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Republican Presidential Candidate Charles Evans Hughes, 1916
In 1916, there was mounting pressure on Justice Hughes to step down from the Supreme Court and run for president, since many Republicans thought only he could unite the party after a split four years earlier helped Democrat Woodrow Wilson to victory. On June 9, Hughes was officially nominated at the Party's convention. Although his choice was difficult, he ultimately accepted the nomination and submitted his resignation from the Court to President Wilson the next day. Wilson narrowly won a second term in a race so close that the day after the election some newspapers referred to Hughes as the President-elect.
Ironically, Hughes' intelligence and efficiency also helped establish a reputation for being stiff, cold and unemotional, which led to labels such as a "bearded iceberg." Nonetheless, with typical vigor he became a tireless campaigner, making up to 20 speeches per day.
For the press photographers covering these speeches, new cameras and films that were smaller and faster allowed them to get closer and better capture the spontaneous gestures and expressions of candidates. The pictures that resulted, like this one in which Hughes is seen in the middle of a speech, could visually suggest he was anything but a bearded iceberg. |