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.

7/06/2020

Tuesday, July 6, 1920

The press reports that "The Senator was at his desk at 7 o'clock and put in a busy day."

Harding learns at breakfast that Governor James M. Cox, of Ohio, is his Democratic opponent. The nomination came on the 44th ballot at the convention in San Francisco. Cox's running mate will be Franklin D. Roosevelt, the assistant secretary of the navy.

Harding sends a telegram to Cox later in the day:

I recall a much-remarked cartoon which portrayed you and me as newsboys contesting for the White House delivery. It seems to have been prophetic. As an Ohioan and a fellow publisher I congratulate you on your notable victory.

The cartoon is reprinted by the Washington Herald on July 10th:

Last March a newspaper [the Columbus Citizen] printed the above cartoon... That was long before they were generally regarded as probable winners of Republican and Democratic nominations. Today, when these two newspaper men are the standard-bearers of their parties the cartoon is even more timely.

Harding, Republican, started his career as editor of the Marion (Ohio) Star, and continues to this day as its publisher and owner.

Cox, Democrat, began as a reporter for a Cincinnati paper, and later became editor and publisher of the Dayton (Ohio) News.

Both were - and are - corking good newspaper editors. Both had boyhood training in press rooms, and both went from editorial desk into politics and public office. One of the two will be the next President of the United States - the first editor to be the nation's Chief Executive.
Cox will respond to the Harding telegram with one of his own: "I accept your message as an evidence of the fraternal impulse which has always characterized the craft to which you and I belong. I heartily reciprocate the felicitous spirit which you have expressed."

The Harding campaign announces that the "nomination will not change our activities in any way in Ohio. It is a great party contest before us, to be fought on great principles involved, and neither place of residence nor personality will have any marked influence on the result."

Sources:
  • "Asks Senator for a Speech." Marion Star. 7 July 1920.
  • "Cartoon Was Prophetic." Washington Star. 6 July 1920.
  • "Cox Deserves Victory in Frisco Convention." Marion Star. 6 July 1920.
  • "Cox Thanks Harding." Washington Star. 7 July 1920.
  • "Here's That Famous Cartoon Harding Wrote About to Cox." Washington Herald. 10 July 1920.
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