous artists including Cliff Richard, the Four Tops, Isaac Hayes, Van Morrison, Nat "King" Cole, Elton John, Barry Manilow, and Merle Haggard have recorded versions of this pop standard.

Dawes holds the distinction of being the only U.S. vice president credited with a number-one pop hit. Alongside Bob Dylan, he is among the rare Nobel Prize recipients who have achieved a chart-topping pop song.

Early political career

Dawes’s achievements in business caught the attention of Republican leaders who appointed him to oversee Illinois's campaign efforts supporting William McKinley’s successful 1896 presidential run. Following McKinley’s election, Dawes served as Comptroller of the Currency from 1898 until 1901. In this role, he recovered more than $25 million from banks that failed after the Panic of 1893 and implemented reforms to banking regulations.

In 1901, Dawes stepped down to pursue a U.S. Senate seat from Illinois but lost momentum when President Theodore Roosevelt endorsed his rival Albert J. Hopkins after McKinley’s assassination. Following this political setback, Dawes exited public office and founded the Central Trust Company of Illinois, serving as its president until 1921.

After his son Rufus tragically drowned during a summer break from Princeton University in 1912, Dawes established homeless shelters in Chicago and Boston and financed a dormitory at Rufus's preparatory school, the Lawrenceville School.

World War I

Dawes played an instrumental role in facilitating the initial Anglo-French Loan totaling $500 million extended to the Entente powers. His endorsement was pivotal as it represented crucial public support from a banker outside of Morgan interests, helping secure approval for Morgan-led financing efforts. Morgan banker Thomas W. Lamont acknowledged that Dawes’s backing would "make a position for him in the banking world such as he otherwise could never hope to make". (The loans stirred controversy due to concerns over U.S. neutrality.)

Commissioned as a major in June 1917, Dawes rose to brigadier general by October 1918. He served in France overseeing procurement as chairman of the general purchasing board for the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) and acted as the American delegate on the Military Board of Allied Supply during 1918. After hostilities ceased, he joined the War Department's Liquidation Commission. For his military service, Dawes was awarded both the Distinguished Service Medal and France’s Croix de Guerre. He returned stateside aboard the SS Leviathan in August 1919. Subsequently, he authored A Journal of the Great War (1921), recounting his wartime experiences.

During Senate hearings on war expenditures in 1921, Dawes famously remarked, "Hell and Maria, we weren't trying to keep a set of books over there, we were trying to win a war!" He resigned his commission in 1919 and became an active participant in the American Legion.

1920s: European Financial Support and the Nobel Peace Prize

In the 1920 Republican National Convention, Dawes backed Frank O. Lowden for the nomination, but ultimately Warren G. Harding secured the Republican presidential candidacy.[1] The following year, Harding appointed Dawes as the inaugural director of the newly established Bureau of the Budget. In 1923, Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover named him chairman of the Allied Reparations Commission.

Dawes played a central role in addressing Europe’s financial turmoil after World War I through what became known as the Dawes Plan. This initiative enabled substantial American loans to Germany, which revitalized its industrial sector and allowed Germany to meet reparations obligations to France and Belgium as stipulated by the Versailles Treaty. As a result, France and Belgium withdrew their troops from the Ruhr region, where they had been stationed since January 1923. The Dawes Plan was succeeded in 1929 by the Young Plan, which further decreased reparations payments and mandated the withdrawal of occupying forces from the Rhineland.[2][3] For his contributions to easing Franco-German tensions through these financial arrangements, Dawes was honored with the Nobel Peace Prize in 1925.[4][5]

Vice Presidency (1925–1929)

At the 1924 Republican National Convention, President Calvin Coolidge faced little opposition for his party’s presidential nomination. The vice-presidential candidate selection was more competitive: Governor Lowden and Senator William Borah both declined consideration, while Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover lacked enough delegate backing. Ultimately, delegates chose Dawes, a decision Coolidge accepted with confidence due to Dawes’s loyalty and potential campaign benefits.

Throughout the campaign, Dawes traveled extensively across the country delivering speeches endorsing the Republican ticket. On August 22, he addressed a rally in Augusta, Maine supporting Republican gubernatorial candidate Ralph Owen Brewster, who was under scrutiny for alleged Ku Klux Klan associations. Dawes publicly denounced the Klan’s religious and racial intolerance while tactfully navigating race-related topics. He also frequently criticized Progressive nominee Robert M. La Follette, portraying him as a radical with Bolshevik sympathies. On November 4, 1924, the Coolidge-Dawes ticket won decisively, receiving more votes than both Democratic and Progressive opponents combined. Their inauguration occurred on March 4, 1925.

Address to Senate

Upon assuming office on March 4, Dawes delivered a contentious speech condemning Senate filibuster rule XXII as "undemocratic," criticizing its two-thirds vote threshold as susceptible to misuse. He notably singled out individual senators while emphatically pounding on a table, provoking sharp rebuke—including from Chief Justice William Howard Taft, who commented that Dawes had "made a monkey out of himself." Further aggravating senators, Dawes administered their oaths one by one instead of collectively. This confrontational approach overshadowed President Coolidge’s inauguration ceremonies and attracted unfavorable media coverage, much to Coolidge’s frustration.

Charles B. Warren's Nomination

On March 10, the Senate engaged in discussions regarding President Coolidge’s choice of Charles B. Warren for the position of United States Attorney General. In light of the Teapot Dome scandal and other related disputes, opposition arose from Democrats and Progressive Republicans who cited Warren’s connections to the Sugar Trust. Although six individuals were slated to speak on the nomination, most refrained from doing so, leading to a vote while Vice President Dawes was absent. The initial tally resulted in a 40-40 deadlock, which Dawes could have resolved in Warren’s favor. Nevertheless, during Dawes’s absence, a Democratic senator altered his vote, culminating in a 41-39 rejection—the first time in nearly six decades that the Senate had declined a presidential nominee. This incident was famously lampooned in a poem referencing Dawes’s lineage tracing back to William Dawes.

Following this event, Dawes and Coolidge became estranged; Dawes began avoiding Cabinet meetings and openly criticized the Senate filibuster. He was a vigorous proponent of the McNary–Haugen Farm Relief Bill, designed to combat the 1920s farm crisis by having the government purchase excess crops for export. Despite passing Congress, Coolidge exercised his veto power against the legislation.

In 1927, as Coolidge chose not to seek another term, Dawes supported Frank Lowden at the 1928 Republican National Convention, but Herbert Hoover ultimately secured the nomination. Speculation connected Dawes with Hoover’s vice-presidential selection; however, Coolidge opposed Dawes’s renomination as vice president. Instead, Charles Curtis from Kansas was selected to join Hoover on the ticket.

Ambassadorship and Reconstruction Finance Corporation

Following his tenure as vice president, Dawes was appointed U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom from 1929 until 1931. His contemporaries, including Prince Edward (later Edward VIII), regarded him as an effective diplomat, though he resisted adhering strictly to certain court customs such as wearing formal attire.

As the Great Depression worsened, Dawes left his diplomatic role to head President Hoover’s newly created Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC). After several months in this position, he stepped down to concentrate on salvaging the failing Central Republic Bank and Trust Company of Chicago, where he served as chairman. Critics accused him of channeling RFC support toward his own bank, which effectively ended his public service career. Hoover considered including Dawes on his 1932 ticket; however, Dawes declined.

Later in 1932, Dawes co-established City National Bank and Trust Co., which absorbed deposits from the collapsed Central Republic Bank. In 1936, Republican leaders informally proposed Dawes as their presidential candidate to evoke memories of the prosperous Coolidge administration, but he declined; Alf Landon became the party’s nominee instead.

Later Years

Dawes remained chairman of City National’s board for nearly twenty years until his passing. He died on April 23, 1951, at his home in Evanston due to coronary thrombosis at age 85. He was laid to rest at Rosehill Cemetery in Chicago.

Personal life

Dawes was affiliated with multiple hereditary and veterans' groups, such as the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, Sons of the American Revolution, General Society of Colonial Wars, American Legion, and Forty and Eight. Additionally, from 1925 until his passing, he held membership in the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts.

Honors

  • Dawes was a co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1925 for his contributions to the resolution of World War I reparations.

Several Chicago public schools—located at 3810 W 81st Place and 440 Dodge Avenue in Evanston—as well as Dawes Park at 1700 Sheridan Road in Evanston, bear his name as a tribute.

United States military awards

Citation for Distinguished Service Medal:


Foreign honors

Legacy

Annette Dunlap characterized Dawes as a self-made individual who prized diligence, frugality, and Christian charity. He advocated firmly for traditional Republican values emphasizing limited government and fiscal restraint, standing in opposition to Franklin Roosevelt’s approach favoring expansive governmental expenditures.

In 1944, Dawes donated his lakeside residence in Evanston to Northwestern University for use by the Evanston Historical Society (currently the Evanston History Center). The Dawes family remained in the home until 1957. Today, it functions as a museum managed by the Center. The Charles G. Dawes House holds recognition as a National Historic Landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Selected writings

See also

Bibliography

  • online critique
  • Goedeken, Edward A. "Charles Dawes and the Military Board of Allied Supply". Journal of Military History 50.1 (1986): 1–6.
  • Haberman, F. W. (Ed.). (1972). Nobel Lectures, Peace 1901–1925. Amsterdam: Elsevier Publishing.
  • Pixton, John E. "Charles G. Dawes and the McKinley Campaign". Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society 48.3 (1955): 283–306.
  • Pixton, J. E. (1952). The Early Career of Charles G. Dawes. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
  • Timmons, B. N. (1953). Portrait of an American: Charles G. Dawes. New York: Holt; popular biography online edition
  • Waller, R. A. (1998). The Vice Presidents: A Biographical Dictionary. Purcell, L.E.(Ed.). New York: Facts On File.


External links




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  1. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named dawesvp1
  2. ↑ Dunlap, pp. 214–15.
  3. ↑ Stephen A. Schuker, The End of French Predominance in Europe: The Financial Crisis of 1924 and the Adoption of the Dawes Plan (U of North Carolina Press, 1976).
  4. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Davis
  5. ↑ "Charles G. Dawes". The Nobel Prize. Retrieved 20 October 2023.

Related profiles

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