100 years ago: U.S. Sen. Miles Poindexter of Spokane a serious contender for president, chamber leader says

A U.S. president from Spokane?

That was a distinct possibility, according to James A. Ford, head of the Spokane Chamber of Commerce. He had just returned from Washington, D.C., and reported that there was a serious “Poindexter for President” movement in the capitol.

“Senator Miles Poindexter stands a strong chance of being the next president of the United States,” Ford said. “The ‘Poindexter for President’ move is not just a flurry, it is resolving itself into a strong working machine.”

Poindexter had recently emerged as the leading opponent of President Woodrow Wilson’s League of Nations peace plan. Eastern papers, said Ford, were mentioning him as a strong possibility on the Republican ticket. Poindexter had lived in Spokane since 1897 and served as a Superior Court judge in Spokane before being elected to Congress.

If he made it on the Republican ticket, he would be only the second presidential candidate from the entire West.

As it turned out, the West would have to wait. Warren G. Harding of Ohio would be the 1920 Republican candidate and he easily won the election.