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.

7/08/2020

Thursday, July 8, 1920

Harding continues to work on his acceptance speech and to meet with Republican supporters. He spends the morning at the offices of the Marion Star. "I am going down to make up the paper some day when the rush of work lets down at the office here. I have always felt the thrill of make-up time on an afternoon newspaper." He also pays a condolence call on a cousin who recently lost a daughter.

Friends and neighbors stop by to congratulate the Hardings on their 29th wedding anniversary. The Hardings were married in the house on Mt. Vernon Avenue in 1891.

The Dayton News publishes a photograph of Harding's sisters, who are helping on the campaign:


Sources:
  • "Appreciation Is Expressed." Marion Star. 8 July 1920.
  • "Harding Writes Out Speech as Cox Works in Newspaper Office." Washington Star. 8 July 1920.
  • "Senator Visits His Paper." Washington Star. 9 July 1920.
  • "Sisters of Senator Harding Assisting in His Campaign." Dayton News. 9 July 1920.
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