Editing Warren G. Harding (section)

===Inauguration and appointments===
[[File:Harding swearing in.jpg|thumb|left|Harding takes the oath of office.]]
{{further|Inauguration of Warren G. Harding}}
Harding was inaugurated on March 4, 1921, 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."{{sfn|Russell|pp=2,14}}

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 [[66th United States Congress|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.{{efn|Harding resigned from the Senate in January 1921, waiting until Cox's term as governor expired. A Republican governor, [[Harry L. Davis]], appointed Willis, already elected to a full term on Harding's [[coattail effect|coattails]], to serve the remainder of Harding's term. See {{harvnb|Dean|p=92}}.}} Back in Ohio, Harding planned to consult with the country's best minds, who visited Marion to offer their counsel regarding appointments.{{sfn|Russell|pp=420–424}}{{sfn|Sinclair|p=181}}

Harding chose pro-League Charles Evans Hughes as Secretary of State, ignoring the advice of Senator Lodge and others. 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 [[United States Secretary of Commerce|Secretary of Commerce]].{{sfn|Trani & Wilson|pp=38–39}} RNC chairman Will Hays was made [[United States Postmaster General|Postmaster General]], then a cabinet post; he left after a year in the position to become chief censor to the motion-picture industry.{{sfn|Dean|p=89}}

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]] of New Mexico, the [[United States Secretary of the Interior|Interior Secretary]], and Daugherty, the attorney general. Fall was a Western rancher and former miner who  favored development.{{sfn|Dean|p=89}} He was opposed by conservationists such as [[Gifford Pinchot]], who wrote, "it would have been possible to pick a worse man for Secretary of the Interior, but not altogether easy."{{sfn|Noggle|p=242}} ''The New York Times'' mocked the Daugherty appointment, writing that rather than selecting one of the best minds, Harding had been content "to choose merely a best friend."{{sfn|Sinclair|p=188}} Eugene P. 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&nbsp;... a first-class political troubleshooter and someone Harding could trust."{{sfn|Trani & Wilson|p=43}}

[[File:President Warren G. Harding's First Cabinet 1921.jpg|thumb|upright=1.6|{{center|Harding's original Cabinet, 1921}}]]
{{Infobox U.S. Cabinet
|align=none
|Name=Harding
|President=Warren G. Harding
|President start=1921
|President end=1923 
|Vice President=[[Calvin Coolidge]]
|Vice President start=1921
|Vice President end=1923
|State=[[Charles Evans Hughes]]
|State start=1921
|State end=1923
|Treasury=[[Andrew Mellon]]
|Treasury start=1921
|Treasury end=1923
|War=[[John W. Weeks]]
|War start=1921
|War end=1923
|Justice=[[Harry M. Daugherty]]
|Justice start=1921
|Justice end=1923
|Post=[[Will H. Hays]]
|Post start=1921
|Post end=1922
|Post 2=[[Hubert Work]]
|Post start 2=1922
|Post end 2=1923
|Post 3=[[Harry Stewart New]]
|Post date 3=1923
|Navy=[[Edwin Denby (politician)|Edwin Denby]]
|Navy start=1921
|Navy end=1923
|Interior=[[Albert B. Fall]]
|Interior start=1921
|Interior end=1923
|Interior 2=[[Hubert Work]]
|Interior date 2=1923
|Agriculture=[[Henry Cantwell Wallace]]
|Agriculture start=1921
|Agriculture end=1923
|Commerce=[[Herbert Hoover]]
|Commerce start=1921
|Commerce end=1923
|Labor=[[James J. Davis]]
|Labor start=1921
|Labor end=1923
}}
{{clear}}