Editing Warren G. Harding (section)

===General election campaign===
[[File:Harding front porch campaign.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Harding begins his front porch campaign by accepting the Republican nomination, July 22, 1920.]]

The Harding/Coolidge ticket was quickly backed by Republican newspapers, but those of other viewpoints expressed disappointment. 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."{{sfn|Dean|p=67}} The [[Hearst Corporation|Hearst newspapers]] called Harding "the flag-bearer of a new Senatorial autocracy."{{sfn|Sinclair|p=156}} ''[[The New York Times]]'' described the Republican presidential candidate as "a very respectable Ohio politician of the second class."{{sfn|Dean|p=67}}

The [[1920 Democratic National Convention|Democratic National Convention]] opened in San Francisco on June 28, 1920, 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. Many at the convention voted for McAdoo anyway, and a deadlock ensued with Attorney General [[A. Mitchell Palmer]]. On the 44th ballot, the Democrats nominated Governor Cox for president, with his running mate [[Assistant Secretary of the Navy]] [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]. 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.{{sfn|Sinclair|pp=157–159}} But ideologically, the candidates were distinctly different, with Cox a liberal<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v8KkJq1ZRwYC&dq=james+M+Cox+liberal+Democrat+Ohio&pg=RA1-PA63 |title=McGill, Ralph Emerson |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Tennessee |first=Nancy |last=Capace |date=2000 |page=63 |isbn=978-0-4030-9349-6 |publisher=Somerset |access-date=December 21, 2024}}</ref> and Harding a conservative.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ltusveXdODUC&dq=Warren+Harding+conservative&pg=PA32 |title=High Tide of American Conservatism: Davis, Coolidge, and the 1924 Election |first=Garland |last=Tucker |date=2012 |page=32 |isbn=978-1-9371-1029-1 |publisher=Emerald Book Company |access-date=December 21, 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2VlkAAAAIBAJ&dq=The+old+guard+won.+The+Progressive+and+the+Roosevelt+elements+in+the+Republican+national+convention+were+beaten&pg=PA1&article_id=4707,6615733  |newspaper=[[St. Joseph News-Press]] |date=June 14, 1920 |title=Old Fashioned Ticket Harding Is of the Type of William McKinley |first=David |last=Lawrence |access-date=December 21, 2024}}</ref>

[[File:Harding Cox and Ruth.jpg|thumb|left|"How Does He Do It?" In this [[Clifford Berryman]] cartoon, Harding and Cox ponder another big story of 1920: [[Babe Ruth]]'s record-setting home run pace.]]
Harding elected to conduct a [[front porch campaign]], like McKinley in 1896.{{sfn|Dean|pp=71–73}} Some years earlier, Harding had had his front porch remodeled to resemble McKinley's, which his neighbors felt signified presidential ambitions.{{sfn|Sinclair|p=61}} The candidate remained at home in Marion, and gave addresses to visiting delegations. 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.{{sfn|Dean|pp=71–73}}

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".{{sfn|Sinclair|pp=163–165}}

[[File:FDR and James M Cox cph.3b03395.jpg|thumb|right|Democratic candidates Cox (right) and Roosevelt at a campaign appearance in Washington, DC, 1920]]
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."{{sfn|Dean|p=72}} [[H. L. 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&nbsp;... of pish, and crawls insanely up the topmost pinnacle of tosh. It is rumble and bumble. It is balder and dash."{{efn|Mencken nevertheless voted for Harding. See {{harvnb|Sinclair|p=165}}.}}{{sfn|Dean|p=72}} ''The New York Times'' took a more positive view of Harding's speeches, writing that in them the majority of people could find "a reflection of their own indeterminate thoughts."{{sfn|Sinclair|p=166}}

Wilson had said that the 1920 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.{{sfn|Murray 1969|pp=43–45}} Harding opposed entry into the League of Nations as negotiated by Wilson, but favored an "association of nations,"<ref name = "anb" /> based on the [[Permanent Court of Arbitration]] at [[The Hague]]. 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 [[reservation (law)|reservations]] to the treaty might be necessary; this shift allowed Harding to say no more on the subject.{{sfn|Trani & Wilson|pp=27–28}}

[[Image:WGHarding.jpg|thumb|left|Harding campaigning in 1920]]
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.{{sfn|Dean|p=69}} Billboard posters, newspapers and magazines were employed in addition to motion pictures. [[Telemarketers]] were used to make phone calls with scripted dialogues to promote Harding.{{sfn|Morello|pp=64–65}}

During the campaign, opponents spread old rumors that Harding's great-great-grandfather was a [[West Indian]] [[black person]] and that other [[African-American heritage of United States presidents|blacks might be found in his family tree]].{{sfn|Russell|p=372}} Harding's campaign manager rejected the accusations. [[Wooster College]] professor [[William Estabrook Chancellor]] publicized the rumors, based on supposed family research, but perhaps reflecting no more than local gossip.{{sfn|Russell|pp=403–405}}

[[File:ElectoralCollege1920.svg|right|thumb|upright|1920 electoral vote results]]
By Election Day, November 2, 1920, few had any doubts that the Republican ticket would win.{{sfn|Murray 1969|p=62}} Harding received 60.2&nbsp;percent of the popular vote, the highest percentage since the evolution of the [[two-party system]], and 404 [[Electoral College (United States)|electoral votes]]. Cox received 34&nbsp;percent of the national vote and 127 electoral votes.{{sfn|Russell|p=418}} Campaigning from a federal prison where he was serving a sentence for opposing the war, [[Socialist Party of America|Socialist]] [[Eugene V. Debs]] received 3&nbsp;percent of the national vote. The Republicans greatly increased their majority in each house of Congress.{{sfn|Russell|p=420}}{{sfn|Murray 1969|p=66}}