Eighteen Days in New York: A novel about the 1924 Democratic Convention

by Bill Lewers

Journey back in time as author Bill Lewers puts you on the floor of New York’s Madison Square Garden in the midst of one of the most remarkable political events in our nation’s history!

The year is 1924. Claudia Burnham, cub reporter for the Washington Chronicle and alternate delegate for the state of Virginia, is heading to New York City to cover the Democratic National Convention. There, armed with only her charm, wits, and can-do attitude, she must navigate the male-dominated worlds of journalism and politics.

Once in New York, she is promoted to full delegate only to discover that advancement and conscience don’t always go hand-in-hand. As a reporter she looks on as forces as diverse as Prohibition, the League of Nations, and the Ku Klux Klan threaten to rip the Democratic Party apart. At the same time a multitude of candidates vie for support as the convention descends into a deadlocked nightmare that goes on and on, ballot after ballot, day after day.

Party leaders search desperately for a way out of the impasse while Claudia reports on every development, scheme, and rumor that takes place, both on and off the convention floor. Claudia would like to help resolve the situation but as a lone delegate, closely monitored by her leaders, she is powerless to do so. Or is she?

460 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 3, 2021

About the author

While I have been a political junkie for as long as I can remember, it was only when I started serving as an election officer that I began to realize the special role these one-day volunteers have in ensuring that Election Day plays out as it should.

For fifteen hours or more, election officers get a ringside seat, as this crazy, mixed-up thing called democracy unfolds before them.

The voters come. They stand in line, quietly. They vote. They leave.

…and that’s how we pick out leaders.

And on that day, they are all equal. The rich. The poor. The well-connected. The marginalized. The healthy. The infirm. The prepared. The ignorant. The gracious. The less-than-gracious. And we election officers are charged with ensuring that each one is treated with accuracy, efficiency, and respect.

When I started to write, it seemed only natural that I should reflect on my own Election Day experiences, which I did in "A Voter’s Journey." But I also wanted to write fiction; to allow my imagination to build on the things I had seen to create stories that would hopefully connect with readers, both inside and outside the election administration community.

The result is the Gatekeepers of Democracy series, which is dedicated to the women and men who serve on Election Day. While the primary purpose of these books is to entertain, they hopefully do so in a way that mirrors the respect I have for the process and the people who make it work.

Right now the series consists of four volumes: "The Gatekeepers of Democracy," "November Third," "Primary Peril," and "The Main Event." In the meantime, I would encourage anyone who finds these books enjoyable, to consider signing up with their local office of elections. Election Day service is a rich and rewarding experience. Perhaps you will see things that will inspire you to add to the wide-open genre of “election officer fiction.”

In addition I have written an historical fiction title, "Eighteen Days in New York: A novel about the 1924 Democratic Convention."

Reviews

[Margaret Rodenberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fascinating novel about the 1924 Democratic Convention. Based around this largely forgotten political event, the author adds to the intrigue with a bit of time travel and a love story to that harkens back to today. The racism of the 1920's will shock you, but it's a good reminder of our past. The writing is engaging and the research is excellent. Be sure to read the Author's Note for more insight. Recommended for history and political junkies, but also anyone interested in a captivating story.

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writer Bill Lewers published a fiction book designed to teach people about the Democratic Presidential Convention of 1924. The novel is a time travel novel. The book is part of Lewers’ series about two election workers from the 21st Century named Cindy and Carl. The novel is entitled Eighteen Days in New York. In Eighteen Days in New York, Carl goes back in time after handling the diary of Oscar Underwood of Alabama. The time travel set reminded me of the time travel set up in Writer Dan Gutman’s A Baseball Card Adventure. The Journalist Brian Trompeter writes in a profile of Bill Lewers, “Democratic delegates in 1924 nominated for presidential candidate John Davis, a former congressman and U.S. ambassador to Great Britain. Davis lost in a landslide that November to incumbent Calvin Coolidge. The novel revolves around the 103 ballots it took for Democrats to choose their presidential nominee. The front-runners, former United States Treasury Secretary William McAdoo and New York Governor Al Smith, could not obtain needed majorities, and several states’ favorite-son candidates refused to drop out of the race” (Trompeter 2021). Trompeter writes, “Party members also agonized over whether to support having the United States join the League of Nations and put in a platform plank denouncing the Ku Klux Klan, which held a huge rally in New Jersey during the convention” (Trompeter 2021). Lewers’ book was a readable history of the election of 1924 in the form of a novel. I found the profile of Bill Lewers by Brian Trompeter helpful in this ‘review.’
Works Cited:
Gutman, Dan. 2003. Honus & Me. New York: HarperCollins.
Works Cited:
Graham, Lindsay. “1924, Coolidge vs. Davis vs. La Follette: Silence is Golden.” Produced by Airship. American Elections: Wicked Games. May 14, 2024. Podcast. 46 minutes, 6 seconds. 1924, Coolidge vs. Davis vs. L - American Elections: Wicked Game - Apple Podcasts
Trompeter, Brain. “Novelist chronicles the wild ride that was the 1924 Democratic convention.” Inside Nova (Woodbridge, Virginia). July 2, 2021. Novelist chronicles wild ride that was 1924 Democratic convention | news/fairfax | insidenova.com

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book to read, especially if you like history. There had to have been a lot of research done by the author for this book. I had no idea, before reading this book, that there was a democratic convention that took days to come up with a presidential nominee. This book delved into the process that the delegates from each state goes through to choose a presidential nominee. The fictional and the real characters, from that time period, were well written with realistic dialogue and interaction.

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Learned a lot, since I knew nothing about how these conventions work.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really interesting and entertaining novel about the machinations and events of the 1924 Democratic Convention. Lewers did the impossible and made 18 days of repetitive ballots seem interesting!.