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.

7/31/2020

Saturday, July 31, 1920

Harding's front porch campaign is formally opened with an afternoon address to a delegation of 2,000 residents of Richland County, Ohio, which arrives in two special trains, numerous automobiles, and two airplanes. Members of the Harding Marching Club escort the delegation from the train station to the Harding house.


Harding offers a "neighborly talk" of local interest to the delegation.
I feel myself almost a part of Richland County. Our people, early in the last century, settled in a section that was bounded by Richland and Crawford Counties, and my earliest recollections are of grists taken to Lexington for grinding. I recall distinctly the stories of my great-grandmother, who related to me how she had often gone with one bag of wheat on horseback, while the men were busy in the fields, and the cries of the wolves were a frequent accompaniment to the wearied homeward journey. That was in the days when heroes were without fame's acclaim, when a sturdy manhood and womanhood were battling with the wilderness to reveal Ohio to the star of empire, westward marching. Sometimes I am accused of living in the past, but, frankly, I find the story of their making Ohio very fascinating, and drink new inspiration in recalling the paths they trod and the works they wrought.
Men in the delegation wear special hat bands that read "Richland County Harding Club."


The vice president of the Mansfield Aero Club travels from Mansfield in a plan piloted by a former army flier and earns the honor of "being the first woman in America to take greetings to Senator Harding by airplane." She is asked to pose with the Senator then Mrs. Harding for photos and the news cameras. During the parade, another plane drops parachutes attached to small bags of sand on which statements of support for Harding are printed.

A reception is held then the delegation leaves on special trains at 6 p.m. Here's Harding shaking hands with members of the delegation:


According to the New York Times, "Some professed to see a difference in temper between the Senator's speech of today and his statements on political subjects issued during the last month. It was felt that the Senator's first utterance from his front porch to a visiting delegation had not the force and wide public interest of his formal statements and disappointment was expressed that Mr. Harding, who has a reputation in Ohio as a campaign orate, should have confined his remarks largely to local matters."

In Dayton, the Cox campaign announces that "Senator Harding will not draw Governor Cox into a telegraphic debate on campaign issues, at least until after the Democratic nominee's formal speech of acceptance." The speech has been completed, taken to the Dayton News plant to be printed, and sent to the press associations so it can be distributed to then printed in newspapers next Saturday. Cox spends his afternoon playing golf at the Dayton Country Club.

Sources:
  • "Cox in Accepting to Answer Harding." New York Times. 1 August 1920.
  • "G.O.P. Nominee Shown Opening Front Porch Campaign." Marion Star. 4 August 1920.
  • "Harding Greets First Pilgrims." New York Times. 1 August 1920.
  • "Harding Meets Friends Today." Marion Star. 31 July 1920.
  • "Richland County Folk Are at Marion Today." Mansfield News-Journal. 31 July 1920.
  • "Richland County Opens Front Porch Campaign." Mansfield News-Journal. 1 August 1920.
  • "Tribute Paid Governor Cox." Marion Star. 31 July 1920.
  • "Woman Hs Thrilling Experience in Plane." Marion Star. 31 July 1920.
Images:
  • "Warren G. Harding campaign rally photograph." Ohio History Connection.
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