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WARREN GAMALIEL HARDING
BY C. B. GALBREATH
Since the founding of our government
six Presidents
of the United States have died in office. Three of these
were native sons of Ohio, and one,
William Henry Har-
rison, when elected to that high office
was and for
twenty-six years had been a citizen of
this state.
Three of the six fell at the hands of
assassins, and
two of these, Garfield and McKinley,
were Ohioans.
The passing of all these was attended
with widespread
and sincere expressions of sorrow,
mingled in the case
of Lincoln and Garfield and McKinley,
with horror at
the awful deed that thrust these tried
and cherished
leaders of the Republic "from the
full tide of this
world's interest, from its hopes, its
aspirations and vic-
tories," into eternity.
And in simple truth it may be said that
on no pre-
vious similar occasion were the hearts
of the Nation
more generally touched than at the
announcement of the
death of President Warren G. Harding.
His was a kindly nature with sympathies
that
reached to all classes and conditions
of men. With his
genial personality he united unwavering
devotion to
principle, tireless patience, constancy
of purpose and ex-
ecutive ability that peculiarly fitted
him for the high
office to which he was called by an
overwhelming ma-
jority of his countrymen. One editor
pays tribute to
his "iron hand that wore ever a
velvet glove." Behind
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556
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society
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the smile that was native to his face
could be seen the
intimation of a will which, when the
rare occasion re-
quired, was as unyielding as adamant.
Most of the Presidents of the United
States began
life with humble surroundings. The
eloquent Garfield
in his tribute to Abraham Lincoln one
year after the
death of the great Emancipator quoted
from Tennyson
the lines that were in time to apply
peculiarly to himself
-- lines which trace the upward steps of
Some divinely gifted man,
Whose life in low estate began
And on a simple village green;
Who breaks his birth's invidious bar,
And grasps the skirts of happy chance,
And breasts the blows of circumstance,
And grapples with his evil star;
Who makes by force his merit known
And lives to clutch the golden keys,
To mould a mighty State's decrees,
And shape the whisper of the throne;
And, moving up from high to higher,
Becomes on Fortune's crowning slope
The pillar of a people's hope,
The centre of a world's desire.
Some of our Presidents began life on
"a simple vil-
lage green" and a number of them
on the quiet farm,
Far from the madding crowd's ignoble
strife.
From the establishment of our
government under the
constitution, from Washington to
McKinley, not one of
them was born in the city. Assuredly
America has been
another word for opportunity. "The
heights by great
Warren G. Harding 557
men reached" have been accessible
to the youth who
hails from the region where the quiet
streams meander
unvexed through the valleys and the
harvests ripen in
the undulating fields.
Those who now read the early life of
Warren G.
Harding and his successor, Calvin
Coolidge, cannot fail
to note the re-establishment of the old
order of elevation
from rural obscurity to the highest
office in the fore-
most nation of the world. The rapid growth
of our
great cities has not yet closed that
avenue to eminence
and enduring fame.
Harding knew and appreciated this
community of
opportunity so characteristic of our
American life.
More than once he dwelt eloquently on
this theme. He
was the last man, however, even in his
most secret esti-
mate to have considered himself in any
special sense
"divinely gifted," except as
thousands of other Ameri-
can citizens who grew up through like
environment and
effort are divinely gifted.
The anonymous iconoclast who wrote the Mirrors
of Washington, in which the peculiarities, the foibles
and in some instances the weaknesses of
the great and
the near-great at our national capital
are made objects
of satire and ridicule, found in the
unassuming candor
of President Harding a defense not
easily pierced by his
shafts of sarcasm. Greatness is denied
by this critic on
the authority of Harding himself, who
freely admitted
that he was "just folks." But
even this detractor ac-
knowledges that Harding had
"exceptional tact," that
his inaugural address "was a great
speech, an inaugural
to place alongside the inaugurals of
Lincoln and Wash-
ington," and this admission is
made near the conclusion
of the critique:
558 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications
Out of his modesty, his desire to
reinforce himself has
proceeded the strongest cabinet that
Washington has seen in a
generation.
Warren G. Harding possessed those
qualities which
disarmed hostility, harmonized
differences and made his
ascendancy to the presidency a healing
influence in the
world.
But we need not dwell upon his virtues.
It would
be vain to attempt to add aught in
praise or eulogy.
From every section of our common country,
with re-
markable unanimity, come, mingled with
expressions of
sorrow at his death, tributes of
respect and apprecia-
tion such as have seldom fallen to the
chief executive
of any nation. With enviable
achievements to his credit,
with the fruition of beneficent
policies in sight and pop-
ular favor turning steadily to his
support, he was called
from his high place with no untoward
act to detract
from his enduring fame.
His fitting memorial is yet to be
written. On these
pages are recorded in simple outline
sketch the story of
his life.
Warren Gamaliel Harding was born near
Blooming
Grove, Morrow County, Ohio, November 2,
1865. He
was the oldest of a family of eight
children. His father
was Dr. George T. Harding, a Civil War
veteran and
for many years a country physician but
afterwards a
practitioner in the city of Marion. He
was of Scotch
descent. His ancestors first settled in
Connecticut in
colonial times and later moved to
Pennsylvania where
some of them were massacred by the
Indians and others
fought in the Revolution. His mother's
maiden name
was Phoebe Dickerson and her descent
has been traced
from an oldtime Holland Dutch family,
the Van Kirks
Warren G. Harding 559
Her eight children and her husband have
borne uniform
testimony to her womanly qualities, her
maternal affec-
tion and her excellent management of
the home. The
close attachment between her and her
eldest son has fre-
quently been told. He sought and
followed her counsel.
She loved the beautiful in nature and
it was ever a
pleasure to him to minister to her
tastes. For fifteen
years she received from him every week
a generous re-
membrance of choice flowers. Usually he
took them in
person, but when he was away from home
he arranged
with the local florist to send his
regular weekly offering
that she might thus be reminded of his
never-failing
filial devotion. She died May 29, 1910.
The father survives and has the respect
and sym-
pathy of all who know him.
Harding was born on the farm of his
grandfather,
where both want and affluence were
unknown, where
each child was heir to healthful
influences, modest edu-
cational advantages and the opportunity
to win his way
by independent effort to competence and
honored posi-
tion in the community. If no fabled
deity presided at
his birth, assuredly the goddess of
fair fortune was
there, and he began with an environment
and equip-
ment that were no handicap in his
progress to the emi-
nence that he attained.
The early years of his life were
uneventful. The
oldest child of the family, upon him
devolved the duties
of other boys similarly situated. He
was simply a nor-
mal boy with experiences similar to
those of other boys
in the neighborhood.
The family continued to live in the
home about half
a mile east of Blooming Grove until
Harding was seven
560 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications
years old. He attended school in the
village a little more
than a year.
From Blooming Grove Dr. Harding moved
to the
village of Caledonia, just across the
line in Marion
County, Ohio. After the family had
lived here about
five years Dr. Harding purchased a farm
east of Cale-
donia in Marion County. He later lived
on this farm
one year. His son Warren as he grew up
became fa-
miliar with all farm work and developed
a constitution
naturally strong in aiding to till the
fields, gather the
harvests and clear away the primeval
forests which had
not been entirely subdued in this
section of Ohio.
He early manifested the characteristics
of good tem-
per, industry and thrift. His
companions of these early
years bear uniform testimony to his
good nature. He
was not disposed to be quarrelsome.
Controversies he
instinctively avoided. He cherished ill
will toward no
one.
This fortunate quality of character was his
through life.
Shortly after Dr. Harding moved to
Caledonia the
"union schools," as they were
called, were organized
and opened under the direction of a
superintendent.
Here young Harding attended until he
was fourteen
years old, when he entered Ohio Central
College at
Iberia, Morrow County. From this
institution he was
graduated at the age of seventeen.
Ohio has been and still is noted for
its large number
of small colleges. Fifty years ago they
were even more
numerous than they are today. Academies
and colleges
multiplied in the years immediately
preceding and fol-
lowing the Civil War. Of seven native sons of the
Buckeye state who reached the
presidency of our Re-
public five, including Harding,
received their education
Warren G. Harding 561 in the academy or the small college. All of these men started on their upward career in modest institutions of "higher learning" near home. Iberia, the seat of Central College, was only twelve miles from Caledonia. Many stories are told of how he helped to earn his way through college. Some of these are more fanciful than true. That he painted barns and other structures that required a more artistic use of the brush is a well established fact. While in college he took an active in- |
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terest in the literary so- ciety and excelled in de- bate. In company with Mr. Frank H. Miller, now of Mt. Gilead, Ohio, he projected and edited the college paper, the Iberia Spectator. He composed readily and so much en- joyed his brief experience in the management of this paper that he could not afterwards be satisfied until he found employ- ment in a newspaper of- fice. He was graduated |
from the little college in 1882. The subject of his com- mencement address was, "It Can Never Be Rubbed Out." In 1882 Dr. Harding moved with his family to Marion, Ohio. The future President entered the city on Vol. XXXII -- 36. |
562
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society
Publications
a mule which he had brought from the
farm. The story
of this trip has often been told. The
version that he
himself gave at the Centennial
Celebration in Marion
one year ago last July must be accepted
as authentic. It
was published in the QUARTERLY of
October, 1922. The
year after he was graduated from
college, when he was
only eighteen years old, Harding taught
school for a
short time. Later he was employed on the
Marion Mir-
ror, a Democratic weekly published at the county seat.
In politics young Harding became an
enthusiastic
Republican. In November, 1884, he
bought at sheriff's
sale the Marion Star. In
partnership with a young
friend he issued the first number of
that paper Novem-
ber 26, 1884. After a struggle and the
successful tiding
over of many difficulties incident to
the establishment
of a daily paper, he at last won a
distinct success in the
field of journalism and established the
Star on a paying
financial basis.
In 1889 he was nominated for State
Senator from a
district composed of Logan, Hardin,
Union, Marion,
Crawford, Seneca and Wyandot counties.
The district
was almost evenly divided politically
but he was elected
by a substantial majority. Two years
later he overcame
the unwritten law in this.district of
one term for a State
Senator and was renominated without
opposition and
re-elected by a large majority. While
in the State Sen-
ate he took high rank as an influential
member and
forceful speaker. He made two addresses
that are
matters of public record, one
nominating J. B. For-
aker for the United States Senate and
one in honor
of the memory of William McKinley.
At the close of his term in the State
Senate he was
elected Lieutenant Governor, having
made the race with
Warren G. Harding 563
Myron T. Herrick, the candidate for
Governor. In
1910 he was nominated for Governor and
defeated by
Judson Harmon. In 1914 he was nominated
for United
States Senator over two strong
candidates, one of whose
fortunes he had championed in other
years, Joseph B.
Foraker. He won the nomination by a
substantial ma-
jority and in the election following he
carried the state
by 102,373. He had previously lost the
state by a ma-
jority almost equally large to Governor
Harmon.
In 1916 Harding was chosen to preside
over the na-
tional convention of the Republican
party and his keynote
speech called forth much favorable
comment. Already
his name was connected with nomination
to the presi-
dency. He was a candidate for that high
office in 1920.
When the convention assembled the
number of delegates
pledged to his support was
comparatively small. His
kindly attitude toward his competitors,
his recognized
ability and has availability as the candidate
from Ohio,
a doubtful state which in the two
preceding presidential
elections had cast its electoral vote
for the Democratic
candidate, made him the natural second
choice of many
delegates. He gradually developed
strength in the con-
vention and was nominated on the tenth
ballot.
The campaign of 1920 is too fresh in
the minds of
the public to call for special mention
here. He was
elected by the largest popular majority
ever accorded
to a candidate for that high office. He
carried his own
state over the Democratic candidate by
a majority of
401,985.
The election occurred November 2, his
birthday. He
was nominated June 12, his father's
birthday, a rather
remarkable coincidence.
From his position in the Senate Harding
saw the be-
564 Ohio
Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
ginning and the end of the World War so
far as it di-
rectly affected this country. When the
United States
took up arms he gave his voice and vote
to every meas-
ure that promised to hasten the war to
a triumphant
conclusion. He saw the vast armies
forming and em-
barking for the titanic conflict in
foreign lands. He re-
joiced in the triumph of American arms
in support of
the allied cause. In well-timed and
patriotic speech he
welcomed the victorious armies on their
return. His
great heart was touched at the sight of
the maimed and
wounded. Especially poignant were his
words of sym-
pathy at the return of the mortal
remains of those who
fell. On May 23, 1921, the bodies of
5,212 soldiers, sail-
ors, marines and nurses had been
brought back from
France, and lay on the Hoboken pier,
from which so
many had embarked -- each casket draped
with an
American flag. Inspired and moved by
this scene, with
tears coursing down his cheeks
President Harding gave
utterance to words that for all time
will be a part of the
literature of the World War:
These dead know nothing of our ceremony
today. They
sense nothing of the sentiment or the
tenderness which brings
their wasted bodies to the homeland for
burial close to kin and
friends and cherished associations.
These poor bodies are but
the clay tenements once possessed of
souls which flamed in
patriotic devotion, lighted new hopes on
the battle grounds of
civilization, and in their sacrifices
sped on to accuse autocracy
before the court of eternal justice. * *
*
These heroes were sacrificed in the
supreme conflict of all
human history. They saw democracy
challenged and defended
it. They saw civilization threatened and
rescued it. They saw
America affronted and resented it. They
saw our Nation's
rights imperiled and stamped those
rights with a new sanctity
and renewed security. * * *
No one can measure the vast and varied
affections and sor-
rows centering on this priceless cargo of bodies --
once living,
fighting for, and finally dying for the
Republic. One's words
Warren G. Harding 565
fail, his understanding is halted, his
emotions are stirred beyond
control when contemplating these
thousands of beloved dead.
I find a hundred thousand sorrows
touching my heart, and
there is ringing in my ears, like an
admonition eternal, an in-
sistent call, "It must not be
again! It must not be again!"
As a first step in response to that
"insistent call,"
President Harding on July 10, 1921,
formally an-
nounced that he had invited "the
group of powers here-
tofore known as the principal allied
and associate pow-
ers," Great Britain, France, Italy
and Japan, to meet
in conference at Washington to consider
the question of
the limitation of armaments. Several
other interested
powers were invited to do likewise. The
invitations
were accepted.
November 11th, the day preceding the
formal open-
ing of the conference, was devoted to
the solemn ob-
sequies at Arlington National Cemetery
of an American
soldier who, in the red whirlwind of
the World War,
had given his life and lost his name in
the service of his
country. With the reflections suggested
by this sacred
ceremonial in the minds of all,
President Harding in a
brief speech opened the conference. He
was followed
by the Secretary of State, Charles E.
Hughes, in an ad-
dress that surprised the world. Mr.
Hughes proposed
that a number of battleships belonging
to the nations
represented in the conference should be
destroyed and
that for a period of ten years no more
war vessels should
be built.
The conference continued for twelve
weeks. Not
only did it accomplish all that was
proposed at the out-
set, the "scrapping" of
warships, the "naval holiday,"
and the settlement of questions
affecting the Far East,
but it outlawed poison gas and the use
of submarines
against merchant and passenger vessels
in time of war.
566
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society
Publications
The results were applauded throughout
the civilized
world as an achievement in the interest
of an enduring
peace unsurpassed in the annals of
diplomacy.
The public addresses of President
Harding were in-
variably well-timed and appropriate to
the occasion.
Three of these have been published in
full in the QUAR-
TERLY. The first was delivered at Spiegel Grove State
Park, October 4, 1920, the nine-eighth
anniversary of
the birth of Rutherford B. Hayes. Two years
later on
the occasion of the Hayes Centenary he
wrote a letter
which was read and published. Both
speech and letter
were tributes to the character and
achievements of Pres-
ident Hayes. On April 27, 1922, he
delivered an elo-
quent and thoughtful address at Point
Pleasant where
one hundred years before the military
chieftain and "si-
lent man of destiny," Ulysses S.
Grant was born.
July 4, 1922, will be a memorable date
not only in the
annals of the city of Marion but in the
history of Ohio.
That was the homecoming day of the
celebration of the
one hundredth anniversary of the
founding of the city.
Many will recall the speech of
President Harding and
some may read it again with poignant
appreciation.
How glad he seemed to get back to the
"home town" and
how happy he evidently was in the
prospect of a return
when the duties and trials of office
were at an end. With
what sincerity and fervor he said:
If there is anybody in Marion that
feels that I have slighted
him, he must understand it just isn't
possible to greet every one.
I would love to have the personal touch
with all of you, just
as much as anybody in Marion. I wish I
could stay a little
longer. I will welcome the: day when I
can come back to stay
with you permanently.
All who heard him will recall the
earnest emphasis
with which he expressed the desire to
come home and
Warren G.
Harding 567
remain permanently and the cordial
applause with
which it was greeted.
But it was not to be his privilege to
return and spend
the remainder of his days among the
scenes of his youth
and in association with old time
friends and neighbors.
That yearning so natural to us all,
when tasks and re-
sponsibilities are heavy and life's
shadows fall from the
west, was not to be gratified.
He journeyed to far away Alaska and on
his return
was stricken with illness in San
Francisco. He seemed
to be emerging from the attack and on
the evening of
August 2 was listening to the reading
by his good wife
of an appreciation of his
administration in a well-known
periodical. He evidently enjoyed this,
for he said:
"That's good. Go on. Read some
more." These were
his last words and in the city of the
Golden Gate, with-
out a struggle or a sign of pain, he
entered upon the Life
Eternal.
No attempt will be made to describe the
funeral ob-
sequies of President Harding which
extended from
coast to coast and literally numbered
mourners through
the entire length of the Nation. One
writer has truth-
fully said that when San Francisco bade
its last sad
farewell "to all that was mortal
of the greatly loved
President, there began a funeral
pilgrimage from sea
to sea that has never been equalled in
sustained solem-
nity in this or any other
country."
As the funeral train moved across the
continent
the people from city, village and farm
came forth to
pay by their silent presence as it
passed their tribute
to a chief executive who had come
remarkably close
to the hearts of all. At many places
the crowds were
so immense that the progress of the
funeral train was
568
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
impeded and by special direction of
Mrs. Harding it
moved with remarkable slowness that
none of the
mourners might be injured.
The train passed through his native
state where the
manifestations of grief were especially
marked. On it
moved to Washington, the capital that
he had left a few
weeks before in apparently good health
and joyous an-
ticipation of the great journey before
him. Here oc-
curred on August 8 the great official tribute
to the Pres-
ident. There was an imposing military
display with
General Pershing, the great commander
in the World
War, at the head. The officials of the
government, mem-
bers of the cabinet, the new President,
Calvin Coolidge,
and former President Woodrow Wilson,
were in the line
of mourners. Military bands played sacred airs and
requiems for the departed. The
representatives of other
nations added their tributes where the
dead President
lay in the rotunda of the National Capitol.
On August 9 the funeral train moved
again into the
native state of the departed chief;
back to his home town
of Marion where he had hoped to spend
his last days in
association with old friends after the
close of his official
career. Here on the day following his
body was borne
from the home of his father, Dr. George
T. Harding, to
its final rest. Cabinet officers and
the new President
were here to pay their final tribute of
respect but all
display by the special request of Mrs.
Harding was
omitted. The people came in great
silent crowds from
many sections of the state. Some one
remarked that it
was the old-time funeral, when
acquaintances and
neighbors came forth to manifest their
sympathy, mul-
tiplied by at least one thousand. It
was estimated that
Warren G. hoarding 569
not less than 150,000 came to Marion to
attend the
funeral.
Floral tributes from civic
organizations, municipal-
ities and foreign governments came in
great number
and a profusion of fragrance and
beauty. And before
the sun went down the mortal remains of
Warren G.
Harding were borne to the tomb. At last he rested
from his labors in a wilderness of
flowers and the grate-
ful memory of the citizens of the
Republic to which he
gave "the last full measure of
devotion."
EDITORIAL TRIBUTE FROM THE SOUTHLAND
Among the fine tributes to President
Harding that
came from every section of our common
country many
from the Southland were especially
noteworthy. They
bear testimony to the sympathetic touch
that, under his
administration, was making the entire
citizenship of the
Republic more than ever before one and
indivisible.
From the many that have come to the
attention of the
writer the following which appears
under mourning
headlines in the Florida Times-Union
of Jacksonville,
August 3, is here reproduced:
PRESIDENT HARDING DEAD
Yesterday the country was rejoicing in
the news that
President Harding had passed the crisis
of his illness and was
on the road to complete recovery. Today
it mourns his death.
The pendulum swung back to the grave.
The death of any
president would be a shock, but the
news that goes to the world
this morning is the greater shock
because it follows so quickly
the report that Mr. Harding's fight for
life was won.
Mr. Harding was chosen president by the
largest majority
that had ever been given to any
candidate, but he was more
than president and greater. God gave him a nature that
is rarely
seen. He was broad enough in his sympathies and in his
under-
570 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications
standing to touch all sections and all
classes and be one with
them.
He was of Northern birth, but loved the
South as strongly
as if he had been a native. He showed
his love for Florida.
He had spent more than twenty winters in
this state and was
so friendly and so approachable that
Floridans, warmed by his
genial nature, felt that he was one of
them.
We doubt whether any president was ever
as free from
the cramping influence of local or hereditary
prejudice. North,
South, East and West were only
directions with him. All was
home and all America. His nature was too
big for state or
sectional lines. Nothing less than the
whole country was big
enough to hold his heart.
Here and there, but very rarely, can be
found a man too
broad for sectionalism but we would not
know where to look
among the living for one who was too
democratic to know class.
The rich do not understand the poor nor
the poor the rich. The
high do not know the inner natures of
the lowly nor the lowly
understand the high. But here was a man
who, standing on
the pinnacle of the world, yet felt he
was on a level with his
fellow men.
The writer had the honor and the
pleasure of a personal
acquaintance with this great American.
The pleasure was much
greater than the honor. The honor came
from knowing the
president of the United States but it
was not half as satisfying
as the pleasure of knowing Warren G.
Harding. He seemed
utterly unconscious of any difference in
station. Some men
would try to make this impression by
excessive friendliness but
they could not. A familiarity that was
assumed would quickly
be understood as patronizing. A
friendliness must come from
the heart that would make a private citizen
forget the high of-
fice in the warmth of his feeling for
the man. He was merely
one man talking to another and he talked
and listened most in-
terestingly.
He was called to power at a most trying
time -- when the
war had created problems that were not
of his making. His
countrymen selected him to take the
leading part in their settle-
ment and the task would have taxed the
powers of the wisest
man that ever lived. He went about his
work with an eye single
to the faithful discharge of the trust
reposed in him. He did
well; how completely he would have
succeeded can never be
known. He has been released from his
labors and has gone to
his reward. History will give him a
place among the greatest
and the best of America and of the
world.
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