In its Winters, Cleveland braces for rough and frigid weather rolling in off the shores of Lake Erie where the city begins. In Summer, the city's Julys can be equally uncomfortable; just brutally hot. Still, in 1924, Cleveland sold the idea of the Republican National Committee on coming to the city partly on weather.
"Enjoy the cooling breeze which comes off Lake Erie," said city officials in their letter to the Republicans. Of course, 1924 were the days before air conditioning. The relatively new Public Hall Auditorium was a leading building of its type in the nation. "The Public Auditorium was a showplace," said John Grabowski, historian with the History Center of the Western Reserve Historical Society.
So the Republicans came for Cleveland's first major political party national convention. However, it was not just weather and Public Hall which brought them. In 1924, Cleveland was the fifth largest city in the U.S. and a major center for manufacturing, commerce, transportation, and political power.
"We were like a New York, or San Francisco, or LA," said Tom Sutton, professor of political science at Baldwin-Wallace University. "We were already on top, so it was expected a city like Cleveland would be hosting that convention."
In 1936, Cleveland would do it again in hosting the Republican National Convention.
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