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.

7/03/2020

Saturday, July 3, 1920


The Hardings leave Washington, D.C. about 10:30 a.m. Journalists from the Associated Press, International Press, United Press, Chicago Tribune, New York Times, and New York Tribune follow in two cars.

"This is their favorite way of making the trip to and from Washington and they have made it many times since the senator began his term in the senate. Sometimes the senator pilots the automobile, but generally he leaves this duty to the chauffer, who has been with him for years. On this trip, the senator plans to get all the rest he can and the run will be leisurely."

Personal effects and campaign documents were sent ahead by truck. Harding's office staff, which includes 20 secretaries, stenographers, typists, and special clerks, will leave Washington at 4:10 p.m. on a special train to Marion.

Before he departs, Harding tells the press, "We're going to travel the old-fashioned way, with a shoe box lunch." To avoid crowds on the trip, the route is not publicized.

Harding's dashboard

The Hardings stop once to change tires before arriving in Cumberland, Maryland, just after 7 p.m. "When it became noised that he was in the city many persons, including a number of Democrats, assembled in the lobby to meet him," according to a report in the Baltimore Sun. Harding agrees to meet visitors at 9 p.m., and the unplanned reception at the Fort Cumberland Hotel lasts an hour.

Sources:
  • "Harding Steals March on Cumberland People." Baltimore Sun, 4 July 1920.
  • "Ohio Senator on Road Home." Marion Star. 3 July 1920.
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