An elephant bearing the slogan, 'Gannett, strong, stalwart, courageous'

Cornellians-in-Chief? A Roundup of Big Red Presidential Hopefuls

Over the decades, a handful of alums—from a media magnate to an Esperanto fan—have vied for the White House

By Corey Ryan Earle ’07

Presidential election season is heating up—and regardless of who wins, the Oval Office will once again be without a Cornellian. The University is one of three Ivy League institutions (along with Brown and Dartmouth) that has never had an alum serve as commander-in-chief.

But over the last century, a handful of Big Red contenders have thrown their hat into the ring.

The earliest candidate was among Cornell’s first graduates—the third ever handed a diploma, to be exact.

An illustration of Corey Earle with the title Storytime with Corey

Joseph Foraker 1869 spent just one year on the Hill, transferring from Ohio Wesleyan University and graduating in the eight-member inaugural class.

Active in Ohio politics, Foraker was elected a delegate to the 1884 Republican National Convention, where he received a single vote—from fellow delegate Andrew Dickson White—to be the vice-presidential candidate.

Senator_Joseph_B._Foraker
Joseph Foraker 1869

Foraker would serve two terms as Ohio governor and two as a U.S. senator. In hopes of garnering support for a third Senate campaign, he challenged William Howard Taft for the GOP presidential nomination in 1908. In the first round of convention balloting, he received just 16 votes to Taft’s 702.

(Incidentally, Foraker was among Cornell’s first alumni-elected trustees. “I declined to consent to be nominated and do not want the office,” he wrote to the Daily Sun prior to the balloting, “but if elected under such circumstances would consider it my duty to accept.”)

Cornell’s next presidential contender was Parley Christensen, LLB 1897, a Utah lawyer who once tried to help Butch Cassidy leave his outlaw lifestyle.

Christensen served in his state’s House of Representatives as a member of the recently formed Progressive (or “Bull Moose”) Party, advocating for direct democracy and workers’ rights.

In 1920, he became the Farmer-Labor Party’s first presidential nominee.

He campaigned on issues like women’s suffrage, civil rights, an eight-hour workday, creating a federal Department of Education, and nationalizing the railroads.

Although the party only made the ballot in 19 states, Christensen received 265,411 votes (about 1% of the total), finishing fourth and losing to Warren Harding.

Christensen would later travel to Russia to meet Vladimir Lenin; advocate for the use of Esperanto as a language of international understanding; and serve on the L.A. City Council.

Parley_Parker_Christensen
Parley Christensen, LLB 1897

Decades later, a wealthy and media-savvy businessman who had never held public office would announce his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination.

While that scenario may sound familiar, in this case it was Frank Gannett 1898, campaigning in 1940.

Frank Gannett
Rare and Manuscript Collections

Gannett had built a publishing empire by purchasing (and often merging) newspapers, including the Ithaca Journal, Elmira Star-Gazette, and Rochester Times-Union.

Frustrated by FDR’s attempt to pack the Supreme Court, Gannett founded the National Committee to Uphold Constitutional Government in 1937, then ran for president as an opponent to New Deal policies.

His slogan: “Our best bet is Frank Gannett!”

With a flair for media attention, Gannett arrived at the GOP National Convention in Philadelphia with three circus elephants.

But his campaign ended there, as he received only 33 votes in the first round. (Wendell Willkie would eventually win after the sixth.)

Like Foraker, Gannett was an alumni-elected trustee, serving over 20 years.

His family foundation funded construction of a campus medical facility (opened in 1957 and replaced by Cornell Health in 2017) and the plaza outside the Schwartz Center.

In 1968, Edmund Muskie, LLB ’39, became the first and only Big Red graduate to make the ticket of a major U.S. political party.

A U.S. senator and former governor of Maine, Muskie was the running mate to Democrat Hubert Humphrey in their campaign against Richard Nixon, losing the popular vote by less than 1%.

Muskie went on to be the Democrats’ 1972 frontrunner.

Edmund_Sixtus_Muskie
Edmund Muskie, LLB ’39

But his campaign unraveled after he gave an emotional speech in response to false claims about him, later revealed to have been crafted by the Nixon camp.

During the on-camera speech, Muskie appeared to cry—although the “tears” were alleged to be melting snowflakes.

Alan Keyes
Alan Keyes ’71

What alum has made the most bids for the presidency? That distinction belongs to Alan Keyes ’71.

Receiving a single vote at the 1996 Republican convention and six in 2000, he pivoted in 2008 to be listed on three state ballots under “America’s Independent Party,” receiving a total of 47,746 votes.

(A former member of the Cornell Hangovers, he’s perhaps one of the few Ivy League a cappella singers to run for the nation’s highest office.)

The 2008 election also included Rosa Clemente, MPS ’02, as the Green Party’s vice presidential nominee.

Appearing on the ballot in 32 states, she and presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney finished sixth with 161,797 votes.

But in fact it turns out that the Cornellian who was closest to the U.S. presidency never actually ran for office.

In 1945, a series of circumstances following FDR’s death left Henry Morgenthau Jr. 1913, then Secretary of the Treasury, as first in the line of succession.

Morgenthau was a heartbeat away from the presidency—for five whole days.

Rosa_Clemente
Rosa Clemente, MPS ’02

Top: A live elephant representing the Gannett campaign encounters a Democratic donkey at the 1940 Republican convention in Philadelphia. (Photo courtesy of the Special Collections Research Center / Temple University Libraries.) All other images via Wikimedia Commons, unless indicated.

Published September 19, 2024

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