James Middleton Cox (March 31, 1870 July 15, 1957) was an American businessman and politician who served as the 46th and 48th
governor of Ohio
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
, and a two-term
U.S. Representative from
Ohio. As the
Democratic
Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to:
Politics
*A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people.
*A member of a Democratic Party:
**Democratic Party (United States) (D)
**Democratic ...
nominee for
President of the United States at the
1920 presidential election, he lost in a landslide to fellow Ohioan
Warren G. Harding. His running mate was future president
Franklin D. Roosevelt. He founded the chain of newspapers that continues today as
Cox Enterprises, a media conglomerate.
Born and raised in Ohio, Cox began his career as a newspaper copy reader before becoming an assistant to Congressman
Paul J. Sorg
Paul John Sorg (September 23, 1840 – May 28, 1902) was a businessman and member of the United States House of Representatives from Ohio from 1894 to 1897.
Biography
He was born in Wheeling, Virginia (now West Virginia) on September 23, 1840. ...
. As owner of the ''
Dayton Daily News'', Cox introduced several innovations and crusaded against the local
Republican Party
Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party.
Republican Party may also refer to:
Africa
*Republican Party (Liberia)
* Republican Part ...
boss. He served in the
United States House of Representatives from 1909 to 1913 before being elected as
Governor of Ohio
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
. As governor, Cox introduced a series of
progressive
Progressive may refer to:
Politics
* Progressivism, a political philosophy in support of social reform
** Progressivism in the United States, the political philosophy in the American context
* Progressive realism, an American foreign policy par ...
reforms and supported
Woodrow Wilson's handling of
World War I and its aftermath.
He was chosen as the Democratic nominee for president on the forty-fourth ballot of the
1920 Democratic National Convention
Nineteen or 19 may refer to:
* 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20
* one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019
Films
* ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film
* ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film
Music ...
. Running on a ticket with future President
Franklin D. Roosevelt as his vice presidential running mate, Cox suffered the worst popular vote defeat (a 26.17% margin) since the unopposed re-election of
James Monroe in
1820
Events
January–March
*January 1 – Nominal beginning of the Trienio Liberal in Spain: A constitutionalist military insurrection at Cádiz leads to the summoning of the Spanish Parliament (March 7).
*January 8 – General Maritime T ...
.
Cox retired from public office after the 1920 presidential election to focus on his media conglomerate, which expanded into several cities. By 1939, his media empire extended from Dayton to
Miami. He remained active in politics, supporting Roosevelt's campaigns and attending the 1933
London Economic Conference.
Early life and career
Cox was born on a farm near the tiny
Butler County, Ohio village of
Jacksonburg, the youngest son of Gilbert Cox and Eliza Andrew; he had six siblings. Cox was named James Monroe Cox at birth; he was later known as James Middleton Cox, possibly because he spent part of his early years in
Middletown, Ohio. Cox was educated in a one-room school until the age sixteen.
After his parents divorced, he moved with his mother in 1886 to Middletown, where he started a journalistic apprenticeship at the ''Middletown Weekly Signal'' published by John Q. Baker. In 1892 he received a job at the ''
Cincinnati Enquirer'' as a copy reader on the telegraph desk, and later started to report on spot news including the railroad news. In 1894, Cox became an assistant to Middletown businessman
Paul J. Sorg
Paul John Sorg (September 23, 1840 – May 28, 1902) was a businessman and member of the United States House of Representatives from Ohio from 1894 to 1897.
Biography
He was born in Wheeling, Virginia (now West Virginia) on September 23, 1840. ...
who was elected to U.S. Congress, and spent three formative years in
Washington, D.C. Sorg helped Cox to acquire the struggling ''Dayton Evening News'', and Cox, after renaming it into the ''
Dayton Daily News'', turned it by 1900 into a successful afternoon newspaper outperforming competing ventures. He refocused local news, increased national, international and sports news coverage based on
Associated Press wire service, published timely market quotes with stock-exchange, grain and livestock tables, and introduced several innovations including photo-journalistic approach to news coverage, suburban columns, book serializations and
McClure's Saturday magazine supplement inserts, among others. Cox started a crusade against Dayton's
Republican boss, Joseph E. Lowes, who used his political clout to profit from government deals. He also confronted
John H. Patterson, president of Dayton's
National Cash Register Co.
NCR Corporation, previously known as National Cash Register, is an American software, consulting and technology company providing several professional services and Electronics, electronic products. It manufactures Self-checkout, self-service kio ...
, revealing facts of antitrust violations and bribery.
In 1905, foretelling his future media conglomerate, Cox acquired the ''Springfield Press-Republic'' published in
Springfield, Ohio
Springfield is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Clark County, Ohio, Clark County. The municipality is located in southwestern Ohio and is situated on the Mad River (Ohio), Mad River, Buck Creek, and Beaver Creek, approxim ...
, and renamed it, the ''Springfield Daily News''.
Congress
In 1908, he ran for Congress as a Democrat and was elected. Cox represented
Ohio in the
United States House of Representatives for two terms from 1909 to 1913, and resigned after winning election as
Governor of Ohio
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
.
Governor of Ohio
Cox won the 1912 election for Governor of Ohio, in a three-way race gaining 41.5% of the vote. Cox served three terms; after winning the 1912 election, he served from 1913 to 1915; he lost reelection in 1914, but won the 1916 and 1918 elections, and served from 1917 to 1921. He presided over a wide range of measures such as laying the foundation of Ohio's unified highway system, creating ''no fault workers' compensation system'' and restricting child labor.
He introduced direct primaries and municipal home rule, started educational and prison reforms, and streamlined the budget and tax processes.
During
World War I, Cox encouraged voluntary cooperation between business, labor, and government bodies. In 1918, he welcomed constitutional amendments for Prohibition and women's suffrage.
Cox supported the internationalist policies of
Woodrow Wilson and reluctantly supported US entry into the
League of Nations.
In 1919, shortly after the Great War ended, Governor Cox backed the Ake Law, introduced by
H. Ross Ake
Howard Ross Ake (September 22, 1878 – February 11, 1954) was a Republican politician and banker from the U.S. state of Ohio. He was elected to the Ohio State Senate, appointed as Ohio State Treasurer, and ran unsuccessfully for Congress.
Biog ...
, which banned the
German language
German ( ) is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and Official language, official or co-official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and the Ita ...
from being taught until the eighth grade, even in private schools. Cox claimed that teaching German was "a distinct menace to Americanism, and part of a plot formed by the German government to make the school children loyal to it." Legislation restricting the teaching of foreign languages was declared unconstitutional in ''
Meyer v. Nebraska''.
Bid for presidency

A capable and well-liked progressive reformer, Cox was nominated for the presidency by the Democratic Party at the 1920 Democratic convention in San Francisco defeating
A. Mitchell Palmer and
William Gibbs McAdoo on the 44th ballot.
Cox conducted an activist campaign visiting 36 states and delivering 394 speeches mainly focusing on domestic issues, to the displeasure of the Wilsonians, who pictured the election "as a referendum on the League of Nations."
To fight unemployment and inflation, he suggested simultaneously lowering income and business profits taxes. He promised to introduce national collective bargaining legislation and pledged his support to the
Volstead Act. Cox spoke in support of
Americanization to increase the immigrant population's loyalty to the United States.
Despite all of his efforts, Cox was defeated in the
1920 presidential election by a fellow Ohioan and newspaperman,
U.S. Senator
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and powe ...
Warren G. Harding of
Marion. The public had grown weary of the turmoil of the Wilson years and eagerly accepted Harding's call for a "
return to normalcy." Cox's running mate was future president, then-
Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt. One of the better-known analyses of the 1920 election is in
Irving Stone's book about defeated presidential candidates, ''
They Also Ran
''They Also Ran: The Story of the Men Who Were Defeated for the Presidency'' (1943) is a non-fiction book about United States presidential candidates by American writer Irving Stone, known for his popular biographical novels of artists and intelle ...
.'' Stone rated Cox as superior in every way over Harding and claimed that Cox would have made a much better president. Stone argued that there was never a stronger case in the history of American presidential elections for the proposition that the better man lost. Of the four men on both tickets, all but Cox would ultimately become president: Harding won and was succeeded by his running mate,
Calvin Coolidge
Calvin Coolidge (born John Calvin Coolidge Jr.; ; July 4, 1872January 5, 1933) was the 30th president of the United States from 1923 to 1929. Born in Vermont, Coolidge was a History of the Republican Party (United States), Republican lawyer ...
, after Harding died in office, and Roosevelt would be elected president in 1932. Cox would, however, outlive all three men by several years.
During the campaign, Cox recorded several times for ''The Nation's Forum'', a record label that made voice recordings of American political and civic leaders in 1918-1920. Among them was the campaign speech now preserved at the
Library of Congress that accused the Republicans of failing to acknowledge that Wilson's successful prosecution of the Great War had, according to Cox, "saved civilization."
Later years and death
After stepping down from public service, he concentrated on building a large media conglomerate,
Cox Enterprises. In 1923 he acquired the ''Miami Daily News'' and the ''Canton Daily News''. In December 1939, he purchased the ''
Atlanta Georgian
''The Atlanta Georgian'' was an American daily afternoon newspaper in Atlanta, Georgia, United States.
History
Founded by New Jersey native Fred Loring Seely, the first issue was April 25, 1906, with editor John Temple Graves. They mainly cri ...
'' and ''
Journal'', just a week before that city hosted the premiere of ''
Gone with the Wind''.
[Cox, James M. (2004). ''Journey through my years.'' Macon, Ga.: Mercer University Press.] This deal included radio station
WSB, which joined his previous holdings,
WHIO
The blue duck or whio (''Hymenolaimus malacorhynchos'') is a member of the duck, goose and swan family Anatidae endemic to New Zealand. It is the only member of the genus ''Hymenolaimus''. Its exact taxonomic status is still unresolved, but i ...
in Dayton and
WIOD in Miami, to give him, "'air' from the
Great Lakes on the north to
Latin America on the south."
He continued to be involved in politics, and in
1932
Events January
* January 4 – The British authorities in India arrest and intern Mahatma Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel.
* January 9 – Sakuradamon Incident (1932), Sakuradamon Incident: Korean nationalist Lee Bong-chang fails in his effort ...
,
1936
Events
January–February
* January 20 – George V of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India, dies at his Sandringham Estate. The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King E ...
,
1940
A calendar from 1940 according to the Gregorian calendar, factoring in the dates of Easter and related holidays, cannot be used again until the year 5280.
Events
Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix.
January
*January ...
, and
1944
Events
Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix.
January
* January 2 – WWII:
** Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command French Army B, part of the Sixth United States Army Group in Nor ...
, Cox supported and campaigned for the presidential candidacies of his former running mate
Franklin D. Roosevelt, unlike the other losing Democratic presidential candidates of the time
John W. Davis and
Al Smith
Alfred Emanuel Smith (December 30, 1873 – October 4, 1944) was an American politician who served four terms as Governor of New York and was the Democratic Party's candidate for president in 1928.
The son of an Irish-American mother and a C ...
. In 1933, Cox was appointed by Roosevelt to the U.S. delegation to the failed
London Economic Conference.
When he was seventy-six, Cox published his memoir, ''Journey through My Years'' (1946).
In 1915, Cox built a home near those of industrialists
Charles Kettering and
Edward Deeds
Edward Andrew Deeds (March 12, 1874 – July 1, 1960) was an American engineer, inventor and industrialist prominent in the Dayton, Ohio, area. He was the president of the National Cash Register Company and, together with Charles F. Kettering, ...
in what later became
Kettering, Ohio
Kettering is a city in Montgomery county in the U.S. state of Ohio. Almost entirely in Montgomery County, it is an inner suburb of Dayton, Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 57,862 (down slightly from 58,453 in 2010), maki ...
where he lived for four decades. It was constructed in the classical
French-Renaissance style with six bedrooms, six bathrooms, two tennis courts, a billiards room and an in-ground swimming pool. Cox named the home Trailsend.
Death
Cox died at Trailsend on July 15, 1957 after a series of strokes. He is interred in the
Woodland Cemetery and Arboretum, Dayton, Ohio.
Cox was a member of the
Church of the United Brethren in Christ.
Election history
President of the United States, 1920
Source (Popular Vote):
Source (Electoral Vote):
Governor of Ohio
United States House of Representatives
Ohio's 3rd Congressional District
1910
* James M. Cox (D), 31,539
* George R. Young (R), 18,730
* Harmon Evans (Socialist), 6,275
* Richard E. O'Byrne (Prohibition), 286
1908
* James M. Cox (D), 32,534 votes
* William G. Frizell (R), 12,593
*
J. Eugene Harding (Independent), 19,306
* Howard H. Caldwell (Socialist), 2,943
* Henry A. Thompson (Prohibition), 267
Family
Cox was married twice. His first marriage to Mayme Simpson Harding lasted from 1893 to 1912, and ended in divorce.
He married Margaretta Parker Blair in 1917 and she survived him.
Cox had six children, three by Mayme Harding, sons James McMahon and John William and a daughter Helen Harding, a son who died in infancy, and two daughters by Margaretta Blair: Anne Cox Chambers and Barbara Cox Anthony.[ His son James M. Cox Jr., who took over the business after his death, was chairman of Cox Enterprises, ]Cox Communications
Cox Communications, Inc. (also known as Cox Cable and formerly Cox Broadcasting Corporation, Dimension Cable Services and Times-Mirror Cable) is an American digital cable television provider, telecommunications and home automation services. It i ...
, and Cox Media Group in Atlanta. His daughter Helen died in 1921 and her husband Daniel Joseph Mahoney was president of Cox Newspapers. His descendants through Chambers and Anthony, including billionaires Blair Parry-Okeden, James C. Kennedy
James Cox Kennedy (born November 29, 1947) is an American media executive and the current chair of Cox Enterprises, the conglomerate founded by his grandfather, James M. Cox. According to the 2017 Forbes billionaires list, he is the 105th-riches ...
, James Cox Chambers
James Cox Chambers (born 1956/57) is an American billionaire heir, renewable energy businessman, biodynamic farmer, and filmmaker. As of May 2022, his net worth was estimated at US$4.7 billion
Early life
Chambers is the son of Anne Cox Chambers ...
, Katharine Rayner
Katharine Ann Johnson "Kathy" Rayner (born 1944/1945) is an American billionaire heiress.
Early life
She was born Katharine Ann Johnson to Anne Cox Chambers and Louis G. Johnson. Her maternal grandfather is James M. Cox. She has a sister Margare ...
and Margaretta Taylor
Margaretta Taylor (born 1942) is an American billionaire heiress.
She was born Margaretta Johnson, the daughter of Anne Cox Chambers, and the granddaughter of the newspaper publisher James M. Cox. As of May 2, 2022, her net worth is $4.7 billio ...
, are major shareholders in Cox Enterprises.
Legacy
Cox practiced a variety of trades throughout his life, being a farmer, reporter, Congressional staff member, newspaper publisher and editor, politician, elected official and finally, a regional media magnate.
In Ohio, Cox is remembered as a crusading publisher of the '' Dayton Daily News'' and progressive governor; the newspaper's editorial meeting room is still referred to as the ''Governor's Library''. The James M. Cox Dayton International Airport
Dayton International Airport (officially James M. Cox Dayton International Airport), formerly Dayton Municipal Airport and James M. Cox-Dayton Municipal Airport, is 10 miles north of downtown Dayton, in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States. ...
, more commonly referenced simply as ''Dayton International Airport'', was named for Cox as well.
Cox is credited with words, "If there is anything in the theory of reincarnation of the soul then in my next assignment, if I be given the right of choice, I will ask for the aroma of printers ink."
The Cox Fine Arts Building at the Ohio Expo Center and State Fair in Columbus, Ohio, is named in honor of Cox.
See also
* Ohio gubernatorial elections
* List of governors of Ohio
References
Further reading
Secondary sources
* Bagby, Wesley M. ''The Road to Normalcy: The Presidential Campaign and Election of 1920.'' Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1962.
* Brake, Robert J. "The porch and the stump: Campaign strategies in the 1920 presidential election." ''Quarterly Journal of Speech'' 55.3 (1969): 256-267.
* Cebula, James E. ''James M. Cox: Journalist and Politician.'' New York: Garland, 1985.
* Morris, Charles E.
The Progressive Democracy of James M. Cox.
' Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1920. (From Project Gutenberg, full text.)
* Warner, Hoyt L. ''Progressivism in Ohio, 1897-1917.'' Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1964.
Primary sources
*
External links
James Middleton Cox Papers, Special Collections and Archives, Wright State University, Dayton, OH
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cox, James M.
1870 births
1957 deaths
20th-century American politicians
American Episcopalians
American male journalists
American newspaper chain founders
American United Brethren in Christ
Burials at Woodland Cemetery and Arboretum
James
Dayton Daily News
Democratic Party (United States) presidential nominees
Democratic Party governors of Ohio
Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Ohio
People from Butler County, Ohio
People from Kettering, Ohio
Politicians from Dayton, Ohio
The Cincinnati Enquirer people
Candidates in the 1920 United States presidential election
Candidates in the 1924 United States presidential election