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.

10/27/2020

Wednesday, October 27, 1920 (CLEVELAND)

Senator Harding leaves Marion on his final campaign trip; his train, expected to leave at 12:40 p.m., pulls out of the station 30 minutes behind schedule. Because of demand, he will add a third speech to his stop in Cleveland.

According to the Marion Star, the candidate is welcomed by a "downtown parade in which thousands of men and women marched as a demonstration of their Republicanism, with red fire, band music, transparencies, banners and all the paraphernalia of campaign jubilee of others days." Harding gives an informal speech at the parade, another at a dinner for the Jewish Independent Aid Society, his main speech at the armory, then another at a West Side tent meeting.

Grey's Amory

"Scarcely more than one-fourth of the crowd was able to hear the senator speak at the meeting in Grays armory. The building was packed long before the parade began and thousands were turned away. Senator Harding paid a glowing tribute to Theodore Roosevelt in his address, holding him up to the audience as the greatest American of recent days." (Akron Beacon Journal)

The stop is described as the "most enthusiastic politically rally since the days of William McKinley."

The Harding party spends the night in Cleveland.

Sources:
  • "Big Reception Given Harding." Marion Star. 28 October 1920.
  • "Cleveland Plays Honor to Harding." Akron Beacon Journal. 28 October 1920.
  • "Nominee Is Off on Final Tour." Marion Star. 27 October 1920.
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)