Warren G.
Harding, 29th President of the United States, was born near Corsica (now
Blooming Grove), Ohio on November 2, 1865.
His father, George Tryon Harding, was a physician; his mother, Phoebe Dickerson
Harding, was a midwife.
On the family farm,
young Warren learned the importance of hard work. He drove cattle
at age six. He helped with plowing and threshing and also worked
on the Ohio Central Railroad at a young age.
The family moved to
Caledonia, in eastern Marion County (Ohio), in 1873. The Hardings
moved to Marion, the county seat, in 1882.
Warren Harding graduated
in 1882 from Ohio Central College at Iberia. His first job after
college was as a teacher in a one-room school just north of Marion.
He found that teaching was not to his liking and resigned his position
after one year.
While a student, Harding
had been involved with school newspapers. This experience helped
him land a job with the Marion Mirror, a Democratic newspaper.
Harding reported on the 1884 Republican National Convention in Chicago
for the Mirror. James G. Blaine was chosen as the party’s
presidential candidate. When Harding returned to the Mirror wearing
a Blaine campaign pin, he lost his job.
With financial assistance
from his father, Warren and two friends bought the struggling Marion
Star, a Republican paper. Harding soon purchased his friends’
interests and became sole proprietor and editor. He modernized the
Star,
increased advertising income, and promoted Republican principles in his
editorials.
In the 1880s, Marion
was on the verge of an economic boom. Railroads had made the town
a transportation hub. The Huber Manufacturing Company was producing
farm equipment. The Marion Steam Shovel Company, organized in 1884,
eventually became a world leader in shovel production. Other industries
grew up as well, many of which were related to farm equipment and heavy
equipment manufacturing. Warren Harding proudly boosted Marion in
his newspaper.
Harding was known in
Marion as a young man on the way up. He was active in local organizations,
including the Citizens Band, in which he played the helicon bass.
He caught the eye of Florence Kling DeWolfe, a young divorcee and daughter
of Amos Kling, a prominent businessman. Warren and Florence were
married – against her father’s wishes – on July 8, 1891. Although
Florence had a son by her previous marriage, the Hardings never had children
of their own.
Warren Harding used
the Star to promote his political views. He advocated North-South
reconciliation and criticized political and religious bigotry. Harding
was a conservative who believed businessmen were the true progressives.
He opposed the direct primary and other reform attempts of the time.
He took a strong stand on law and order, advocating rigid enforcement and
sentencing. Harding’s “America first” stance included supporting
tariffs.
Harding’s views on labor
were mixed. He was anti-strike and supported right-to-work principles.
But he also supported striking miners in southern Ohio. As public
opinion regarding labor’s demands moderated over the years, Harding’s stance
also moderated.
In the 1890s Ohio Republican
politicians began to notice Warren Harding. He was elected to the
Ohio Senate in 1898 and 1900. He became a popular campaign speaker
and was known for his ability to reconcile antagonistic party factions.
Harding served as Lieutenant
Governor of Ohio from 1904 to 1906. In 1910 he lost the gubernatorial
race. He remained popular, however, and was chosen by fellow Ohioan
William Howard Taft to place his (Taft’s) name in nomination for President
at the 1912 Republican National Convention. Harding was elected United
States Senator in 1914.
After considerable encouragement
from his long-time political ally, Harry Daugherty, in 1919 Harding entered
the race for the 1920 Republican presidential nomination. He showed
poorly in the primaries. The Republican National Convention, held
in Chicago in June, 1920, was deadlocked after four ballots. In an
historic meeting (some claim this was the first “smoke-filled room”) a
group of powerful Senators settled on Harding as a compromise candidate.
On the tenth ballot, Harding won the nomination. The Democratic presidential
candidate was James M. Cox, another Ohio newspaperman.
Partly in deference
to his wife’s health problems, Harding chose to emulate another President
from Ohio, William McKinley, by mounting a “front porch campaign.”
The bulk of the campaign centered on the Hardings’ Marion home. Prominent
Harding supporters from all walks of life came to Marion to meet with the
candidate and his wife.
Harding’s campaign offered
Americans a “return to normalcy.” He opposed U. S. entry into the
League of Nations. The public, weary of World War I and U. S. intervention
in foreign conflicts, elected Harding in a landslide.
While in office,
Harding signed legislation that lowered taxes from wartime levels and the
Immigration Restriction Act of 1921, the law that established the immigration
quota system. That same year, Harding signed the Sheppard-Tower
Act, which funded and provided federal oversight for state infant mortality
programs and women's and children's health care.
In a special session
called by the President in 1921, Congress passed a joint resolution declaring
the war with Germany ended. It ratified a treaty granting Colombia
a $25,000,000 payment for the loss of Panama due to the construction of
the Panama Canal.
The Harding Administration
called an international disarmament conference in Washington, D. C. in
1921 and 1922. Treaties were signed that limited ships and aircraft
carriers and insured China’s independence and territorial integrity.
By the 1920s the Ku
Klux Klan had its largest membership ever and had become a formidable political
force in many parts of the nation. On October 26, 1921, in a speech
in Birmingham, Alabama, President Harding advocated civil rights for all
segments of the American populace, including African Americans. Earlier,
he had proposed appointing African Americans to federal positions and supported
an anti-lynching bill and establishment of an interracial commission to
find ways to improve race relations. Politicians from both the Republican
and Democratic parties had a hand in thwarting these presidential initiatives.
President Harding supported
labor's right to bargain collectively and abolition of the twelve-hour
work day and the six-day work week. The major steel producers finally
did away with the twelve-hour day just before Harding's death, acknowledging
the President's influence on their decision.
Harding’s cabinet included
able and respected public figures such as Charles Evans Hughes (Secretary
of State), Herbert C. Hoover (Secretary of Commerce), and Henry C. Wallace
(Secretary of Agriculture). But it was the appointment of political
associates such as Albert B. Fall (Secretary of the Interior), Edwin Denby
(Secretary of the Navy), and Charles R. Forbes (Head of the Veterans’ Bureau)
that eventually led to difficulties for the President. Scandals involving
Fall, Denby, Forbes, and Attorney General Harry Daugherty eventually came
to light, causing Harding to regret the trust he had placed in these men.
The strain took its toll on his health.
In June, 1923, President
and Mrs. Harding took an extended trip to Alaska. Harding’s schedule
on the tour was grueling and he became weaker. On the return trip,
Harding fell ill. He died August 2, 1923 at the Palace Hotel in San
Francisco.
At the time of Harding’s
death the public was not yet aware the corruption of his associates and
later accusations of his marital infidelity. Harding had been an
exceptionally popular President, and the entire nation mourned his passing. |
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