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Presidential Campaigning--Front Porch Style
During President Harding’s election campaign, the method of communication was drastically different from campaign efforts of today. He was one of few to use the front porch as a meeting place for speeches and promotional events. Mrs. Harding was very supportive of his election endeavors. At one time, he was going to drop out of the race, but partly due to his wife’s encouragement, he pushed on, winning the election. There is no doubt that Mrs. Harding helped in the ‘presentation’ of her home and, most specifically, the porch, as the ‘front porch campaign’ was under full swing.
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More Inventions: The Self-winding Watch
Inventors were busy during this time period: witness the self-winding watch, which was patented during the lifetime of Mrs. Harding. This development was especially useful for the future waterproof watch concept: there was no need to disassemble the watch face in order to access and wind the watch. These watches were wound by the wearer’s motion during walking. A pendulum inside the watch moves back and forth with movement and ‘winds’ the watch.
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Small Town Newspapers with Big Impact
First Lady Florence Harding met William Harding while working for the local small-town newspaper, the Marion Star. Before he became President, Harding purchased the Star and built it into one of the most successful small-town newspapers in Ohio.
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Nicknames: "but my name's really Elizabeth!"
Helen Taft was called “Nellie.” Jacqueline Kennedy was called “Jackie.” Flo Harding was actually named Florence Mabel! Nicknames (or names used within the family) are often given to children with as much thought as their actual birth names.
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Best Friends
Florence Harding was a loyal and caring friend to those to whom she gave her friendship. Throughout her life she considered her husband Warren her best friend and stood by him through personal betrayals of trust and political scandals.
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Hooray for the Hardware Store: It Keeps Us Together
Florence Harding's father owned a hardware store in Marion, Ohio, a place where young Florence often worked and learned valuable business skills. But the story of the hardware store is the story of America--a place that sells "the elements that hold our world together," and "the place we go when things fall apart."
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Money in Your Pocket? How Did It Get There?
Most of the money that we know today already existed during the Presidency of Warren G. Harding. That doesn't make it any less interesting, though. Where did our money come from? What was it used for? Why do we have paper money instead of only metal coins? All this and more in this lesson!
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Safety or Civil Liberty? The Trial of Sacco and Vanzetti
From the Russian revolution in 1917 until about 1920, the United States was plagued by what turned out to be an irrational fear of communism, socialism, or anything that was thought to be a threat to the "American way of life." In this period, as in a later period in the late 1940s and early 1950s, the term for this fear was "the Red scare."
As has been the case since September 11, 2001, a major perceived threat to the United States is often accompanied by efforts to restrain civil liberties, to spy on citizens, and to arrest, try, and convict people for crimes whether or not there is real evidence to support the conviction. Such was the case of two professed anarchists, Nicola Sacco and Barfolomeo Vanzetti, who were tried for murder during the Harding administration, and eventually executed.
Many people believe these men were innocent of the crimes of which they were accused. We leave it to you to decide.
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Pandemics: The Swine Flu of 1918
Mrs. Harding witnessed the most rapid and devastating spread of a virus in the history of the United States. The swine flu pandemic of 1918 killed more than 20 million people worldwide, infecting more than 25% of the U.S. population. What made this virus especially difficult to control was that U.S. soldiers infected with the virus were transported across the world as World War I was underway. It is said that this infection is comparable to the Bubonic plague and Smallpox in numbers of infected individuals.
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And the Winner Is...The Pulitzer Prize
Florence Harding ran the newspaper Warren owned in Marion, Ohio when he was hospitalized shortly after their marriage. Although their newspaper never won a Pulitzer Prize, they were surely aware of this prestigious award.
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Ladies of the Houses: Women in Congress
Passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920 gave women the right to vote in federal elections nationwide. However, some women were already serving in Congress, for example, Jeannette Rankin of Montana. This momentous change took place during Flo’s life. In fact, she was the first woman to help elect her husband as President by voting for him in the presidential election.
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King Tut and All That
The discovery of the seemingly undisturbed tomb of King Tutankhamun (King Tut) in 1922 was a major archeological event. The news dominated front pages of newspapers worldwide for days. As newspaper people, Warren and Florence Harding would have followed the coverage carefully.
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Fisticuffs! The History of Boxing
From all reports, President Warren G. Harding followed both baseball and boxing, which had become an Olympic event in 1908, and was regularly part of the Olympics from 1920 on. The sport of boxing has a long history, one that can be said to be composed of the best and the worst parts of human nature--skill and brutality.
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Women Get the Vote--By One Vote!
The right of women to vote was finally a reality when the 19th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States was ratified in 1920, during the administration of Warren G. Harding. One cannot help but think that Florence Harding was particularly gratified.
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Tempest in a Teapot? Historic Presidential Scandals
President Harding has been accused of being--or at least not preventing--corruption in government. He is, however, unfortunately not alone. Presidential scandals, such as the so-called "Teapot Dome" scandal of the Harding administration, are not new.
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Advances in Caring for the Wounded
Wars always involve human death. Typically, the first wars that the U.S. experienced as a nation resulted in great numbers of deaths after even the smallest of injuries due to infection and lack of medical knowledge or treatment. As more wars took place over time, medicine advanced, and fewer soldiers died from lack of adequate medical treatment. During Mrs. Harding’s lifetime, World War I took its toll on human lives. At the same time, though, medical advances on the battlefield reduced the numbers of deaths from war injuries.
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The Great Gatsby: Window to an Age
One of the most interesting periods of American history is what is now called “the Roaring Twenties.” It was a time of wealth, new technologies, and sharp demarcations in society. Although F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby was published in 1925, after Florence Harding’s death, it described American society in the last years of her life.
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First Ladies as Activists
Many First Ladies have adopted specific causes to which they have given their names, their time, their energies, and often their money. Flo Harding was no exception. She was a tireless advocate for American veterans.
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Movies for a Nickel! The Nickelodeon
In the early years of the 20th century, a new medium was developed that would provide mass entertainment, the wide spread of ideas, and a powerful set of visual images to the public--the motion picture. During the lifetime of Florence and Warren Harding, this medium saw its beginnings in the neighborhood movie theatre--the nickelodeon.
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Creating a Magazine for the Roaring Twenties
Although the Hardings did not live for the full decade of the 1920s, the themes of the "roaring twenties" were well under way before they passed from the scene. Florence Harding, in particular, would have loved the excitement of the era.
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Prohibition: Does It Work?
The 18th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States was ratified in 1920, shortly before Warren G. Harding was elected President. The Amendment, which was later repealed by the 21st Amendment, created a number of economic, political, and ethical questions which are still relevant today.
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