Election day 1920 dawned overcast in the US midwest, particularly in Ohio, with showers in the forecast. Senator Warren Harding, the Republican nominee, cast his vote early in the day in his home town of Marion, OH, and then went to play golf. The rain in the forecast materialized, bringing a soggy end to Harding's round of golf. On the way back, in OTL, his chauffeur nearly lost control of the car, and narrowly averted hitting a utility pole head-on.
However...let's assume that the near-miss was instead a reality, killing both the chauffeur and Harding. The election is in progress when this happens, and news does not spread nearly as quickly in 1920 as it does today. Still, by some time in the afternoon, the nation knows that the Republican presidential nominee is dead. Now what?
Would there be an emergency meeting of a quorum of the Republican National Committee, if that were even possible, to declare Calvin Coolidge the presidential nominee? Or would the election carry on as is, with the electors voting for Coolidge instead of Harding? And what of the vice presidency? Could the Senate declare that since no majority of electoral votes existed for vice president, the office would be filled under the appropriate provisions of the Constitution at the time? And if so, whom would the Senate choose: one of their own (e.g., Hiram Johnson) or one of the presidential candidates who didn't get very far (e.g., Frank Lowden)?
However...let's assume that the near-miss was instead a reality, killing both the chauffeur and Harding. The election is in progress when this happens, and news does not spread nearly as quickly in 1920 as it does today. Still, by some time in the afternoon, the nation knows that the Republican presidential nominee is dead. Now what?
Would there be an emergency meeting of a quorum of the Republican National Committee, if that were even possible, to declare Calvin Coolidge the presidential nominee? Or would the election carry on as is, with the electors voting for Coolidge instead of Harding? And what of the vice presidency? Could the Senate declare that since no majority of electoral votes existed for vice president, the office would be filled under the appropriate provisions of the Constitution at the time? And if so, whom would the Senate choose: one of their own (e.g., Hiram Johnson) or one of the presidential candidates who didn't get very far (e.g., Frank Lowden)?