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.

11/04/2020

Thursday, November 4, 1920

Will Hays, the chair of the Republican National Committee, arrives from Marion for "no particular significance." The president-elect takes him to the Star office for a tour.

In the evening, the whole town holds a huge celebration -- "in the form of a torchlight parade and jollification meeting at the front porch of the Harding Home." Festivities include thousands of marchers, a number of bands, and the Columbus Republican Glee Club.


"Everybody in Marion County and the Whole State of Ohio Who is Happy That Warren G. Harding is Elected President is invited to the Harding Victory Celebration."

Club members stand on the Hardings' porch and perform for the crowd. Harding speaks, as does Senator-Elect Frank B. Willis. Harding thanks the crowd, talks about the League of Nations (again), and then thanks the glee club:
You of the Glee club, how often we have campaigned together. It is twenty-one years since you have sung and I have spoken at our first meeting. I have been thrilled, heartened and inspired by your work. It isn't that you are skilled in music. It is because you love the work and sing with a soul. I pay tribute to you as the spokesman of a party for the services you have rendered.
At Harding's request the glee club close the celebration by performing "The End of a Perfect Day."

Sources:
  • "Fall In! Big Parade for Hardings Tonight." Marion Star. 4 November 1920.
  • "Joy Expressed in Mighty Din." Marion Star. 5 November 1920.
  • "Pledges New League Stand." Marion Star. 5 November 1920.
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