View source for Charles Curtis

{{short description|American politician, 31st Vice President of the United States}}
{{About|the Vice President of the United States|other people}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2012}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name         = Charles Curtis
| image        = Charles Curtis-portrait.jpg
| alt          = Curtis in a three-quarters view profile, wearing a suit
| caption      = Curtis in 1931
| office       = 31st [[Vice President of the United States]]
| president    = [[Herbert Hoover]]
| term_start   = March 4, 1929
| term_end     = March 4, 1933
| predecessor  = [[Charles G. Dawes]]
| successor    = [[John Nance Garner]]
| office1      = [[Party leaders of the United States Senate|Senate Majority Leader]]
| deputy1      = [[Wesley Livsey Jones]]
| term_start1  = November 28, 1924
| term_end1    = March 4, 1929
| predecessor1 = [[Henry Cabot Lodge]]
| successor1   = [[James Eli Watson]]
| office2      = [[Party leaders of the United States Senate|Senate Majority Whip]]
| leader2      = [[Henry Cabot Lodge]]
| term_start2  = March 4, 1919
| term_end2    = November 28, 1924
| predecessor2 = [[J. Hamilton Lewis]]
| successor2   = [[Wesley Livsey Jones]]
| office3      = [[Senate Republican Conference#Floor Leaders|Leader of the Senate Republican Conference]]
| deputy3      = [[Wesley Livsey Jones]] (Senate Majority Whip)
| term_start3  = November 28, 1924
| term_end3    = March 4, 1929 
| predecessor3 = ''Office established''
| successor3   = [[James Eli Watson]] (Majority Leader)
| office4      = [[Party leaders of the United States Senate|Senate Minority Whip]]
| leader4      = {{plainlist|
*[[Jacob Harold Gallinger]] (1915–1918)
*[[Henry Cabot Lodge]] (1918–1919)
}}
| term_start4  = December 13, 1915
| term_end4    = March 4, 1919
| predecessor4 = [[James Wolcott Wadsworth Jr.]]
| successor4   = [[Peter G. Gerry]]
| office5      = [[President pro tempore of the United States Senate]]
| term_start5  = December 4, 1911
| term_end5    = December 12, 1911
| predecessor5 = [[Augustus Octavius Bacon]]
| successor5   = [[Augustus Octavius Bacon]]
| jr/sr6       = United States Senator
| state6       = [[Kansas]]
| term_start6  = March 4, 1915
| term_end6    = March 4, 1929
| predecessor6 = [[Joseph L. Bristow]]
| successor6   = [[Henry Justin Allen]]
| term_start7  = January 29, 1907
| term_end7    = March 4, 1913
| predecessor7 = [[Alfred W. Benson]]
| successor7   = [[William Howard Thompson]]
| office8      = Member of the<br/>[[United States House of Representatives|U.S. House of Representatives]]<br/>from [[Kansas]]
| term_start8  = March 4, 1893
| term_end8    = January 28, 1907
| predecessor8 = [[Case Broderick]] (1st district)<br/>[[John G. Otis]] (4th district)
| successor8   = [[Daniel Read Anthony Jr.]] (1st district)<br/>[[James Monroe Miller]] (4th district)
| constituency8= {{ushr|KS|4|4th district}} (1893–1899)<br/>{{ushr|KS|1|1st district}} (1899–1907)
| birth_date   = {{birth date|1860|1|25}}
| birth_place  = [[North Topeka, Kansas|North Topeka]], [[Kansas Territory]], U.S.
| death_date   = {{death date and age|1936|2|8|1860|1|25}}
| death_place  = [[Washington, D.C.]], U.S.
| resting_place= [[Topeka Cemetery]]
| party        = [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]
| spouse       = {{marriage|Annie Baird|1886|1924|reason=her death}}
| children     = 3
| signature    = Charles Curtis Signature.svg
| signature_alt= Cursive signature in ink
}}

'''Charles Curtis''' (January 25, 1860 – February 8, 1936) was an American attorney and [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] politician from Kansas who served as the 31st [[vice president of the United States]] from 1929 to 1933. He also previously served as the [[Senate Majority Leader]] from 1924 to 1929. 

A member of the [[Kaw Nation]] born in the [[Kansas Territory]], Curtis was the first person with any Native American ancestry and with acknowledged non-European ancestry to reach either of the highest offices in the [[Federal government of the United States#Executive Branch|federal executive branch]]. He is the highest-ranking [[Native_American_recognition_in_the_United_States#Recognition_for_individuals|enrolled]] Native American ever to serve in the federal government. He is the most recent [[Federal government of the United States|Executive Branch]] officer to have been born in a territory rather than a state or federal district.

Based on his personal experience, Curtis believed that Indians could benefit from mainstream education and [[Cultural assimilation|assimilation]]. Curtis entered political life when he was 32 years old and won several terms from his district in [[Topeka, Kansas]], beginning in 1892 as a Republican to the [[United States House of Representatives]]. While serving as a Representative, Curtis sponsored and helped pass the [[Curtis Act of 1898]]; it extended the [[Dawes Act]] to the [[Five Civilized Tribes]] of Indian Territory. As such, it ended their self-government and provided for allotment of communal land to individual households of tribal members, after they were registered on official rolls. It limited their tribal courts and government. Any lands not allotted were to be considered surplus by the federal government, which sold plots to non-Natives. Implementation of this act completed the extinguishing of tribal land titles in Indian Territory, which prepared the larger territory to be admitted as the state of Oklahoma, which was done in 1907. The government tried to encourage Indians to accept individual citizenship and lands and to take up European-American culture. By the end of the century, it had set up boarding schools for Indian children as another method of assimilation.

Curtis was elected to the US Senate first by the [[Kansas Legislature]] in 1906 and then by [[Direct election|popular vote]] in [[1914 United States Senate election in Kansas|1914]], [[1920 United States Senate election in Kansas|1920]], and [[1926 United States Senate election in Kansas|1926]]. Curtis served one six-year term from 1907 to 1913 and then most of three terms from 1915 to 1929 (after his election as vice president). His long popularity and connections in Kansas and national politics helped make Curtis a strong leader in the Senate; he marshaled support to be elected as [[Republican Whip of the United States Senate|Republican Whip]] from 1915 to 1924 and then as Senate Majority Leader from 1924 to 1929. In these positions, he was instrumental in managing legislation and accomplishing Republican national goals.

Curtis ran for vice president with [[Herbert Hoover]] as president in [[1928 United States presidential election|1928]]. They won a landslide victory. When they ran together again in 1932, during the [[Great Depression]], the public elected Democrats [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] and [[John Nance Garner]] in a [[1932 United States presidential election|subsequent landslide]].

==Early life and education==
Born on January 25, 1860, in [[North Topeka]], [[Kansas Territory]],<ref>"[https://www.newspapers.com/image/649198630/ From a Kansas Log Cabin to Leadership in the Senate]". ''The Kansas City Times'' (Kansas City, Missouri). June 16, 1928. p. 6.</ref> a year before Kansas was admitted as a state, Charles Curtis had roughly {{frac|3|8}} Native American ancestry and {{Frac|5|8}} European American.{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}} His mother, Ellen Papin (also spelled Pappan), was [[Kaw people|Kaw]], [[Osage Nation|Osage]], [[Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation|Potawatomi]], and [[French American|French]].<ref>{{cite news|last1=McKie|first1=Scott|title=Charles Curtis: America's Indian Vice President|url=https://theonefeather.com/2014/02/charles-curtis-americas-indian-vice-president/|access-date=20 June 2016|work=Cherokee One Feather|date=4 February 2014|archive-date=June 30, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160630041902/https://theonefeather.com/2014/02/charles-curtis-americas-indian-vice-president/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=January 29 – This Date in History: Kaw Member Charles Curtis Becomes US Senator|url=http://nativenewsonline.net/currents/january-29-date-history-kaw-member-charles-curtis-becomes-us-senator/|access-date=20 June 2016|work=Native News Online|issue=29 January 2014|archive-date=August 10, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160810032315/http://nativenewsonline.net/currents/january-29-date-history-kaw-member-charles-curtis-becomes-us-senator/|url-status=live}}</ref> His father, Orren Curtis, was of [[English American|English]], [[Scottish American|Scots]], and [[Welsh American|Welsh]] ancestry.<ref>{{cite book | last=Christensen | first=Lee R. | url=https://openlibrary.org/works/OL3592549W | title=The Curtis Peet Ancestry of Charles Curtis Vice-President of the United States 4 March 1929-3 March 1933 | access-date=December 26, 2019 | archive-date=November 7, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201107181919/https://openlibrary.org/works/OL3592549W/The_Curtis_Peet_ancestry_of_Charles_Curtis_Vice-President_of_the_United_States_4_March_1929-3_March_ | url-status=live }}</ref> On his mother's side, Curtis was a descendant of chief [[White Plume]] of the Kaw Nation and chief [[White Hair|Pawhuska]] of the Osage.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.vpcharlescurtis.net/ksstudies/ccfamily.html | title=Genealogy of Vice President Charles Curtis – Mother's side: Pappans (of Charles Curtis) | publisher=VPCharlesCurtis.net | access-date=July 19, 2010 | archive-date=July 23, 2012 | archive-url=https://www.webcitation.org/69MVzEhHJ?url=http://www.vpcharlescurtis.net/ksstudies/ccfamily.html | url-status=live }}</ref>

Curtis's first words as an infant were in [[French language|French]] and [[Kansa language|Kansa]], both languages learned from his mother. She died in 1863, when he was 3 years old, but he lived for some time thereafter with his maternal grandparents on the Kaw reservation and returned to them in later years. He learned to love racing horses; later, he was a highly successful [[jockey]] in prairie horse races.<ref name="sho">{{cite web | url=https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/generic/VP_Charles_Curtis.htm | title=Charles Curtis, 31st Vice President (1929–1933) | work=U.S. Senate: Art & History | publisher=US Senate.gov | access-date=December 14, 2011 | archive-date=January 18, 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120118135359/http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/generic/VP_Charles_Curtis.htm | url-status=live }}, reprinted from {{cite book | title=Vice Presidents of the United States, 1789–1993 | location= Washington, DC | publisher= US Government Printing Office | year=1997}}</ref>

After Curtis's mother died in 1863, his father remarried but soon divorced. During his [[American Civil War|Civil War]] service, Orren Curtis was captured and imprisoned. During this period, the toddler Charles was cared for by his maternal grandparents. They also later helped him gain possession of his mother's land in North Topeka, which, under the Kaw [[matrilineal]] system, he inherited from her. His father tried unsuccessfully to get control of this land. Orren Curtis married a third time and had a daughter, Theresa Permelia "Dolly" Curtis, born in 1866 after the end of the war.<ref name="sho"/>

On June 1, 1868, 100 [[Cheyenne]] warriors invaded the Kaw Reservation. The Kaw men painted their faces, donned regalia, and rode out on horseback to confront the Cheyenne. The rival Indian warriors put on a display of superb horsemanship, accompanied with war cries and volleys of bullets and arrows. Terrified white settlers took refuge in nearby [[Council Grove, Kansas|Council Grove]]. After about four hours, the Cheyenne retired with a few stolen horses and a peace offering of coffee and sugar from the Council Grove merchants. No one had been injured on either side. During the battle, [[Joseph James and Joseph James, Jr.|Joe Jim]], a Kaw interpreter, galloped {{convert|60|mi}} to Topeka to seek assistance from the governor. Riding with Jim was the eight-year-old Charles Curtis, then nicknamed "Indian Charley".<ref>{{cite book | last=Unrau | first= William E. | title=Mixed Bloods and Tribal Dissolution: Curtis and the Quest for Indian Identity | location=Norman, OK | publisher=University of Oklahoma Press | year= 1971 | pages= 72–75}} and {{cite book | last=Crawford | first= Samuel J. | title=Kansas in the Sixties | url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924028875222 | location= Chicago, IL | publisher=A.C. McClurg | year= 1911 | page= [https://archive.org/details/cu31924028875222/page/289 289]}}</ref>

Curtis re-enrolled in the [[Kaw Nation]], which had been removed from Kansas to [[Indian Territory]] when he was in his teens. Curtis was strongly influenced by both sets of grandparents. After living on the reservation with his maternal grandparents, M. Papin and Julie Gonville, he returned to the city of Topeka. There he lived with his paternal grandparents while attending [[Topeka High School]]. Both grandmothers encouraged his education.{{fact|date=November 2020}} 

Curtis [[read law]] in an established firm where he worked part-time. He was admitted to the bar in 1881<ref name="sho"/> and began his practice in Topeka.<ref>"[https://www.newspapers.com/image/100500336/ Curtis, Quarter Indian, Began His Ride To Fame as a Jockey; Roamed Plains With Kaws When a Boy; Fought Way Upward]". ''Associated Press''. Cincinnati Enquirer. June 6, 1928. p. 6.</ref> He served as prosecuting attorney of [[Shawnee County, Kansas]], from 1885 to 1889.{{fact|date=November 2020}}

==Marriage and family==
On November 27, 1884, Curtis married Annie Elizabeth Baird<ref>{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_o8X5krq3fP8C | title=Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History, Embracing Events, Institutions, Industries, Counties, Cities, Towns, Prominent Persons, Etc. | publisher=Standard Publishing Company | author=Blackmar, Frank Wilson | year=1912 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_o8X5krq3fP8C/page/n483 487]}}</ref> (1860–1924). They had three children: Permelia Jeannette Curtis (1886–1955), Henry "Harry" King Curtis (1890–1946), and Leona Virginia Curtis (1892–1965). He and his wife also provided a home in Topeka for his paternal sister Dolly Curtis before her marriage. His wife died in 1924.

A widower when elected vice president in [[1928 United States presidential election|1928]], Curtis had his long-since-married sister, Dolly Curtis Gann (March 1866 – January 30, 1953), act as his official hostess for social events.<ref name="gann"/> She had lived with her husband, Edward Everett Gann, in Washington, DC since about 1903. He was a lawyer and once an assistant attorney general in the government. Attuned to social protocol, Dolly Gann insisted in 1929 on being treated officially as the number-two woman in government at social functions. The diplomatic corps voted to change a State Department protocol to acknowledge this while her brother was in office.<ref name="gann">[http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1953/01/31/page/21/article/dolly-gann-86-dead-winner-in-social-feud "Dolly Gann, 86, Dead; Winner in Social Feud"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201107181843/https://chicagotribune.newspapers.com/ |date=November 7, 2020 }}, ''Chicago Tribune,'' 31 January 1953; accessed 26 July 2016</ref>

To date, Curtis is the last vice president who was unmarried during his entire time in office. [[Alben W. Barkley]], who served as vice president from 1949 to 1953, entered office as a widower but remarried while in office.

==House of Representatives (1893–1907)==
{{unref|section|date=January 2020}}
First elected as a [[United States Republican Party|Republican]] to the House of Representatives of the [[Fifty-third United States Congress|53rd Congress]], Curtis was re-elected for the following six terms. Naturally gregarious, he also made the effort to learn about his many constituents and treated them as personal friends.

In 1902, the [[Kaw Allotment Act]] disbanded the Kaw Nation as a legal entity and provided for the allotment of its communal land to members, in a process similar to that experienced by other tribes. The act transferred 160&nbsp;acres (0.6&nbsp;km²) of former tribal land to the federal government. Other land formerly held in common was allocated to individual tribal members. Under the terms of the act, as enrolled tribal members, Curtis (and his three children) were allotted about 1,625&nbsp;acres (6.6&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>) of Kaw land near [[Washunga, Oklahoma|Washunga]] in Oklahoma.

Curtis served several consecutive terms in the House, from March 4, 1893, until January 28, 1907.

==Senate (1907–1913, 1915–1929)==
[[File:Charles Curtis cph.3b21058.jpg|left|thumb|upright|Senator Charles Curtis (R-Kansas), member of the [[Kaw Nation]]]]
[[File:Calvin Coolidge, Mrs. Coolidge and Senator Curtis.jpg|thumb|left|Senator Curtis (right) with [[Calvin Coolidge|President Coolidge]] and [[Grace Goodhue Coolidge|Grace Coolidge]] on their way to the [[United States Capitol|Capitol]] building on [[Inauguration Day]], March 4, 1925]]

Curtis resigned from the House after having been elected by the [[Kansas Legislature]] to the [[United States Senate|U.S. Senate]] seat left vacant by the resignation of [[Joseph R. Burton]]. Curtis served the remainder of his current term, ending on March 4, 1907.<ref name="CB">{{CongBio|C001008|inline= yes}}</ref> (Popular election of US senators had not yet been mandated by constitutional amendment.) At the same time, the legislature elected Curtis to the next full Senate term commencing March 4; he served until March 4, 1913. In 1912, Democrats won control of the Kansas legislature, so Curtis was not re-elected.

The [[Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|17th Amendment]], providing for direct popular election of Senators, was adopted in 1913. In 1914, Curtis was elected to Kansas's other Senate seat by popular vote and was re-elected in 1920 and 1926. In total, he served from March 4, 1915, to March 4, 1929, when he resigned to become vice president.<ref name="CB"/>

During his tenure in the Senate, Curtis was [[President pro tempore of the United States Senate|President pro tempore]], Chairman of the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of the Interior, of the [[United States Senate Committee on Indian Depredations|Committee on Indian Depredations]], and of the Committee on Coast Defenses; and Chairman of the Republican Senate Conference. He also was elected for a decade as Senate Minority Whip and for four years as Senate Majority Leader after Republicans won control of the chamber. He had experience in all the senior leadership positions in the Senate and was highly respected for his ability to work with members on "both sides of the aisle".

In 1923, Senator Curtis, together with fellow Kansan Representative [[Daniel Read Anthony, Jr.]], proposed the first version of the [[Equal Rights Amendment]] to the [[United States Constitution]] to each of their Houses. The amendment did not go forward.

Curtis's leadership abilities were demonstrated by his election as [[United States Senate Republican Whip|Republican Whip]] from 1915 to 1924 and [[United States Senate Majority Leader|Majority Leader]] from 1925 to 1929. He was effective in collaboration and moving legislation forward in the Senate. Idaho Senator [[William Borah]] acclaimed Curtis as "a great reconciler, a walking political encyclopedia and one of the best political poker players in America".<ref name="sho"/> ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine featured him on the cover in December 1926 and reported, "it is in the party caucuses, in the committee rooms, in the cloakrooms that he patches up troubles, puts through legislation" as one of the two leading senators, with [[Reed Smoot]].<ref name=time19261220>
{{cite news
 | url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,711494,00.html
 | title=The Congress: Quiet Leader
 | work=Time
 | date=December 20, 1926
 | access-date=December 30, 2009
 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081220111458/http://www.time.com/time/covers/0%2C16641%2C19261220%2C00.html
 | archive-date=December 20, 2008
 | url-status=dead
 | df=mdy-all
 }}</ref>

Curtis was remembered for not making many speeches. He was noted for keeping the "best card index of the state ever made".<ref name="star"/> Curtis used a black notebook, and later a card index, to record all the people he met while in office or campaigning, and continually referred to it, resulting in his being known for "his remarkable memory for faces and names":

{{quote|Never a pension letter, or any other letter for that matter, came in that wasn't answered promptly... And another name went into the all-embracing card index. The doctors were listed. The farm leaders. The school teachers. The lists were kept up to date. How such an intricate index could be kept up to date and function so smoothly was a marvel to his associates. It was one of Curtis's prides.<ref name="star">{{cite news
| newspaper=Kansas City Star 
| title=Obituary
| date=9 February 1936
}} Quoted in 
{{cite news
| url=http://cjonline.com/stories/032303/our_curtis.shtml
| title=Charles Curtis: Doing it his way
| newspaper=Topeka Capital-Journal
| date=23 March 2003
| author=J.R. Mendoza
| access-date=October 19, 2013
| archive-date=June 4, 2003
| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030604075445/http://cjonline.com/stories/032303/our_curtis.shtml
| url-status=live
}}</ref>}}

Curtis was celebrated as a "stand patter", the most regular of Republicans, and yet a man who could always bargain with his party's progressives and with senators from across the center aisle.

==Vice presidency (1929–1933)==
Curtis received 64 votes on the presidential ballot at the [[1928 Republican National Convention]] in [[Kansas City]], out of 1,084 total. The winning candidate, [[Herbert Hoover]], secured 837 votes, having been the favorite for the nomination since August 1927 (when President [[Calvin Coolidge]] took himself out of contention). Curtis was a leader of the anti-Hoover movement, forming an alliance with two of his Senate colleagues, [[Guy Goff]] and [[James E. Watson]], as well as Governor [[Frank Lowden]] of Illinois. Hoover's pedigree as a Progressive follower of Thedore Roosevelt did not sit well with conservatives like Curtis. Less than a week before the convention, he described Hoover as a man "for whom the party will be on the defensive from the day he is named until the close of the polls on election day",<ref name="p38">Harris Gaylord Warren, ''Herbert Hoover and the Great Depression'' (New York: Oxford University Press, 1959), p. 38.</ref> but Curtis had no qualms about accepting the vice-presidential nomination.

Although Hoover gave few speeches during the 1928 presidential campaign, Curtis traveled coast-to-coast, speaking almost every day.<ref name= corsicana/> While covering the convention, [[H. L. Mencken]] described Curtis as "the Kansas comic character, who is half Indian and half windmill. Charlie ran against Hoover with great energy, and let fly some very embarrassing truths about him. But when the Hoover managers threw Charlie the Vice-Presidency as a solatium, he shut up instantly, and a few days later he was hymning his late bugaboo as the greatest statesman since [[Pericles]]."<ref name="p38"/>

The Hoover–Curtis ticket won the [[1928 United States presidential election|1928 presidential election]] in a landslide, receiving 444 out of the 531 Electoral College votes, and 58.2% of the [[popular vote (representative democracy)|popular vote]]. Curtis resigned from the Senate the day before he was sworn in as vice-president. After he took the [[oath of office of the Vice President of the United States|oath of office]] in the [[United States Senate chamber|Senate Chamber]], the presidential party proceeded to the East Portico of the [[United States Capitol]] for [[inauguration of Herbert Hoover|Hoover's inauguration]].<ref>Warren (1959), p. 52.</ref> Curtis arranged for a Native American [[jazz]] band to perform at the inauguration.<ref>Native American Netroots [http://nativeamericannetroots.net/diary/642 American Indian Biography: Vice-President Charles Curtis] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131020164548/http://nativeamericannetroots.net/diary/642 |date=October 20, 2013 }}</ref>

Curtis's election as vice president made history because he was the only native Kansan and only Native American to hold the post, as well as the first person of color. The first person enrolled in a Native American tribe to be elected to such high office, Curtis decorated his office with Native American artifacts and posed for pictures by wearing Indian headdresses.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/generic/VP_Charles_Curtis.htm|title=U.S. Senate: Charles Curtis, 31st Vice President (1929–1933)|website=www.senate.gov|access-date=May 27, 2017|archive-date=May 7, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170507062926/https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/generic/VP_Charles_Curtis.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> He was 69 when he took office, making him the oldest incoming vice-president at the time. He is now the second-oldest, behind [[Alben W. Barkley]] at 71.

Curtis was the first vice president to take the oath of office on a Bible in the same manner as the President. Curtis named Lola M. Williams as private secretary to the vice president, and Williams was one of the first women to enter the Senate floor, traditionally a male monopoly.<ref>"[https://www.newspapers.com/image/618958849/ Curtis' Secretary Is First Woman to Hold High Office: Lola M. Williams' Life Is Makred by Spirit of Determination]". ''Evening Star'' (Washington, D.C.). March 2, 1929. p. 3.</ref>

Soon after the [[Great Depression]] began, Curtis endorsed the five-day [[working time|work week]] with no reduction in wages as a work-sharing solution to unemployment.<ref>Ryan, John A. (1967) ''Questions of the Day''</ref> In October 1930, in the middle of the campaign for [[United States elections, 1930|1930 mid-term elections]], Curtis made an offhand remark that "good times are just around the corner", a statement that was later erroneously attributed to Hoover and became a "lethal political boomerang".<ref>Warren (1959), p. 190.</ref>

At the [[1932 Republican National Convention]], Hoover was renominated almost unanimously. Despite having no major opposition himself, Dawes ruled himself out.<ref>Warren (1959), p. 253.</ref> Curtis failed to secure a majority of votes on the first ballot for the vice-presidential nomination. He received 559.25 out of 1,154 votes (or 48.5%), with Generals [[Hanford MacNider]] (15.8%) and [[James Harbord]] (14.0%) being his nearest contenders. On the second ballot, the Pennsylvania delegation shifted its votes to Curtis from [[Edward Martin (Pennsylvania politician)|Edward Martin]], giving him 634.25 votes (54.9%) and securing him the nomination for the second time.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=60093|title=Our Campaigns – US Vice President – R Convention Race – Jun 14, 1932|website=www.ourcampaigns.com|access-date=May 18, 2017|archive-date=November 10, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171110224955/https://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=60093|url-status=live}}</ref>

Curtis [[list of people who have opened the Olympic Games|opened]] the [[1932 Summer Olympics]] in [[Los Angeles]], becoming the first U.S. executive branch officer to open the Olympic Games.<ref>"[https://www.newspapers.com/image/314368982/ Curtis Opens Tenth Olympiad with Over 100,000 Looking Over]". ''The Nebraska State Journal'' (Lincoln, Nebraska). July 31, 1932. p. 5.</ref>

Curtis cast three [[List of tie-breaking votes cast by the vice president of the United States|tie-breaking votes]] in the Senate.

Following the stock market crash in 1929, the problems of the Great Depression deepened during the Hoover administration and resulted in the defeat of the Republican ticket in 1932. The Democrat [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] was elected in 1932 as president, with a popular vote of 57% to 40%. Curtis's term as vice-president ended on March 4, 1933.<ref>"[https://www.newspapers.com/image/635289037/ Charles Curtis]". ''The Iola Register'' (Iola, Kansas). March 4, 1933. p. 2.</ref> Curtis's final duty as vice president was to administer the oath of office to his successor, [[John Nance Garner]]. Garner's swearing-in ceremony was the last to take place in the Senate Chamber.<ref>Warren (1959), p. 293.</ref>

<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">
File:Hot weather cabinet, Vice President Curtis LCCN2002712156 (cropped).tif|Vice President Curtis during the summer of 1929
File:The Vice President makes ready for extra session. Vice President Curtis, standing in the ? of the Senate Chamber ready to open the extra session of the 71st Congress. Many important issues LCCN2016889265.tif|Vice President Curtis, standing in the Senate Chamber, 1929
File:Vice President Curtis receives peace pipe from Chief Red Tomahawk, slayer of Sitting Bull. Chief Red Tomahawk, leader of the Sioux Nation and credited with having killed Sitting Bull, LCCN2016889332.jpg|Vice President Curtis receives peace pipe from Chief Red Tomahawk, slayer of [[Sitting Bull]]
File:News-Week Feb 17 1933, vol1 issue1 (cropped).jpg|Vice President Curtis (standing) presiding over the count of the Electoral College votes of the 1932 election
File:Colourised portrait of Charles Curtis (cropped).png|A colorized photograph of Senator Charles Curtis (R-Kansas), member of the Kaw Nation
</gallery>

==After politics==
[[File:Charles Curtis bust.jpg|right|thumb|Charles Curtis's vice-presidential bust]]
Curtis decided to stay in [[Washington, D.C.]], to resume his legal career, as he had a wide network of professional contacts from his long career in Congress and the executive branch. He died there from a [[myocardial infarction|heart attack]] on February 8, 1936, at the age of 76.<ref name=APobit>{{cite news | url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=gYMgAAAAIBAJ&pg=2160,1762809&dq=charles+curtis&hl=en | title=Former Vice President, Charles Curtis. Succumbs | work=Southeast Missourian | date=February 8, 1936 | page=1 | access-date=August 13, 2011 | archive-date=November 6, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201106181748/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=gYMgAAAAIBAJ&pg=2160%2C1762809&dq=charles+curtis&hl=en | url-status=live }}</ref> By his wishes, his body was returned to Kansas and buried next to his wife at the [[Topeka Cemetery]].<ref>"[https://www.newspapers.com/image/656952171/ Death to Curtis: The Former VIce-President and Senator From Kansas is Victim of Heart Attack]". ''The Weekly Kansas City Star'' (Kansas City, Missouri). February 12, 1936. p. 2.</ref>

==Legacy and honors==
* He was featured on the cover of ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine on December 20, 1926{{r|time19261220}} and June 18, 1928, while serving as US Senator from Kansas.<ref>
{{cite news
 | url=http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19280618,00.html
 | title=Senator Charles Curtis
 | work=Time
 | date=June 18, 1928
 | access-date=December 30, 2009
 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101121034528/http://www.time.com/time/covers/0%2C16641%2C19280618%2C00.html
 | archive-date=November 21, 2010
 | url-status=dead
 | df=mdy-all
 }}</ref> Full-length articles discussed his life and politics.
*He was featured as Vice President on the cover of ''Time'' on December 5, 1932.<ref>
{{cite news
 | url=http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19321205,00.html
 | title=Lamest Duck
 | work=Time
 | date=December 5, 1932
 | access-date=January 21, 2010
 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090402014908/http://www.time.com/time/covers/0%2C16641%2C19321205%2C00.html
 | archive-date=April 2, 2009
 | url-status=dead
 | df=mdy-all
 }}</ref>
* His house in [[Topeka, Kansas]] has been listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] and designated as a state historic site. The Charles Curtis House Museum is now operated as a [[Historic house museum|house museum]].<ref>[http://www.charlescurtismuseum.com/ Charles Curtis House Museum] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110202121018/http://charlescurtismuseum.com/ |date=February 2, 2011 }}, official website</ref>
* He was the only multiracial person to serve as [[Vice President of the United States]]<ref name= corsicana>"[https://www.newspapers.com/image/6036669/ Charles Curtis Was Stricken By Heart Attack Saturday: Former Vice President Only Man of Indian Ancestry to Reach Position]". ''Associated Press''. Corsicana Semi-Weekly Light (Corsicana, Texas). February 11, 1936. p. 2.</ref> until the inauguration of [[Kamala Harris]] in 2021.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Brockell|first=Gillian|title=Harris will be the first female, Black and Asian vice president. But not the first VP of color.|language=en-US|work=[[The Washington Post]]|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2020/11/12/charles-curtis-kamala-harris-vice-president-native-american/|access-date=November 13, 2020|issn=0190-8286}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Curtis Act of 1898]]
* [[List of Chairpersons of the College Republicans]]
* [[List of people on the cover of Time Magazine: 1920s]] – December 20, 1926, and June 18, 1928
* [[List of people on the cover of Time Magazine: 1930s]] – December 5, 1932
* [[List of Native Americans in the United States Congress]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |last1=Seitz |first1=Don Carlos |title=From Kaw Teepee to Capitol: The Life Story of Charles Curtis, Indian, who Has Risen to High Estate |date=1928 |publisher=Frederick A. Stokes Company}}
* {{cite book |last1=Unrau |first1=William E. |title=Mixed-Bloods and Tribal Dissolution: Charles Curtis and the Quest for Indian Identity |date=1989 |publisher=University Press of Kansas |isbn=9780700603954 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/mixedbloodstriba0000unra }}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
{{CongBio|C001008}}
* [http://www.vpcharlescurtis.net "Charles Curtis; Native-American Indian Vice-President; a biography"], Vice President Charles Curtis Website
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110714115355/http://www.morofilms.com/index_sub_whispers.html ''Whispers Like Thunder''], Moro Films official movie web site 
* [http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000773986 Don C. Seitz, ''From Kaw Teepee to Capitol; The Life Story of Charles Curtis, Indian, Who Has Risen to High Estate''], full text, Hathi Trust Digital Library
* [http://www.charlescurtismuseum.com/ Charles Curtis House Museum], official website
* {{PM20|FID=pe/003602}}
* [https://www.historynet.com/charley-curtis-tepee-capitol-dome.htm "Charley Curtis: From Teepee to Capitol Dome"] by Deb Goodrich
* [https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/10/us/politics/charles-curtis-vice-president.html "Before Harris, This Vice President Broke a Racial Barrier"] in ''The New York Times'', November 10, 2020
* [http://digital2.library.ucla.edu/viewItem.do?ark=21198/zz002dcnbb Image of Vice-President Charles Curtis at a banquet on-board a military ship, Los Angeles (?), 1932.] ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' Photographic Archive (Collection 1429). UCLA Library Special Collections, [[Charles E. Young Research Library]], [[University of California, Los Angeles]].

{{Navboxes
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{{s-ttl|title=[[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] nominee for [[United States Senator|U.S. Senator]] from [[Kansas]]<br>([[Classes of United States Senators|Class 3]])|years=[[United States Senate elections, 1914 and 1915|1914]], [[United States Senate elections, 1920 and 1921|1920]], [[United States Senate elections, 1926|1926]]}}
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