EDITOR’S NOTE: Special thanks to Bruce Cummins, CEO of Mansfield Engineered Components, who corrected an earlier version of this story. Ohioan John Bricker was on the 1944 Republican National Ticket. Thomas E. Dewey lost to President Franklin Roosevelt that year.
J.D. Vance on Monday was announced as former President Donald Trump’s vice presidential selection at the Republican National Convention. To be honest, I was excited.
This is not an endorsement of the Trump-Vance ticket. Vote for Trump. Vote for Biden. Vote for Kennedy. Vote for someone else. Dear reader, that is your sacred prerogative, and I support it completely. You don’t care how I vote. It’s none of my business how you vote. I just encourage you to vote, especially in local elections that happen every year.
Actually, my excitement was two-fold — neither aspect based on politics.
First, Vance was a guest at Richland Source in 2022 while running for his U.S. Senate seat. He was battling Democrat Tim Ryan and both sat down with me and City Editor Carl Hunnell for a face-to-face interview.
Like Ryan, we put Vance through the paces with our “Complicating the Narrative” questions, developed by author/journalist Amanda Ripley.
“Complicating the Narrative” challenges journalists to cover controversial issues differently, based on how people actually behave when they are polarized and/or suspicious.
To his credit, Vance willingly participated in the exercise. We’ve had a number of other state and national politicians who say they will participate, then answer the questions by simply reverting to their canned talking points.
Obviously, politicians make several of these stops in a day, and sticking to the script is the path of least resistance. So when someone willingly gets outside their comfort zone while on the campaign trail, that’s noteworthy.
Vance sent us a note afterward that he enjoyed this unique structure and appreciated the thoughtful nature of the interview.
Second, having an Ohioan on a national presidential ticket is historic. I’m a history nerd, especially a presidential history nerd.
I have found the subject fascinating from the time I attended James A. Garfield Elementary School in Heath, Ohio, and played Ulysses S. Grant (another Ohio native) in our fifth grade History Wax Museum, through my graduation with a history minor at Ohio University.
History tells us no Ohioan has ever been the vice president of the United States.
The last time an Ohioan was on a major party’s presidential ticket was in 1944, when John Bricker was Thomas E. Dewey’s running mate. They lost to the final FDR ticket.
If there’s been an Ohioan on a national presidential ticket since then, even a losing ticket, feel free to enlighten me at Larry@RichlandSource.com.
There were rumors in the past that John Kasich had his eye on a White House run, but it never materialized. John Glenn ran in the Democratic Party primary in 1984, but failed.
Some have theorized that Mansfield native Sherrod Brown, by far the most popular Democrat in Ohio, could be a candidate at various points. We directly asked him that here at Richland Source, and he brushed it off as something that didn’t interest him.
That would have excited me, too. We’ve had Brown, a Mansfield native, here at Richland Source numerous times.
My favorite interview with Brown was when Hunnell referenced John Glenn’s Gold Star speech in 1974. In a response to a speech by Howard Metzenbaum in Toledo, in which he accused John Glenn of never holding a real job, Glenn delivered what has widely been called the “Gold Star Mother Speech” at the City Club Debate.
Glenn was a U.S. Marine fighter pilot in World War II and in the Korean War before becoming an astronaut and the first American to orbit the earth. He bristled at his foe’s suggestion and asked Metzenbaum to look any Gold Star mother (a mother whose son died in combat) in the eye and tell her that her son had not held a real job.
Glenn went on to defeat Metzenbaum in that primary, and won the ensuing election.
When Carl, a John Glenn High School graduate, referenced that special political moment from nearly a half century ago, Brown’s eyes immediately flashed. He knew he was talking to a serious political inquisitor.
That’s what we strive to do here. We rarely get involved in national, or even statewide political affairs. But when we do, we strive to be a bit different, be serious, be fair.
If you like how we approach things, I’d strongly encourage you to support our work by becoming a member at Richland Source, Ashland Source or Knox Pages.
