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.

9/02/2020

Thursday, September 2, 1920 (CHICAGO CUBS)

The Chicago Cubs are in Marion today because a newsreel of Harding playing golf "has drawn a perfectly surprising amount of unfavorable reaction around the country. We get hundreds of letters saying it's a rich man's sport." This isn't known at the time but is discussed in letters from Albert Lasker, an advisor to the campaign and a co-owner of the team.

Upon arrival at the ball park, Harding is brought on the field to sign autographs:


"Buck" Herzog, George Christian, Jr., and Warren G. Harding





Harding also throws some pitches:





Harding is also photographed with members of Marion's earliest baseball teams, from 1868, 1874, and 1883:


Film star Mary MacLaren travels to Marion with the Cubs and is at the game to enroll members of the Cubs in the Harding and Coolidge Theatrical League:


Mary McLaren signs up Grover Cleveland Alexander

Sources:
  • "Motion-Picture Star Comes to Marion with Cubs." Marion Star. 2 September 1920.
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