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.

8/12/2020

Thursday, August 12, 1920

Senator Harding may travel outside Marion for something other than a golf game. He announces today that he is considering a speech on agriculture to be delivered at a state fair in the Midwest, perhaps Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota or Missouri. On his schedule today is a meeting with a delegation from Minnesota, who do want him travel there.

Coincidentally, the train in which Governor Cox is traveling from Columbus to Toledo stops in Marion at 11:25 a.m. According to the New York Times, "There was much interest in what Governor Cox would do at Marion. As the train entered the station there were shouts for the Governor, and he stepped down to the platform to shake hands with those who had come to greet him. Among the crowd were two little girls who wanted to meet him. As they approached the moving-picture machines were operated and the Governor called to the children. 'Come here. You want to get into the picture, don't you? Come along: It will provide the proper background.'"

And here are a couple of slogans from the New York Evening World contest:
  • Let us dedicate ourselves whole-heartedly to the ideals of Lincoln and McKinley.
  • Harding, without a flaw, believes in liberty but obedience to law.
Sources:
  • "Cox Says Reason Must End Wars." New York Times. 13 August 1920.
  • "Governor Cox Passes Through Marion Today." Marion Star. 12 August 1920.
  • "Harding Revives Issue on Tariff." New York Times. 13 August 1920.
  • "Many Slogan Writers Will Vote Other Way This Year for First." New York Evening World. 12 August 1920.
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