Warren g harding brief biography of benjamin

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He Continue reading ». Amer Pres: Wilson. At a time when U. Amer Pres: Hayes. Harding had asked Willis to place his name in nomination, and the former governor responded with a speech popular among the delegates, both for its folksiness and for its brevity in the intense Chicago heat. I don't expect Senator Harding to be nominated on the first, second, or third ballots, but I think we can well afford to take chances that about eleven minutes after two o'clock on Friday morning at the convention, when fifteen or twenty men, somewhat weary, are sitting around a table, some one of them will say: "Who will we nominate?

Four ballots were taken on the afternoon of June 11, and they revealed a deadlock. The night of June 11—12, would become famous in political history as the night of the " smoke-filled room ", in which, legend has it, party elders agreed to force the convention to nominate Harding. Historians have focused on the session held in the suite of Republican National Committee RNC Chairman Will Hays at the Blackstone Hotel , at which senators and others came and went, and numerous possible candidates were discussed.

Utah Senator Reed Smoot , before his departure early in the evening, backed Harding, telling Hays and the others that as the Democrats were likely to nominate Governor Cox, they should pick Harding to win Ohio. Smoot also told The New York Times that there had been an agreement to nominate Harding, but that it would not be done for several ballots yet.

Two other participants in the smoke-filled room discussions, Kansas Senator Charles Curtis and Colonel George Brinton McClellan Harvey , a close friend of Hays, predicted to the press that Harding would be nominated because of the liabilities of the other candidates. Headlines in the morning newspapers suggested intrigue. Historian Wesley M.

Bagby wrote, "Various groups actually worked along separate lines to bring about the nomination—without combination and with very little contact. The reassembled delegates had heard rumors that Harding was the choice of a cabal of senators. Although this was not true, delegates believed it, and sought a way out by voting for Harding. Lodge then declared a three-hour recess, to the outrage of Daugherty, who raced to the podium, and confronted him, "You cannot defeat this man this way!

The motion was not carried! You cannot defeat this man! Lowden released his delegates to Harding, and the tenth ballot, held at 6 p. The nomination was made unanimous. The delegates, desperate to leave town before they incurred more hotel expenses, then proceeded to the vice presidential nomination. Harding wanted Senator Irvine Lenroot of Wisconsin, who was unwilling to run, but before Lenroot's name could be withdrawn and another candidate decided on, Oregon delegate Wallace McCamant proposed Governor Coolidge and received a roar of approval.

Coolidge, popular for his role in breaking the Boston police strike of , was nominated for vice president, receiving two and a fraction votes more than Harding had. On such things, Rollo, turns the destiny of nations. The New York World found Harding the least-qualified candidate since James Buchanan , deeming the Ohio senator a "weak and mediocre" man who "never had an original idea.

The Democratic National Convention opened in San Francisco on June 28, , under a shadow cast by Woodrow Wilson, who wished to be nominated for a third term. Delegates were convinced Wilson's health would not permit him to serve, and looked elsewhere for a candidate. Former Treasury Secretary William G. McAdoo was a major contender, but he was Wilson's son-in-law, and refused to consider a nomination so long as the president wanted it.

Mitchell Palmer. As Cox was a newspaper owner and editor, this placed two Ohio editors against each other for the presidency, and some complained there was no real political choice as both Cox and Harding were seen as economic conservatives. Harding elected to conduct a front porch campaign , like McKinley in In the meantime, Cox and Roosevelt stumped the nation, giving hundreds of speeches.

Coolidge spoke in the Northeast, later on in the South, and was not a significant factor in the election.

Warren g harding brief biography of benjamin

In Marion, Harding ran his campaign. As a newspaperman himself, he fell into easy camaraderie with the press covering him, enjoying a relationship few presidents have equaled. His " return to normalcy " theme was aided by the atmosphere that Marion provided, an orderly place that induced nostalgia in many voters. The front porch campaign allowed Harding to avoid mistakes, and as time dwindled towards the election, his strength grew.

The travels of the Democratic candidates eventually caused Harding to make several short speaking tours, but for the most part, he remained in Marion. The United States had no need for another Wilson, Harding argued, appealing for a president "near the normal". Harding's vague oratory irritated some; McAdoo described a typical Harding speech as "an army of pompous phrases moving over the landscape in search of an idea.

Sometimes these meandering words actually capture a straggling thought and bear it triumphantly, a prisoner in their midst, until it died of servitude and over work. Mencken concurred, "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 It is rumble and bumble. It is balder and dash. Wilson had said that the election would be a "great and solemn referendum" on the League of Nations, making it difficult for Cox to maneuver on the issue—although Roosevelt strongly supported the League, Cox was less enthusiastic.

This was general enough to satisfy most Republicans, and only a few bolted the party over this issue. By October, Cox had realized there was widespread public opposition to Article X, and said that reservations to the treaty might be necessary; this shift allowed Harding to say no more on the subject. The RNC hired Albert Lasker , an advertising executive from Chicago, to publicize Harding, and Lasker unleashed a broad-based advertising campaign that used many now-standard advertising techniques for the first time in a presidential campaign.

Lasker's approach included newsreels and sound recordings. Visitors to Marion had their photographs taken with Senator and Mrs. Harding, and copies were sent to their hometown newspapers. Telemarketers were used to make phone calls with scripted dialogues to promote Harding. During the campaign, opponents spread old rumors that Harding's great-great-grandfather was a West Indian black person and that other blacks might be found in his family tree.

Wooster College professor William Estabrook Chancellor publicized the rumors, based on supposed family research, but perhaps reflecting no more than local gossip. By Election Day, November 2, , few had any doubts that the Republican ticket would win. Cox received 34 percent of the national vote and electoral votes. Debs received 3 percent of the national vote.

The Republicans greatly increased their majority in each house of Congress. Harding was inaugurated on March 4, , in the presence of his wife and father. Harding preferred a subdued inauguration without the customary parade, leaving only the actual ceremony and a brief reception at the White House. In his inaugural address, he declared, "Our most dangerous tendency is to expect too much from the government and at the same time do too little for it.

After the election, Harding announced that no decisions about appointments would be made until he returned from a vacation in December. He traveled to Texas, where he fished and played golf with his friend Frank Scobey soon to be director of the Mint and then sailed for the Panama Canal Zone. He visited Washington when Congress opened in early December, and he was afforded a hero's welcome as the first sitting senator to be elected to the White House.

After Charles G. Dawes declined the Treasury position, he chose Pittsburgh banker Andrew W. Mellon , one of the richest people in the country. He appointed Herbert Hoover as Secretary of Commerce. The two Harding cabinet appointees who darkened the reputation of his administration by their involvement in scandal were Harding's Senate friend Albert B.

Fall was a Western rancher and former miner who favored development. Trani and David L. Wilson, in their volume on Harding's presidency, suggest that the appointment made sense then, as Daugherty was "a competent lawyer well-acquainted with the seamy side of politics Harding made it clear when he appointed Hughes as Secretary of State that the former justice would run foreign policy, a change from Wilson's hands-on management of international affairs.

With the Treaty of Versailles unratified by the Senate, the U. Peacemaking began with the Knox—Porter Resolution , declaring the U. Treaties with Germany , Austria and Hungary , each containing many of the non-League provisions of the Treaty of Versailles, were ratified in This still left the question of relations between the U. Hughes' State Department initially ignored communications from the League, or tried to bypass it through direct contacts with member nations.

By , though, the U. By the time Harding took office, there were calls from foreign governments for reduction of the massive war debt owed to the United States, and the German government sought to reduce the reparations that it was required to pay. The U. Harding sought passage of a plan proposed by Mellon to give the administration broad authority to reduce war debts in negotiation, but Congress , in , passed a more restrictive bill.

Hughes negotiated an agreement for Britain to pay off its war debt over 62 years at low interest, reducing the present value of the obligations. This agreement, approved by Congress in , served as a model for negotiations with other nations. Talks with Germany on reduction of reparations payments resulted in the Dawes Plan of A pressing issue not resolved by Wilson was U.

Harding's Commerce Secretary Hoover, with considerable experience in Russian affairs, took the lead on policy. When famine struck Russia in , Hoover had the American Relief Administration , which he had headed, negotiate with the Russians to provide aid. Leaders of the U. Hoover supported trade with the Soviets, fearing U. Harding urged disarmament and lower defense costs during the campaign, but it had not been a major issue.

He gave a speech to a joint session of Congress in April , setting out his legislative priorities. Among the few foreign policy matters he mentioned was disarmament; he said the government could not "be unmindful of the call for reduced expenditure" on defense. Idaho Senator William Borah had proposed a conference at which the major naval powers, the U.

Harding concurred, and after diplomatic discussions, representatives of nine nations convened in Washington in November Most of the diplomats first attended Armistice Day ceremonies at Arlington National Cemetery , where Harding spoke at the entombment of the Unknown Soldier of World War I , whose identity, "took flight with his imperishable soul.

We know not whence he came, only that his death marks him with the everlasting glory of an American dying for his country. Hughes, in his speech at the opening session of the conference on November 12, , made the American proposal—the U. The naval agreement applied only to battleships, and to some extent aircraft carriers, and ultimately did not prevent rearmament.

Nevertheless, Harding and Hughes were widely applauded in the press for their work. Congress had authorized their disposal in , but the Senate would not confirm Wilson's nominees to the Shipping Board. Harding appointed Albert Lasker as its chairman; the advertising executive undertook to run the fleet as profitably as possible until it could be sold.

Few ships were marketable at anything approaching the government's cost. Lasker recommended a large subsidy to the merchant marine to facilitate sales, and Harding repeatedly urged Congress to enact it. The resulting bill was unpopular in the Midwest, and though it passed the House, it was defeated by a filibuster in the Senate, and most government ships were eventually scrapped.

Intervention in Latin America had been a minor campaign issue, though Harding spoke against Wilson's decision to send U. Once Harding was sworn in, Hughes worked to improve relations with Latin American countries who were wary of the American use of the Monroe Doctrine to justify intervention; at the time of Harding's inauguration, the U.

The troops stationed in Cuba were withdrawn in , but U. Both Hughes and Fall opposed recognition; Hughes instead sent a draft treaty to the Mexicans in May , which included pledges to reimburse Americans for losses in Mexico since the revolution there. This had its effect, and by mid, Fall was less influential than he had been, lessening the resistance to recognition.

The two presidents appointed commissioners to reach a deal, and the U. When Harding took office on March 4, , the nation was in the midst of a postwar economic decline. When Harding addressed the joint session the following day, he urged the reduction of income taxes raised during the war , an increase in tariffs on agricultural goods to protect the American farmer, as well as more wide-ranging reforms, such as support for highways, aviation, and radio.

An act authorizing a Bureau of the Budget followed on June 10, and Harding appointed Charles Dawes as bureau director with a mandate to cut expenditures. Treasury Secretary Mellon also recommended that Congress cut income tax rates, and that the corporate excess profits tax be abolished. The House Ways and Means Committee endorsed Mellon's proposals, but some congressmen wanting to raise corporate tax rates fought the measure.

Harding was unsure what side to endorse, telling a friend, "I can't make a damn thing out of this tax problem. I listen to one side, and they seem right, and then—God! In the Senate, the bill became entangled in efforts to vote World War I veterans a soldier's bonus. Frustrated by the delays, on July 12, Harding appeared before the Senate to urge passage of the tax legislation without the bonus.

It was not until November that the revenue bill finally passed, with higher rates than Mellon had proposed. In opposing the veterans' bonus, Harding argued in his Senate address that much was already being done for them by a grateful nation, and that the bill would "break down our Treasury, from which so much is later on to be expected".

A non-cash bonus for soldiers passed over Coolidge's veto in In his first annual message to Congress , Harding sought the power to adjust tariff rates. The passage of the tariff bill in the Senate, and in conference committee became a feeding frenzy of lobby interests. It wrought havoc in international commerce and made the repayment of war debts more difficult.

Mellon ordered a study that demonstrated historically that, as income tax rates were increased, money was driven underground or abroad, and he concluded that lower rates would increase tax revenues. Taxes were cut for lower incomes starting in , and the lower rates substantially increased the money flowing to the treasury. They also pushed massive deregulation, and federal spending as a share of GDP fell from 6.

By late , the economy began to turn around. The misery index, a combined measure of unemployment and inflation, had its sharpest decline in U. Libertarian historians Larry Schweikart and Michael Allen argue that, "Mellon's tax policies set the stage for the most amazing growth yet seen in America's already impressive economy. The s were a time of modernization for America—use of electricity became increasingly common.

Mass production of motorized vehicles stimulated other industries as well, such as highway construction, rubber, steel, and building, as hotels were erected to accommodate the tourists venturing upon the roads. This economic boost helped bring the nation out of the recession. Harding urged regulation of radio broadcasting in his April speech to Congress.

Both Harding and Hoover realized something more than an agreement was needed, but Congress was slow to act, not imposing radio regulation until Harding also wished to promote aviation, and Hoover again took the lead, convening a national conference on commercial aviation. The discussions focused on safety matters, inspection of airplanes, and licensing of pilots.

Harding again promoted legislation but nothing was done until , when the Air Commerce Act created the Bureau of Aeronautics within Hoover's Commerce Department. Harding's attitude toward business was that government should aid it as much as possible. Harding warned in his opening address that no federal money would be available. No important legislation came as a result, though some public works projects were accelerated.

Within broad limits, Harding allowed each cabinet secretary to run his department as he saw fit. This was consistent with Hoover's view that the private sector should take the lead in managing the economy. Widespread strikes marked , as labor sought redress for falling wages and increased unemployment. In April, , coal miners, led by John L.

Lewis , struck over wage cuts. Mining executives argued that the industry was seeing hard times; Lewis accused them of trying to break the union. As the strike became protracted, Harding offered compromise to settle it. As Harding proposed, the miners agreed to return to work, and Congress created a commission to look into their grievances.

On July 1, , , railroad workers went on strike. Harding recommended a settlement that made some concessions, but management objected. Wilkerson to issue a sweeping injunction to break the strike. Although there was public support for the Wilkerson injunction, Harding felt it went too far, and had Daugherty and Wilkerson amend it. The injunction succeeded in ending the strike; however, tensions remained high between railroad workers and management for years.

By , the eight-hour day had become common in American industry. One exception was in steel mills , where workers labored through a twelve-hour workday, seven days a week. Hoover considered this practice barbaric and got Harding to convene a conference of steel manufacturers with a view to ending the system. The conference established a committee under the leadership of U.

Steel chairman Elbert Gary , which in early recommended against ending the practice. Harding sent a letter to Gary deploring the result, which was printed in the press, and public outcry caused the manufacturers to reverse themselves and standardize the eight-hour day. Although Harding's first address to Congress called for passage of anti-lynching legislation, [ 9 ] he initially seemed inclined to do no more for African Americans than Republican presidents of the recent past had; he asked Cabinet officers to find places for blacks in their departments.

Sinclair suggested that the fact that Harding received two-fifths of the Southern vote in led him to see political opportunity for his party in the Solid South. On October 26, , Harding gave a speech in Birmingham, Alabama , to a segregated audience of 20, Whites and 10, Blacks. Harding, while saying that the social and racial differences between Whites and Blacks could not be bridged, urged equal political rights for the latter.

Many African-Americans at that time voted Republican, especially in the Democratic South, and Harding said he did not mind seeing that support end if the result was a strong two-party system in the South. He was willing to see literacy tests for voting continue, if applied fairly to White and Black voters. He declared, "Despite the demagogues, the idea of our oneness as Americans has risen superior to every appeal to mere class and group.

And so, I wish it might be in this matter of our national problem of races. Harding supported Congressman Leonidas Dyer 's federal anti-lynching bill , which passed the House of Representatives in January Murray noted that it was hastened to its end by Harding's desire to have the ship subsidy bill considered. With the public suspicious of immigrants, especially those who might be socialists or communists , Congress passed the Per Centum Act of , signed by Harding on May 19, , as a quick means of restricting immigration.

This would, in practice, not restrict immigration from Ireland and Germany, but would bar many Italians and eastern European Jews. Harding's Socialist opponent in the election, Eugene Debs , was serving a ten-year sentence in the Atlanta Penitentiary for speaking against the war. Wilson had refused to pardon him before leaving office.

Daugherty met with Debs, and was deeply impressed. There was opposition from veterans, including the American Legion , and also from Florence Harding. The president did not feel he could release Debs until the war was officially over, but once the peace treaties were signed, commuted Debs' sentence on December 23, Harding released 23 other war opponents at the same time as Debs, and continued to review cases and release political prisoners throughout his presidency.

Harding defended his prisoner releases as necessary to return the nation to normalcy. Harding appointed four justices to the Supreme Court of the United States. When Chief Justice Edward Douglass White died in May , Harding was unsure whether to appoint former president Taft or former Utah senator George Sutherland —he had promised seats on the court to both men.

After briefly considering awaiting another vacancy and appointing them both, he chose Taft as Chief Justice. Sutherland was appointed to the court in , to be followed by two other economic conservatives, Pierce Butler and Edward Terry Sanford , in Entering the midterm congressional election campaign, Harding and the Republicans had followed through on many of their campaign promises.

But some of the fulfilled pledges, like cutting taxes for the well-off, did not appeal to the electorate. The economy had not returned to normalcy, with unemployment at 11 percent, and organized labor angry over the outcome of the strikes. From Republicans elected to the House in , the new 68th Congress saw that party fall to a — majority. In the Senate, the Republicans lost eight seats, and had 51 of 96 senators in the new Congress, which Harding did not survive to meet.

A month after the election, the lame-duck session of the outgoing 67th Congress met. Harding then believed his early view of the presidency—that it should propose policies, but leave their adoption to Congress—was no longer enough, and he lobbied Congress, although in vain, to get his ship subsidy bill through. The economy was improving, and the programs of Harding's more able Cabinet members, such as Hughes, Mellon and Hoover, were showing results.

Most Republicans realized that there was no practical alternative to supporting Harding in for his re-election campaign. In the first half of , Harding did two things that were later said to indicate foreknowledge of death: he sold the Star though undertaking to remain as a contributing editor for ten years after his presidency , and he made a new will.

By , he was aware he had a heart condition. Stress caused by the presidency and by Florence Harding's own chronic kidney condition debilitated him, and he never fully recovered from an episode of influenza in January After that, Harding, an avid golfer, had difficulty completing a round. In June , Ohio Senator Willis met with Harding, but brought to the president's attention only two of the five items he intended to discuss.

When asked why, Willis responded, "Warren seemed so tired. In early June , Harding set out on a journey, which he dubbed the " Voyage of Understanding ". Harding's political advisers had given him a physically demanding schedule, even though the president had ordered it cut back. In Denver, he spoke on his support of Prohibition, and continued west making a series of speeches not matched by any president until Franklin Roosevelt.

Harding had become a supporter of the World Court , and wanted the U. In addition to making speeches, he visited Yellowstone and Zion National Parks , [ ] and dedicated a monument on the Oregon Trail at a celebration organized by venerable pioneer Ezra Meeker and others. He was the first president to visit Alaska, and spent hours watching the dramatic landscapes from the deck of the Henderson.

The party was to return to Seward by the Richardson Trail , but due to Harding's fatigue, they went by train. Two years after his death, a memorial to Harding was unveiled in Stanley Park. After resting for an hour, he played the 17th and 18th holes so it would appear he had completed the round. He did not succeed in hiding his exhaustion; one reporter thought he looked so tired that a rest of mere days would be insufficient to refresh him.

In Seattle the next day, Harding kept up his busy schedule, giving a speech to 25, people at the stadium at the University of Washington. In the final speech he gave, Harding predicted statehood for Alaska. Harding went to bed early the evening of July 27, , a few hours after giving the speech at the University of Washington. Later that night, he called for his physician Charles E.

Sawyer , complaining of pain in the upper abdomen. Harding and his friends set up a newspaper in school, Iberia Spectator intended for the school and community. Since his father, Tryon, owned The Argus newspaper, Harding had foreknowledge of the newspaper establishment. Warren G. Harding joined the family in Marion, Ohio, after his graduation in Warren Harding taught in a country school and sold insurance after graduation.

Harding stopped writing derogatory articles about others and divided business profits with his staff. He entered politics in , at the behest of his wife. Warren Harding, a man of no real knowledge or creativity, was soon invited to serve on significant companies and fraternal organizations. He proved to be a king, as he was a handsome man who was always well dressed and groomed.

His political popularity was mostly due to his physical presence rather than any internal attributes. He was elected to the Ohio legislature the next year and served two terms. Harding, a steadfast conservative Republican with a booming voice, favored city bosses, who helped him succeed in Ohio politics. He was elected lieutenant governor in and served for two years before returning to the newspaper industry.

Despite an unsuccessful run for governor in , Harding won a hard-fought election to the United States Senate four years later. As a senator, Warren Harding was a strong supporter of corporate interests and a champion of tariff protection. Despite his explicit beliefs on critical issues of the day, Harding seldom engaged in the legislative process.

He read carefully prepared speeches to visit delegations at his Marion home. Overview A conservative politician from Ohio, Warren G. Birth Date November 2, Death Date August 2, Education Ohio Central College graduated Inauguration Date March 4, Date Ended August 2, President Number Trani is the former president of Virginia Commonwealth University.

Trani's writings include Presidency of Warren G.