Warren Gamaliel Harding was an affluent speaker, he gave the business a free hand, and his return to normalcy led to a fairly decent presidency, plagued with a only few political scandals. He was born in the town of Corsica, Ohio in on November 2, 1865.
His first real 30b was an editor of the local newspaper, and that is what got him interested in public affairs. He was married to Florence Kling DeWolfe, against her father’s wishes who was a prestigious banker of Marion. She became a major influence in his life, and as his fortune improved under her watchful eye he became more of a prominent figure in the local community then finally attracting the attention of political authorities. He won the seat on the Ohio Senate, then served on William H. Taft’s committee at the Republican national convention.
He ran for lieutenant governor and was shot down, then was defeated for governor; he then ran for the senatorial nomination and finally won. He liked serving in Senate and really made no important speeches or introduced any important legislation. Having respectable qualities as a senator he was nominated to run for the presidential office by the Republicans. His campaign promises is one of the better known ones, he promised to return the country to normalcy a word he used to describe the good old days. He never really challenged the any major topics in his campaign promises mainly sticking to old Republican virtues so as not to cause any conflict.
He also was on the fence for other legislation at the time such as the league issues. He mainly was a indifferent machine mouthing what the party told him to and not be creative or real with his own ideas. One main reason I believe this is because he did not really want the office, but felt more at home at the Senate but could not give up the opportunity. Some topics he used in his administration were as follows. He passed ship subsidies, a high tariff, immigration restrictions, and a Federal Budget system that lowered taxes.
All of these were passed, except for the ship one, and made the country run smoothly for a time. Some major events that were taldog place in his time were one’s of his own actions. One major action not of his fault was a major decline in the agricultural sections of the country were starting to effect the nation, and the Republicans soon were ousted and his friends began to stab him in the back. The Teapot Dome scandal involving the selling of naval oil reserves to private landowners, which caused major controversy in his term. Many of his other attributes were also being questioned, the Veteran’s Bureau, and the Alien Property Custodians office were all being investigated.
Even his Attorney General, Albert B. Fall was under close surveillance and investigation. He really didn’t change history because of his way of going with the flow and never standing out on a limb. On a small not it showed the public that the oval office was not free from everything.
Some of his not-so major legislation was the way he had a Laissez Faire economics about him. He gave the business a Ree hand and pretty much let them run free. This was just a way of backing the Republican Party’s values. Some might say that because of these actions in a small way he contributed to the Great Depression. Like I said before he was a major floater through the office. I think the way he would effect the USA today would be his Laissez Faire economics and for example would not have caused or even questioned the break up of Microsoft.
He would want the country to be like it was in the good old days so he would not really work to change anything drastic just make it more normal to his standards. He probably would have ordered company’s to become y2k compliant, but that is about it. The simple reason being that it would continue to make the nation unchanged. He would have showed the world a different type of campaigning by staying in his hometown and that if anyone wanted to ask him questions they would have to come to hire. All in all it would be like his presidency, it not effect much.
No he would not have changed the world because all he did was slow life down for Americans therefore not stimulate much among other countries. I would have changed his always sitting on the fence routine, if you couldn’t already tell. I would have made him act more like a leader than a follower of the polls and the majority. I would have also changed some of his scandals so that he would not have had such a bad rep. The last thing I would change would not have anything to do with his administration’ but would have made him live out his term rather than ding in office from an illness, at least let him die heroically by diving after a newborn in a darken river, or save a cat from a burning building. My day in his shoes would be an interesting one because I would be taking orders from either my wife or the public.
I would begin by asking her what suit I should wear and what to eat then ask the public which taxes to lower and which tariffs to raise. I would then retire to my private quarters where I would discuss private matters concerning certain scandals recently put out in the open. I would f ind ways to keep them covered up and which people to bribe. I would then retire to my bedroom and sleep soundly. Unfortunately, his presidency did not end as simple as it began, he was taking a vacation in Alaska a became ill on a cruise while up there, he then died on August 2, 1923, before he could finish his first term as president.
Maybe if reselected he would had a chance to correct a few mistakes and further his plans of normalcy,’
