Ohio Is the Mother of Presidents — Is She Pregnant Again?

In 2000 a University of Maine professor, James P. Melcher, published an article entitled “Broken Cradle: Why Is Ohio No Longer the ‘Mother of Presidents?” This scholarly treatise explains political, social and demographic reasons for the decline in the Buckeye State’s presidential birth rate. As he so ably points out, population shifts to the Sun Belt and the resultant reduction in the number of Ohio’s electoral college votes has done much to diminish Ohio’s clout in presidential elections and substantially decreased the advantage once held by Ohio candidates on the national stage.

This has to be coupled with the rise of the state primary elections as the determining factor in the choice of presidential candidates. Gone are the political conventions where floor votes actually decided the candidates or the proverbial smoke-filled room where deals where made and candidates chosen. In those days, Ohio candidates were often compromise/non- controversial/acceptable candidates that were available choices to break the deadlock. Such was the case for Rutherford B. Hayes in 1876, James A. Garfield in 1880 and Warren G. Harding in 1920.

In a somewhat prophetic conclusion to his article, Melcher predicted that although the 2000 presidential bid of then Ohio Congressman John Kasich ended in failure, Kasich had made a national reputation that could attract the national attention needed to be a successful candidate. Since 2000, Kasich has been a national Fox News analyst, getting nationwide attention and he has been twice elected Ohio governor. And since throwing his hat into the ring July 21st, his star seems to be rising. Does that mean that Ohio may be thinking about a pregnancy test?

Mother Ohio’s highly productive years for presidents were in the 19th century, a fertility that lingered over into the first two decades of the 20th century. If you count those presidents who were born here and/or who spent their adulthood in the Buckeye state, there are a total of eight: starting with the first Ohio President William Henry Harrison (born in Virginia but spent his adult life in Ohio), followed by Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield, Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley, William Howard Taft and Warren Harding.

Like most mothers, Mama Buckeye has produced children with similar traits. All but one were Republicans — William Henry Harrison was a Whig. Apparently she has no Democratic DNA in her veins since not one of her native sons has been a Democrat. Grant, Hayes, Garfield and Benjamin Harrison were all Civil War Generals with beards. By the end of the 19th century came along, most of the Civil War generals had pretty much aged out of presidential politics. Not wanting to break a trend and thanks largely to Ohioan Mark Hanna, Ohio sent one last Civil War veteran to the White House in 1897, former Civil War Staff Sergeant William McKinley. But he didn’t have a beard.

Moving into the 20th century, 1920 was a significant year for Mother Ohio. That was the year that she had two sons on the national ticket — Harding, a U.S. senator and former newspaper man from Marion, and James Cox, also a former newspaper man from Dayton, but also a former Ohio congressman and two term Ohio governor. (For you trivia buffs, Cox’s running mate was a little known guy from New York with a great political name, Franklin Roosevelt.) But maybe the two-in-one year was too much for once prolific matriarch’s reproductive organs. She’s been barren ever since, with few rumors of pregnancy.

Senator Robert Taft, son of President and Chief Justice William Howard Taft and grandson of Attorney General and Secretary of War under Grant, Alphonso Taft, would seem to be a serious contender if for no other reason than heredity. He tried for the nomination in 1940 but was defeated by Wendell Wilkie. He was likewise a contender in 1948 and missed his best chance in 1952 when he lost to Eisenhower.

John Glenn ran in 1972 and 1984 but the first man to orbit the Earth never managed to get off the ground in presidential politics. Former Governor John Gilligan may have been thinking presidential in the 1970s, until he got his clock cleaned by the comeback kid of Ohio politics, former Governor Jim Rhodes, in 1975. Dennis Kuchnich’s 2004 and 2008 candidacy left him in the single digits and was never really taken seriously. The closest Ohio came to a presidential candidate in the mid 20th century was native son John W. Bricker — a Republican — as the vice presidential candidate with Tom Dewey in 1944.

While Mother Ohio was able to get her native sons to the White House, they have not always had longevity on their side. William Henry Harrison and James A. Garfield are on record as the two shortest terms in office — Harrison died after 30 days in office and Garfield was shot 118 days into his presidency on July 3, 1881 and died on September 19, 1881. Only Grant was elected to and served a second term. McKinley was elected to a second term in 1900 but was assassinated 6 months into his second term.

Hayes was elected or selected, as defeated Democrats of the era asserted, in 1876 in a disputed election that makes the machinations of the 2000 Bush v. Gore battle look like child’s play. The dispute got so bad before the final tally there was serious talk of another Civil War with armed troops at the ready in Washington. As a result of the fallout from the disputed election, Hayes, often referred to as “Your Fraudulency,” announced that he would not seek a second term.

While longevity was not an overall strong point for Ohio presidents, allegations of corruption and lackluster performances have abounded. Our Ohio presidents have been perennially relegated to the lower echelons of the annual ranking of former presidents. The Grant administration was wracked with scandals and Harding’s Teapot Dome was the euphemism for government corruption before every questionable action, reaction or lack of action in Washington took on the legacy of Watergate with the news media quickly attaching “gate” to every named allegation. In a sort of gallows humor, students of Ohio presidents gleefully thank their presidential stars for Richard Nixon, who has sometimes managed to push our Ohio guys up a notch.

 

Ohio presidents also became victims of the so-called Tecumseh curse. The legend is that the Indian Chief Tecumseh — also an Ohio native, born in the Ohio Territory before it was a state — put a curse on the then general William Henry Harrison after a battle in the war of 1812. As a result of the supposed curse, every president elected in a year ended in a zero, starting with Harrison elected in 1840, died in office. The list includes Lincoln (1860), Garfield (1880) , McKinley (1900) , Harding (1920) , Roosevelt (1940), and Kennedy (1960). Finally broken by Ronald Regan, elected in 1980. this curse hit our Ohio guys pretty hard — taking four — Garfield, McKinley and Harding in addition to Harrison.

With the recent announcement of Governor John Kasich, should we open a maternity ward for Mother Ohio? Will we soon see a baby bump on our formerly prolific matriarch? If so, it will once again be by adoption. Kasich’s bio reflects that he was born in Pennsylvania but his longtime residence clearly makes him a Buckeye.

Can Kasich be the presidential egg that can hatch in 2016? Who knows, but in a field of sixteen and growing, stranger things have happened. On his plus side, Kasich has better hair than Donald Trump; a better physique than Chris Christie; his first name is John — a first name of four other presidents; he has twin daughters like George W. Bush, he’ll be on home turf for the first presidential debate next week and he didn’t take a long trip with his dog on the top of the car.

Can he win? Who knows. The coming months will show, but in a crowded field, perhaps there’s new life into the aging ovaries of Mother Ohio.

 C. Ellen Connally is a retired judge of the Cleveland Municipal Court. From 2010 to 2014 she served as the President of the Cuyahoga County Council. An avid reader and student of American history, she serves on the Board of the Ohio History Connection and was recently appointed to the Soldiers and Sailors Monument Commission. She holds degrees from BGSU, CSU and is all but dissertation for a PhD from the University of Akron.

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