Editing Warren G. Harding (section)

====Disarmament====
{{Main|Washington Naval Conference}}
[[File:Charles Evans Hughes-01.jpg|thumb|right|[[Charles Evans Hughes]], former Supreme Court justice and Harding's Secretary of State]]
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 1921, 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.{{sfn|Trani & Wilson|pp=149–150}}

Idaho Senator [[William Borah]] had proposed a conference at which the major naval powers, the U.S., Britain, and Japan, would agree to cuts in their fleets. Harding concurred, and after diplomatic discussions, representatives of nine nations convened in Washington in November 1921. Most of the diplomats first attended [[Veterans Day|Armistice Day]] ceremonies at [[Arlington National Cemetery]], where Harding spoke at the entombment of the [[Tomb of the Unknowns|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."{{sfn|Dean|pp=130–131}}

Hughes, in his speech at the opening session of the conference on November 12, 1921, made the American proposal—the U.S. would decommission or not build 30 warships if Great Britain did likewise for 19 vessels, and Japan for 17.{{sfn|Russell|p=481}} Hughes was generally successful, with agreements reached on this and other points, including settlement of disputes over islands in the Pacific, and limitations on the use of poison gas. 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. Senator Lodge and the [[Senate Minority Leader]], Alabama's [[Oscar Underwood]], were part of the U.S. delegation, and they helped ensure the treaties made it through the Senate mostly unscathed, though that body added reservations to some.{{sfn|Sinclair|pp=241–245}}{{sfn|Dean|pp=132–134}}

The U.S. had acquired over a thousand vessels during World War I, and still owned most of them when Harding took office. Congress had authorized their disposal [[Merchant Marine Act of 1920|in 1920]], but the Senate would not confirm Wilson's nominees to the [[United States Shipping Board|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.{{sfn|Trani & Wilson|pp=174–178}}