Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

A second look at Harding
The Hill ^ | November 23, 2009 | David Keene

Posted on 11/26/2009 12:08:35 PM PST by Clintonfatigued

The real Woodrow Wilson, it turns out, was a far less admirable character than the cardboard hero we learned about in school. In fact, in some ways the boring Midwesterner who succeeded him looks better than him when one compares what the two actually accomplished.

Harding famously said he wanted to restore “normalcy” to a nation on the verge of a breakdown at the end of the Great War and set about working to heal the wounds that divided the nation. During the war, Wilson attacked those he called “hyphenated Americans” as disloyal and set about systematically using his power as president to silence opposition to his policies.

Perhaps the most famous of Wilson’s domestic critics was Eugene Debs, who had run and was to run again for the presidency as a socialist. Debs opposed what author John Dos Passos always referred to as “Mr. Wilson’s War,” and said so. Never one to take criticism lightly, Wilson had Debs arrested, tried for sedition and shipped off to a federal prison for 10 years.

As he was leaving the White House, Wilson’s closest advisers, including Attorney General Alexander Mitchell Palmer, who is not himself remembered as a great champion of civil liberties, urged the departing president to free Debs. Wilson scowled, grabbed the pardon and scrawled “denied” across it as one final mean-spirited act before turning things over to Harding, whom he dismissed as uncultured, uneducated and hardly fit to be in the same room with him.

As president, Harding unhesitatingly freed Debs and others unfairly persecuted by Wilson; his “normalcy” was, it seems, built on a respect for the Constitution, and while he craved the good opinion of others as much as any politician, he didn’t spend his time dreaming up ways to send his critics to prison.

(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Government
KEYWORDS: debs; godsgravesglyphs; harding; history; keene; presidents; warrenharding; woodrowwilson
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-30 next last

1 posted on 11/26/2009 12:08:37 PM PST by Clintonfatigued
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: fieldmarshaldj; AuH2ORepublican; Impy; Norman Bates; AuntB

This editorial is about a new book which takes a new look at Warren Harding, remembered by most as an incompetent womanizer who accomplished nothing while corruption flourished under his nose. There’s no doubt that Harding had his faults, but he also had some accomplishments, and his over-rated predecessor, Woodrow Wilson, was a much darker figure than history acknowleges.

For those interested in American history.


2 posted on 11/26/2009 12:11:01 PM PST by Clintonfatigued (Liberal sacred cows make great hamburger)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Clintonfatigued
Maybe it wasn't about this Harding.


3 posted on 11/26/2009 12:15:22 PM PST by Always Right
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Clintonfatigued

I find it interesting that the attempted sale of the Elk Hills oil reserve which was such a scandal during Harding`s term, was actually pulled off during the Clinton years. And to top it off, it was sold to a company in which VP Gore was heavily invested.


4 posted on 11/26/2009 12:19:37 PM PST by Hoodat (For the weapons of our warfare are mighty in God for pulling down strongholds.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Clintonfatigued

Well, I think Woodrow Wilson was a bigtime troublemaker. He was responsible for the lousy “peace” arrangements that eventually led to World War II. And he was also responsible for the League of Nations. And he was responsible for authorizing the Federal Reserve System, which has put a gang of criminal statists in charge of our fiat paper money.

But I can’t fault him for arresting Eugene V. Debs, who was essentially a Communist. So, these guys think Woodrow Wilson wasn’t far enough to the left? Personally, I think of him as the forerunner of FDR and LBJ.


5 posted on 11/26/2009 12:19:49 PM PST by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Comment #6 Removed by Moderator

To: Always Right

7 posted on 11/26/2009 12:27:30 PM PST by BunnySlippers (I LOVE BULL MARKETS . . .)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Clintonfatigued

Wilson can be said to be the progenitor of a federal government that was ‘changed’ allowing it to be steered ever so slowly and furtively over many decades to the present along a path to which it began to slither towards socialism and wealth redistribution.

1913.


8 posted on 11/26/2009 12:53:28 PM PST by Hostage
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Clintonfatigued

Wilson is so overrated. I also think the Harding adminstration and the Klinton administration were similar in respect to the deep corruption of both.


9 posted on 11/26/2009 1:12:44 PM PST by KC_Conspirator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Hostage

During his last years, Woodrow Wilson expressed regret over many of the things he did in office. He felt that he had changed the country for the worse. That has been hidden from American history.


10 posted on 11/26/2009 1:12:48 PM PST by Clintonfatigued (Liberal sacred cows make great hamburger)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: Hostage

Guess they forgot about the Tea-Pot Dome scandal. Not exactly Harding’s proudest moment.


11 posted on 11/26/2009 1:13:03 PM PST by appeal2 (Government is not the solution, it is the problem and eventually the enemy.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: Clintonfatigued
Never one to take criticism lightly, Wilson 0bama had Debs FoxNews/Rush Limbaugh/Pastor James David Manning arrested, tried for sedition and shipped off to a federal prison for 10 years.

As he was leaving the White House, Wilson’s 0bama's closest advisers, including Attorney General Alexander Mitchell Palmer Eric Holder, who is will not himself remembered as a great champion of civil liberties, urged the departing president to free Debs one of the above mentioned. Wilson 0bama scowled, grabbed the pardon and scrawled “denied” across it as one final mean-spirited act before turning things over to Harding Sarah Palin, whom he dismissed as uncultured, uneducated and hardly fit to be in the same room with him.

As president, Harding Palin unhesitatingly freed Debs the above named and others unfairly persecuted by Wilson 0bama; his her “normalcy” was, it seems, built on a respect for the Constitution, and while he she craved the good opinion of others as much as any politician, he she didn’t spend his her time dreaming up ways to send his her critics to prison.

I fixed it for the 0bama-trolls. It's thanksgiving and I'm thankful that I upset their too full of turkey tummies.
12 posted on 11/26/2009 1:13:52 PM PST by HighlyOpinionated (Abortion-Euthanasia kills the very people for whom Social Justice is needed.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Clintonfatigued

I have long thought that Harding was a very underrated President. Harding restored civil liberties and cut taxes which led to the roaring Twenties. I believe that Ronald Reagan said something similar but I don’t have a link to Reagan’s comments about Harding.


13 posted on 11/26/2009 1:35:20 PM PST by Ticonderoga34 (Free Obama's Birth Certificate!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Clintonfatigued
Harding:

1)raised tariff rates
2)gave the wealthy a tax cut
3)created the Bureau of the Budget which helped reduce government spending by 40%
4)was able to create a huge budget surplus
5)lowered government debt
6)halted further regulatory legislation
Within 6 months of the time his business friendly administration arrived in Washington, the economy was able to recover from a very serious post war business slump and was on the path to prosperity that lasted during the 1920's.It's too bad Obamarx is unable to learn from history.

14 posted on 11/26/2009 2:03:04 PM PST by mjp (pro-{God, reality, reason, egoism, individualism, independence, limited government, capitalism})
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Ticonderoga34

Harding’s election stymied the Progressives attempts to subvert our Constitution, thus WGH was enemy number one for liberal Republican BullMoose types, and d-RAT progressives.

I think Warren Harding was a good man and a good POTUS, with an impressive list of achievements. Even the liberal/leftist John Dean has written a book that is laudatory of Harding and the policies he pursued in our “Return to Normalcy.”


15 posted on 11/26/2009 2:15:13 PM PST by AdvisorB (Obamatude could be defined by Blago as something tangible, but not quite as tangible as JJJ's offer.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: Clintonfatigued

16 posted on 11/26/2009 2:18:09 PM PST by AdvisorB (Obamatude could be defined by Blago as something tangible, but not quite as tangible as JJJ's offer.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Clintonfatigued
Plus my main man Warren Harding was one-eighth Afro-American, making him the real first black president of the U.S.A!

SHOUT OUT TO WARREN G! MOURN YA TIL I JOIN YA!

17 posted on 11/26/2009 3:00:04 PM PST by B-Chan (Catholic. Monarchist. Texan. Any questions?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Clintonfatigued

Harding Memorial in Marion, Ohio
18 posted on 11/26/2009 3:01:31 PM PST by Fiji Hill
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Clintonfatigued

Harding gets a very bad rap in history and unfairly so. He was no where near being one of our worst presidents. He looks pretty good compared to the current occupant of the WH. Even Nixon and Ford are looking pretty damn good these days IMHO.


19 posted on 11/26/2009 3:06:42 PM PST by Welcome2thejungle
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: B-Chan
I have visited the Harding home in Marion, Ohio on two occassions. I defy anyone to go to the second floor of the home, and look at the picture hanging in the hallway of Harding's paternal grandfather, and tell me he isn't black. I believe that Warren G. Harding was the first, or at least a POTUS who had an African blood line. Obama you're only 88 years too late.


20 posted on 11/26/2009 3:40:42 PM PST by AdvisorB (Obamatude could be defined by Blago as something tangible, but not quite as tangible as JJJ's offer.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-30 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson