Description: Dated July 3, 1923, this photograph shows a crowd of people in a tree-lined field, in front of a stage in Meacham, Oregon. This occurred while President Warren G. Harding was in town giving a speech commemorating the Oregon Trail. The President and First Lady stopped in Meacham during their "Voyage of Understanding," a cross-country train journey that included numerous stops along the route where Harding had speaking engagements, and culminated in the first-ever presidential visit to the territory of Alaska. The trip was taken in spite of the president's failing health, and on August 2, Harding suffered a heart attack, and never made it to his second stop in Portland, scheduled for July 28. He died August 2, 1923, at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco, California. This photograph is part of a photograph album in the Warren G. Harding Photograph Collection (P146). Warren G. Harding, the 29th President of the United States (1921-1923), was born in Blooming Grove, Ohio, in 1865. At age 14, Harding attended Ohio Central College in Iberia, Ohio, where he edited the campus newspaper and became an accomplished public speaker. He married Florence Kling de Wolfe in 1891, and embarked on his political career in 1900 by winning a seat in the Ohio legislature. After serving two terms as an Ohio Senator, Harding served as Lieutenant Governor in 1904 for two years before returning to the newspaper business. Although he lost the 1910 gubernatorial race, Harding was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1914. Political insider Harry Daugherty promoted Harding for the Republican presidential nomination in 1920. His front porch campaign was centered on speeches given from his home in Marion, Ohio, pledging to return the country to “normalcy” in this post World War I era. Harding easily won the election, gaining 61 percent of the popular vote. On August 2, 1923, Harding unexpectedly died from a massive heart attack while touring the western United States, and is entombed in the Marion Cemetery. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: P146_B09A01_p08
Subjects: Harding, Warren G. (Warren Gamaliel), 1865-1923; Speeches; United States--Oregon National Historic Trail; Ohio History--Presidents and Politics
Places: Meacham (Oregon)
 

Description: A large crowd gathers to hear Dwight D. Eisenhower, seen at the podium near the center of the photograph, speak at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus, Ohio, September 23, 1952. Visiting Columbus during his 1952 campaign as the Republican candidate for president, Eisenhower decried high taxes and disloyalty in the government, and discussed the importance of the United States on the international stage in response to "the overwhelming problem of [the] time" which he identified as "peace and war." Eisenhower, a former Army general and Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in Europe during World War II, would defeat his Democratic opponent, Adlai Stevenson, for the presidency in both 1952 and 1956. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: P339_B17F01_12_01
Subjects: Eisenhower, Dwight D. (Dwight David), 1890-1969; Presidents--United States; Presidential campaigns; Elections; Speeches, addresses, etc.;
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)
 

Description: A photograph of a lithograph of Cincinnati, Ohio on September 17, 1859. Abraham Lincoln is speaking from a second floor balcony of the E & D Kinsey’s store on West 5th Street to a large crowd of several thousand people gathered in a public square. Also in the square is a pavilion reading "FIFTH ST MARKET." Fireworks can be seen streaking through the air in the background. "1859" is written on the back of the photograph. This photograph is one of the many visual materials collected for use in the Ohio Guide. In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Works Progress Administration by executive order to create jobs for the large numbers of unemployed laborers, as well as artists, musicians, actors, and writers. The Federal Arts Program, a sector of the Works Progress Administration, included the Federal Writers’ Project, one of the primary goals of which was to complete the America Guide series, a series of guidebooks for each state which included state history, art, architecture, music, literature, and points of interest to the major cities and tours throughout the state. Work on the Ohio Guide began in 1935 with the publication of several pamphlets and brochures. The Reorganization Act of 1939 consolidated the Works Progress Administration and other agencies into the Federal Works Administration, and the Federal Writers’ Project became the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio. The final product was published in 1940 and went through several editions. The Ohio Guide Collection consists of 4,769 photographs collected for use in Ohio Guide and other publications of the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio from 1935-1939. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B14F12_002_001
Subjects: Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865; Campaign speeches; Cincinnati (Ohio); Fireworks; Works Progress Administration; Ohio Federal Writers' Project
Places: Cincinnati (Ohio); Hamilton County (Ohio)