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Charles G. Dawes

Charles Gates Dawes was born on August 27, 1865, in Marietta, Ohio, and grew up to be an outstanding public servant, although his tenure as vice president was more contentious than distinguished. His father was a Civil War veteran and one-term Republican congressman. His descendents also included William Dawes, who had ridden with Paul Revere to warn colonists of the approaching British. Dawes graduated from Marietta College in 1884 and received his law degree from Cincinnati Law School in 1886. He married Caro Blymyer in 1889.

Shortly after finishing law school, the governor of Ohio hired him to go to Lincoln, Nebraska, to look after his real estate holdings. Dawes did so and opened his law practice there. His law office was two floors above that of William Jennings Bryan, who opened his practice the same year as Dawes. The two became lifelong friends in spite of their political differences.

Dawes eventually moved to Chicago, Illinois, to pursue business opportunities in 1895. There he met William McKinley and was eventually put in charge of McKinley's Chicago headquarters for the 1896 presidential election. When McKinley won, he made Dawes comptroller of currency. Dawes resigned in 1901 to pursue election as a senator. However, McKinley was assassinated shortly afterwards, and Dawes did not attract the support of Theodore Roosevelt or local party bosses. After this defeat, Dawes became president of the Central Trust Company of Illinois until the United States entered World War I. Dawes, at age 52, was commissioned as a major in the 17th Railway Engineers. He eventually became the chief of supply procurement for American troops in Europe and later served as the U.S. member of the Military Board of Allied Supply after Allied command was unified.

Dawes emerged as a national figure in 1921 when he was called to testify before a congressional committee investigating war expenditures. He had served with distinction and was frustrated with the request to testify. When he was pressed on prices formulas, Dawes became enraged and berated the committee for their "peanut politics." His testimony, expletives deleted, became a Government Printing Office best-seller. When the Bureau of the Budget was created the next year, President Warren Harding named Dawes as its first director. In 1923, when the economy of Germany faltered, he was appointed to devise a plan to address it. The "Dawes Plan" introduced mechanisms to balance the German budget, reorganize the Reichsbank, and stabilize the currency. It was his best known contribution to history and won him the 1925 Nobel Peace Prize.

In 1924, Calvin Coolidge selected Dawes as his running mate, and the two won in a landslide. The relationship between the two quickly turned sour. In accordance with a tradition dating back to 1789, Dawes was to deliver a brief Inaugural Address to the Senate. His lengthy tirade against Senate rules stole headlines and the spotlight from the Inaugural Address Coolidge delivered afterwards. Dawes exacerbated problems by declining to sit in on cabinet meetings before Coolidge had even offered him the right to do so. Another incident of contention arose over Coolidge's nominee for attorney general. Dawes, after being assured that no vote would be taken in his absence, left the Senate floor to take a nap at the Willard Hotel during the confirmation proceedings. While he was gone, a vote was taken and resulted in a tie. Dawes, however, was not present to cast the tie-breaking vote. By the time he arrived, a supporter had switched their vote and Coolidge's attorney general was consequently rejected. It was the first rejection of a cabinet appointee since the presidency of Andrew Johnson, and Coolidge held Dawes responsible. Finally, Dawes subtle endorsement of bills Coolidge would later veto did not endear him any further to the President.

After Coolidge declined to seek another term, Hoover declined to retain Dawes as vice president. After his tenure, Dawes served as U.S. ambassador to Britain from 1929 to 1932 and briefly headed the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC). He had to leave the later position, however, when the bank of which he had previously been director failed and needed to take RFC loans. Dawes eventually reorganized the bank and paid back all RFC loans. He remained chairman of the board for the Chicago City National Bank and Trust Co. until his death on April 23, 1951.