Dolly Gann's Book
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0923891080
Dolly Gann's Book is the autobiography of the half sister of the only
Vice-President of the United States to have Native American Ancestry.
Her brother, Charles Brent Curtis (born January 25, 1860, died
February 8, 1936 ), grew up on an Indian Reservation in Kansas. He
served 14 years in the United States Congress, 20 years in the United
States Senate and then was elected Vice-President of the United States
in 1928, taking office in 1929.
As Charles Gann was a widower, his wife Annie having died in 1924, he
designated Dolly to be the Second First Lady of the White House, to
preside whenever the First First Lady, Lou Hoover, the wife of
President Herbert Hoover, was absent.
This led to one of the most famous feuds in the history of the White
House, as socialite Alice Roosevelt Longworth, wife of Speaker of the
House Nicholas Longworth and daughter of Former President Teddy
Roosevelt, also claimed the right to be called the Second First Lady.
Eventually, because Americans are not familiar with such things, the
British Royal Family had to be consulted on this matter of protocol,
with the result that Dolly Gann was declared the winner.
Dolly Gann was more than just a social secretary. She was also the
personal secretary to her brother during his total of 38 years in
Congress, in the Senate and finally as Vice-President of the United
States. She was also his campaign manager. In those years, it was
still considered demeaning for a presidential candidate or a
vice-presidential candidate to campaign on his own behalf, so the
sister of Charles Curtis campaigned for him. Dolly Gann toured the
United States in 1932, making speeches in 22 states, while her brother
and the president stayed home. After the Republicans were defeated,
Dolly mapped out a strategy to regain control of the White House in
1936. However, her brother died in 1936 and thus never had the chance
to try to regain the vice-presidency.
Charles and Dolly Curtis had the same father but different mothers.
Their father was married at least four different times. One of his
wives had been Native American. Thus, while Charles was 3/8ths Native
American, because his mother had been 3/4ths Native American, Dolly
was pure European.
Dolly was born in Topeka, Kansas. Her birth date was March 24th.
Typically of women of that era, she gave the day and the month of her
birth, but not the year. However, since she died in February 1953 at
age 87, we conclude that she was born in 1866. Her real first name was
Permelia, but she never used it and was always called Dolly. Her
father was Oren Arms Curtis, who was born in Eugene, Indiana, in 1829
and arrived in Kansas Territory in 1856. Dolly married Edward Everett
GANN on June 17, 1915 in Wa****ngton, DC. There were no children.
Her husband was a Democrat who served with the Interstate Commerce
Commission during the Administration of President Woodrow Wilson, he
helped Dolly when needed to campaign for her Brother.
In her autobiography, Dolly Gann's Book, she describes how, during the
14 years that her brother was in the United States Congress, she
collected as best she could biographies of every voter who lived in
his district. She made sure that her brother knew who everybody was.
She would do mailings, sometimes mailing 150,000 letters at one time.
If necessary, she would write hand written letters to every voter.
Her Family was Republican. No family member was ever allowed to become
a Democrat. Grandmother Curtis laid down THE LAW. One time, a family
member tried to defect to the Democrats. He was brought in and made to
understand that this was not an option and was absolutely not allowed.
Dolly's brother Charles lived in Dolly's house in Wa****ngton DC during
almost the entire 38 years that he spent in public life. One reason
for this was that during that time, the voters back home would feel
insulted or neglected if their representative owned a house in the
Wa****ngton DC Area. This was because his permanent home was supposed
to be back in Kansas. If he bought a house in Wa****ngton DC, this was
taken to mean that he was taking the voters for granted and did not
plan to see them any more. Therefore, even during the four years that
Charles Curtis was Vice-President of the United States, he never owned
his own home. His home back in Kansas was the Indian Reservation.
Charles Curtis rented a house during his first years in Congress, and
then after his sister had her own home he moved in there. That is
where he ultimately died in 1936.
In 1924, Dolly went to the Republican National Convention in Cleveland
to campaign for her brother for the Vice-Presidential Nomination. Her
bother stayed in Wa****ngton DC to take care of his seriously ill wife,
Annie. Even without her brother there, Dolly came close to securing
the Vice-Presidential Nomination for him, after several other
potential candidates were nominated but declined to serve. However, at
the last moment, Calvin Coolidge selected General Charles Dawes to be
his running mate.
Only nine days later, Annie, the wife of Charles Curtis, died.
When Dolly and her husband and her brother showed up at the 1928
Republican National Convention in Kansas City, they came better
prepared. This time, they were seeking the Presidential Nomination.
However, when Pennsylvania declared for Herbert Hoover, that prospect
ended. After Hoover received the nomination, the Hoover group
approached Dolly with offers of various deals if Charles Curtis would
agree to run for vice-president. At first Charles refused, but finally
he agreed. However, Charles Curtis never entered the convention hall,
even after he received the nomination. His sister, Dolly, conducted
the entire campaign. Instead, Charles took a car to his native Topeka,
Kansas. The Hoover-Curtis Ticket swept to an easy victory in the 1928
General Elections.
After winning election as Vice-President, Charles Curtis held onto his
seat in the US Senate until the last possible day, because President
Calvin Coolidge asked him to do so, because Coolidge needed that one
vote to get his legislation passed. Curtis resigned from the Senate on
March 3, 1929 and took office as Vice-President on March 4, 1929.
While her brother Charles Curtis was Vice-President, Dolly conducted
an “at home day” every Wednesday from 4:00 to 7:00 PM at her home in
Wa****ngton DC. On those days, she would receive guests. Anybody could
come. She usually had about 500 guests per day, and one time she had
1100.
At the 1932 Republican National Convention in Chicago, it was expected
to be a foregone conclusion that Herbert Hoover and Charles Curtis
would be nominated to run for re-election. Apparently, they had never
heard of the Great Depression of 1932. Charles Curtis had been asked
by the Republicans in Kansas to give up his vice-presidential office
and to run for his old senate seat in Kansas, because that seat had
fallen to the Hated Democrats after Curtis had become vice-president.
However, the Republicans in Wa****ngton DC had prevailed upon him to
run again for Vice-President.
Charles Curtis did not bother to attend the 1932 Republican National
Convention in Chicago, nor did many of the Republican bigshots, who
preferred to stay in Wa****ngton, DC, so it was left to Dolly Gann to
run his campaign for the renomination, which everybody had assumed
would not be a problem.
There turned out to be a problem. The problem was that Charles Curtis,
a Native American, was strongly in favor of Prohibition and did not
want to allow the people to drink alcohol. However, the
Anti-Prohibition Movement was gaining strength. The conventioneers
were not concerned about the Great Depression that was taking place.
They just wanted to get drunk! Fortunately, those opposed to Charles
Curtis could not unite behind any one candidate. After three days of
day and night campaigning by Dolly Gann and her husband, going almost
without sleep, on the first ballot Charles Curtis was 18 ¾ votes short
of a majority, but before this vote was announced, the Pennsylvania
delegation switched its 75 votes to Curtis, so Curtis was
re-nominated.
Dolly Gann then conducted an unprecedented re-election campaign,
traveling by train and car all across the United States, making
speeches in 22 states, and often speaking on the radio as well. This
was the first time in American History that such a campaign had taken
place. Her personal popularity was great. There was always a big crowd
that turned out to see her.
The problem was that Dolly Gann failed to realize that the people were
coming to see HER, and not the candidate for the Republican Party. She
was a new phenomenon in America history: A woman on the campaign
trail. Meanwhile, her brother, Charles Curtis, who was the actual
candidate, largely stayed home. President Herbert Hoover, when he
dared to venture out, was often pelted with tomatoes and rotten eggs.
Thus, Dolly Gann was totally shocked and dismayed when the Republicans
lost the 1932 election. She had actually thought that they were
winning. She was even more shocked by the tremendous landslide that
had buried both the President and her brother.
However, in her book, Dolly Gann's Book, published in 1933, Dolly
expressed supreme confidence that the Democratic Party would soon
fracture and that the Republicans would re-unite in 1936 and regain
the presidency.
History of course tells us that she would be proven wrong. In 1936,
the Republicans were buried even deeper than they had been in 1932.
Herbert Hoover kept trying to run for President again in 1936 and in
1940, still failing to realize that the people just did not want him
any more. Hoover's lack of strong sup****t for the eventual Republican
nominee did not help either.
All this is explained in Dolly Gann's Book.
Sam Sloan
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0923891080
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