One of the convention managers, New York publisher Thurlow Weed, alleged that "Tyler was finally taken because we could get nobody else to accept"—though he did not say this until after the subsequent break between President Tyler and the Whig Party.[60] Other Tyler foes claimed that he had wept himself into the White House, after crying at Clay's defeat; this was unlikely, as the Kentuckian had backed Tyler's opponent Rives in the Senate election.[61] Tyler's name was submitted in the balloting, and though Virginia abstained, he received the necessary majority. As president, Tyler was accused of having gained the nomination by concealing his views, and responded that he had not been asked about them. His biographer Robert Seager II held that Tyler was selected because of a dearth of alternative candidates. Seager concluded, "He was put on the ticket to draw the South to Harrison. No more, no less."[62]

General election
There was no Whig platform—the party leaders decided that trying to put one together would tear the party apart. So the Whigs ran on their opposition to Van Buren, blaming him and his Democrats for the recession.