Except for coal miners—mining suffered through a recession in the 1920s—West Virginians were drawn in by the good times of the 1920s. Even though John William Davis (pictured) from Clarksburg was the Democratic nominee for president in 1924, the state and largely every one else in the country (including his own hometown) voted for Republican Calvin Coolidge because they connected him with prosperity. In the 1920s, West Virginia’s Republican leaders followed a hands-off approach to government and the economy.