Editing Warren G. Harding (section)

===Domestic policy===

====Postwar recession and recovery====
{{Main|Depression of 1920–1921}}
[[File:Chas G Dawes-H&E.jpg|thumb|right|[[Charles Dawes]]—the first budget director and later, vice president under Coolidge]]
When Harding took office on March 4, 1921, the nation was in the midst of [[Depression of 1920–21|a postwar economic decline]].{{sfn|Murray 1973|pp=40–41}} At the suggestion of legislative leaders, Harding called a special session of Congress, to convene April 11. When Harding addressed the joint session the following day, he urged the reduction of income taxes (raised during the war), an increase in tariffs on agricultural goods to protect the American farmer, as well as more wide-ranging reforms, such as support for highways, aviation, and radio.{{sfn|Trani & Wilson|pp=54–57}}{{sfn|Murray 1973|pp=52–55}} It was not until May 27 that Congress passed an emergency tariff increase on agricultural products. [[Budget and Accounting Act of 1921|An act]] authorizing a [[Bureau of the Budget]] followed on June 10, and Harding appointed Charles Dawes as bureau director with a mandate to cut expenditures.{{sfn|Murray 1973|pp=51–52}}

====Mellon's tax cuts====
Treasury Secretary Mellon also recommended that Congress cut income tax rates, and that the corporate [[excess profits tax]] be abolished. The [[House Ways and Means Committee]] endorsed Mellon's proposals, but some congressmen wanting to raise corporate tax rates fought the measure. Harding was unsure what side to endorse, telling a friend, "I can't make a damn thing out of this tax problem. I listen to one side, and they seem right, and then—God!—I talk to the other side, and they seem just as right."{{sfn|Murray 1973|pp=52–55}} Harding tried compromise, and gained passage of a bill in the House after the end of the excess profits tax was delayed a year. In the Senate, the bill became entangled in efforts to vote World War I veterans a soldier's bonus. Frustrated by the delays, on July 12, Harding appeared before the Senate to urge passage of the tax legislation without the bonus. It was not until November that [[Revenue Act of 1921|the revenue bill]] finally passed, with higher rates than Mellon had proposed.{{sfn|Murray 1973|pp=55–58}}{{sfn|Dean|p=108}}

[[File:AWMellon.jpg|thumb|left|Secretary of the Treasury [[Andrew W. Mellon]] advocated lower tax rates.]]
In opposing the veterans' bonus, Harding argued in his Senate address that much was already being done for them by a grateful nation, and that the bill would "break down our Treasury, from which so much is later on to be expected".{{sfn|Dean|pp=107–108}} The Senate sent the bonus bill back to committee, but the issue returned when Congress reconvened in December 1921.{{sfn|Dean|pp=107–108}} A bill providing a bonus, though unfunded, was passed by both houses in September 1922, but Harding's veto was narrowly sustained. [[World War Adjusted Compensation Act|A non-cash bonus]] for soldiers passed over Coolidge's veto in 1924.{{sfn|Trani & Wilson|pp=78–79}}

In his first [[State of the Union|annual message to Congress]], Harding sought the power to adjust tariff rates. The passage of the tariff bill in the Senate, and in [[conference committee]] became a feeding frenzy of lobby interests.{{sfn|Trani & Wilson|pp=74–75}} When Harding signed the [[Fordney–McCumber Tariff]] Act on September 21, 1922, he made a brief [[signing statement|statement]], praising the bill only for giving him some power to change rates.{{sfn|Dean|p=104}} According to Trani and Wilson, the bill was "ill-considered. It wrought havoc in international commerce and made the repayment of war debts more difficult."{{sfn|Trani & Wilson|p=74}}

Mellon ordered a study that demonstrated historically that, as income tax rates were increased, money was driven underground or abroad, and he concluded that lower rates would increase tax revenues.<ref>{{cite book|first=Andrew.W.|last= Mellon|title=Taxation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8UMRAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA16|page=16|publisher=Macmillan|location=New York|isbn=9785879551631|year=1924}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Joel|author1-link=Joel Slemrod|last=Slemrod|title=Does Atlas Shrug?: The Economic Consequences of Taxing the Rich|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3mpiqxjB9AgC&pg=PA48|year=2000|publisher=Harvard UP|pages=48–49|isbn=9780674001541}}</ref> Based on his advice, Harding's revenue bill cut taxes, starting in 1922. The top marginal rate was reduced annually in four stages from 73% in 1921 to 25% in 1925. Taxes were cut for lower incomes starting in 1923, and the lower rates substantially increased the money flowing to the treasury. They also pushed massive deregulation, and federal spending as a share of GDP fell from 6.5% to 3.5%. By late 1922, the economy began to turn around. Unemployment was pared from its 1921 high of 12% to an average of 3.3% for the remainder of the decade. The misery index, a combined measure of unemployment and inflation, had its sharpest decline in U.S. history under Harding. Wages, profits, and productivity all made substantial gains; annual GDP increases averaged at over 5% during the 1920s. Libertarian historians Larry Schweikart and Michael Allen argue that, "Mellon's tax policies set the stage for the most amazing growth yet seen in America's already impressive economy."<ref>{{cite book|first1=Larry|last1=Schweikart|first2=Michael|last2=Allen|title=A Patriot's History of the United States|publisher=Penguin|year=2004|location=New York|page=536}}</ref>

====Embracing new technologies====
The 1920s were a time of modernization for America—use of electricity became increasingly common. Mass production of motorized vehicles stimulated other industries as well, such as highway construction, rubber, steel, and building, as hotels were erected to accommodate the tourists venturing upon the roads. This economic boost helped bring the nation out of the recession.{{sfn|Sinclair|p=206}} To improve and expand the nation's highway system, Harding signed the [[Federal Aid Highway Act of 1921 (Phipps Act)|Federal Highway Act of 1921]]. From 1921 to 1923, the federal government spent $162&nbsp;million (equivalent to ${{Inflation|US|.162|1923|r=1}}&nbsp;billion in {{Inflation-year|US}}) on America's highway system, infusing the U.S. economy with a large amount of capital.{{sfn|Wynn|pp=217–218}} In 1922, Harding proclaimed that America was in the age of the "motor car", which "reflects our standard of living and gauges the speed of our present-day life".<ref>{{cite web|last=Harding|first=Warren G.|title=Second Annual Message to Congress|publisher=American Presidency Project|url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29563|date=December 8, 1922|access-date=August 3, 2015}}</ref>

Harding urged regulation of radio broadcasting in his April 1921 speech to Congress.{{sfn|Murray 1973|p=46}} Commerce Secretary Hoover took charge of this project, and convened a conference of radio broadcasters in 1922, which led to a voluntary agreement for licensing of [[radio frequency|radio frequencies]] through the [[United States Department of Commerce|Commerce Department]]. Both Harding and Hoover realized something more than an agreement was needed, but Congress was slow to act, not imposing radio regulation until 1927.{{sfn|Trani & Wilson|p=88}}

Harding also wished to promote aviation, and Hoover again took the lead, convening a national conference on commercial aviation. The discussions focused on safety matters, inspection of airplanes, and licensing of pilots. Harding again promoted legislation but nothing was done until 1926, when the [[Air Commerce Act of 1926|Air Commerce Act]] created the [[Bureau of Aeronautics]] within Hoover's Commerce Department.{{sfn|Trani & Wilson|p=88}}

====Business and labor====
[[File:Wharding.jpeg|thumb|right|Harding's official White House portrait, {{circa|1922}} by [[Edmund Hodgson Smart]]]]
{{Further|Great Railroad Strike of 1922}}
Harding's attitude toward business was that government should aid it as much as possible.{{sfn|Trani & Wilson|p=83}} He was suspicious of [[organized labor]], viewing it as a conspiracy against business.{{sfn|Sinclair|pp=253–254}} He sought to get them to work together at a conference on unemployment that he called to meet in September 1921 at Hoover's recommendation. Harding warned in his opening address that no federal money would be available. No important legislation came as a result, though some [[public works]] projects were accelerated.{{sfn|Trani & Wilson|pp=92–93}}

Within broad limits, Harding allowed each cabinet secretary to run his department as he saw fit.{{sfn|Murray 1973|p=29}} Hoover expanded the Commerce Department to make it more useful to business. This was consistent with Hoover's view that the private sector should take the lead in managing the economy.{{sfn|Trani & Wilson|p=84}} Harding greatly respected his Commerce Secretary, often asked his advice, and backed him to the hilt, calling Hoover "the smartest '[[wikt:gink|gink]]' I know".{{sfn|Murray 1973|pp=32–33}}

Widespread strikes marked 1922, as labor sought redress for falling wages and increased unemployment. In April, 500,000 coal miners, led by [[John L. Lewis]], struck over wage cuts. Mining executives argued that the industry was seeing hard times; Lewis accused them of trying to break the union. As the strike became protracted, Harding offered compromise to settle it. As Harding proposed, the miners agreed to return to work, and Congress created a commission to look into their grievances.{{sfn|Trani & Wilson|pp=97–99}}

On July 1, 1922, 400,000 railroad workers went on strike. Harding recommended a settlement that made some concessions, but management objected. Attorney General Daugherty convinced Judge [[James H. Wilkerson]] to issue a sweeping injunction to break the strike. Although there was public support for the Wilkerson injunction, Harding felt it went too far, and had Daugherty and Wilkerson amend it. The injunction succeeded in ending the strike; however, tensions remained high between railroad workers and management for years.{{sfn|Russell|pp=546–549}}

By 1922, the [[eight-hour day]] had become common in American industry. One exception was in [[steel mill]]s, where workers labored through a twelve-hour workday, seven days a week. Hoover considered this practice barbaric and got Harding to convene a conference of steel manufacturers with a view to ending the system. The conference established a committee under the leadership of [[U. S. Steel]] chairman [[Elbert Gary]], which in early 1923 recommended against ending the practice. Harding sent a letter to Gary deploring the result, which was printed in the press, and public outcry caused the manufacturers to reverse themselves and standardize the eight-hour day.{{sfn|Sinclair|pp=255–256}}

====Civil rights and immigration====
[[File:Harding at Birmingham.jpg|thumb|Harding addresses the segregated crowd in Birmingham, Alabama, October 26, 1921.]]
Although Harding's first address to Congress called for passage of anti-lynching legislation,<ref name=Baker18Aug/> he initially seemed inclined to do no more for African Americans than Republican presidents of the recent past had; he asked Cabinet officers to find places for blacks in their departments. Sinclair suggested that the fact that Harding received two-fifths of the Southern vote in 1920 led him to see political opportunity for his party in the [[Solid South]]. On October 26, 1921, Harding gave a speech in [[Birmingham, Alabama]], to a [[racial segregation|segregated]] audience of 20,000 Whites and 10,000 Blacks. Harding, while saying that the social and racial differences between Whites and Blacks could not be bridged, urged equal political rights for the latter. Many African-Americans at that time voted Republican, especially in the Democratic South, and Harding said he did not mind seeing that support end if the result was a strong two-party system in the South. He was willing to see [[literacy test]]s for voting continue, if applied fairly to White and Black voters.{{sfn|Sinclair|pp=230–234}} "Whether you like it or not," Harding told his segregated audience, "unless our democracy is a lie, you must stand for that equality."<ref name=Baker18Aug/> The White section of the audience listened in silence, while the Black section cheered.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Radosh |first1=Ronald |author-link=Ronald Radosh |last2=Radosh |first2=Allis|url=http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/hey_wait_a_minute/2014/07/warren_harding_letters_could_they_spark_a_revisionist_view_of_the_much_maligned.single.html |title=What If Warren Harding Wasn't a Terrible President? |work=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]] |date=July 16, 2014 |access-date=July 18, 2014}}</ref> Three days after the [[Tulsa race massacre]] of 1921, Harding spoke at the all-Black [[Lincoln University (Pennsylvania)|Lincoln University]] in Pennsylvania. He declared, "Despite the demagogues, the idea of our oneness as Americans has risen superior to every appeal to mere class and group. And so, I wish it might be in this matter of our national problem of races." Speaking directly about the events in Tulsa, he said, "God grant that, in the soberness, the fairness, and the justice of this country, we never see another spectacle like it."<ref>{{cite news |last=Robenalt |first=James D. |title=The Republican president who called for racial justice in America after Tulsa massacre |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|date=June 21, 2020 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2020/06/21/warren-harding-tulsa-race-massacre-trump/| access-date = June 22, 2020| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200622065637/https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2020/06/21/warren-harding-tulsa-race-massacre-trump/| archive-date = June 22, 2020| url-status = live}}</ref>

[[File:Taft Harding Robert Lincoln 1922.jpg|thumb|left|Harding (center) with Chief Justice [[William Howard Taft|Taft]] (left) and [[Robert Todd Lincoln]] at the dedication of the [[Lincoln Memorial]], May 30, 1922]]
Harding supported Congressman [[Leonidas Dyer]]'s [[Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill|federal anti-lynching bill]], which passed the House of Representatives in January 1922.{{sfn|Dean|p=123}} When it reached the Senate floor in November 1922, it was [[filibuster]]ed by Southern Democrats, and Lodge withdrew it to allow the ship subsidy bill Harding favored to be debated, though it was likewise blocked. Blacks blamed Harding for the Dyer bill's defeat; Harding biographer Robert K. Murray noted that it was hastened to its end by Harding's desire to have the ship subsidy bill considered.{{sfn|Murray 1973|pp=89–90}}

With the public suspicious of immigrants, especially those who might be [[socialist]]s or [[communist]]s, Congress passed the [[Emergency Quota Act|Per Centum Act of 1921]], signed by Harding on May 19, 1921, as a quick means of restricting immigration. The act reduced the numbers of immigrants to 3% of those from a given country living in the U.S., based on the 1910 census. This would, in practice, not restrict immigration from Ireland and Germany, but would bar many Italians and eastern European Jews.{{sfn|Sinclair|p=215}} Harding and Secretary of Labor [[James J. Davis|James Davis]] believed that enforcement had to be humane, and at the Secretary's recommendation, Harding allowed almost 1,000 deportable immigrants to remain.{{sfn|Dean|pp=101–102}} Coolidge later signed the [[Immigration Act of 1924]], permanently restricting immigration to the U.S.{{sfn|Sinclair|p=217}}

====Eugene Debs and political prisoners====
Harding's Socialist opponent in the 1920 election, [[Eugene Debs]], was serving a ten-year sentence in the [[Atlanta Penitentiary]] for speaking against the war. Wilson had refused to pardon him before leaving office. Daugherty met with Debs, and was deeply impressed. There was opposition from veterans, including the [[American Legion]], and also from Florence Harding. The president did not feel he could release Debs until the war was officially over, but once the peace treaties were signed, commuted Debs' sentence on December 23, 1921. At Harding's request, Debs visited the president at the White House before going home to Indiana.{{sfn|Dean|pp=126–129}}

Harding released 23 other war opponents at the same time as Debs, and continued to review cases and release political prisoners throughout his presidency. Harding defended his prisoner releases as necessary to return the nation to normalcy.{{sfn|Murray 1969|pp=168–169}}

====Judicial appointments====
{{Further|List of federal judges appointed by Warren G. Harding|Warren G. Harding Supreme Court candidates}}
Harding appointed four justices to the [[Supreme Court of the United States]]. When Chief Justice [[Edward Douglass White]] died in May 1921, Harding was unsure whether to appoint former president Taft or former Utah senator [[George Sutherland]]—he had promised seats on the court to both men. After briefly considering awaiting another vacancy and appointing them both, he chose Taft as Chief Justice. Sutherland was appointed to the court in 1922, to be followed by two other economic conservatives, [[Pierce Butler (justice)|Pierce Butler]] and [[Edward Terry Sanford]], in 1923.{{sfn|Trani & Wilson|pp=48–49}}

Harding also appointed six judges to the [[United States Courts of Appeals]], 42 judges to the [[United States district courts]], and two judges to the [[United States Court of Customs Appeals]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Biographical Dictionary of the Federal Judiciary |publisher=Federal Judicial Center |url=http://www.fjc.gov/public/home.nsf/hisj |access-date=June 14, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160730115701/http://www.fjc.gov/public/home.nsf/hisj |archive-date=July 30, 2016 }} Searches run from page by choosing "select research categories" then check "court type" and "nominating president", then select type of court and Warren G. Harding.</ref>