President-elect Harding with Knights of Pythias   Save
Warren G. Harding Collection
Description: Photograph showing President elect Warren G. Harding with Lodge #23 of the Knights of Pythias in St. Augustine, Florida, 1921. Harding was a member of the Knights of Pythias, a fraternal order founded in 1864 and the first be chartered under an act of U.S. Congress. Warren Gamaliel Harding (1865-1923) was born in Corsica (now called Blooming Grove), a small town in Morrow County, Ohio. His family moved to Marion, where Harding taught school, briefly studied law, and worked occasionally as a reporter for a local paper before buying the Marion Star in 1884. Harding became popular as a local bandleader 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 launched his famous "front porch" 1920 presidential campaign from the porch of his Victorian home in Marion. 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. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: P146_B05_Lodge23
Subjects: Harding, Warren G. (Warren Gamaliel), 1865-1923--Photographs; Presidents and Politics; Fraternal orders;
Places: St. Augustine (Florida);