James Middleton Cox (March 31, 1870 - July 15, 1957) was a Governor of Ohio, U.S. Representative from Ohio and Democratic candidate for President of the United States in the election of 1920.
Cox was born in the tiny Butler County, Ohio village of Jacksonburg. Cox practiced a variety of trades throughout his life: high school teacher, reporter, owner and editor of several newspapers, and secretary to Congressman Paul Sorg. Cox represented Ohio in the United States House of Representatives (1909-1913), resigning after winning election as Governor of Ohio (1913-1915, and 1917-1921). He was nominated a candidate for the presidency by the Democratic party while serving as Governor. Cox supported the internationalist policies of Woodrow Wilson and favored U.S. entry into the League of Nations. However, he was defeated in the 1920 Presidential Election by fellow Ohioian Senator Warren G. Harding of Marion, Ohio. Cox's running mate was Franklin D. Roosevelt. Author Irving Stone wrote a book called They Also Ran about defeated Presidential candidates. Stone professed that Cox was superior in every way over Warren Harding and would have made a much better President. Stone argued there was never a stronger case in the history of American presidential elections for the proposition that the better man lost.
Cox recorded for the Nation's Forum several times. The campaign speech featured here accuses the Republicans of failing to acknowledge that President Wilson's successful prosecution of the war had, according to Cox, saved "civilization."
Cox was publisher of the Dayton Daily News in Dayton, Ohio, where the newspaper's editorial meeting room is still referred to as the "governor's library." Governor Cox died at his home, Trail's End, in Kettering, Ohio in 1957 and was interred in the Woodland Cemetery, Dayton, Ohio.
His daughters Barbara Cox Anthony and Anne Cox Chambers own his media company, now called Cox Enterprises. The company's headquarters has been moved from Dayton to Atlanta.
Source: Library of Congress
External links
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