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.

10/08/2020

Friday, October 8, 1920 (IOWA AND MISSOURI)

From the Marion Star: "Well satisfied that Iowa and Nebraska are safely Republican by big majorities, Senator Warren G. Harding swung southward, today, into the closely contested state of Missouri." His main speeches are in St. Joseph in the afternoon and Kansas City in the evening. His train leaves Omaha at 9 a.m. 

Stops before St. Joseph include:

Bartlett, Iowa

"The first stop was made at Bartlett, Ia., where Senator Harding made a short talk to a flock of school children who surrounded the train as it stopped..." (KCS)

Percival, Iowa

Hamburg, Iowa

Watson, Missouri

"At the first stop in Missouri, Watson, Senator Harding invited the voters not to overlook the important of the Republicans carrying the senate..." (KCS)

Langdon, Missouri

Corning, Missouri

Craig, Missouri

Bigelow, Missouri

Napier, Missouri

Forest City, Missouri

St. Joseph, Missouri

"The Harding reception went with a bang and a whoop from the minute he reached St. Joseph. Thousands were down to the station to greet the party. There was a motor car parade led by a car of G.A.R. veterans through the streets of St. Joseph to the Coliseum... Those who saw the big Cox meeting said the Harding reception exceed it, in size and enthusiasm, even though the meeting here was hastily arranged." (KCS)

"The senator is a taller man than Governor Cox, appears considerably older and is not the careful dresser the governor appeared to be when he was in St. Joseph two weeks ago. Harding wore a dark blue suit with a thin white stripe. He carried a brown fedora hat in his hand and wore no gloves. The senator seemed to have a perpetual smile and he was kept busy bowing acknowledgments to the people assembled at the station. His hair is gray. He wears no glasses and has a heavy coat of tan."

Kansas City, Missouri

"Eighteen thousand persons, crammed into Convention hall, singing 'America' and waving American flags with all their might, last night furnished the inspiration for Senator Warren G. Harding's 'gospel of Republicanism, preached according to the to the text of 'America First.'"

If anyone ever was in doubt about the soul of America I am convinced he would have that doubt removed by coming to Kansas City. I for one am convinced by your greeting tonight that you love America more than you do the League of Nations.

The Harding special leaves at 10:15 p.m.

Sources:

  • "Big Ovations for Harding." Marion Star. 8 October 1920.
  • "Harding Given Great Ovation in St. Joseph." St Joseph News-Press. 8 October 1920.
  • "Harding Is on the Way." Kansas City Star. 8 October 1920.
  • "A Harding Throng." Kansas City Times. 9 October 1920.
  • "Omaha Hears Ohio Senator." Marion Star. 8 October 1920.

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