A mock convention to nominate a Democratic candidate for the presidency in 1932 will be held on the evening of May 18 in New Lecture Hall under the auspices of the Harvard Democratic Club, it was announced last night by D. M. Sullivan '33, secretary of the club. The convention, which all members of the University may attend as delegates, will meet to draw up a platform on which a committee is now working, and to nominate a candidate.
Already similar conventions have been held at other colleges and universities in the country. At Duke University, the convention nominated Owen D. Young; at Washington and Lee University, the selection fell to Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt of New York; at Western Reserve, the choice of the students was Newton D. Baker. At Princeton a bipartisan convention was held on April 29 at which a Harvard delegation was present. J. J. Ryan '33 gave the Republican keynote speech.
The Democratic mock convention at Harvard has been held during two previous election years. In 1924, the convention met and nominated, after eight ballots, Senator Carter Glass of Virginia for president and Senator Thomas J. Walsh of Montana for vice-president.
In 1928, an exciting contest was waged in the early hours of the convention which resulted in a deadlock between Governor Alfred E. Smith of New York and Newton D. Baker, War Secretary under Wilson. Unable to agree on one of these men, the convention was continued on the following evening, when, after a protracted struggle, which was witnessed by an audience which packed the New Lecture Hall to the doors on both evenings, the choice of the convention was Thomas J. Walsh of Montana for president, and Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt of New York for vice-president. Nine ballots were required to choose the nominees.
In the CRIMSON poll of March 29 and 30, the leading Democrats were Franklin D. Roosevelt, with 408 votes; Newton D. Baker, 400; and Alfred E. Smith, 154. It is expected that the contest in this year's mock convention will be heated.
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