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Opening the Door to History: Warren G. Harding Becomes President
Landslide Victory
With several informal polls showing him with a sizeable lead over Democratic rival James Cox, Warren Harding most likely greeted Election Day 1920 with a mix of excitement and apprehension that the top job in the nation might soon be his. That day, November 2, was Harding’s birthday, and he turned 55 years old. He still holds the honor of being the only American president elected on his birthday.
That morning, Harding headed to his precinct voting spot around the corner from his home in Marion, Ohio, and voted for himself for president. His wife, Florence, also wrote in an “X” beside her husband’s name – something no woman could have done in the last presidential election. Women had gained the right to vote in federal elections just two months previously when the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was certified.
After voting, Harding motored to Columbus, Ohio, where he played golf at the Scioto Country Club. Like most of Ohio’s rural counties, Marion County had no golf courses in 1920, although one was under construction. Golf was Harding’s favorite sport, and it probably helped to ease the nervousness he undoubtedly felt, knowing Americans were busy at the polls deciding his future.
After returning to Marion, and enjoying some birthday cake with a few family members and friends, Harding began to tally the early election returns. The results were relayed to Marion by way of telegraph. A special telegraph line had been run into the George Christian house next door, specifically to receive the election results. Christian, Harding’s personal secretary during the previous five years in the U.S. Senate, had moved his family out of his house during the 1920 campaign. The house was used as National Republican Headquarters during the campaign, and it was bustling with Republican leaders and campaign workers on election night. For the first time in history, election results were being broadcast by KDKA Radio in Pittsburgh to a limited audience. Marionites, like most Americans, did not yet own radios.
The election results showed Harding with a landslide victory. He won more than 60 percent of the popular vote, and 404 electoral votes. He and Mrs. Harding reportedly stayed up until 5 a.m., reading congratulatory telegrams and contemplating their future in the White House.
Harding took very seriously his role in leading a nation in the midst of a recession and reeling from a staggering war debt. He had made it clear that he did not want an inaugural ball following the ceremonies on Inauguration Day. He considered such an expenditure to be a reckless use of the public’s money. Instead, friends used their own money to host a party for the new president.
On Inauguration Day, March 4, 1921, Harding became the first president-elect to ride to his inauguration in an automobile. Up to that point in history, the new president had ridden to the ceremony in a horse and carriage. He was the first president to install a radio in the White House, and the first to address the American people from the White House over the radio. Technology, which had been advancing steadily during Harding’s lifetime, now surged ahead with the close of World War I.
The Hardings immediately opened the White House to visitors, with Mrs. Harding conducting some of the tours. Mrs. Harding termed the residence “the people’s house,” and said Americans should have access to it and to their president.
The Hardings were extremely popular among Americans. Mr. Harding was outgoing and friendly, and liked nothing better than to chat with “normal” Americans. A gentle person, he helped people solve their problems if at all possible. Mrs. Harding was frank and outspoken and granted frequent interviews with women’s magazines. She became the first First Lady to ride in an airplane, a rather daring exploit during the early years of aviation.
President Harding died while “in office,” or, while he was president. He completed just 29 months of his four-year term, dying of a heart attack in San Francisco on Aug. 2, 1923. The nation was shocked and in deep mourning.
Harding completed several projects as president, and laid the groundwork for others. He convened the first peace conference the world had ever seen, hoping to avoid conflicts between nations which could lead to another devastating war. He started work toward a World Court, which later was achieved. The federal Budget Bureau was started under the Harding Administration, calling for the U.S. government to abide by a budget. A housing department was started, as well as a veterans bureau and veterans’ hospitals to aid the World War I soldiers. The administration organized a network of interstate highways, linking improved roads from one state to another.
Harding was successful in erasing the nation’s war debt and bringing the nation back to economic prosperity. His economic policies were continued well after his administration was out of office.
The aftermath of war in Europe was not an issue which Harding smoothed too well, and he frankly admitted that he did not have the solution to stabilizing the region. He felt strongly that the U.S. needed to form better friendships with nations in the Western Hemisphere and act more as a cohesive unit before Europe’s problems could be tackled. Toward that end, he officially recognized many Western Hemisphere governments and offered Americans’ respect to their peoples.
Opening the Door to History: Looking Back at the Warren G. Harding Years
Harding Legacy in Review
Warren G. Harding was president for 29 months before dying of a heart attack in San Francisco. An extremely popular president, Harding’s death shocked the nation and sparked a huge outpouring of grief.
With former vice president Calvin Coolidge now serving as president, the administration moved forward on Harding’s ideas. Coolidge kept the cabinet, or group of presidential advisors, virtually intact, and publicly stated that his intent was to pursue Harding’s goals. One person who left the administration was George Christian Jr., Harding’s longtime personal secretary. He now assumed the job of helping Harding’s widow, Florence Kling Harding, in her personal affairs.
Shortly after his death, Harding’s administration came under fire. Charles Forbes, who had headed up the newly formed Veterans Bureau in the Harding cabinet, was accused of selling government supplies from a medical supply base to private companies at extremely low prices. He also took part in dishonorable deals to influence hospital building contracts and sites for new hospitals.
Harding found out early in 1923 about the Forbes situation, but instead of calling for Forbes’ prosecution, he let Forbes resign his post. That decision proved to be disastrous to how Harding would be perceived for years to come. Harding’s decision, though, was typical of his personality. He trusted people and found it hard to believe that people he thought were honorable could do such unlawful things. By letting Forbes resign, Harding thought he was doing the best thing for the nation to move forward with the business of the country.
Just two months after Harding’s death, an investigation into Forbes’ actions began, closely followed by another government investigation into yet another cabinet member’s actions.
Albert Fall, Harding’s secretary of the interior, was accused of steering oil leases of government land to private companies in exchange for money. The land in question was called Teapot Dome, Wyoming. Fall was found guilty of the accusations and spent time in prison.
Even though Harding had no knowledge of Fall’s illegal plans, the dead president was heaped with the blame. Mention of his administration would be tightly linked with the “Teapot Dome Scandal” in history.
In the following few years, several people who knew Harding, and several who didn’t but pretended they had known him, wrote books about their “personal knowledge” of the Harding administration. Much of their information was inaccurate and made up by the authors. But with Harding and his wife, who died in 1924, unable to set the record straight, the untruths were believed and became the basis for historical study for years to come. The type of writing practiced at the time was called “muckraking,” which meant the authors tried to attract readers with sensational and shocking information. Unfortunately, it worked.
Harding’s Presidential Papers, the collection of letters, documents and even lists of household expenditures associated with him before and during the presidency, reside at the Ohio Historical Society in Columbus, Ohio. They were made public in 1964 and are available for the public to view on microfiche. By 1964, though, historians had little interest in looking at Harding with fresh eyes; the damage done to Harding’s reputation could not be corrected.
The accomplishments of the Harding years were overshadowed by the actions of cabinet members and the tendency of authors during the 1930s and 1940s to look for blame for the Great Depression of the 1930s and World War II of the 1940s.
An historian well-schooled in the truths and myths of the Harding years, Robert K. Murray, stated, “Taken separately, the Harding administration’s achievements were rather impressive – the peace treaties, the Budget Bureau, the Washington Conference, agricultural legislation, economy in government, debt reduction, and business recovery – but the total was more important that any of the parts.”
Still, Harding’s friendly personality, trusting and gentle nature and general affection for people, traits which helped him win the presidency, most likely undermined his ability to lead the nation more effectively once he was in the White House.
Historians for years ranked Harding as worst in the list of American presidents. Recently, historians have taken a fresh look at the 29th president, looking at his accomplishments during a very complicated time in history. Many are realizing that Harding did bring America together as it regrouped after World War I, indeed lending stability to a troubled nation.
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