103rd Ballot

A fascinating political narrative, analyzing the chaotic 1924 Democratic Convention that left the Democratic Party divided for years in its wake—with striking parallels to the controversial contemporary primaries leading to the 2016 election of the President of the United States

Divided over the contentious issues of Prohibition and the Ku Klux Klan, a fractured Democratic Party met in the summer of 1924 to elect a presidential nominee. With drastically opposing views between front-runners William Gibbs McAdoo of California and Governor Al Smith of New York, and the “favorite sons”—candidates running without national support—rigid division amongst the party led to the need for a 103rd ballot.

Robert Keith Murray expertly captures the upheaval of the convention and the detrimental impact it had on the party long after a candidate had been officially selected. This riveting narrative and exceptional analysis provides a captivating look on one of the most controversial presidential conventions in American history, one that will highly resonate with readers given the state of political dissonance today.