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.

10/07/2020

Thursday, October 7, 1920 (IOWA AND NEBRASKA)

Newton, Iowa

Colfax, Iowa

Des Moines, Iowa

Senator Harding arrives from Chicago at 8:20 a.m. A crowd greets the train at Rock Island Station:


The candidate greets a "Harding Republican":


Mrs. Harding greets 90-year-old Mrs. Sarah Jane Sherman, "the oldest woman voter in Des Moines":

Harding is driven to the Fort Des Moines hotel in an informal process of 25 cars:


Harding leaves the hotel at 10:16 to speak at the Coliseum to a crowd of nearly 10,000:
Fellow Americans: My stop in Des Moines is more personal than political. There are associations in public service which are the chief compensation save that alone which comes to the consciousness of a public duty honestly performed. I have known such associations, and conspicuous among them has been my association with your distinguished statesman who is standing this year for re-election, Senator Albert B. Cummins. I am not only very fond of his personally, and hold him to be one of the most delightful companions and a valued friend, but I also regard him as one of the ablest statesmen of the present time and one of the most useful men in public life...
This photograph is taken at the Coliseum (and may be one of my favorites I've come across):


And here's another as he returns to the train to head to Omaha:


On the way to Omaha, the Harding train stopped at the following locations in Iowa:
  • Adair
  • Anita
  • Atlantic
  • Avoca
  • Booneville
  • Casey
  • Commerce
  • Council Bluff
  • DeSoto
  • Dexter
  • Earlham
  • Marne
  • Menlo
  • Minden
  • Neola
  • Shelby
  • Stuart
  • Underwood
  • Valley Junction
  • VanMeter
  • Walnut
  • Weston
  • Wiota

                                          Omaha, Nebraska

                                          Harding arrives in Omaha just before 6 p.m., is greeted by several hundred supporters then is taken to a hotel. He makes a brief speech from his automobile before going into the hotel.

                                          Sources:

                                          • "Big Day for Harding in Iowa." Des Moines Register. 8 October 1920.
                                          • "Big Rally in Omaha." Des Moines Register. 8 October 1920.
                                          • "Broadside at Wilson League." Marion Star. 7 October 1920.
                                          • "Harding Is Given Ovation Here." Des Moines Tribune. 7 October 1920.
                                          • "'I'm Going to Vote for Your Husband'..." Des Moines Tribune. 7 October 1920.
                                          • "Omaha People Give Harding Glad Hand." Nebraska State Journal. 8 October 1920.
                                          • "Text of Senator Harding's Address at the Coliseum Yesterday." Des Moines Register. 8 October 1920.
                                          • "Towns in Iowa Out in Force to Greet Harding." Des Moines Register. 8 October 1920.

                                          Posted by at

                                          No comments:

                                          Post a Comment

                                          Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)