Passed Vice Presidents - # 30 – Charles Dawes

Grave of Charles Dawes (26 July 2023)

Served under Calvin Coolidge

4 March 1873 – 22 November 1875 (died in office)

Preceded by # 29 – Calvin Coolidge

Succeeded by # 31 – Charles Curtis

Born – 27 August 1865

Died – 23 April 1951 (Age 85)

Buried – Rosehill Cemetery, Chicago, IL

Date Visited – 26 July 2023

I’ve sought out quite a few graves in this time of retirement history-photo-tourism. The various quests have brought me to many cemeteries. I can remember being rained on only twice ever and both times were in Chicago.

Our drive from Wisconsin to Michigan this summer certainly got close enough to Rosehill Cemetery in Chicago to pause and pay respects to Calvin Coolidge’s vice president. Charles Dawes was as interesting a person as has ever held the office.

Vice President # 30 – Charles Dawes

His family included a passenger on the Mayflower and his daddy was a Civil War general. Raised and educated in Ohio, he first practiced law in Nebraska. After moving to Chicago in 1893, he became involved with the gas and energy business. Prominence there led to activity in banking and finance. Prominence there led to politics.

Dawes managed William McKinley’s Illinois presidential campaign. The successful election was rewarded with appointment as the national Comptroller of the Currency in the Treasury Department. From the file titled, ‘BEST LAID PLANS’ comes the next chapter. Dawes resigns in the middle of the term to run for senator in Illinois. He figured President McKinley’s support would push him over the finish line. An assassin’s bullet changed that plan. Then new president Teddy Roosevelt supported Dawes’ opponent. Poof. Dawes was done with politics and returned to private sector banking.

However, duty called. During World War I, he enlisted and rose to the rank of brigadier general as he chaired the general purchasing board for the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF). After the war, he was appointed by president Harding as the first Director of what is now the OMB – Office of Management and Budget. From there, he joined Herbert Hoover’s post-war Allied Reparations Commission. His contributions toward restoring Germany earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1925.

Grave of Charles Dawes,

Rose Hill Cemetery, Chicago (26 July 2023)

It's now 1924 election time and President Coolidge needs a VP. Coolidge was Harding’s VP, laboring in obscurity when the president’s sudden death vaulted him into the Oval Office. The office was vacant for the remainder of that term. Coolidge chose Dawes as his running mate and won handily. The Roaring 20’s economy and absence of foreign troubles ensured the incumbent’s reelection.

The ensuing term was a rocky one and Dawes’ relationship with Coolidge soured. When Coolidge declined to run again, new candidate Herbert Hoover chose someone else to be his running mate. After serving as our ambassador to the United Kingdom, Dawes again returned to private life.

Grave of Charles Dawes,

Rose Hill Cemetery, Chicago (26 July 2023)

But wait...there’s more.

The man also had musical chops. He taught himself to play the piano and flute and composed some popular music in his day. After he died, someone wrote lyrics to his Melody in A Major. ‘It’s All in the Game’ became a Billboard # 1 pop hit in 1958. Dawes and Sonny Bono are the only two members of the Executive branch or Congress with # 1 Billboard hits, and he and Bob Dylan are the only two Nobel Prize recipients who can make the same claim.

All told, quite an impressive resumé.

Civil War Dead

Rose Hill Cemetery, Chicago (26 July 2023)

Rosehill Cemetery maintains the distinction of being the largest

Private burial ground of Union veterans in the State of Illinois.

Looking for a Live One

Rose Hill Cemetery, Chicago (26 July 2023)