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.

8/04/2020

Wednesday, August 4, 1920

In the morning, Senator Harding meets a delegation of West Virginia Republicans that wants Harding to speak at a judicial and platform convention at Wheeling on the 12th. Harding declines the invitation. He reminds the press that he will not leave Marion for speeches before October 1.

In the afternoon, Harding meets the second formal delegation of the campaign. The delegation arrives from Wayne County, Ohio, by special train at 11:15; others make the trip by automobile. The Harding Marching club meet the group at the train station then they all march past the Harding home. The Hardings stand on the porch and wave. Here's what the march may have looked like; I can't identify the specific date of this particular image:


The delegation disperses for lunch then returns at 2 o'clock to hear Harding's speech, some of which is excerpted here:
You must be confidently and fearlessly American to measure to the renowned name of Wayne. The story of Wayne County is that of the great beginning of the Northwest territory, whose sturdy citizenship was strengthened by the hardships of the forest pioneer. We contemplate the Ohio of today, little dreaming of the heroism recorded in its making, little realizing what a century and a quarter has wrought, little appreciating what we owe to those who faced the dangers of the wilderness to make our present-day commonwealth of homes...
Governor Coolidge spoke the other day of the rescue of America from the reactions of the war. We also need to be rescued from the visionary and fruitless pursuit of peace through super-government. I do not want Americans of foreign birth making their party alignments on what we mean to do for some nation in the old world. We want them to be Republicans because of what we mean to do for the United States of America. Our call is for unison, not rivalling sympathies. Our need is concord, not the antipathies of long inheritance...

It is impossible to definitely fix our course amid the unusual conditions in the wake of war. The world has to steady down. We have been talking about getting back to normal. That doesn't mean the old order, that doesn't mean looking backward. It is the short and easy way of saying "Again to Stability," "Once More to Regularity." There hasn't been a backward look in America for three hundred years, but the man who faces the future with highest assurances is he who has noted the paths which made his progress secure. We Republicans hold that the inherited plans of constitutional, representative popular government, with its inspirations of nationality and a fair chance for every man, have enabled us to write the supreme story of human and national advancement in all the world, and we mean to hold the inheritance secure and go confidently on to greater and grander achievement.
After his speech, Harding introduces Senator Watson of Indiana and Senator Sutherland of West Virginia, both of whom briefly talk to the crowd. Senator Sutherland, here to extend the invitation to Harding to visit West Virginia, says, "It would be a pity to mar the beauty and brilliance of the splendid address to which we have just listened and therefore, I shall attempt no speech." Harding spends a half hour shaking hands with the delegation, which numbered about 600 people.

[I think this is Senator James E. Watson of Indiana.]


In Dayton, Governor Cox indicates that "he is preparing a vigorous daily political bombardment of the Republican position. It is probable that the nominee will fire a series of questions at Harding and the rumor persists that he may challenge the Republican candidate to a joint debate, although the Senator has indicated that he was opposed to such a plan."

Sources:
  • "Class Appeal Denounced by Sen. Harding." Dayton Herald. 5 August 1920.
  • "Covenant Assailed by Republican Nominee When Ohio Delegation Visits Harding's Home." Cincinnati Enquirer. 5 August 1920.
  • "Cox Is to Fire Daily Shots at G.O.P. Nominee." New York Evening World. 4 August 1920.
  • "Harding Talks to Delegation." Marion Star. 4 August 1920.
  • "Three Solons Are Speakers." Marion Star. 5 August 1920.
  • "West Harding Wants Harding." Marion Star. 4 August 1920.
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