HARDING, WARREN GAMALIEL (1865-), 29th President
of the United States, was born at Corsica (then Blooming Grove), Morrow co., Ohio, Nov. 2 1865, son of George Tyron Harding, a farmer and country doctor, and Phebe Elizabeth Dickerson. He studied in the common schools, and from 14 to 17 at the Ohio Central College at Iberia. He taught in a country school for a year, read law for a short time, worked in a newspaper office, and in 1884 became editor and proprietor of the Marion Star. On July 8 1891 he married Florence Kling. Having attracted the notice of Senator Joseph B. Foraker(see 10.628), he was encouraged to enter state politics, and was early recognized as an effective speaker. He served two terms in the Ohio Senate (1900-4), and during the second was influential in securing Senator Foraker's reëlection to the U.S. Senate. From 1904 to 1906 he was lieutenant-governor of Ohio, but in 1910, when nominated for governor by the Republicans, was defeated by a plurality of 100,000. In the campaign of 1912 his paper supported President Taft. In 1914 he defeated Foraker in the Republican primaries as candidate for the U.S. Senate, and was elected with a majority of 100,000 for the term of 1915-21; but his friendship with Foraker remained unabated. In 1916 he was delegate-at-large from Ohio to the Republican National Convention, of which he was chosen permanent chairman. In the Senate he was regarded as a “safe” man, who could be relied upon to support orthodox Republican policies. In 1915 he urged “preparedness” for naval defence. In 1916 he voted against the confirmation of Louis D. Brandeis as associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1917 he gave his support to the declaration of war against Germany, and also to all the war measures, including the Selective Draft and Espionage bills. He favoured the death penalty for spies, but after the war advocated amnesty for political prisoners. He opposed the suggested Federal control of food and fuel. He favoured the Prohibition Amendment, and voted for the Volstead Act, enforcing war-time prohibition, over the President's veto. He favoured the anti-strike clause of the Cummins Railway bill, and voted for return of the lines to their owners within a year after the end of the war. He was for exempting American shipping from Panama Canal tolls and also supported woman suffrage. He was opposed to the Covenant of the League of Nations, holding that “either the Covenant involves a surrender of national sovereignty and submits our future destiny to the League, or it is an empty thing, big in name, and will ultimately disappoint all of humanity that hinge its hopes upon it.” He voted for the Lodge reservations and also for the Reed reservation that the United States alone should judge whether matters of direct interest to it should be brought before the League; and finally he voted against ratification of the Treaty as submitted by President Wilson. He maintained that Americans should show chief concern for America, and
opposed all tendencies toward internationalism. He supported
the Knox resolution declaring that war with Germany was ended.