Ohio Presidents, Part Two

Benjamin Harrison had an odd talent for promoting uncomplimentary descriptions of himself. Among other things he was said to have had a handshake like “a wilted petunia”. He was called the "Human Iceberg". “Talking to him was like talking to a hitching post”, according to one journalist. Standing just 5 ft. 6 inches tall, he was called "Little Tippecanoe", a reference to his grandfather William, who was called "Old Tippecanoe".

Benjamin was born in North Bend, Ohio, on August 20, 1833. He graduated from Miami (Ohio) University. He served in the Army during the Civil War. He won his men’s undying appreciation after taking hot coffee to them during a hard-fought battle. With the war over, Harrison moved to Indiana and began practicing law.

Harrison was elected to the U.S Senate in 1880. He supported Civil War pensions for widows, more money to educate blacks, and opposed the Asian Exclusion Act.

The Republicans nominated Harrison for president on the 8th ballot. He promised, if elected, to “run the White House like a law office”. He delivered 90 speeches to the nation from the front porch of his home. Harrison lost the popular vote to Grover Cleveland by 90,000, but easily carried the Electoral College. The nation’s coffers were flush with cash collected from international tariffs. Congress was in a mood to spend. (When isn't it?) Congress spent more than $1 billion (the first time expenditures had reached that figure) during the term on a number of causes, including Civil War widow pensions, education, and modernization of the navy. Fraudsters siphoned off their share of the budget.

Harrison achieved a laudable record during his four -year term:

• He was the first president to publicly denounce lynching.

• He added 72 million acres to the national forest reserves.

• He was the first president to protect an Indian monument.

• Harrison annexed Hawaii.

• He added 6 states to the Union: North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Washington, Idaho and Wyoming.

Grover Cleveland, in the 1892 rematch, crushed Harrison by 400,000 votes. Harrison died in 1901 of pneumonia.

William McKinley, born in Niles, Ohio, on January 29, 1843, was the last Civil War veteran to be elected president. His father was in the iron-working profession, which gave William an invaluable insight into the lives of industrial workers, so important in the politics of his era. He went to college for a year and left school after suffering from a nervous breakdown.

He enlisted in the army as a private in Rutherford Hayes's regiment, the 23rd Ohio Infantry. McKinley was with his regiment at the Battle of Antietam. He gained the respect and gratitude of the regiment for rushing hot food to the front, at times while under fire. He left the army at the end of the war with the rank of major.

After admission to the bar in 1867, McKinley moved to Canton, Ohio, becoming a county prosecutor. Four years later, he married Ida Sexton. They had two children, both of whom died as infants. Ida suffered from epilepsy. McKinley was very devoted to her care.

Politics attracted McKinley's interest. He served 7 terms in Congress, becoming the chair of the powerful Ways and Means Committee. McKinley became the nation’s leading expert on tariff and trade issues. Two terms as Ohio governor followed. The Republicans nominated McKinley for president in 1896. Keeping with tradition, McKinley campaigned from the front porch of his home, making speeches and issuing pamphlets. It was the first time cheap, mass-produced campaign buttons were used. McKinley easily defeated his Democratic opponent, William Jennings Bryan.

The biggest issue of the day was what to do about Cuba. The newspapers, the so-called Yellow Press, pushed hard for the U.S. to intervene in the rebellion, supporting the oppressed Cuban people against the Spanish. The president resisted but couldn't avoid war after the U.S.S. Maine blew up in Havana harbor.

The U.S. fleet destroyed the Spanish in Manilla Bay Philippine Islands and took control of the Spanish colony. The ensuing armed insurrection in the Philippines, which eventually cost the lives of 4,200 Americans, including 1,500 KIA. The Filipinos lost as many as 20,000 combatants and possibly 200,000 civilians.

The United States found itself a world power. McKinley is generally praised for what he did to prepare the country for that role.

He died from an assassin's bullet while visiting the Pan Am Exposition in Buffalo, New York, on September 14, 1901, leading the Secret Service to formally assume the role of protecting the president.

He lives as a question on a presidential trivia quiz:  Who was the fattest president? Just about everybody knows the answer. At 350 pounds, William Howard Taft is obviously the correct answer. It is unfortunate that this condition overshadows a lifetime of distinguished public service.

Taft was born on September 15, 1857, in Cincinnati. He graduated second in his class at Yale. He earned his juris doctorate from the University of Cincinnati, later becoming a law professor and dean of the law school.

Taft and Helen, better known as Nellie, were married on June 19. 1886.  Nellie was a graduate of the University of Cincinnati’s School of Music. She was very ambitious and took an active role in shaping her husband’s career.

Before becoming president, William served for decades in important government offices. He began his political career as a judge in the Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas. From there, he went to Washington as U.S. Solicitor- the federal government’s attorney at the U.S. Supreme Court-winning 15 of the 17 cases he tried. He was appointed Governor of the Philippines and later Secretary of War.

Taft and Theodore Roosevelt became very good friends during Taft’s time as Secretary of War. Roosevelt chose Taft to succeed him. After the election, T.R. scooted off to Africa on a spectacular safari. It became clear that T.R. and Taft had very different governing styles. Whereas Roosevelt pushed the envelope of executive power, Taft restrained it.

The Taft administration did accomplish several items. It filed twice as many antitrust-busting cases as T.R. did. He oversaw the construction of the Lincoln Memorial, implemented reforms to political campaign spending, and led successful diplomatic initiatives. Nellie oversaw the planting of the Japanese cherry trees in D.C. The president has the rather dubious distinction as the first president golfer.

Roosevelt was very upset with Taft’s performance in office and chose to run against him in 1912. After losing the Republican nomination to Taft, his former friend, T.R. bolted to the Progressive Party (also known as the Bull Moose Party)–handing the election to Democrat Woodrow Wilson.

In 1921, Taft got his dream job-chief justice of the United States Supreme Court-a position he held until 1930 when he resigned because of poor health. Taft is the only person to have been both president and chief justice. His tenure is generally ranked well. He added new judgeships to the Federal courts, oversaw the construction of a new U.S. Supreme Court building, and showed concern for the American working class.

He died on March 8, 1930.

Warren Gamiel Harding has always been confined to the lower reaches of presidential rankings. H.L. Mencken, the sarcastic newspaper reporter and prominent journalist of the times, was not a fan of his fellow journalist turned politician. He wrote a series of humorous descriptions of the president, calling him “a string of wet sponges”, “stale bean soup”, and “tattered washing on the line”.

“Winnie,” as his family knew him, was born on November 2, 1865, in Blooming Grove, Ohio. He graduated from Ohio Central College. Harding was remembered as an easy-going, well-liked young man. Journalism caught his fancy, and he became the editor of The Marion Star.

The handsome, glib newspaperman was a natural politician. He served as a Republican State Senator, Ohio Lt. Governor, and U.S. Senator.

Along with running mate Calvin Coolidge, Harding challenged his fellow Ohio newspaperman, James Cox, and Franklin D. Roosevelt for president in 1920. In response to the tumultuous years of World War 1, Harding campaigned on the slogan “Return to Normalcy”. He remodeled his front porch before the election to resemble McKinley’s so that he could replicate his predecessor’s successful “Front Porch” campaign. Harding won a landslide victory.

The Harding administration’s greatest accomplishment was the cutting of World War 1 era personal income taxes. The cuts led to a growth in tax collection. Congress spent the money on improving roads and bridges, which propelled growth in the U.S. automobile sector. It also spurred a tremendous growth in consumer spending on electronics such as radios and washing machines.

Harding was plagued by public scandals involving embezzlement of public monies and kickbacks at the Teapot Dome oil wells. Harding himself was not implicated.

A number of issues about Harding continue to circulate. Harding has been called the first Black president. A DNA test showed that he was not. The rumor has been traced to Harding’s future father-in-law, who was upset with some of the articles that appeared in Harding’s newspaper. Harding was also accused of being a womanizer. He had affairs with two women, one lasting 15 years. In the second affair, he was accused of having fathered a child that he denied. The affair was confirmed in 2015 with a DNA test. It was said that the president was, based upon the deathbed declaration of a KKK Grand Wizard, a member of the KKK. This allegation was vehemently denied by family and supporters. Although there was never any solid evidence proving that he was a KKK member, a substantial part of the public willingly accepted the rumor. The Batavia, Ohio Klan believed it by holding a memorial service, complete with a Fiery Cross, marking the passing of their “brother”.

Harding and the first lady visited Clermont County in 1922 to celebrate the centennial of U.S. Grant’s birth. The presidential visit drew nearly 50,000 people to the tiny village of Grant’s birthplace, Point Pleasant. A serious mishap was avoided when the presidential party changed riverboats before leaving Cincinnati. A deck collapsed on the original boat, causing injuries to approximately 20 people. Harding and his wife were widely praised when they visited the injured at the hospital.

As with much of his life, bathed in rumor and controversy, so was his death. Harding was traveling in California when he experienced severe abdominal pains. He rallied quickly and then suddenly keeled over and died. His wife, Florence, refused to have an autopsy done. She also burned many of her husband’s papers. Allegations arose that Florence poisoned the president to either protect his image or to exact revenge for his affairs. These charges were written by a disgruntled former employee in a book released in 1930. There were calls to exhume Harding’s body to see if he really was poisoned. It has not been exhumed. Most contemporary doctors state he died of a heart attack.