The 1924 Democratic National Convention was the longest continuously running convention in United States political history. It took a record 103 ballots to nominate a presidential candidate and was the first major party national convention that saw the name of a woman, Lena Springs, placed in nomination for the vice president. John W. Davis, a dark horse, eventually won the presidential nomination on the 103rd ballot, a compromise candidate following a protracted convention fight between distant front-runners William Gibbs McAdoo and Al Smith. Mr. Davis would go on to lose to Calvin Coolidge in the general election.