A Note on My Harding Research

The information I posted during 2020 mostly covered Warren Harding's front-porch campaign from his home on Mt. Vernon Avenue in Marion, Ohio. The campaign officially started on July 31, 1920, and ended on September 25. The plan was to post daily on events that occurred exactly 100 years ago that day, but I shared other information as well. You'll have to read bottom-to-top if you want to follow the campaign from Day 1.

I used the open web for some of my research but also information accessible by using my library card or my subscription to www.newspapers.com. The most useful resource was the Marion Star, which was owned by the Hardings at the time of the campaign. I also browsed online copies of other newspapers like the New York Times, the Washington Star, and the Dayton Daily News, which, in 1920, was owned by Harding's Democratic opponent, Governor James M. Cox. I also posted information from other newspapers that covered Harding's trips away from Marion during the campaign.

Another great resource I used was Dale E. Cottrill's The Conciliator, a 1969 biography of the president that expanded an earlier bibliography of Harding's speeches. An online version is available at the Internet Archive, but I used a hard copy borrowed from the State Library of Ohio.

Readers should not construe anything posted here as a political statement on my part. I just like Harding as a historical topic.

7/30/2020

Friday, July 30, 1920


An interesting editorial cartoon is printed on the front page of the Wilmington (Delaware) Leader. Harding's speech of acceptance is called "a manly document of Americanism."

At home in Marion, Harding receives a few callers in the morning. He again tries to engage Governor Cox on the issue of the League of Nations in a lengthy statement to the press.
At the time of [Cox's conference with President Wilson], I addressed some questions to the Democratic candidate, which he has not thus far seen fit to answer. One of them was whether in his conference with President Wilson he had pledged himself to the ratification of the treaty and League without essential modifications...
Harding's frequent golfing partner, Senator Frelinghuysen of New Jersey denies that "a small group of Senators" at the Chicago convention dictated the nomination: "As a delegate to the convention, supporting General Wood, I affirm that the statement is untrue. Senator Harding's nomination was the untrammeled action of the majority of the delegates to the convention."
 
In Dayton, thousands participate in a "homecoming celebration" for Governor Cox: "It is the first time that Dayton has furnished a presidential candidate for either of the two major parties. It is consciousness of the fact that while the city has not only contributed immeasurably to the scientific and industrial progress of the age, she has now produced a political genius, that adds to the spirit of pride existing in the hears of thousands today."

And in the New York Evening World, readers keep trying:
  • If you are made President see that you are an all-American.
  • True, noble, intelligent Americans demand honesty, plus reliability, to hasten genuine democracy.
  • The porch is enough, the people well know, Harding's known, 'tis well.
  • United States for Americans; we like all creation, but our own best.
  • No more Wilson, no, not Cox; we want Harding in the box.
  • O'er this country send this message: Vote for Harding to the end.
 Sources:
  • "Denies 'Clique' Named Harding." New York Times. 31 July 1920.
  • "Harding Charges Cox 'Soft Pedals' on League Issue." New York Times. 31 July 1920.
  • "Many Readers Play Pens in Writing Their Ideas of 12-Word Slogans." New York Evening World. 30 July 1920.
  • "Pottery Men Due August 12." Marion Star. 30 July 1920.
  • "Thousands of Dayton and Miami Valley Citizens Join Celebration in Honor of Their Presidential Candidate." Dayton Daily News. 30 July 1920.
  • "Uncle Sam - 'I commend him to you, without reservation." Wilmington Leader. 30 July 1920.
  • "Would Force Other Issues." Marion Star. 31 July 1920.

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