Description: This photograph, which measures 5" by 5" (13 by 13 cm), shows rubber manufacturer Harvey Firestone, automobile manufacturer Henry Ford, and inventor Thomas Edison in Marion, Ohio for the funeral of President Warren G. Harding in 1923. Edison (1847-1931) was born in Milan, Ohio and is known for his many inventions, including the phonograph and the light bulb. Firestone (1868-1938) was born in Columbiana County, Ohio and began to manufacture rubber tires in 1896. He founded the Firestone Tire & Rubber Company in 1900 and moved it to Akron, Ohio. Ford (1863-1947) was born in Greenfield, Michigan and worked with the Edison Company from 1890 to 1899, when he founded the Detroit Automobile Company in Detroit, Michigan. Ford later bought out his associates and reincorporated as the Ford Motor Company in 1903; the company became the largest automobile manufacturer in the world in the early part of the twentieth century. Harding (1865-1923) was born in Corsica (now called Blooming Grove), a small town in Morrow County, Ohio. Harding graduated from Ohio Central College in Iberia at the age of sixteen. His family moved to Marion, where Harding taught school and briefly studied law. He worked occasionally as a reporter for a local paper before buying the Marion Star in 1884. Within five years, the Star was one of the most successful small-town newspapers in the state. Harding became popular as the leader of the Citizen's Coronet Band, which played at political rallies, and for his skill as an orator. Willing to follow the lead of political bosses, Harding advanced rapidly in Ohio politics, serving as state senator and lieutenant governor. In 1914 Harding was elected to the U. S. Senate. He won the presidency with sixty percent of the popular vote, promising a "return to normalcy" following the wave of reforms begun during Theodore Roosevelt's administration. As president, Harding appointed several friends to federal office who proved untrustworthy. His administration was tainted by corruption, and the infamous "Teapot Dome" scandal (in which Harding's Secretary of the Interior leased a U.S. petroleum reserve to a private oil company) nearly destroyed his presidency. After he died in office in August 1923, other scandals were uncovered, further tarnishing Harding's reputation. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: Om1525_1505702_001
Subjects: Presidents and Politics; Business and Labor; Science and Technology; Funeral rites & ceremonies; Edison, Thomas A. (Thomas Alva), 1847-1931; Harding, Warren G. (Warren Gamaliel), 1865-1923; Firestone, Harvey Samuel, 1868-1938; Ford, Henry, 1863-1947
Places: Marion (Ohio); Marion County (Ohio)