Warren G. Harding (1921 – 1923) Harding was a Senator from Ohio, hailing from the town of Marion. He was not considered a leading candidate when he decided to seek the Republican nomination for the 1920 election. The Progressives having returned to the Republican Party, Theodore Roosevelt was widely expected to make another run. But, he died unexpectedly on January 6, 1919. Harding was not a leading recipient of delegates in the primary, but the leaders such as General Leonard Wood and Illinois Governor Frank Lowden could not get a majority. The bitterness that had arisen during the campaign (and before) ensured that they would not compromise with each other. Harding ended up being an acceptable compromise and received the nomination. His promise to return America to a period of “normalcy” resonated with the country, tired after war and upheaval.
Wilson wanted to be nominated to a third term by the Democrats, but the delegates knew that his health would not permit it. Vice President (and former Indiana governor) Thomas Marshall had been thought to be a contender, but his dithering and handling of Wilson’s incapacity was apparently a deal breaker. Ultimately Ohio governor James Cox was nominated along with a 38 year old assistant secretary of the navy by the name of Franklin Roosevelt.
Harding was not a dream candidate. His speeches were described as “an army of pompous phrases moving over the landscape in search of an idea.” H.L. Mencken said of a speech, “it reminds me of a string of wet sponges, it reminds me of tattered washing on the line; it reminds me of stale bean soup, of college yells, of dogs barking idiotically through endless nights. It is so bad that a kind of grandeur creeps into it. It drags itself out of the dark abysm … of pish, and crawls insanely up the topmost pinnacle of tosh. It is rumble and bumble. It is balder and dash.” Nevertheless, the electorate was tired of war, unrest, Progressivism, and Wilson. KDKA out of Pittsburgh was the first radio station to broadcast the results of a Presidential election as they came in. The power of the station was such that the station could be heard over much of the eastern United States. The result was a landslide for Harding who captured 60.3% of the popular vote and 400 electoral votes.
Harding had waffled on the League of Nations during the campaign but hardened his stance against it when he took office. His Secretary of State, Charles Evans Hughes, negotiated a peace treaty with Germany since, in the absence of ratification of the Treaty of Versailles, the U.S. was still technically at war. The U.S. also needed to get back on a postwar economic footing. Income taxes were reduced, agricultural tariffs were raised, and measures were passed to support highways, aviation, and radio. Adoption of the automobile led to economic activity in the form of roads, rubber, steel, and construction of hotels. Harding pushed for regulation of radio licenses. Congress was slow to act, not passing legislation until 1927, but the Commerce department facilitated agreements among major broadcasters for the licensing of radio frequencies.
Harding was generally pro-business and viewed labor as a conspiracy against business. That said, he was somewhat helpful to labor — helping to negotiate an end to a mining strike in 1922 and helping with a process that led to the end of 12 hour work days (7 days a week) in the steel industry. (U.S. Steel Chairman, Elbert Gary, opposed this initiative.) He was able to appoint four pro-business conservatives to the United States Supreme Court.
The 1922 mid-term elections did not go well for Harding. The economy was still having difficulty and labor was angry over the outcome of recent strikes. Unemployment was at 11%. The Republicans retained majorities in Congress, but lost 80 seats in the House and fell to 51 seats in the Senate.
Harding took an extensive tour of the west in the summer of 1923, becoming the first President to visit Alaska. However, he took ill, experiencing heart problems and pneumonia. He died on August 2, 1923, at the age of 57. This came as a blow to the nation. He was extremely popular at the time. However, economic scandals and infidelity would come to light that retroactively tarnished his reputation — in particular, the Teapot Dome scandal. Harding’s secretary of the interior had apparently received a bribe from Sinclair Oil to lease federal oil reserves to the company at below market rates.
Calvin Coolidge (1923 – 1929) Calvin Coolidge, known as “Silent Cal” has some of the best one-liners in Presidential history. Two of my favorites:
[A] young woman sitting next to Coolidge at a dinner party confided to him she had bet she could get at least three words of conversation from him. Without looking at her he quietly retorted, “You lose.”
And:
The President and Mrs. Coolidge were being shown [separately] around an experimental government farm. When [Mrs. Coolidge] came to the chicken yard she noticed that a rooster was mating very frequently. She asked the attendant how often that happened and was told, “Dozens of times each day.” Mrs. Coolidge said, “Tell that to the President when he comes by.”
Upon being told, the President asked, “Same hen every time?”
The reply was, “Oh, no, Mr. President, a different hen every time.”
President: “Tell that to Mrs. Coolidge.”
He was born to an old New England family and eventually opened a practice as a country lawyer. He got into politics, working his way up from city and county offices to the state legislature to lieutenant governor to governor to Harding’s vice-president and, ultimately, President.
Harding died in San Francisco on August 2, 1923. Coolidge was visiting his parents’ house which didn’t have electricity or a telephone. A messenger was sent to the home to give Coolidge the news. His father was a notary public and administered the oath of office at 2:47 a.m. on August 3 by the light of a kerosene lamp.
Coolidge felt it was his duty to continue Harding’s policies and, to the extent possible, maintain his cabinet until the next election. He took a methodical approach to the scandals of the Harding administration, mainly letting the Senate investigations take their course. He did have to intervene and force the resignation of the Attorney General who was resisting the congressional probe. He approved the reduction of the income tax from a top rate of 58% to 46% and an increase in the estate and gift taxes.
In 1924, Coolidge was easily nominated as the Republican’s candidate for President, winning on the first ballot. The Democrats did not have such an easy time. It took a record setting 103 ballots over 15 days at their convention in New York. There was a war of attrition between the leading candidates, California Senator (and Woodrow Wilson son-in-law) William McAdoo and Al Smith, Governor of New York. The Klan was a significant factor in the nomination. The Democrats had a coalition that involved rural southern states and the industrial cities of the north. The city votes were behind Smith but he was Catholic, so the Klan votes were against him. When an anti-Klan plank for the party platform was rejected, Klansmen celebrated across the river in New Jersey with masks and burning crosses and whatnot. It left an indelible mark on the convention which became known as the “Klanbake.” As vote after vote failed to advance the prospects of either man, compromises were sought. For a time, Indiana’s own former governor Sam Ralston was advanced as a possibility. He was supported by old Democratic warhorse, William Jennings Bryan and, of course, the indefatigable Indiana Democratic political boss, Tom Taggart. Taggart would later assert that enough votes had been arranged for Ralston but that Ralston — who would die the next year — had concerns about his health and that of his wife and son. Ralston withdrew before the vote in question and, ultimately, the Democrats nominated John Davis, a former ambassador and Solicitor General for the U.S. The convention nominated Nebraska governor Charles Bryan — brother of William Jennings Bryan — as Davis’ vice-presidential nominee.
The Democrats got creamed in the election, winning just 28.8% of the vote. Their electoral votes came entirely from the old Confederacy. Coolidge’s gratification at the victory was muted, however. In July of that year, his son died. Showing how much more precarious life was then — his son’s death was caused by an infected blister that Cal. Jr. developed after playing tennis with his brother John while wearing tennis shoes without socks. Coolidge said, “when he died, the power and glory of the Presidency went with him.”
During Coolidge’s second term, the rapid economic growth that came to be known as the Roaring Twenties kicked into high gear. Between Coolidge and his Secretary of Commerce, Herbert Hoover, the state of regulation was “thin to the point of invisibility.” Coolidge is famous for asserting that, “the chief business of the American people is business.” Hoover was an enthusiastic promoter of the growth of airlines and radio. Coolidge reduced federal income taxes, held federal spending flat, and paid down the federal debt. “By 1927, only the wealthiest 2% of taxpayers paid any federal income tax. Federal spending remained flat during Coolidge’s administration, allowing one-fourth of the federal debt to be retired in total. State and local governments saw considerable growth, however, surpassing the federal budget in 1927.” Coolidge opposed subsidies of farmers, believing that farms should succeed or fail like other businesses. He did support efforts to modernize farming practices. At one point, he (the son of a farmer) said, “farmers never have made much money. I do not believe we can do much about it.” He also opposed federal flood control measures Congress passed in the wake of the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, believing property owners should bear most of the cost.
In the summer of 1927, Coolidge vacationed in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Custer State Park was made his “summer White House.” It was there, he issued the terse statement, “I do not choose to run for President in 1928.” By way of explanation, he later explained:
“The Presidential office takes a heavy toll of those who occupy it and those who are dear to them. While we should not refuse to spend and be spent in the service of our country, it is hazardous to attempt what we feel is beyond our strength to accomplish.”
That would open the door for Herbert Hoover about whom we’ll talk more in Installment 9. Next time, we’ll move on to the governors: Samuel Ralston in particular.
Leave a Reply