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.

7/26/2020

Monday, July 26, 1920


Harding spends today catching up on correspondence and discussing campaign issues, including agriculture with Henry C. Wallace, the publisher of the Wallace's Farmer, an influential farming magazine. Wallace is pleased by his meeting with the candidate: "The farmers in the corn belt States welcome certain things in Senator Harding's speech of acceptance with about the same thankfulness that they would welcome a twenty-four-hour rain after a July drought. They had been greatly pleased with the consideration given to agriculture in the Republican platform and the constructive, forward looking character of the agriculture plan." According to the New York Times, "[S]ome front porch enthusiasts who have been amusing themselves predicting Cabinet selections already have Mr. Wallace slated as the next Secretary of Agriculture in the event of a Republican victory." This turns out to be true.

At Trail's End, his home just outside Dayton, Governor Cox begins work on his acceptance speech.

Sources:
  • "Congratulations." Bucyrus Telegraph. 26 July 1920.
  • "Harding Obtains Data for Speeches." New York Times. 27 July 1920.
  • "Harding Takes Up Easier Stride in Campaign Work." Washington Star. 26 July 1920.
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