Charles Dawes was Vice President from 1925 to 1929. He was also an accomplished financial expert, and in 1925 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for the “Dawes Plan” to stabilize the post war German economy. 

He was born in Marietta Ohio in 1865, the great-great grandson of William Dawes who had ridden with Paul Revere (Grandfather William would now be more famous than Paul, except for the fact that Revere rhymes with hear). His father was a lumber merchant who had served one term as a Republican in the US House of Representatives. Charles Dawes graduated from Marietta College in 1884 then worked as a civil engineer for the Marietta Columbus & Northern Ohio Railroad while earning a law degree from The Cincinnati school of law. 

In 1886 former Ohio Governor Walton hired Dawes to look after his real estate holdings in Lincoln Nebraska. He moved there, passed the Nebraska bar, then set up practice in the law offices of Dawes, Coffroth, & Cunningham. When another attorney moved in to the same building Dawes soon found that coincidentally they lived only two houses apart on the same street, and they both attended the same Presbyterian Church. They became friends, but Charles Dawes and William Jennings Bryan were on opposite sides when it came to politics. 

As a lawyer Dawes soon developed a reputation for standing up against the powerful railroad lobby by taking cases involving the new Interstate Commerce act of 1887. After achieving some financial success he studied public utilities and banking, and in 1894 he became the Director of the American Exchange National Bank in Lincoln. That same year he published a book The Banking System Of The United States And Its Relation To The Money And Business Of The Country. Previously, during the Panic of 1893, he decided he needed to be involved in a business other than banking. He purchased controlling interest in the La Crosse Wisconsin Gas Light & Coke Company, and he became the president of the People’s Gas Light & Coke Company of Chicago. 

In 1895 Dawes met Marcus Hanna who was promoting Ohio Governor William McKinley for President. He agreed to manage McKinley’s Chicago headquarters during the preconvention campaign. When the Republicans met in St. Louis Dawes was credited with getting Illinois delegate votes away from Favorite Son Shelby Collun and over to McKinley. When his former friend and Nebraska neighbor, William Jennings Bryan, made his “Cross of Gold” speech at the Democrats national convention Dawes may have disagreed with what was said but he still admired his Nebraska neighbor for the quality and brilliance of his eloquent speech. During the general election Dawes was in charge of McKinley’s national headquarters in Chicago, and was also a member of the Republican national committee. 

After the election Dawes served in the Treasury Department as Comptroller of Currency. 

President McKinley enjoyed Dawes Company and often invited him to be a guest at the White House. 

Charles Dawes was also a self-taught pianist and had written A Melody in A Major that later became “it’s all in the name of the game” when words were added in 1951. 

In 1901 he was a candidate for US Senator from Illinois and had been assured of McKinley’s endorsement, but when the assassination at Buffalo put Theodore Roosevelt in control the new President let it be known that he would make his own endorsements and recommendations, and another Republican was elected to the US Senate. Later in 1924 Dawes remembered the event and said, “Once I was taken up on the top of a 20 story building and shown the Promised Land, and then I was kicked off.” 

He then left government service and organized the Central Trust Company of Illinois and was its president until America entered the World War. It was during this time that his son, on leave from Princeton, drowned at Lake Geneva Wisconsin. Dawes and his wife were so distraught over the loss that they withdrew from most social activity and turned their attention to Philanthropy. As a memorial to their son they established the Rufus Fearing Dawes Hotel for Destitute Men in Chicago and Boston, and the Mary Dawes Hotel for Women. 

In 1917 the Food Administrator for the American Relief Effort in Europe wanted Dawes to be in control of monitoring grain prices. But Dawes refused Herbert Hoover’s request and instead enlisted in the Army. He was commissioned as a Major in the 17th Railway Engineers. General Pershing, who had been a military instructor at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, was well acquainted with Charles Dawes and appointed him to head the board to collect supplies and coordinate purchases. Dawes business skills soon earned him the rank of Brigadier General. After the fighting ended he remained in Europe to oversee the disposition of surplus military property. Dawes wartime experience created an interest in international affairs. He thought that the US should have signed the Treaty of Versailles, and supported membership in the League of Nations. 

In 1921 Charles Dawes was summoned to appear before a committee of the House of Representatives. With Harding as President, and a Republican majority in the Congress it was decided that extravagant expenditures during the Wilson years should be investigated. Dawes was asked how much money was paid for French Horses. An angry Dawes shot to feet exclaiming “Hell’n Maria” We would have paid horse prices for sheep if they could pull artillery”. He then continued to lecture the committee telling them that when our soldiers are being shot at you do everything you can to get them supplies as fast as possible. The Public loved it, and Dawes “Hell’n Maria speech” became a government printing office best seller. 





In 1921 President Harding appointed him to be the director of the new Bureau of the Budget. After a year he returned to Illinois and founded “The Minute Men of the Constitution” a group organized to fight voter fraud, stop unfair union practices, and oppose the Ku Klux Klan. The group existed until he became Vice President. 

In 1923 President Harding sent Dawes to Europe to investigate the German financial crises. When Calvin Coolidge became President he asked Dawes to come up with a plan to stabilize the German economy. In what became known as “The Dawes Plan” German currency would be stabilized by reorganizing the Reich bank under allied supervision, and a schedule of reparation payments would graduate from 1 billion Gold Marks in the first year to 2 ½ billion in the fifth year. For his efforts Charles Dawes was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, which he shared with Britain’s Sir Austen Chamberlain in 1925. Dawes donated his share of the prize money to the Walter Hines page school of International relations at John Hopkins University. 

When the Republicans met for their national convention in 1924 Coolidge was nominated to remain in office with no significant opposition. When the number two spot on the ticket was turned down by the GOP’s best known elected officials Dawes’ name was recommended as someone who would add strength to the ticket. Dawes was notified while making a speech at his Alma Mater in Marietta Ohio. Another coincidence with Bryan occurred when William Jennings’ brother Charles was nominated as the Democrats Vice Presidential candidate. 

Coolidge was not a good public speaker. Even though he had already run for public office, and Dawes had not, Coolidge’s style of short sentences and bland vocabulary made it necessary for Dawes to be the main voice for the campaign. Dawes was able to draw big crowds with his “Hell’ Maria” speeches denouncing the Democrat’s candidate John Davis, and even going so far as to accuse Progressive candidate Robert LaFollete of Being a Bolshevik. 

When Charles Dawes spoke for the first time as the new President of the Senate he began a scathing speech against filibusters telling the Senators that their rules allowing a minority to have power over the majority was “contrary to the principals of constitutional government”. His fiery speech got so much attention that it completely overshadowed the new president’s inauguration speech. It soon became known that Calvin Coolidge highly resented being upstaged by his vice president. 

Only days later Charles Warren’s name was before the Senate as the nominee for Attorney General. Usually cabinet appointments passed the Senate with ease but now the Teapot Dome scandal was making candidates face a closer examination. As the interrogations ran on and on a tired Vice President retired to the Willard Hotel for a nap. While Dawes was sleeping the Senate decided they could go ahead and take a vote. When the Republicans saw that it was a tie they rushed to the Willard Hotel, woke up Dawes, and rushed him back to the Senate chamber. When they arrived they found that they were too late. One Democrat had been persuaded to change his vote. It was the first time in sixty years that the President’s nominee for the cabinet had been rejected. An embarrassed Coolidge never forgave Dawes. 

To add to their differences Dawes worked hard to pass the McNary-Haugen Bill, to extend the Federal Reserve Bank and provide Farm relief, by making a coalition between conservatives favoring a banking bill and radicals favoring a farm bill. After carefully getting the Bill through both houses of Congress President Coolidge vetoed it. 

What Coolidge thought of Dawes we may never know, but it is a fact that Charles Dawes was never mentioned in Calvin Coolidge’s memoirs, and strongly opposed putting Dawes on the ticket with Hoover in 1932. 

When his term ended Dawes returned to the Banking business becoming the Honorary Chairman of the Central Republic Bank and Trust of Illinois, which had previously been his old Central Trust Company of Illinois. He also served as chairman of a financial commission to the Dominican Republic. In 1929 he once again returned to government service when President Hoover made him the Ambassador to the United Kingdom, a post he held until 1932. 

Hoover appointed Dawes to head the new Reconstruction Finance Corporation

Which Congress created to help banks and business because of the Depression. Dawes national prestige grew so much that some Republicans talked of dumping Vice President Charles Curtis from the 32 ticket and replacing him with Dawes. 

In June Dawes resigned from the RFC in order to save his own financial base the Central Republic Bank of Chicago, but he was unable to stop it from going in to receivership and being liquidated. Eventually Dawes was able to reorganize it as the City National Bank & Trust Company of Chicago and was able to pay back all loans made by the RFC. He remained an associate of the Bank until his death in 1951. 

There’s no doubt that Dawes has earned his place in the pages of financial history, but I wonder what Dawes must have thought when he looked at his Nobel Prize after German troops invaded Poland in 1939?