1920 Democratic National Convention in the context of "United States presidential nominating convention"

Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 2, 1920. The Republican ticket of senator Warren G. Harding of Ohio and governor Calvin Coolidge of Massachusetts defeated the Democratic ticket of governor James M. Cox of Ohio and assistant secretary Franklin D. Roosevelt of New York. It was the first election held after the end of the First World War, and the first election after the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment gave nationwide suffrage to women.

Incumbent president Woodrow Wilson, a Democrat who had served since 1913, privately hoped for a third term despite severe physical and mental disabilities from a stroke, but he had very little support. Former president Theodore Roosevelt had been the frontrunner for the Republican nomination, but he died in 1919 without leaving an obvious heir to his progressive legacy. The major parties turned to little-known dark horse candidates from the state of Ohio, a populous swing state with many electoral votes. Cox won on the 44th ballot at the 1920 Democratic National Convention, defeating William Gibbs McAdoo (Wilson's son-in-law), A. Mitchell Palmer, and several other candidates. Harding emerged as a compromise candidate between the conservative and progressive wings of the Republican party, and he clinched his nomination on the tenth ballot at the 1920 Republican National Convention.

Joseph Taylor Robinson (August 26, 1872 – July 14, 1937) was an American politician who served as United States Senator from Arkansas from 1913 to 1937, serving for four years as Senate Majority Leader and ten as Minority Leader. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the state's 23rd governor, and was also the Democratic vice presidential nominee in the 1928 presidential election.

After studying law at the University of Virginia, Robinson returned to Arkansas, winning election to the Arkansas General Assembly. He won election to the United States House of Representatives, serving from 1903 to 1913. He won election as governor of Arkansas in 1912, but resigned from that position in 1913 to take a seat in the Senate. In the Senate, Robinson established himself as a progressive and strong supporter of President Woodrow Wilson. Robinson served as the chairman of the 1920 Democratic National Convention and won election as the Senate Minority Leader in 1923. He sought the Democratic presidential nomination in the 1924 election and was nominated as the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 1928. The Democratic ticket of Al Smith and Robinson lost in a landslide to the Republican ticket of Herbert Hoover and Charles Curtis.

Carter Glass (January 4, 1858 – May 28, 1946) was an American newspaper publisher and Democratic politician from Lynchburg, Virginia. He represented Virginia in both houses of Congress and served as the United States Secretary of the Treasury under President Woodrow Wilson. He played a major role in the establishment of the U.S. financial regulatory system, helping to establish the Federal Reserve System and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

After working as a newspaper editor and publisher, Glass won election to the Senate of Virginia in 1899. He was a delegate to the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1902, where he was an influential advocate for segregationist policies. Historian J. Douglas Smith described him as “the architect of disenfranchisement in the Old Dominion.” He also promoted progressive fiscal and regulatory reform but these contributions were often superficial since Glass generally opposed the most reformist aspects of federal legislation and was a New Deal critic. Glass won election to the United States House of Representatives in 1902 and became Chairman of the House Committee on Banking and Currency in 1913. Working with President Wilson, he passed the Federal Reserve Act, which established a central banking system for the United States. Glass served as Secretary of the Treasury from 1918 until 1920, when he accepted an appointment to represent Virginia in the United States Senate. Glass was a favorite son candidate for the presidential nomination at the 1920 Democratic National Convention.